April 15, 2003

Briefs

Sen. Frist to Address SMHS Graduates May 18
Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist (R-TN) is scheduled to address School of Medicine and Health Sciences graduates at their May 18 Doctor of Medicine Diploma Ceremony in the Smith Center. Elected to the Senate nine years ago, Frist has served as majority leader since January. Born and raised in Nashville, Frist graduated in 1974 from Princeton University where he specialized in health care policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 1978 he graduated with honors from Harvard Medical School and spent the next seven years in surgical training at Massachusetts General Hospital; Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, England; and Stanford University Medical Center. He is board certified in both general surgery and heart surgery.

GW Ranks 12th in List of Volunteer-Producing Colleges
With 31 alumni actively serving as volunteers overseas, the University ranked 12th nationally in the Peace Corps’ annual list of volunteer-producing medium-size colleges and universities. GW was ranked 22nd last year among large schools.

“GW students have a heart of gold and it’s encouraging to see their dedication to others,” says President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. “This year’s ranking undoubtedly reflects the extraordinary talent and spirit of volunteerism enjoyed by students who attend GW.”

This year the Peace Corps changed the ranking categories. For the purposes of fairly ranking the schools according to the size of the student body, small schools are those with less than 5,000 undergraduates, medium-size schools are those with up to 15,000 undergraduates, and large schools are those with more than 15,000 undergraduates. GW has 8,500 full-time undergraduates.

Baylor Wins 10th GW/KPMG Case Competition
MBA students from Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business won the Gold Finals Round and $1,500 at the 10th Annual GW/KPMG Case Competition last month.

The second and third place awards in the Gold Finals Round of $1,000 and $500 went to Escuela Superior de Administracion y Direccion de Empresas (ESADE) and Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, respectively. GW’s team, which took first place in the silver round, included students Jeff Elliott, Rupa Bhattasali, Lien Do, Tim Daniels, and Deepti Menon.

This year’s case, “The National Geographic Society,” was authored by James B. Thurman with contributions from Frederick Lindahl, Mark Starik, and Michael J. Worth, all members of the GW faculty, in cooperation with the National Geographic Society.

Domestic schools competing this year included Case Western Reserve (Weatherhead), Georgetown University (McDonough), the University of Pittsburgh (Katz), and Yale University School of Management. 

Harrison Receives American Academy’s George H.W. Bush Fellowship
Hope M. Harrison, associate professor of history and international affairs, CCAS, ESIA, has been named the George H.W. Bush Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin for the spring semester of 2004. Harrison will join the 6th class of fellows at the academy and will receive the inaugural Bush Fellowship. The American Academy, founded at the conclusion of the Cold War by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and Henry Kissinger, established the Bush Fellowship in honor of the important role the president played in the process of German unification.

Harrison will hold the Bush fellowship through May 2004. The award is meant to support scholars “whose presence in the German capital will make important American viewpoints on issues in their field readily available” and who will help “create new, post-Cold War academic and professional networks that bond the US and Germany.”

While in Berlin, Harrison will conduct research for her book, “Making History: The Effort of the United Germany to Come to Terms with East Germany’s Communist Past,” and will give talks on her book “Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953–61,” (Princeton University Press).

Sociology Professor Named Fulbright Specialist
Daina Eglitis, assistant professor of sociology, CCAS, has received a Fulbright Senior Specialists grant in sociology at Riga Stradins University in Latvia.

The senior specialist program, created in 1946 as a complement to the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program, offers leading academics two- to six-week grants to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at academic institutions in 140 countries around the world.

Volunteers Needed for Midnight Breakfast
The Student Activities Center (SAC) is looking for a few good faculty and staff members to serve up a little sunshine for GW students when their lives seem to be at their darkest — midnight. SAC is calling for volunteers to lend a hand during the biannual Midnight Breakfast, May 1, serving breakfast to stressed-out students from 10:30 pm to 12:30 am in the Hippodrome.

Volunteers are needed to help feed as many as 2,000 students, as well as give out music, games, prizes, and much needed stress relief before final exams begin, during one of the two hour-long shifts. Those interested should contact Martine Philogene by 5 pm, April 25, at 994-6555 or via E-mail at mlpilog@gwu.edu.

 

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