Nov. 6, 2001

Briefs

United Way Campaign 2001
The University’s annual United Way Campaign is underway, and volunteers from across campus are looking to the GW community to
continue its generous support for the charitable drive which runs through Nov. 9.

For 16 years the University community has supported the annual United Way Campaign, earning GW the United Way Award for Top University Contributions in the National Capital Area in 2000, the 15th such honor for the University. Over the past five years, faculty and staff have donated more than $635,000 to the United Way in addition to countless hours of volunteer service to the community. This year Tom Rogers, director of Human Resource Services, and Leroy Charles, assistant vice president for development and government relations at the Medical Center, again will serve as co-chairs.

“Our collective efforts in this annual campaign make The George Washington University and the national capital area a better place for all who live and work here,” says Rogers.

Rogers and Charles ask the University community for its continued support of the campaign through a payroll deduction pledge. Volunteer campaign solicitors will circulate campaign information as well as pledge cards. For more information contact Beverly Green, 2001 campaign coordinator, at 994-9616.

New GSEHD Center To Study Brain Injuries
The Graduate School of Education and Human Development, with support from the Department of Education and the Jason Foundation, was granted a three-year charter by the University to study and contribute to the quality of life of professionals serving people with brain injuries.
The Center for Education and Human Services in Acquired Brain Injury will conduct scholarly studies integrated with graduate-level professional preparation in education and human service fields related to brain injuries. As the only center and program like this in the United States, it will offer a master’s degree in transition special education with an emphasis on acquired brain injury. The center’s activities are primarily intended to be professional preparation and research such as educational strategies, professional competencies, standards, and needs in the field.

President to Join Public Service Board
Statistics show that by 2004, 53 percent of the federal workforce will qualify for retirement, and 71 percent of the government’s senior managers can retire. To combat this shift, the Partnership for Public Service, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing public service work, has launched its effort to battle the so-called “brain drain” and has named University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg as one of its governors.
Through an aggressive campaign of public-private partnerships, focused research, and educational efforts, the Partnership for Public Service will encourage qualified men and women to choose federal service for some or all of their careers and make it possible for government to retain its high-achieving federal employees. The organization initially has been funded by a $25 million gift over the next five years from Samuel Heyman, a former Department of Justice attorney under Robert Kennedy.

Burns Law Library Joins International Alliance
The Jacob Burns Law Library has become a member of the Research Library Group, an international alliance of more than 160 libraries and research institutions. The Law School community will now have access to the libraries of Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and Berkeley, in addition to national libraries including the Bibliothéque Nationale de France, the British Library, and the Library of Congress. GW also gains access to archives, independent research collections, and museums such as The Smithsonian Institution.
“This marks a major milestone in the development of the law library,” says Scott Pagel, director of the library and associate dean for information services. “We’ve joined our peer institutions in their efforts to serve researchers on a more sophisticated level and with an even wider array of resources.”

Trachtenberg Named to United Way/Sept. 11 Fund Committee
President Trachtenberg has been named one of seven members who will decide how to spend disaster-relief money raised as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, reports The Washington Post. Nearly $800,000 has been raised by the United Way of the National Capital Area. The committee will decide on allocation of that money, along with another United Way fund for DC. Among others serving on the Governance Committee’s Sept. 11 Fund are Abe Pollin owner of the Washington Wizards; Theodore Lutz, vice president of The Washington Post Co.; Eric Holder, former deputy US attorney general; and Linda Lee, restaurateur and board member of the DC Chamber of Commerce.

GW Student Selected as Torchbearer for 2002 Olympics
GW hands will hold the 2002 Olympic torch when junior Jordan Usdan carries the cauldron through the streets of Washington on Dec. 22. Usdan was selected by the Olympic Torch Relay Committee for starting the GW Dance Marathon, a charity event that raises money for Children’s Hospital.

 

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