AMERICAN.EDU/CAS/CONNECTIONS | FALL 2014
Q&A
with Kyle
Dargan
Inspiring
Pathways
to Policy
Statistically
Speaking
Always a
Teacher
NEUROSCIENCE
AT AU, pg. 2
Letter
from
the
Dean
On the cover
Magazine production
Erica Bullwinkle, MS
biology ’15 // Fat
cells photographed
through confocal
scope for neuroscience research
Publisher: College of Arts and Sciences // Dean: Peter Starr //
Managing Editor: Patty Housman // Writers: Abbey Becker,
Patty Housman, Jamie McCrary, Mike Rowan, Alyssa Röhricht //
Editor: Ali Kahn, UCM // Designer: Nicky Lehming //
Webmaster: Thomas Meal // Senior Advisor: Emily Schmidt //
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Join our conversation
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INNOVATION, COLLABORATION, AND BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
These are exciting times for the sciences at American University as we expand our Center for
Behavioral Neuroscience, launch a new bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, and build a state-ofthe-art technology and innovation building. In this issue of Connections, you’ll learn how these
interdisciplinary initiatives are transforming AU into a hub of research excellence.
This fall, we welcome 10 exceptional new tenure-line colleagues. They join a rich community
of educators who are conducting groundbreaking research, winning fellowships and grants, and
serving as presidents of national scholarly organizations.
In this issue, poet Kyle Dargan discusses teaching, his upcoming projects, and the state of poetry in
our nation’s capital. Creative writing professor Rachel Louise Snyder shares the inspiration behind
her first novel, What We’ve Lost Is Nothing. And history professor Peter Kuznick uses the lessons of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki to promote nuclear disarmament and peace for future generations.
We also take a look at the lives of three alumni and how the AU experience has impacted them
personally and professionally. Scientist and entrepreneur Morey Kraus, BA ’81, developed his
beliefs about life and work while studying religion at AU. Chazeman Jackson, MS ’04, is using
her biology background to develop better health care policies for all Americans. Clara Londoner,
BA ’63, who earned her degree in elementary education at AU, honors her husband’s legacy by
endowing a scholarship for a graduate student committed to the field of special education.
And we celebrate the legacy and continuing success of two outstanding programs. This fall
marks the 40th anniversary of AU’s Arts Management Program and the 80th anniversary of
the university’s choral ensembles. Today, our arts management graduates lead some of the finest
cultural institutions in the nation, and our choral and chamber singers entertain audiences in
DC and around the world.
These are just a few of the many exciting things going on in the College all year long. To stay
connected, please follow us on facebook.com/AUcollege or twitter.com/AUcollege.
Peter Starr
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
AMERICAN.EDU/CAS/CONNECTIONS | FALL 2014
Letter from the Dean
Neuroscience at AU
2
Arts Management Hits the Big 4- 0
4
Q & A with Kyle Dargan
6
Pulling the Light
7
A Field Day for Joeva Rock
8
Statistically Speaking
9
With new programs in the sciences, AU is growing as a hub of research excellence
AU and alumni mark the anniversary with an October celebration
The poet muses on his work, his process, and teaching
A first novel for creative writing professor Rachel Louise Snyder
Anthropology doctoral student conducts research in Ghana
New statistics professor Michael Baron exploring the possibilities of sequential analysis
Stem Cells Inc.
10
Teaching for Peace
11
Common Ground
12
Science + Policy for Health Parity
13
Inspiring Pathways to Policy
14
Always a Teacher
15
New Faculty
16
Donors
19
Achievements
21
Morey Kraus, BA religion ’81, finds his niche at the intersection of science and business
Historian Peter Kuznick, Nuclear Studies Institute director, mines the past to provoke dialogue
Matt Waskiewicz ’16 travels to Wales on a Fulbright Summer Institute grant
Chazeman Jackson, MS biology ’04, putting science to work for public health initiatives
SETH faculty welcomes research and policy wonk Jennifer Steele
Scholarship for special education teachers established by Clara Londoner, BA ’63
sciences
NEUROSCIENCE
AT AU
by
Patty
Housman
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY is serious about the sciences.
In the past two years, the university has established
the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, launched
a new BS in neuroscience, hired prominent new faculty, and broken ground on the state-of-the-art Don
Myers Technology and Innovation Building.
“Together these initiatives are bringing together scientists and other faculty across AU into a growing hub
of research excellence,” says Peter Starr, dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences. “Our emphasis is on innovation, collaboration, and building the university’s physical and intellectual resources in the sciences.”
CENTER FOR BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
The Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, established in 2012,
provides a research and training environment for faculty in different disciplines to work collaboratively to generate new ideas,
methods, and discoveries about the brain and how it works.
“Our center integrates knowledge in psychology, biology,
chemistry, and physics with neuroanatomy and physiology to advance our understanding of the cognitive, emotional, sensory, and regulatory functions that underlie human
2
behavior,” says Terry Davidson, professor of psychology
and founding director of the center. “We are adding faculty lines, hosting international symposiums, and building
core research facilities. With exciting new hires like biology
professor Mark Laubach, who studies what happens in our
brains when our expectations are violated, and SETH professor Kathleen Holton, who focuses on nutritional neuroscience, we are greatly expanding our intellectual resources.”
Neuroscience is a rapidly growing, multidisciplinary
field. Neuroscientists tackle complex health-related problems, including obesity, depression, addiction, and
cognitive dementia—some of the most costly and widespread threats to human well-being and quality of life.
Davidson’s most recent research, for example, focuses on
diet and obesity. It indicates that diets high in saturated fat
and refined sugar may cause changes to the brains of obese
people. These changes may fuel overconsumption of fatty and
sugary foods and make weight loss more challenging, creating
a vicious cycle. In his most recent paper, published by the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Davidson makes the
case for treating obesity with therapies aimed at areas of the
brain responsible for memory and other cognitive processes.
sciences
This month the center will
host its first Childhood Obesity
and Cognition Symposium,
which will bring together scientists to present their perspectives on the effects of obesity,
diet, and physical exercise on
the cognitive functioning of
children and adolescents.
“We are very excited
about the symposium,” says
Davidson. “AU faculty and other top scientists from around
the world will share groundbreaking research that may
make a real difference in treating these critical health issues.”
The center also sponsors
interdisciplinary events, like
an ongoing speaker series,
a lecture program, an annual
retreat, and a journal club.
“I believe the greatest strength
of the center is its focus on
research and scholarship
across a diverse set of areas
in behavioral neuroscience,”
says Colin Saldanha, biology
department chair and director
of the neuroscience program.
“This inclusive attitude promotes synergies across individuals and departments and
strengthens AU’s reputation
as a university that supports
scientific investigation and
teaching. I am looking forward
to watching the center grow
to include more faculty and
more areas of neuroscience.”
BS IN NEUROSCIENCE
This fall the College launched
its first undergraduate degree
in neuroscience. It focuses on
preparing students to meet
the interdisciplinary challenges
of this expanding field, offering courses from different
departments in the College.
Students will take core
courses in neuroscience and
will do additional course work
in basic biology, psychology,
chemistry, physics, and quantitative reasoning, all of which
will provide them with a solid
general science background.
“Students will also receive
training in using the scientific method, lab techniques,
and computational science
to address cutting-edge
questions in neuroscience,”
says Saldanha. “Our goal
is to fully prepare students
to work on a range of problems that are important for
physical health, mental health,
and, perhaps most importantly, to lay the foundation
towards understanding what
it means to be human.”
DON MYERS TECHNOLOGY
AND INNOVATION
BUILDING
Work has begun on the Don
Myers Technology and Innovation Building on the forthcoming East Campus. The building
will provide a cutting-edge and
collaborative learning environment for the departments of
computer science, physics,
mathematics and statistics,
and the new game design and
persuasive play program in
partnership with the School of
Communication. The building
will feature flexible collaboration space, the AU Game Lab,
a problem-based instructional
studio, computer classrooms,
seminar space, and faculty
offices and research labs.
“Substantial progress has
already been made in gathering departments and programs
together by similar disciplines
to create purposeful learning
spaces,” says Starr. “The
new technology and innovation building is the next step,
and it will serve as an incubator for new collaboration
among the sciences at
American University.” 
Heady Business
NEUROBIOLOGIST Mark
Laubach has devoted his
career to learning how
our brains work and how
they allow us to change
our plans when something
unexpected happens or
when things go wrong.
“I grew up during the
computer revolution when
many people thought that
brain function could be
explained using principles
from computer science,”
Laubach says. “I have never
been convinced of that.”
And so he’s concentrated
his research on how our
brains enable us to act
flexibly—something that
computers are not very
good at doing.
Laubach joined AU’s
Department of Biology and
the Center for Behavioral
Neuroscience this fall. Formerly an associate professor of neurobiology at Yale
School of Medicine and
an associate fellow at the
John B. Pierce Laboratory
in New Haven, Connecticut,
Laubach will be teaching
undergraduate and graduate students and conducting
research through the center.
