March 5, 2002

Briefs

Joint-Program Formed for Politics and Public Service
The School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) and the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) have joined forces to create a five-year, joint-degree program to meet the needs of students who want to pursue careers in politics and public service.

“This innovative program can provide an important advantage for students who are planning to enter politics or public affairs,” says Jarol B. Manheim, SMPA’s interim director. “Thanks to this cooperative effort with GSPM, our graduates will have an even greater competitive advantage in the marketplace, and a greater potential to contribute to our democratic society.”
Interested SMPA students can apply for the five-year program during the second semester of their junior year after demonstrating the potential for success in graduate school through academic achievement. Students also must meet certain requirements of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences before they can be considered for admission. Once accepted, students begin their joint-degree work by taking two political management courses during their senior year.

“We are excited about this opportunity to provide students with a one-of-a-kind program that is really a logical extension of SMPA’s undergraduate courses,” said Christopher Arterton, GSPM’s dean. “By combining GSPM’s practical courses in public affairs and political leadership with SMPA’s solid grounding in communication theory into a comprehensive and sophisticated professional track, we are able to offer prospective students a compelling reason to select GW over other alternatives.”

The Search is On
The 2002 US Professors of the Year program is underway and accepting nominations for outstanding undergraduate teachers. Sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the program offers an opportunity to celebrate and publicize the contributions made by undergraduate educators at campuses throughout the country.
For the first time, nominators may choose to submit their materials online at www.case.org/poy. The processing fee for nominations submitted online is $75; the fee for nominations submitted on paper is $95. A program brochure, in PDF format, with the entry guidelines and the entry form is available at the same Web site. Entries are due by April 26.

The Carnegie Foundation will select a winner from four categories: baccalaureate colleagues; community colleges; master’s universities and colleges; and doctoral and research universities. The four national winners receive a $5,000 cash prize and an invitation to the awards luncheon at the National Press Club in November. Professors of the Year Awards in all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, are up for nomination. Three GW professors from the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences previously have been named DC Professor of the Year: Gerald Feldman (2001), James O. Horton (1996), and Jarol B. Manheim (1995).

DC and SBPM Partner on Housing Study
John Glascock, the Oliver T. Carr Jr. Professor of Real Estate Finance, and Howard Brazil, an at-large member of the DC City Council, have joined forces to conduct a study to evaluate the existing affordable housing units in Washington.

Glascock is leading a group of MBA students to develop a complete inventory of all income-assisted or income-restricted housing units in the city. Once this study is completed, Brazil and Glascock plan to undertake another study regarding abandoned and neglected/deteriorated properties. GW will maintain and update the information in a database that will be accessible to the city and other interested parties.

Brazil, who chairs the DC Committee on Economic Development, realized the need for such a database during the last DC housing bill negotiations.
“For the first time, we will have a complete, up-to-date survey that the city can utilize in many ways. It will be an analytical tool to assess the success of the District’s housing programs and enable us to direct future programs to targeted housing units and specific neighborhoods,” Brazil said. Glascock and the students will complete the study in spring 2002.

Alumni Office Launches E-Wire
Alumni House and the GW Alumni Association have launched a new resource for alumni and friends: the GW Alumni E-Wire. The monthly E-mail newsletter features upcoming events and the latest news from GW.
Each issue will include top stories and links from many of the University’s news sources, covering topics such as recent events, and items on students and prominent alumni, notices of upcoming events, and featured alumni programs. The newsletter will also include links to campus resources and other Web sites of interest to alumni.

The Alumni E-Wire will be sent each month to all GW alumni with an E-mail address in the online alumni directory. To submit your E-mail address, please contact Alumni House at alumni@gwu.edu. Previous issues of the GW Alumni E-Wire will be posted on the Alumni House Web site, at www.gwu.edu/alumni/news.

Rehnquist Appoints Young
Chief Justice of the United States William Reinquist has appointed Michael Young, dean of the Law School, to the Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission, tasked with celebrating the 50th anniversary of the court’s monumental decision.

The commission will work with the Department of Education and the Brown Foundation to conduct public education initiatives and coordinate observances of the anniversary.

“The decision in Brown v. Board of Education is perhaps the most important legal decision in my lifetime,” Young says. “It is an extraordinary honor to have the privilege of serving on a commission that will both commemorate that importance and reaffirm its central principles.”

An EMeRGing Service to GW
Thirteen members of GW’s on-campus emergency medical service (EMeRG) recently attended the National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation conference in Stony Brook, NY. This conference’s attendees included student emergency medical service organizations from colleges and universities from all over the country.

At the conference, members of EMeRG attended seminars such as leadership in EMS, clinical care of EMS patients, and critical management at the World Trade Center.

GW EMeRG technician David Rand, gave a presentation on Provision of Medical Care at Mass Gatherings. For his presentation, Rand earned the Richard W. Vomaka Student Seminar Competition award at the conference.

 

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