Taking GW Hoops
to the Next Level | GW Names
New VP for Advancement | Testing
the College Waters | GW on Television
| Commencement Countdown
| Toast of the Town | The
Changing Face of Campus Cool | Fire
Brings Neighbors Together | Pharmacogenomics:
Individualizing Drug Therapy | Learning
the Ropes | Chalk-In Day
| Cherry Blossom Princesses
| Faculty Focus: When the Waters
Went Down | George Welcomes
| The Mexican 'Mother Culture'
| At a Glance | GW
in History | A Faculty for
Writing
At a Glance
Homeland Security Grant
In November, GW and George Mason University
received a $2 million competitive grant from the Department
of Homeland Security to create training sessions for nursing
professionals across the United States. The purpose of the
program is to prepare nursing professionals to respond to
victims of an event involving weapons of mass destruction
and to increase their awareness of specific weapons of mass
destruction risks, vulnerabilities, and response requirements.
Taiwan Studies Center
As part of its efforts to reinforce research
on Taiwans history and modern developments, GW inaugurated
the Taiwan Studies Resource Center in December. The center,
which collects Chinese and English books and periodicals,
is linked to Taiwans major academic institutions through
the Internet. The opening ceremony was attended by David Ta-wei
Lee, the Republic of China representative to the United States.
Lee said that in addition to serving GW students, he hopes
the center will become a U.S. think tank and information center
for U.S. authorities.
GSEHD Dean Honored
Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Dean Mary Hatwood Futrell was named the United States Laureate
of the Jan Amos Comenius Medal in September. She was presented
with the award at the International Conference on Education
in Geneva, Switzerland. Given by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization and the Ministry of
National Education, Youth, and Sport of the Czech Republic,
the award recognizes outstanding achievements in teaching
and educational research.
Advancing the Arts
Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company, a contemporary
dance troupe founded by assistant professor of dance Dana
Tai Soon Burgess, received the 2005 Mayors Arts Award
for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline in February. In March,
the company traveled to Riga, Latvia, to perform the program
Tracings, which they also will present to New Yorks
Asia Society in May.
Women Engineers
GWs School of Engineering and Applied
Science ranked first in the nation in the percentage of doctoral
degrees awarded to women, according to 2003 statistics released
in November by the American Society for Engineering Education.
GW and the University of Illinois at Chicago tied for the
top slot, with women representing 31.4 percent of the students
who received engineering doctoral degrees from each university
in 2003. The University ranked 10th in the nation for its
percentage of women faculty members, with women making up
13.3 percent of the SEAS faculty.
Police Science Program
GWs College of Professional Studies
has started a new Police Science Undergraduate Certificates,
Associates and Bachelors Degree Program. The program
is the result of a year-long collaboration with metropolitan-area
law enforcement experts and police specialists. Students entering
the program will receive a newly chartered GW Walter Washington
Scholarship for Police Professionals, a 50 percent reduction
in the current undergraduate tuition rate.
Top 25 Rankings
In the April Americas Best Graduate
Schools issue of U.S. News & World Report,
GW Law School and the Graduate School of Education and Human
Developmentas well as graduate programs in law and businesswere
ranked among the top 25. The Law School ranked 20th out of
179 accredited law schools, and GWs intellectual law
program was named third in the nation. The environmental law
program was ranked 10th, and the international law program
ranked ninth. The clinical training and tax law programs also
were named in the top 25. GSEHD maintained its position as
24th out of the 190 schools listed in the survey, 10th among
private institutions. The School of Business international
business program was ranked 25th. And the Financial Times
recently included the full-time MBA program in its top 100
list.
Hookworm Vaccine
In October, the Sabin Vaccine Institute,
sponsor of research funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation on a newly developed vaccine to prevent hookworm
disease, signed a memorandum of understanding with federal
and state vaccine production facilities in Brazil for clinical
developments of the vaccine, including clinical trials. In
the fall, representatives from the institute and GW, where
research on the vaccine is under way, visited the research
and production plants affiliated with the Brazilian government.
Hookworm is a public health threat in Brazil, where there
is still a high incidence of the disease.
GW in History
25 Years Ago
In honor of Melvin Gelman, BA 40,
the Gelman Foundation presented the University with a $1.5
million naming gift for the University library. The building
was officially named the Melvin Gelman Library on May 14,
1980. According to the GW Times, former GW President
Lloyd H. Elliott said the members of the University community
were especially grateful that the Gelman family has
chosen an endowment for our librarythe heart of the
Universityto symbolize the familys ties over the
years with this institution.
50 Years Ago
In May of 1955, ground was broken for the
Tompkins Hall of Engineering, located on 23rd Street between
G and H Streets. The building was a gift of Charles H. Tompkins,
DE 46, who was then a member of the GW Board of Trustees.
The ceremony was attended by former dean of the School of
Engineering Martin A. Mason, former GW President Cloyd H.
Marvin, and former president of the Board of Trustees Robert
V. Fleming.
100 Years Ago
A 1905 issue of the GW Hatchet reports
that 11 members of the Medical Class of 1900, who originally
called themselves the Hippocrates Club during
their student days, reunited after the old fraternal
spirit drew them together again, forming the Hippocrates
Medical Society. Meeting twice a month, the club gave
to these young doctors an organization for the further study
and discussion of medical matters; a true post graduate school
in which they were themselves both faculty and student body.
The Magazine gratefully acknowledges
the assistance of University Archives in the identification
of interesting historical information. Readers wanting to
learn more about GWs history can find the University
Archives Web site by accessing www.gwu.edu/gelman/archives.
The sites Historical Almanac is especially informative.
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