“Professor Laubach is an
outstanding, internationally
known scientist who is eager
to share his knowledge and
skills to help others achieve
their research goals,” says
Terry Davidson, professor of
psychology and center director. “That makes him a great
fit with the mission of the
center and with the philosophy of American University.”
Laubach’s research
focuses on understanding
the neuronal circuit basis of
decision making, motivation, and self-control. He is
especially interested in how
decisions are adjusted when
outcomes do not match
expectations. His laboratory
uses multi-electrode recordings, optogenetics, and
computational methods to
record brain cell activity and
analyze the resulting data.
“I am thrilled to be at AU,
and I am delighted to take
part in Professor Davidson’s
new Center for Behavioral
Neuroscience. The center
offers an exciting new way
for neuroscience researchers
at AU to work together to
solve problems of common
interest,” says Laubach.
This fall he is teaching a
course based on President
Obama’s BRAIN (Brain
Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative, which
aims to develop methods
for understanding brain
function. In the spring, he
will teach a course for the
new neuroscience major
that will focus on the cellular basis of brain function.
Laubach is excited to
be back in the classroom.
“I have been at a medical
school for the past 13 years
and had limited interaction with undergraduate
students,” he says. “I am
very much looking forward
to teaching courses for the
new neuroscience major
and hosting students for
research in my lab. I can’t
wait to see the first neuroscience majors graduate in
a few years and go on to
productive careers in science and medicine.” 
3
arts
Arts Management
Hits the Big
at American
University is celebrating 40 years
of training students to become successful arts and cultural managers in
all areas of the visual and performing arts. AU will mark the program’s
anniversary with a two-day celebration in the Katzen Arts Center in
October, providing an opportunity for alumni to reconnect.
The program offers a master’s
degree, as well as graduate certificates
in international arts management
and technology in arts management.
Students benefit from collaborations
with the likes of Sotheby’s in London,
the U.S. State Department, major
foundations, and executive education
programs around the world. Closer to
home, the program prepares students
for internships and jobs at many of
DC’s leading cultural institutions.
Arts management students take
classes in marketing, fundraising,
financial management, and cultural
policy. “The reason programs like
ours were founded is because people
wanted to make sure arts organizations were being run effectively,”
says director Ximena Varela. “It is
not just about getting a degree in
management. From the beginning,
our program’s mission has been to
serve the broader community.”
What best showcases the program’s
strength, however, is the success of its
alumni: nearly 100 percent of graduates find work within six months
of graduation. With more than 450
alumni arts managers, AU has had a
broad impact on the arts across the
nonprofit, public, and private sectors and a presence in such organizations as the National Endowment for
the Arts, John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts, Strathmore, and
IMG Artists. In the last seven years,
six of AU’s arts management graduates received Fulbright scholarships,
ARTS MANAGEMENT
4
by
Jamie
McCrary
making the program a top Fulbright
contender. “One of the things that
attracted me to the program was that
our students and alumni are driven,”
says Varela. “They’re problem solvers
and make ideas happen in the field—
they are out there doing things.”
The program emerged out of a
series of meetings between performing arts professor Valerie Morris and
National Endowment for the Arts
staff about the need for management
training programs for nonprofit arts
leaders. Morris directed AU’s program
from 1974 until 1998, during which
time it grew to nearly 80 students.
Though the program has experienced much growth and change
over its four decades, one thing has
remained constant: its commitment
to innovation. “The curriculum and
the program have adapted through
time,” Varela says. “We are focused
on innovation, which means we
anticipate what will happen in the
field and make sure the program is
aligned and ready for these changes.”
One such innovation was a
complete restructuring of the curriculum in 2010, resulting in more
international arts management perspectives in the classroom and a
new study-abroad program with
Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London.
Participants take classes at the institute for a semester and receive a
diploma from Sotheby’s in addition to a master’s in arts management from AU. This offers students
the opportunity to develop an
understanding of the nonprofit arts
world outside the United States
and in different cultural settings.
“The program has grown tremendously over the last 40 years in size,
scope, and reputation,” says arts management senior professorial lecturer
Sherburne Laughlin. “I look forward
to its growth over the next 40 years.” 
arts
Courtesy of University Archives
Courtesy of University Archives
Eight Decades of Song
Founded in 1934, AU’s choral ensembles
celebrate their 80th anniversary this fall.
DANIEL ABRAHAM, chair of the Department of Performing
Jeff Watts
Arts, says that AU’s choral and chamber singers serve
as ambassadors of the university. “Not only do our music
ensembles tour and do outreach in the community,” he says,
“but there’s also an internal reach that’s really important.
The fact that students can see their classmates creating
incredible music is an opportunity we need to continue to
cultivate and promote. . . . Our ensembles enable students
to explore the arts in an interactive, experiential way and
give them experiences that can be really life altering.” 
5
humanities
Courtesy of Kyle Dargan
Q&A
with poet Kyle Dargan
Kyle G. Dargan is a professor of creative writing in the Department of Literature.
He is the author of three collections of poetry published by the University of
Georgia Press, most recently Logorrhea Dementia: A Self-Diagnosis (2010). His debut
work, The Listening (2004), won the Cave Canem Prize, and his second, Bouquet
of Hungers (2007), won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for poetry. Dargan’s
work has appeared in Callaloo, Denver Quarterly, jubilat, Newark’s Star-Ledger,
Ploughshares, Shenandoah, and theroot.com. He is the founding editor of Post No Ills
magazine and postnoills.com and recently served as managing editor of Callaloo.
In addition to writing and teaching at AU, Dargan has partnered with the
President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities to produce poetry programming
at the White House and Library of Congress. He runs poetry workshops for
DC high school students in conjunction with 826DC, a nonprofit organization
that supports young writers ages 6 to 18 and their teachers. He recently returned
from a two-month trip to China as a guest of the Chinese Writers Association.
6
Are you working on
any new projects?
My new poetry collection
[Honest Engine] will be published in [March 2015], and
I am working on another booklength project, Panzer Herz,
which is a personal exploration and deconstruction of
contemporary masculinity.
I’m also editing an anthology
with Wondaland [Arts Society]
producer Chuck Lightning
[Charles Joseph II] titled I Have
a Scream: An Imagination
Proclamation, which we envision to be a post-Obama
snapshot of the cultural and
sociopolitical zeitgeist.
humanities
arts
I jokingly tell people that
being a poet means I notice
stuff for a living. To write is to
first see or hear some element
of the world and then attempt
to render it with language, be
that in a realist or fantastical
manner. So the most important aspect of my writing process is the seeing; after that,
there’s just a lot of tinkering
and questioning what, aesthetically, the piece of writing
needs in relation to its subject.
Do you think DC
is a good place for
poets and poetry?
Any place is a good place
for poetry—especially the
places where free voices are
repressed. These are the places
where poetry’s disregard for
the status quo is needed. DC
has a great poetry infrastructure—the Library of Congress
and the poet laureate, the
Folger Shakespeare Library,
etc.—but it is important
that we do not allow those
major institutions to overshadow all the ground-level
poetry activity that (in the
best sense) agitates this town.
What is the best
part of teaching
creative writing?
Creative writing is a pedagogically pleasing discipline.
In a creative writing class, we
are all studying the ideas and
experiences students bring to
the class as well as their ability to frame and communicate them creatively, so being
privy to that self-discovery
and artistic evolution is always
rewarding. Every student is
different, and they all can’t be
pushed with the same intensity. It is a delicate dynamic. 
Jocelyn Augustino
Can you tell us a
little about your
writing process?
by
Patty Housman
RACHEL LOUISE SNYDER—
creative writing professor,
investigative journalist, public radio commentator—can
now add another line to her
résumé: novelist. Her first
novel, What We’ve Lost Is
Nothing (Scribner, 2014),
chronicles the 24 hours following a series of burglaries in a Chicago suburb.
The book received glowing
reviews. Booklist described
it as “a muscular and fearless debut novel that boldly
tackles the heady themes
of prejudice, self-preservation, poverty, and privilege.”
The Washington Post said it
has “the stamp of authenticity.” Vogue.com named it
one of the 10 best suspense
novels in spring 2014.
Snyder had been living
and working as a journalist in
Cambodia for six years when
she decided to write a novel.
She was interested in exploring the dual sides of a tragedy. “My mother died when I
was very young, and I learned
the importance of making
one’s life count,” she explains.
“Experiences like this shape
how you see the world. I gravitate towards the dark—and
how people manage to pull
light out of those moments.”
Snyder set her novel in
the Oak Park neighborhood
of Chicago, known for its
racial diversity and progressive housing policies. After
graduate school, Snyder
worked in Oak Park as a
resident manager of an
apartment building, which
gave her insights into the
community and its residents. It also provided the
perfect setting for tackling
issues of race and socioeconomics through fiction.
“I’ve always been interested
in social justice,” she says.
