Alumni Bookshelf

Anne Banks, MFA ’68, an artist who exhibits internationally and a professor emeritus at Northern Virginia Community College, is the author of What is Design? An Overview of Design in Context from Prehistory to 2000 A.D. (Xlibris, 2005). The book explores the process of design as it evolved from early visual images and artifacts to modern practices. Themes include the roles of nature, technology, culture, economy, and architecture in the practice of design.

Retired from the Department of Defense, Melvin R. Bielawski, MS ’70, is the author of A WWII Era German/American Love Story (AuthorHouse, 2005), the tale of Bielawski and his wife.
He is the author of two other works. Bielawski resides in Alexandria, Va.

Margie Vodopia Carroll, BA ’82, is looking forward to the publication of her first book, The Write Match (forthcoming Avalon Books in June). Carroll describes the book as “a chick-lit love story.” She completed a second novel, A Life in Disguise, and is interviewing agents. She is working on a third novel. Carroll lives in Grosse Pointe, Mich., with her daughter, Kathleen, and their dog, Buddy.

The author of several leadership and motivation books and companion materials, Lee J. Colan, MPhil ’87, PhD ’93, published Power Exchange (CornerStone Leadership Institute, 2005). The book offers practical strategies to help workforce leaders boost team accountability and performance. Colan also is founder of The L Group, a team of business advisers. More information is available at www.theLgroup.com.

Thirty-two years of military experience from WWII to the Cold War are covered in A Pilot First, Last and Always (V.E. Denning, 1997) by Col. Vaughn E. Denning, MBA ’68. The author recounts experiences of flying more than 48 types of airplanes, test piloting aircraft, and serving as a personal pilot for senior military and civilian leaders. Denning also recalls preparing speeches and Congressional testimony and spending 10 years in the Pentagon in nuclear weapons and space activities programs. He resides in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South (University of North Carolina Press, 2005) by Marcie Cohen Ferris, PhD ’03, is a culinary journey through which the Arkansas native describes how southern Jews embraced, modified, and avoided regional favorites. Because some southern staples such as pork and shellfish are traditionally forbidden by religious dietary laws, Ferris shows how Jews across the decades have negotiated cultural and culinary homes in the south. Ferris is associate director of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and assistant professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also is vice president of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Fit to Deliver: An Innovative Prenatal Fitness Program (Hartley and Marks, 2005), co-written by Renee Jeffreys, MS ’01, outlines a multidisciplinary approach to exercise during pregnancy. Jeffreys and her co-authors are exercise physiologists who encourage women to safely and effectively exercise during and after pregnancy. Jeffreys resides in Covington, Ky.

Michael Kaye, BA ’90, an industry analyst with Standard & Poor’s in New York, is the author of The Standard & Poor’s Guide to Selecting Stocks (McGraw-Hill, 2005). The book offers stock selection methods utilized by the company, including advice on investment comparison, direction on whether to buy or sell a security, and practical examples of Standard & Poor’s techniques.

In Democracy’s Shadow: The Secret World of National Security (Nation Books, 2005), edited by Carl LeVan, BA ’92, and GW public policy professor Marcus Raskin, offers a defense of democracy’s ideal and a critique of separation from it over the past several decades due to the Cold War leading up to 9/11. The book’s contributors are drawn from a group of participants of a monthly seminar at GW; participants in a conference at the National Press Club connected to the seminar; and affiliation with the Institute for Policy Studies. LeVan received a Seymour Melman Grant from the institute to conduct research for the book. He is a PhD candidate at the University of California, San Diego.

Deborah Menkart, BA ’90, is the editor of Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching (Teaching for Change, 2004). The book goes beyond the 1950s through 1970s and connects the African American civil rights struggle with similar movements of Native Americans and Asian Americans. Menkart is executive director of Teaching for Change, an organization that works with teachers and parents to improve schools.

Through black-and-white photographs and stories told by those who knew her best, The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider (ReaganBooks, 2005) by Vicky Moon, AA ’70, gives insight into the famous first lady’s love of horseback riding. Moon explores how riding provided a calm, private retreat from the hectic pace of Kennedy Onassis’ life. Kennedy Onassis, BA ’51, and her children enjoyed riding in Virginia’s horse country and later in New York’s Central Park. Kennedy Onassis also enjoyed competitive riding and horse shows. Moon is the author of The Middleburg Mystique: A Peek Inside the Gates of Middleburg, Virginia, Best Dressed Southern Salads, and has written lifestyle and news coverage for People, The Washington Post, and Town and Country.

An international entrepreneur, columnist, and author, Douglas E. Morris, BBA ’83, MBA ’85, spent more than 14 years living in community-oriented cities and towns in Canada and Europe. After returning to the United States, he was dismayed by urban decay, lack of livable small towns, and inadequate public transit and passenger rail systems. It’s a Sprawl World After All: The Human Cost of Unplanned Growth—and Visions of a Better Future (New Society Publishers, 2005) is the culmination of two decades of the author’s search for livable places in the United Sates and research on the sociological, cultural, and personal impacts of sprawl. The book is designed to bring to light the problems of suburban and urban living as well as possible solutions to those problems.

Neil Thomas Proto, MA ’69, JD ’72, combines personal recollections of his GW days with court transcripts and the papers of Supreme Court justices in To a High Court: The Tumult and Choices that Led to United States v. SCRAP (Hamilton Books, 2006). In the fall of 1971, Proto became chairman of Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedures, a team of five law students seeking to make the Railroads and Interstate Commerce Commission comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. SCRAP petitioned for compliance with the law and a billion dollar refund. Proto is a partner with the Washington firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, is an adjunct professor at Georgetown, and was a visiting lecturer at Yale.

Rabbi James Rudin, BA ’55, is the author of The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006). The book explores ways in which Christian fundamentalists aim to influence different areas of American society including education, medicine, and media and the effects that influence has on religious and secular arenas.

Appetite For Life: Inspiring Stories of Recovery from Anorexia, Bulimia, and Compulsive Overeating (iUniverse, 2005) by Margie Ryerson, BA ’67, offers hope to those suffering from eating disorders by sharing real-life recovery stories. The book also provides information and support for family members and friends of those with eating disorders. Ryerson is a marriage and family therapist who has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders for more than 20 years. Ryerson is married, has two daughters, and resides in the San Francisco Bay area.

Faith Bueltmann Stern, PhD ’71, is the author of Getting There With Faith: Adventures of a Travel Addict (Bielizna Press, 2005), a collection of memoirs and advice on the art of traveling. The book also includes maps and color photographs. Stern has participated in book signings and recently made presentations on a Nepal trek in Myrtle Beach, S.C. For more information, contact Bieliznapress@aol.com.