As Sarah Rosenberg, BA ’98, told it on ABC’s “Nightline” recently, she was sitting in her GW dorm room vegging out, surrounded by pizza boxes, when she saw a disabled classmate run past her window. Rosenberg remembered watching the inspiring amputee athlete and thinking, “What am I doing with my life?”

Several years later, the answer is: plenty. Rosenberg, a producer with “Nightline,” has produced countless informative and inspiring stories. She has covered big issues, from the war in Iraq to pediatric AIDS in South Africa. “It has changed my life completely being able to see on the ground what most people only see on television,” she says.

When Rosenberg arrived at the Columbian College, she initially had political science on her mind. But a communications course called “Persuasion,” along with experience gained in and outside of the classroom, swept her off her feet and into the world of broadcast journalism. “GW is so different from most colleges,” she says. “The University is work-oriented, with many students more interested in going to internships than football games. That experience prepared me well for life after college – that’s the whole reason I got to know the area of communications and get the great job I have now.”

In true GW fashion, she gained an internship with Worldwide Television News in London. That experience gave her contacts that helped her land a desk position with ABC. She worked her way up to her current position with ABC in New York; her responsibilities include everything from developing story ideas to going out with the camera crew to shoot footage. She says change and transition have made the work especially interesting: “I worked with Ted Koppel until last year. Now the show has a different, maybe hipper style of producing the same kinds of stories on social issues.”

Maria Bachman, BA, ’87, has been named South Carolina Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Bachman is an associate professor of English and director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Coastal Carolina University.

Adam Gropper, JD ’99, has been elected to the partnership of Baker & Hostetler, LLP in Washington, D.C. As a partner in the firm’s Tax Group, Gropper will concentrate his practice in the areas of tax controversy and litigation. The firm represents the governmental and corporate concerns of domestic and foreign clients.

Martin Clarke, JD ’94, appears on the current season of the reality show The Apprentice. Clarke has worked as a real estate attorney and has taught real estate and business law along with ethics, government, and business policy. In addition, Clarke served on the board of directors for New York City’s Make-a-Wish Foundation. Currently, he is the senior assistant city attorney of Atlanta. The Apprentice airs on NBC every Sunday at 9 p.m. EST.

Malcolm Lawrence, BA ’47, AA ’48, MA ’51, has written an acclaimed autobiography entitled Something Will Come Along: Witty Memoirs of a Foreign Service Officer with Nine Children. The comedic book recounts Lawrence’s youth, his time served during World War II, his college days at GW, and the adventures of his family when they lived abroad – six years in England and four in Switzerland – during his career with the Foreign Service. Today, he lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife, Jacqueline.

Joanne Matsuo, BA ’97, has joined the national immigration law firm Klasko, Rulon, Stock, & Seltzer, LLP in Philadelphia. Matsuo received her law degree from The American University Washington College of Law in 2001, where she served as a Senior Staff member of the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is co-chair of its NY Chapter Pro Bono Committee. Matsuo is also a member of the New York State Bar.

The Honorable Clifford W. Taylor, JD ’67, has been re-elected to a second two-year term as Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Taylor joined the court in August 1997, an appointee succeeding former Justice Dorothy Comstock Riley. He won election to complete that term in 1998 and was elected to a full term in 2000. He was first elected chief justice in 2005.

Elizabeth Thomas, MA ’00, has been hired as the communications director for the Health Care Association of Michigan. Thomas has served the past six years as a district press secretary for House Republicans. She earned her master’s degree in political management from George Washington University and her bachelor’s in advertising from Michigan State University.