Her career as a journalist
reflects that passion. Snyder
has traveled to more than
50 countries, writing about
women’s rights in Afghanistan,
the Dalai Lama’s exile in India,
the tsunami in Indonesia, and
genocide in Cambodia.
In her first book, Fugitive
Denim: A Moving Story of
People and Pants in the
Borderless World of Global
Trade (W. W. Norton, 2007),
she maps the global garment industry, beginning
in a New York showroom
and tracking backwards to a
denim maker in Italy, a factory in Cambodia, and a cotton picker in Azerbaijan.
Snyder also has written
about a wide range of subjects closer to home, from
missing soldiers to rock
stars to domestic violence.
Her 2013 article for the New
Yorker, “A Raised Hand,”
identified a new approach for
preventing domestic violence
from escalating into domestic
homicide, and she currently
is writing a story for the
New York Times Magazine
about familicide. She has
written for Slate, Salon, the
Washington Post, the Chicago
Tribune, New Republic, Travel
and Leisure, and Glamour,
among others. She hosted the
nationally syndicated global
affairs series Latitudes on public radio, and her stories have
aired on This American Life
and All Things Considered.
Snyder currently teaches literary journalism and
other related courses in the
College’s creative writing MFA
program. She says she’s been
lucky to see a lot of students
get published in top-notch venues. “I’ve seen graduate students come in showing just an
inkling of promise; then suddenly their writing explodes,”
she says. “They come into
themselves as writers. It’s
an extraordinary process.”
Opportunities and second
chances for young people are
very much on Snyder’s mind
these days as she begins
work on a memoir. “My story
is about a life of movement,”
she says. “I was kicked out
of my house when I was 16,
and I dropped out of high
school and lived in my car for
months. But eventually I found
my way to college and then
to grad school. I was offered
not only one huge second
chance—but chances again
and again from so many different people and places.”
Perhaps the biggest thing
that makes good writers
stand out both inside and
outside the classroom, she
says, is their determination. “I have written about
everything from Canadian
geese to suburban youth
soccer. I never said no to a
writing project. I’ve always
just wanted to write.” 
7
social
sciences
sciences
ANTHROPOLOGY PHD STUDENT Joeva Rock spent the summer in Ghana researching the country’s
emerging food sovereignty movement. Supporters are fighting for the right of the Ghanaian people
to determine their own food and agriculture policies. The movement emerged in response to recently
proposed legislation that would allow genetically modified (GM) crops and seeds to enter the country.
A typical day of fieldwork, reports Rock, went something like this (clockwise from right):
8 p.m.
Finally make the two-hour trek home—
arrive exhausted and crawl into bed.
6:30 p.m.
I meet a friend at a local center
that screens documentaries. This
week’s film is about the foreigndominated copper industry in
Zambia. The discussion afterwards
focuses on extractive industries in
Ghana: 95 percent of gold reserves
and 87 percent of oil reserves are
held by foreign companies. The
wealth created by such operations
flows out of the country.
4 p.m.
urt
esy
of J
oeva
Rock
Another break, which happens
to coincide with a soccer
match on television. I sit in a
breezy room and watch.
Co
3 p.m.
I’m off for another unexpected
meeting, this one with a lawyer
who has been active in the food
sovereignty movement. We talk about
my research intentions. I tell him my
parents have always wanted me to be
a lawyer. He tells me it’s not too late.
2 p.m.
I take a break at the chop bar
(a small restaurant that serves
Ghanaian dishes). I find a table in the
shade and order jollof rice (a spicy
tomato stew-based dish)—and catch
up on my field notes for the day so far.
8
1 p.m.
The activist offers to introduce me to a well-known local journalist
whose office is nearby. I spend the next hour speaking with
the journalist about Ghanaian and international politics.
sciences
Statistically
for Joeva
Rock
Speaking
by
Patty Housman
STATISTICIAN MICHAEL BARON
6 a.m.
I’m up early to head into the heart of Accra
to meet a local food activist. I follow my
morning routine of coffee, news, and
writing. I rely on Nescafé in Ghana, often
doubling the recommended amount in order
to get an adequate amount of caffeine.
I log on to a Ghanaian online news outlet
to read that the minister of information and
media relations has denied that Ghana
is undergoing a serious economic crisis.
I’m surprised to read this, as the crisis
is no secret, with the national currency
depreciating daily, rising inflation and
prices, and a possible IMF bailout.
9 a.m.
After breakfast of coffee and a meat pie,
I head out. The drill goes like this: I walk to
the taxi run, take a shared taxi to the junction
of a busy road, and wait for a tro-tro
(a van or bus used as unofficial public
transportation) to get to the junction of an
even busier road. There, I wait again for
another tro-tro to take me to Kwame Nkrumah
Circle, the bustling center of Accra.
10 a.m.
To my surprise there is no traffic today, and
I arrive early. Luckily, I am right by Busy
Internet, a large café popular for its highspeed Internet access and air conditioning.
Due to frequent power outages caused by
load shedding (intentional rolling blackouts),
my access to the Internet and computer is
limited, so I take advantage of it while I can.
11 a.m.
A food activist picks me up on his motorbike and takes
me to his office. We sit for a few hours and talk about
the Plant Breeders’ Bill that is sitting in Parliament.
Activists say its purpose is to usher in genetically
modified seeds and foodstuffs to Ghana, a prospect
that is opposed by a broad coalition of NGOs, faithbased organizations, trade unions, politicians, and other
individuals. Opponents argue that the bill will allow
foreign companies to dominate seed systems and harm
Ghana’s small-scale farmers. They are also worried
about potential health implications of GM seeds.
thinks big when it comes to his
subject. The new faculty member
in the Department of Mathematics
and Statistics plans to continue
his research on the expanded
application of statistics.
His focus is sequential analysis,
an approach through which data is
collected and evaluated sequentially
in real time, with no fixed sample
size. When significant results are
observed, the sampling of data is
stopped. This type of statistical
analysis often leads to conclusions
at an earlier stage than is possible
with traditional techniques—and at
a lower cost.
Currently funded by a National
Science Foundation grant, he and a
former computer science colleague at
the University of Texas–Dallas, where
Baron worked previously, are working
with the U.S. Defense Department’s
Defense Threat Reduction Agency to
study distribution changes in Internet
traffic to improves the prediction
of potential threats, such as terrorist attacks. “We look for frequencies of certain keywords in text data
streams,” he says. “When some of
their distributions suddenly change,
we know there has to be a reason
for it, maybe a potential threat.”
Born in Russia, Baron received
an MS in mathematics from Saint
Petersburg State University. He subsequently came to the U.S. to enroll
as a PhD student in statistics at the
University of Maryland. While there,
he discovered that sequential statistics would allow him to apply the
elegant math theories he learned in
Russia to solve the daily operational
problems challenging many companies. “I worked at IBM for a year,
and they were interested in finding
out very quickly where the distribution changes on their factory lines
were occurring,” he says. “In fields
like epidemiology, security, and quality control, you want to know when
something has changed—and why.”
by
Abbey Becker
Baron likes the applicable outcomes he gets from sequential
analysis. “I’m always satisfied when
I can prove a result or derive a new
method, something that people
can actually implement and use,”
he says. “It feels like a discovery.”
He also likes to instill this feeling
of accomplishment in his students.
When asked to create a new undergraduate statistics course at the
University of Texas–Dallas, Baron
designed a class for computer
science and software engineering
majors weighted with stochastic
modeling and simulation. “I didn’t
want them to think this course was
just a curriculum requirement,” he
says. “I wanted to show them how
statistics can be useful in their professional careers and everyday life.”
It was a hit. Based on the success of that course, Baron wrote
a book, Probability and Statistics
for Computer Scientists (Chapman
and Hall/CRC, 2007). The book
generated a huge response from
academics around the world;
today, it is used as a classroom
text at some 15 universities in
eight countries, and a second edition was published in 2013.
Baron likes to check in with his
former PhD students and advisees
to see what they’re up to. “Many
of them pursued academic careers,
and some have already graduated
their own doctoral students,” he
says. “That makes me an academic
grandfather.” He also solicits their
feedback to improve his teaching
for current and future students.
Now that he’s based in DC,
Baron looks forward to partnering with organizations like the
National Institutes of Health,
the Environmental Protection
Agency, and the Department of
Defense. But there’s one aspect
of Washington he’s not sold on:
“I’m a Dallas Cowboys fan,”
he admits. “I guess I’ll have to
become a Redskins fan now.” 
9
Courtesy of Morey Kraus
history
sciences
Stem Cells Inc.
MOREY KRAUS’S winding
career has led him through
the worlds of science and
technology and business. But
his basic beliefs about life and
work, which he developed
while studying philosophy and
religion at American University,
have never changed.
“You cannot step twice
into the same river,” he says,
quoting Greek philosopher
Heraclitus. “When you look
at different business opportunities, you make conclusions
based on assumptions at that
given time and place. But
everything is always changing,
and you must continuously
adapt. This has been a big
theme in my career.”
Kraus, BA religion ’81,
started out studying philosophy at AU after taking a class
in great ideas that changed
history. He took a year off
between his sophomore and
junior years to study at a
yeshiva in Israel, where his
interest in religion deepened.
He ultimately graduated as
a religion major with a minor
in philosophy and considered becoming a rabbi.
Instead, his life took one
of those turns. He returned
home to Pennsylvania to start
a successful roofing business,
installing rubber roofs for
large buildings like schools,
10
by
Patty Housman
churches, and shopping malls.
“I enjoyed seeing what I had
done afterwards,” he says.
“I liked building something that
would stand for a long time.”
But he began to feel
that he wasn’t fulfilling his
intellectual goals. On the
advice of an uncle, a professor of veterinary medicine, Kraus decided to go
back to school at night to
study science. “I was retooling. My classes gave me a
new vocabulary and new
ways of thinking,” he says.
Then he heard about a new
program in biotechnology at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He was intrigued.
“I was optimistic about the
possibilities of using science
and business to change the
world for the better,” he says.
Within weeks, he sold his
roofing business, moved
to Massachusetts, and
enrolled at WPI, where he
became a doctoral candidate in the interdisciplinary
program of biotechnology
and chemical engineering.
While at WPI, Kraus was
asked to write a research
proposal about stem cells,
a subject completely unrelated
to his field of study—and
which altered his path.
In 1994, he formed his
own company, t.Breeders Inc.,
and focused his research on
the growth of stem cells for
treatment of life-threatening
diseases. Kraus served as
chairman and chief executive officer until 2000,
when t.Breeders merged
with ViaCord, a company
that banks and preserves
umbilical cord blood.
When PerkinElmer Inc.
acquired ViaCord in 2007,
Kraus became chief science officer. “Once again,
I learned that different types
of leaders are necessary for
different times. I went from
the CEO of a technology
company to the chief science
officer of a very different type
of commercial enterprise,”
he says. “It’s astonishing to
see how we took an idea in
the field of hard science and
got it financed and brought
it all the way to this level
of commercial success.”
Kraus’s current research
on the use of cord blood
stem cells to treat disease
involves a clinical trial in collaboration with Duke University Medical Center. The
study focuses on the impact
of cord blood infusion in children with autism. He also
is exploring other ways to
contribute to science and
society: he serves as a mentor for the next generation of
scientists at WPI, and he sits
on the American University
Science Council, an external
advisory board working to
advance scientific research
and support students pursuing careers in scientific fields.
Kraus says he still draws
on his religion classes at AU.
“I’ve learned that the river of
opportunity is always changing. The most important thing
is to learn how to learn—and
that process really started for
me at American University.” 
FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS,
history professor Peter
Kuznick has been focusing on a topic that most
people would rather not
touch: nuclear war.
“One of the sad
things for me,” he says,
“is that nobody talks
about nuclear history
in the United States,
and students don’t
really learn about it.”
This is mainly what
prompted Kuznick to
found the Nuclear Studies Institute at AU in
1995—50 years after
the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Its
mission is to educate the
public about the history
of nuclear weapons and
the nuclear arms race.
Kuznick was also
inspired by AU alumna
Akiko Naono, whose
grandfather was killed
in the Hiroshima bombing. During the institute’s inaugural summer,
he worked with Naono
humanities
Teaching for
and fellow history professor Valerie French to
host an exhibition of
artifacts from Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, the first
such exhibit outside of
Japan. Officials in the
two cities were eager to
find an alternative venue
after the Smithsonian
Institution cancelled
its planned Enola Gay
exhibit under political
pressure from Congress
and veterans groups.
The AU exhibit,
which included personal
objects, like the lunchbox of an 11-year-old
girl who was vaporized
in the bombing, endeavored “to grapple honestly with the moral and
military implications of
the atomic bombings,
including the fact that
they knowingly opened
the door to potentially
ending all life on the
planet,” says Kuznick.
Since that first summer, Kuznick, who
directs the institute, has
led AU students on an
annual study-abroad trip
to Kyoto, Hiroshima,
and Nagasaki, during
which they live, travel,
and study with students
and professors from
two Japanese universities. The educational
and cultural exchange
is often a deeply emotional and sometimes
life changing experience for students.
This past summer,
there was the added
element of celebrity,
when Academy Awardwinning director Oliver
Stone, Kuznick’s collaborator on the New York
Times best-selling book
and 12-part Showtime television series
The Untold History
of the United States,
joined the trip.
“In Japan, we are
looked upon as America’s peace university,”
Kuznick explains.
by
Alyssa Röhricht
Courtesy of Peter Kuznick
PEACE
AU was selected to
serve as the center of
next year’s events in
the United States commemorating the 70th
anniversary of the bombings. The American
University Museum at
the Katzen Arts Center
will display 6 of the 15
renowned Hiroshima
Panels, a series of large
murals by internationally
acclaimed artists Iri and
Toshi Maruki.
The works, which
have not been shown in
this country for decades,
depict the suffering of
the bombing victims.
Kuznick likens them to
Pablo Picasso’s painting
Guernica and describes
the figures depicted in
the murals as “ghosts
walking through hell.”
While the murals are
controversial and haunting, says Kuznick, they
provide a springboard
to get people talking
about our history—the
bad as well as the good.
“This is essential.
Countries have to face
their historical responsibility, and educating
the public about our
past is the first step.” 
11
social sciences
Emily Schebler
by
Patty Housman
WHAT DO the
country of Wales
and western Massachusetts
have in common?
Matt Waskiewicz; BS
economics, BA political science ’16; spent six weeks in
Wales exploring the answer to
this question on a Fulbright
Summer Institute grant.
He began his trip at Cardiff
University, located in the
Welsh capital on the south
coast, studying how shipping
and mining have shaped the
country’s economy. He then
traveled north to Bangor to
learn about traditional Welsh
culture and how the local
tourism industry is working to create jobs and preserve
the region’s cultural heritage.
Waskiewicz ended his trip
12
at Aberystwyth University in
Mid Wales, an agricultural
area known for its wind farming industry, where he looked
at sustainable energy practices.
“My Fulbright gave me
the opportunity to examine a
post-industrial society similar
to the United States and its
ability to adapt to the twentyfirst century realities of globalization and climate change,”
he says. “The United States
is grappling with many of
the same challenges as
contemporary Wales.”
It was a photograph on the
Fulbright website that first got
Waskiewicz thinking about
Wales. The image of the country’s rural north reminded him
of home. “The rolling hills and
picturesque farms looked very
similar to those of my small
hometown of Hadley in western Massachusetts,” he says.
He discovered that the
two places have more in common than their landscapes.
Like western Massachusetts,
Wales has a large Polish population. Between 1945 and
1950, the United Kingdom
opened its doors to refugees
from Poland seeking to escape
Soviet oppression behind
the Iron Curtain, and a wave
of immigrants poured into
tiny Wales. A second wave of
Polish immigrants has been
arriving over the past decade,
and Polish-born residents
now outnumber all other
immigrant populations.
“I was fascinated because
I am half Polish,” says Waskiewicz. “Polish culture is very
strong in the tiny community
where I grew up. We went
to polka concerts, celebrated
Polish holidays, and made
pierogi together at church.
Wherever you go in western Massachusetts, you’ll
find Polish music and
food and culture.”
The Fulbright gave him
an opportunity to compare
Polish immigrant culture in
Wales and the United States.
During his second week in
Cardiff, he visited a familyowned Polish restaurant. “It
made me think of my ancestors and other Polish families who came to the United
humanities
sciences
Science + Policy
for Health Parity
by
Jamie McCrary
“FOR AS LONG as I can remember,” says
alumna Chazeman Jackson, “I’ve felt that
my purpose is the pursuit of equity and
helping those who are least able to help
themselves.” She wanted a career that connected to this purpose. And she’s found it.
Jackson, MS biology ’04, is the health
science advisor in the Office of Minority
Health at the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, a job that gives her
the satisfaction of helping to improve public health for minority populations.
An area of particular interest to Jackson
is cardiovascular disease, which kills nearly
800,000 Americans and accounts for one
in three deaths, with treatment costs totaling more than $300 billion each year. The
statistics are even more discouraging for
minorities: non-Hispanic black adults are
about 50 percent more likely to die prematurely of heart disease or stroke than
their non-Hispanic white counterparts.
Jackson is committed to lowering these
numbers through such projects as Million
Hearts, an initiative that aims to prevent one
million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.
She works with agencies across the nation
to translate science research into interventions that will improve the health of all
Americans. “Health disparity is a major
issue,” she says. “[Americans] are not achieving their best health. If we can create an
environment where it’s easier to make healthy
choices, it will help level the playing field.”
A Gates Millennium Scholar at AU, Jackson
received a full scholarship from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation. She was attracted
to DC for its globalism—and to AU because it
Courtesy of Chazeman Jackson
States to create better lives.
And in both Wales and in
western Massachusetts, it was
through hard work and determination that the dream of a
good life became a reality.”
Over the course of six weeks,
Waskiewicz found other connections between Wales and
western Massachusetts. Both
places, he observed, face the
challenge of providing a future
that is both economically
and environmentally sustainable. Both had been dominated at one time by industry
and supported by agriculture.
Though they thrived on different industries—coal in
Wales and textiles in western
Massachusetts—they share the
challenge of regenerating their
economies after the shuttering
of their dominant industry.
Waskiewicz hopes to
apply what he learned in
Wales toward a career in
politics and public service.
He’s already tested the political waters with two internships on Capitol Hill.
At AU, he has been a
member of the AU Honors
Program, a resident assistant, a trumpeter in AU’s jazz
band, and the president of
the Student Honors Board.
Eventually Waskiewicz plans
to go to law school, but
in the interim he wants to
take time off from his studies to do political work in
DC or Massachusetts.
“Studying in Wales was
an incredible experience,” he
says. “The Fulbright program
gave me an opportunity to see
how we all impact each other
economically, culturally, and
environmentally, even across
rivers and oceans. By studying the transformations in
Wales, I better understand
how similar changes might
happen in the United States.
Someday I want to help make
changes like this happen.” 
offered the opportunity to study science
within a liberal arts setting.“AU was a place
for discovering who I am and what I wanted
out of life,” she says. “My mentors and
professors helped transform me into who
I wanted to become.”
After working for a year as a biologist at the
National Science Foundation, Jackson was
offered a position at the Institute of Medicine
of the National Academies through the
Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology
Policy Graduate Fellowship Program. The
12-week fellowship for early-career individuals served as a gateway for Jackson, enabling
her to explore the development of policy—
what worked and what did not. “That type
of assessment really excited me,” Jackson
says. “I felt like I had found my niche.”
Jackson believes that policy work allows
her to have the greatest impact on the largest
number of people. Translating science to
policy enables her to inform the big decisions
that will affect individuals and communities on
a daily basis. “Access to quality health care
should be something attainable for everyone,”
she says. “In order to make this happen, we
need to make some significant progress,”
she says, “and changes need to be
made on a system level.”
When asked about her hopes and ambitions for the future, Jackson prefers to talk
instead about her legacy. “I want people to
remember me as a service-scientist—as
somebody who tackled the hardest questions
and did so as a service to my community.”
In short, she says, she wants to continue her
evolution as “a better human being so I can
contribute [to] making this a better world.” 
13
Jeff Watts
arts
education
Inspiring
Pathways
to Policy
by
Jamie McCrary
A PASSIONATE EDUCATOR and policy
researcher, Jennifer Steele believes
that good education policy decisions
come from good data analysis.
“In education, we strive to do what
we think is best for students, but we
don’t always know what that is,” she
says. “Careful evaluation of data and
existing research can point us in the
direction of what works.”
Steele spent the last six years as a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation,
a nonprofit dedicated to improving policy
through research and analysis. This fall,
she joined AU as an associate professor
in the School of Education, Teaching,
and Health (SETH), where she is teaching a graduate course in research methods. “I’m very excited to teach students
how to make the best use of the data
they find and how to accurately communicate their findings,” Steele says.
“I want to help [them] become wellequipped education policy leaders.”
Steele’s interest in education policy evolved from her own experience
working as a teacher. After earning
her master’s in education at Stanford
University, she taught English in an
urban high school in San Diego.
During her tenure there, the school
district underwent structural reforms
intended to improve student learning.
But Steele says those policy changes
felt “top down” to many educators,
including herself, and some of the
changes did not seem to take context into account. “I became very
14
interested in how the policy decisions
were made and how data and research
were used to inform these policies.”
About her new position at AU,
Steele is most excited about having
working teachers in her classroom;
through them, she says, she can have
the most direct impact in the training
of current and future educators.
She says, too, that SETH’s commitment to community makes it an ideal
place for her to translate her research
into practice. Through SETH, AU actively
partners with DC public schools and
teacher-service organizations, like the New
Teacher Project and Teach for America,
enabling student teachers to take their skills
and knowledge out into the real world.
“One reason I was really attracted
to AU was because of its connection to
the DC area. The university works to have
an impact on the quality of instruction
students are receiving in the District of
Columbia,” Steele says. “Bringing my
research to AU and being able to work with
students who have a direct connection to
the community is a dream opportunity.”
More than anything, Steele hopes
that by working with AU students, she
will help create informed and passionate
educators and education policy leaders.
“Students may become teacher-leaders,
school administrators, or state or federal
leaders,” says Steele. “Whatever path
[they] take, knowing that I’ve helped
prepare the policy leaders of tomorrow
is the most exciting impact I can
imagine having in my career.” 
BA
elementary education ’63,
understands how far a little
extra support can go.
At the age of 10, after
her grades slipped in several
subjects at school, Londoner
was diagnosed with a vague
learning disability, which
she called a “word problem”
(understood today as dyslexia).
A dedicated teacher helped her
to catch up with her classmates
and succeed academically.
Overcoming personal adversity in her own studies ignited
Londoner’s passion to teach,
which was further nurtured
during her time on campus
as she earned her degree in
elementary education.
After graduation, she taught
CLARA LONDONER,
education
Jeff Watts
by
Mike Rowan
and worked in art galleries
in New York City while she
raised a family. “Even when I
worked in galleries, I used my
teaching skills to educate
people about art and art
history,” she explains.
Twenty-five years later,
Londoner decided to return
to school for a master’s in
special education at the Bank
Street Graduate School of
Education. “My children were
grown up and well on their
way. I wanted to work as an
educational therapist,” she
says. “There is a real need for
well-trained special education
teachers and specialists, and I
wanted to help fill this need.”
Londoner and her husband,
David, always believed in the
importance of education. For
years, they were very involved
at American University as
donors and fundraisers.
After his death in 2012,
David left a legacy to the
university. “Both David and
I always believed the most
valuable gift you can give
a child is an education,”
says Londoner. “My sons
and I agreed that the best
way to use David’s legacy
was to endow a scholarship, to be awarded each
year to a deserving graduate student in the field
of special education.”
Londoner worked with
the College of Arts and Sciences to establish the Clara
F. Londoner and David J.
Londoner Scholarship. The
award provides financial assistance to graduate students
demonstrating their commitment to the field of special
education—and, in particular, to art integration and to
teaching a diverse K–12
student body.
Last year, Londoner returned
to American University for
her 50th reunion—and the
official announcement of
the scholarship. She also
met the first recipient.
“It was an important anniversary for me personally and
an important anniversary
for the school. At my commencement, President John F.
Kennedy delivered his famous
speech calling for an end to
the nuclear arms race with the
Soviet Union. I still remember
him flying onto campus in a
helicopter. It was a very exciting and important time.”
Londoner reflects on her
years at AU. “I do not believe
that I could have done all that
I did,” she says, “without the
motivation and inspiration
that I received from the exceptional professors at American
University. At AU, I learned
how to teach, and I’ve used
these skills throughout my
career. Once you’re a teacher,
you’re always a teacher.”
This article was adapted from
the original at american.edu/
giving/news/clara-londoner-2014celebration-of-scholarships.cfm. 
15
new faculty
—Michael Baron
MICHAEL BARON
Areas of research: social dimensions of HIV/AIDS,
local experiences with global change, gender and
sexuality, field research methods, sub-Saharan Africa
“My interest in studying the social dimensions of
AIDS was inspired by my work as an HIV counselor
in New York City working with communities
experiencing the AIDS epidemic firsthand. An
opportunity to work on related issues in Malawi
as a graduate student research assistant, and later
in South Africa as a postdoctoral fellow, led to my
regional interest in sub-Saharan Africa (where HIV
prevalence is disproportionately high) and to specific
research about how local communities experience
global HIV health interventions. AIDS is both a
social disease and a biomedical one, and the tools
of social science are suited uniquely to enhance
efforts aimed at prevention and treatment. This
drives the passion I have for my work.
I hope I can create for students the same draw
to sociology that captured my early interest and arm
them with theoretical and methodological
tools to [pursue] research questions about which
they are passionate and that matter [in] people’s
lives. I also hope to contribute meaningful, healthfocused social science research that keeps me in
active dialogue with government entities, international
organizations, funders, and biomedical researchers.”
“I hope I can create for
students the same draw
to sociology that captured
my early interest and arm
them with theoretical and
methodological tools to
[pursue] research questions
about which they are
passionate and that matter
[in] people’s lives.”
—Nicole Angotti
16
Professor, Department of Mathematics
and Statistics
»» PhD statistics, University of Maryland
»» MS mathematics, Saint Petersburg
State University
Areas of research: sequential analysis and optimal
sequential designs, change-point detection,
multiple comparisons, Bayesian inference,
application of statistics in epidemiology, clinical
trials, semiconductor manufacturing, actuarial
science, energy finance, cybersecurity (see p. 9)
“Working in statistics opens endless opportunities to
derive mathematically optimal decision-making tools
under uncertainty and then work with scientists
and practitioners in diverse fields to solve cuttingedge problems, often including the key areas of
national interest. My main passion is a branch of
statistics that is called sequential analysis. It covers
all statistical methods designed for sequentially
collected data. A statistician observes the data
as they arrive and decides when it is best to stop
collecting data and report results and [determine]
what decision to take once sampling is seized.
I enjoy the dynamics of sequential designs, their
flexibility, and application to many fields. . . .
For example, [sequential analysis] allows [us] to
stop a [clinical] trial if a tested treatment is found
to be inefficient or unsafe. On the other hand, it
allows [us] to extend the study until a definite result
about its efficacy is obtained. [By] optimizing the
clinical trial, I can achieve the required accuracy
at the minimal expected cost. This, in turn, means
reduction of the cost of medicines—and ultimately,
reduction in the cost of health care.”
Jeff Watts
JOHN BRACHT
Assistant professor, Department of Biology
»» PhD biology, University of California–San Diego
»» BS biology, New Mexico Tech
Areas of research: genomics, cell biology,
microbiology, epigenetics
“My postdoctoral work, uncovering the epigenetic
modifications of DNA in protozoa, answered one
question but also revealed several new puzzles.
For example, the protozoa I study don’t have
the standard gene set that makes epigenetic
modifications on DNA, so something fundamentally
different, and unknown, must be involved.
While at AU, I’d like to find the answer to that
mystery. I also want to work on cancer drug
discovery using single-celled organisms. And I
also want to spend significant time teaching and
mentoring­—training the next generation of thinkers
who are destined to be future leaders. This is yet
another reason why working in Washington, DC,
and [at] AU in particular, is exciting.”
“I also want to spend
significant time teaching and
mentoring—training the next
generation of thinkers who are
destined to be future leaders.”
—John Bracht
ANNE CLAUS
Jeff Watts
Assistant professor, Department of Sociology
»» PhD sociology, University of Texas–Austin
»» MA international educational development,
Columbia University Teachers College
»» BA sociology, University of California–San Diego
“Working in statistics opens
endless opportunities to derive
mathematically optimal
decision-making tools under
uncertainty and then work with
scientists and practitioners in
diverse fields to solve cuttingedge problems.”
Jeff Watts
Jeff Watts
NICOLE ANGOTTI
Assistant professor, Department of
Anthropology
»» PhD, MPhil anthropology and environmental
studies; Yale University
»» MA environmental anthropology; certificate,
urban and regional planning; University of Hawaii
»» BA anthropology and Japanese
studies, University of Iowa
new faculty
“I worked in a conservation organization for a
couple of years and became curious about what
was happening on the other side of projects we
implemented. Being an anthropologist allowed me
to investigate how people made conservation a
meaningful part of their lives.
The ultimate goal for my research is to make
evolutionary biology a more exact and applicable
science. We want to be able to predict and manage
evolutionary processes, including the development
of antibiotic and HIV drug resistance. My vision is
to involve AU students in this research, as well as
to establish interdisciplinary collaborations at AU.”
The strong presence of policy, activist, and research
communities makes DC a vibrant place to live and
work. At AU there are so many opportunities for
students to learn experientially through internships
and study abroad, which in turn create a rich
learning environment in the classroom. I hope to
become a resource for the community both as a
scholar of Japan and environmental anthropology.”
“The ultimate goal for
my research is to make
evolutionary biology a more
exact and applicable science.”
“The strong presence of
policy, activist, and research
communities makes DC a
vibrant place to live and work.
At AU there are so many
opportunities for students to
learn experientially through
internships and study abroad,
which in turn create a rich
learning environment.”
KATHLEEN HOLTON
—Anne Claus
Courtesy of Kristina Crona
KRISTINA CRONA
Assistant professor, Department of
Mathematics and Statistics
»» PhD, BS mathematics; Stockholm University
Areas of research: mathematical biology;
applications of discrete and algebraic methods
to evolutionary biology, specifically antimicrobial
drug-resistance mutations, with goal of predicting,
preventing, and managing drug-resistance problems
“Mathematical biology is exceptionally interesting
at this point in time. Thanks to DNA sequencing
and other laboratory techniques, we can finally
test conjectures phrased 100 years ago.
New mathematical approaches are critical
for interpretations of empirical data, theory
development, and clinical applications.
—Kathleen Holton
MARK LAUBACH
Jeff Watts
—Kristina Crona
“While at AU, I am hoping
to expand upon my research
to identify what makes certain
groups more susceptible to
food additives and the extent
to which underlying nutrient
content of the diet affects
this risk.”
Jeff Watts
Areas of research: conservation and development,
ocean studies, political ecology, Okinawa and Japan
Associate professor, Department of Biology
»» PhD neuroscience, Wake Forest University
»» MA biology, Bryn Mawr College
»» AB biology and chemistry, Lafayette College
Assistant professor, School of Education,
Teaching, and Health
»» PhD nutrition, University of Arizona
»» MPH epidemiology, University of Arizona
»» BS marketing, University of Arizona
Areas of research: nutritional neuroscience,
excitotoxins, fibromyalgia, ADHD, cognitive
function, epidemiology (see p. 2)
“During graduate school I became very interested in
nutritional neuroscience—and more specifically, the
role of dietary glutamate in neurological symptoms.
My interest was sparked by anecdotal reports of
people with a wide range of neurological symptoms
that improved when the people removed certain
additives from their diet. I began researching these
food additives in depth and created a diet that
limited the consumption of the additives. I have
tested the diet in individuals with fibromyalgia and
ADHD—with very promising results. Optimizing diet
may have profound effects on the ability to learn
and may be especially crucial in those with disorders
like ADHD and autism.
While at AU, I am hoping to expand upon my
research to identify what makes certain groups
more susceptible to food additives and the extent to
which underlying nutrient content of the diet affects
this risk. I am also hoping to expand my research to
assess how optimizing diet affects learning.”
Areas of research: role of the frontal cortex and
basal ganglia in value-based decision making, foodseeking behavior, and the cognitive control of action
(see p. 3)
“I am looking forward to taking part in the development of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience
and helping bring international recognition to the
center throughout the neuroscience community.
I am also looking forward to teaching courses for
the new neuroscience major and hosting students
for research in my lab.
I have always had a wonderful impression of AU,
and since I have arrived on campus, everything has
matched my expectations. . . . Deans Starr and
Sofia have developed a strong science community
on campus. I am excited to explore new directions
in my research, such as the large-scale deployment
of optogenetic methods to study neural circuits that
underlie decision making, [made] possible with the
support that I have received from AU.”
“I am excited to explore new
directions in my research,
such as the large-scale
deployment of optogenetic
methods to study neural
circuits that underlie
decision making.”
—Mark Laubach
17
new faculty
Assistant professor, Department of
Computer Science
»» PhD, MS computer science; University
of California–Santa Cruz
»» BA computer science and sociologyanthropology, Earlham College
—Ying-Chen Peng
YING-CHEN PENG
Areas of research: new video game experiences
through game technology, social science, artificial
intelligence, and design
“A lifelong attraction to playable experiences, from
video games to live-action role playing, [sparked my]
curiosity to answer the question: what’s next in
video games? My interest in computer science and
artificial intelligence is in how they offer expressive
ways to author technology that uncovers new
game experiences.
[After observing] the relatively weak ways [that]
storytelling and social interactions are represented
in video games, my research became focused
on making those aspects of games more deeply
playable. Consistent with my interests, this focus
requires multidisciplinary research and the creation
of new technologies. I hope to help turn AU into a
leader in gaming, conduct interesting collaborative
research, and create compelling playable experiences
while providing an impactful education experience.”
“I hope to help turn AU
into a leader in gaming,
conduct interesting
collaborative research,
and create compelling
playable experiences while
providing an impactful
education experience.”
—Joshua McCoy
Assistant professor, Department of Art
»» PhD art history, University of
California–Los Angeles
»» MA art history, Graduate Institute of Art
History, National Taiwan University
»» BA Japanese language and literature,
National Taiwan University
Areas of research: late imperial and modern
Chinese art history, globalization in art, gender
studies, Asian material culture
“Globalization has largely reshaped the cultural,
national, and ethnic boundaries of art since the
fifteenth century. I am deeply interested in how
China interacted with other cultural traditions in
this world phenomenon. As a woman, I am also
enthusiastic about gaining a better understanding
of women’s role in art in the past and present.
A strong focus on feminist art history in the
art history program and the open, supportive
environment for both faculty and students at AU
brought me to this exciting university. My goal as
a teacher is to enrich our students’ visual literacy
in reading art and to broaden their understanding
of Asian cultures to prepare them for a globalized
world. As a researcher, I wish to help strengthen
East Asian art research for AU as a hub of
feminist art history.”
JENNIFER STEELE
Jeff Watts
“My goal as a teacher is to
enrich our students’ visual
literacy in reading art and to
broaden their understanding
of Asian cultures to prepare
them for a globalized world.
As a researcher, I wish to help
strengthen East Asian art
research for AU as a hub of
feminist art history.”
Courtesy of Ying-chen Peng
Courtesy of Joshua McCoy
JOSHUA MCCOY
Associate professor, School of Education,
Teaching, and Health
»» EdD administration, planning, and
social policy; Harvard University
»» MA education, Stanford University
»» MA English, Georgetown University
»» BA psychology and English,
Georgetown University
Areas of research: teacher and school leader
effectiveness, dual language immersion education,
competency-based and technology-enhanced
education, transitions to postsecondary education
(see p. 14)
“What drew me into research was the observation
that policy decisions made without a strong evidence
base can do more harm than good. It’s critical that
policy be guided by rigorous analysis of good data.
My passion lies in conducting research that sheds
light on what works and in helping policy makers
and practitioners become informed consumers
of research.
AU has four features that attracted me: a vibrant
faculty, a university-wide emphasis on public
policy, a strong commitment to serving the
District of Columbia, . . . and a dedication to the
preparation of undergraduate and master’s degree
students. When I was at RAND, I was lucky to
work with several recent graduates of the School of
Education, Teaching, and Health, and it was clear
that they had received a great education. In joining
AU, I am thrilled to have a chance to help prepare
the next generation of educators and education
policy leaders.”
“AU has four features that
attracted me: a vibrant
faculty, a university-wide
emphasis on public policy,
a strong commitment
to serving the District
of Columbia . . . and a
dedication to the preparation
of undergraduate and
master’s degree students.”
—Jennifer Steele
18
donors
CAS 2012–2013 Honor Roll
Thank you to everyone who donated to the College of Arts and Sciences. Your commitment and generosity sustain our
mission to provide a challenging liberal arts education within a vibrant and diverse community. We are deeply moved
by the number of alumni, faculty, staff, parents, and friends who have invested in the College.
This list includes gifts made to the College of Arts and Sciences by individuals, estates, foundations, corporations, and
other organizations during the fiscal year ending April 30, 2014. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of
this list. Please report inadvertent errors or omissions to Andrew Dean at adean@american.edu or 202-885-6607.
Lillian K. Abensohn ¿ê
Alayne A. Adams, PhD ’71, and
William T. Adams
Bryant K. Adams
Judith M. Alembik ’60 ê
Sofia M. Ali ’87 ê
Martin K. Alloy
Carolyn S. Alper G ’68 ¿ê
Nana An MEd ’84, MPA ’06,
and Joe T. An ’90 ê
Christine B. Anderson ’71,
MS ’77 ê
Radoslav D. Antonov ’92 ê
Marilyn Armel ’63 ê
Diane M. Hertz Asson, MS ’93,
and Drew J. Asson, MA ’03 ê
Ravi P. Bahethi, MS ’97 ê
Karen Bailey P and
Kenneth J. Tokarz Pê
Georgette F. Ballance, MA ’75
Richard C. Barnett, MA ’74, and
Caroline W. Barnett ê
Albert Barnhart AU
Alan Baron
I. Christina Bartley P and
R. Stewart Bartley Pê
Joy H. Baxt and
Leonard J. Baxt ê
Barbara B. Beatty, MFA ’78,
and Richard S. Beatty
Gabriela Bebchick and
Leonard Bebchick ê
Robert L. Beisner AU ê
Ellen B. Belkin and
David H. Belkin
Eliezer H. Benbassat AU and
Miriam Benbassat
Linda A. Bennett, PhD ’76 ê
Dottie Bennett
Stephanie M. Bennett-Smith
and Orin Smith ê
Marguerite S. Berger ’78,
PhD ’89 ê
Virginia W. Bergsten, MA ’77,
and C. Fred Bergsten ê
Dava A. Berkman ê
Allan Berman ê
Gary C. Berman AU and
Carol Berman ê
Jeffrey M. Berman ’83 and
Elizabeth A. Berman
Mary W. Beyer ’70 ê
Gordon Beyer ê
Stuart L. Bindeman ’70 P and
Martha K. Bindeman ê
Donald K. Bischoff ’69 ê
Adah R. Bitterbaum ê
James David Blum ê
David Blumenthal, MBA ’69,
and Barbara Blumenthal ê
Heather J. Bogdanoff AU,
MA ’01, PhD ’05, and
Felix J. Baker ê
Ruth M. Bolduan, MFA ’80, and
Charles F. Moeser
Marla Boren AU, MA ’99, and
Paul W. Boren ê
David F. Borowski Sr., MS ’88,
and Patricia Borowski ê
Lillian C. Borrone ’68 and
Edward J. Borrone ê
Edward C. Bou, JD ’58 P ¿ê
Christopher D. Breder ’85 and
Christina Chang ê
Richard D. Breitman AU and
Carol R. Breitman ê
Jana A. Brill Pê
Shelley Brodecki P and
Joseph M. Brodecki Pê
Ivy E. Broder AU and
John Morrall III P AU ê
Roger H. Brown AU and
Nancy Barrow Brown ¿ê
Ronald Brown ’77 and
Lisa S. Brown
Hugh W. Buckingham ’64,
MA ’68
Judith A. Byronê
Nur Calikaê
Ann L. Campbell P
Fran A. Caplan P and
David L. Eisenberg P
Morris E. Carter ’72 ê
Rosina Carter ê
George P. Chambers Jr. ’92 ê
Colette A. Christie P and
Gary D. Christie Pê
Herbert Cohen, JD ’68, and
Brenda Cohen P
Jackie A. Cohen and
Edward S. Cohen ê
Melvin S. Cohen Ù¿
Naomi I. Cohen, JD ’98
Nehemiah M. Cohen Ù
Michele C. Colburn AU, MFA ’12
Mary Ellen Condon ’66 and
Carl Kimes ê
Carl E. Cook AU ’66 ê
Rebecca Cooke ê
Ronald Cooper
Sarah A. Corbett ê
Deborah R. Kennedy Coster,
MA ’88 ê
Margaret Cowgill P and
Thomas Cowgill Pê
Laura K. Cutler AU and
Michael B. Cutler ê
Frauke E. De Looper, MA ’85
Dallas P. Dean ’62 ê
Alice M. Denney ê
George DenneyÙê
Amy L. Deutsch ’78 and
Arnold E. Glickman Pê
Adrianne R. Devlin ’72 and
Robert T. Devlin, PhD ’86,
MA ’71 ê
Sandra H. Dewey P and
John C. Dewey Pê
Constance T. Diamant AU,
PhD ’91, P and James E.
Girard AU ê
Linda E. Doman, MS ’89 ê
Palmer Dorn
Beth Dozoretz and
Ronald I. Dozoretz
Marc N. Duber ’81 and
Nancy E. Duber ’82 ¿ê
Mary Ellen E. Duke, MA ’85 ê
Steven Dunn
Lois H. England P
Eve Faber
David J. Farber
Kathleen A. Feeney ’79,
MPA ’82 ê
Anne L. Foster ’87 ê
William F. Fox Jr. ê
Michael A. Freeling ’89
Elisabeth French ê
Deborah Friedmann and
Peter Friedmann ê
Veronica M. Friel, MA ’74,
PhD ’80 ê
Ellen B. Fu, MS ’82, and Chi Liu
Lynne Brenner Ganek AU and
Jeffrey E. Ganek ê
Karen E. Garrett AU ’01 ê
Susan Gelman and Michael
C. Gelman
Jonah Gitlitz ’55 and
Sallie Gitlitz êœ
Laura R. Goddard ’73 ê
Carol B. Goldberg AU and
Henry H. Goldberg ¿ê
Gail W. Gorlitzz and Cris Smith ê
Vicky H. Grady ’92 and
Sean M. Grady ’92 ê
Carol V. Graham P
Maury J. Greenberg ’78 P and
Judith A. Greenberg P
Milton Greenberg AU ’93 H and
Sonia B. Greenberg ¿ê
Sylvia Kay Greenberg ¿ê
Lynn C. Greenfield ’79 P and
Stephen E. Greenfield Pê
Deborah Greenspan and
Jerald B. Greenspan ê
Barbara Griffith
Cecilia M. Grillo ’80
Charles Gurian ’72 ê
Bruce R. Guthrie ê
Ruby J. Halperin and
Herbert Halperin ê
Juanita Hardy and Mel Hardy
Philip Hartmann ’68 and
Helga M. Hartmann ê
Heidi E. Hatfield
Margot Heckman AUêœ
Tina S. Fried Heller AU,
MPA ’80 ê
Judith N. Herr, MA ’96 ê
Louis Herr
Ruth Herr
Neil E. Heyden ’81 P and
Robin J. Heyden Pê
Kenneth R. Heyman ’72
and Mimi M. Heyman ê
Nancy Hirshbein ê
Jane Horn
Giselle B. Huberman, JD ’80,
and Benjamin Huberman ê
Elsie Y. Hull, MA ’84
Janet E. Hutner ’73 ê
Maureen F. Irion AU, MEd ’76,
P and Albert J. Irion ê
Steven H. Isaacson ’69, JD ’72,
and Davida Isaacson êœ
Kurt P. Jaeger ê
Blair Jones, MS ’78,
MA ’95 ¿ ê
Elnetta G. Jones, EdD ’79 ê
Ron Kaplan P
Karen R. Keats ’73 and
Robert M. Keats ’62
Marjorie M. Kellner ’66 and
John Kellner ê
Barbara D. Kerne
Cornelius M. Kerwin ’71 P and
Ann L. Kerwin ’71 P ¿ê
Cookie Kerxton ê
Aeyoung Kim P and
Jinsoo Kim P
Marie P. Kissick and
Ralph L. Kissick ê
Micheline A. Klagsbrun and
Ken Grossinger
Jill A. Klein AU, MBA ’91, and
Frederick L. Klein ê
Russell Knapp
Robert P. Kogod ’62 and
Arlene R. Kogod ¿ê
Julia L. Kogut ’93 and
Boris R. Kogut ê
Morey R. Kraus ’81
Lillian Kremer ê
Anne L. Krueger P and
Anthony Corapi Pê
19
donors
Amy E. Krupsky and
Kenneth Krupsky
Stuart Kurlander ê
Simki G. Kuznick ’01ê and
Peter J. Kuznick AU
Vivienne Lassman ê
Martha Lazarakis P and
Sam Lazarakis Pê
Elisabeth D. Leach and
James Leach
Howard Lee ’69, JD ’73 ê
Susan Carmel Lehrman ¿ê
Joel L. Leibowitz ’62 ê
Stuart H. Lessans
Ellen Lessans
Jean W. Libutti ’72 and
Frank Libutti ê
Joanne D. Lichty ’62, MA ’69,
and Donald H. Lichty,
MA ’64 ê
Barrett Linde ¿
Nancy B. Lipoff P and
Norman H. Lipoff P
Angela T. Lipscomb ’93 and
Daniel J. Atherton ’93 ê
Clara F. Londoner ’63
David W. Lotocki ’68 ê
Cynthia F. Lubin P and
David B. Lorsch Pê
Dalya Luttwak and
Edward Luttwak ê
Sarah L. Lutz AU, MFA ’92,
and John A. Van Rens,
MFA ’91 ê
Patrick W. Marks, MS ’73, and
Margit Marks ê
David L. Martyn ê
Alison Martyn and Jim Banks ê
Robyn Rafferty Mathias ’71,
JD ’92 ¿ê
Alan O. Maurer, MA ’66, and
Elayna N. Maurer ê
Florence L. McCashin ’71 ¿ê
Judith McKay ’73 ê
Sue O. Edwards and
Mark C. Medish ê
Jacqueline J. CirilloMeisenberg ’87 P and
Richard S. Meisenberg P ê
Rona Mendelsohn and
Allan Mendelsohn ê
Carl Menninger AUê
Jennifer Mizrahi
Victor Mizrahi
Nan W. Montgomery and
Bruce L. Montgomery ê
Angela B. Moon ’76 and
James M. Moon ’75 ê
Inhee I. Moon
Marcia D. Moritz ’55 ê
Annette G. Moshman and
Jack Moshman ê
Sidney I. Moskowitz ’73
Linda R. Moskowitz
Kay J. Mussell AU P and
Boris Weintraub Pêœ
Donald J. Myers ê
Patricia Nelson P and
Raoul D. Nelson P
20
Carmen Niethammer ’93 ê
Sara C. Nieves-Grafals ’75,
MS ’79, PhD ’80, and
Al Getz êœ
Melanie F. Nussdorf P and
Lawrence C. Nussdorf P
Amy A. Oliver AU and
John A. Loughney
Suzanne Oliwa
Jon P. Olseth, MFA ’93
Daniel J. Olson ’66 and
Janet Olson ê
Stephanie S. O’Malley P and
Michael N. O’Malley P
Glenna D. Osnos and
David M. Osnos ê
Wendy Owen
Wayne Paige
Leslie L. Palmieri AU and
Peter E. Palmieri ê
David L. Parker, MS ’69 ê
Kathleen W. Parks ’69 ê
John S. Patton, PhD ’63, and
Mary Miller Patton êœ
Alan E. Paul ’90 and
Mary A. Paul ê
Toni Harris Paul ’71 and
Ronald A. Paul ê
Joseph R. Pearce, PhD ’91 ê
Karen Pierce P and
Carey Weiss P ê
Phyllis Peres AU and
Rajat Sen êœ
Jarrett B. Perlow AU ’00,
JD ’04 ê
Arnold Polinger ê
Susan Porter and
Stephen W. Porter
Diane E. Powell, PhD ’79 ê
Kathy Z. Putnam P and
George Putnam P ¿ê
Dewain H. Rahe, MA ’69, and
Joyce W. Rahe ê
Jesmin Rahman AU, MA ’96,
PhD ’98, and Bernhard G.
Gunter, PhD ’98 ê
Deborah M. Rappaport and
Adam J. Rappaport ê
Carol M. Ravenal AU and
Earl C. Ravenal ¿êœ
Galia D. Reiss P and
Ori M. Reiss P ê
Nina L. Richardson ’97 and
John D. Richardson
Robert Roche
Stephen M. Rose ’73 ê and
Charlotte J. Word
David Alan Rosenberg ’69,
MS ’70, and Deborah L.
Rosenberg ê
Juanita M. Ross, MS ’83
Susan Rothfeld and
Donald Rothfeld ¿ê
Jeffrey S. Rum ’01 and
Jessica Rum
Thyagaraja Sarada, MS ’70,
PhD ’72 ê
Jeri S. Schaefer ’86 and
Scott P. Schaefer Pê
Peter L. Scher ’83, JD ’87 ¿ê
and Kimberly H. Tilley, MA ’08
Michael S. Schiff ’71
Michael H. Schwartz ê
Romeo A. Segnan AUê
Jack A. Serber
Peter J. Shanno ’66 ê
Martha Morris Shannon and
Joseph M. Shannon ê
Stephen M. Shapiro ’69 and
Susana F. Shapiro ê
Levi Shemtov
Joshua Z. Sickel ’78
Margaret A. Silver ’94 and
Sidney J. Silver ê
Shelley Singer and
Michael B. Gross ê
Myra W. Sklarew AUê
Ulysses J. Sofia AU and
Heidi Sofia ê
Richard P. Solloway ê
Jean P. Soman ê
Lois S. Spear, MA ’62, MS ’85,
and Moncreiff J. Spear ê
James B. Sprague
H. Karl Springob ’50, MA ’52,
and Helen P. Springob ê
Virginia Stallings AU Pê
Carol Starley ê
Peter T. Starr AU and
Alice C. Hill ê
Martin N. Stone ’69 and
Maritza L. Stone ê
Russell A. Stone AU and
Rala Stone
Margaret W. Studt ’73 ê
Nuzhat Sultan-Khan and
Anil Revri ê
Cathy Sulzberger and
Joseph G. Perpich
Michelle L. Tafel AU ’04 ê
Lee M. Tannenbaum ’80 and
Melissa Tannenbaum ê
James Tarbell ’72
Ann E. Taylor-Green, PhD ’87 ê
Elizabeth Tebow and
Duncan Tebow ê
Janet L. Thomas ’74
Peter F. Trapp ’70 and
Pamela F. Trapp ê
Andrea Tschemplik AU and
James H. Stam AU ê
Patricia T. Van Der Vorm,
MEd ’81, PhD ’95, and
Jacob Van Der Vorm ê
William M. Vincent ’95 and
Amy N. Vincent ê
Steven A. Vinisky ’97 ê
Alan Voorhees
Nathalie Voorhees
Howard M. Wachtel AU and
Marie A. Tyler-Mcgraw ê
Marion M. Wall ’68
Edith B. Ward, MA ’64 ê
Diane Wattenberg ê
Carola Weil AU ê
Shari Weisfisch AU and
Ryan R. Weisfisch
David S. Weisman ’80 ê
Wendelin A. White and
Paul M. Feinberg
Lowell G. Wise, JD ’65
Sharon A. Wolpoff ’74,
MFA ’81, JD ’85 ¿ê
Alexandra A. Wrage
Stephen D. Wrage
Svetlana Xu AU ê
Ji Y. Yun
Marvin Zelen, PhD ’57, and
Thelma Zelen
Ruth L. Zetlin ’79 ê
Margot Zimmerman and
Paul Zimmerman ê
Robin L. Zisson ’93 and
Adam L. Leader ê
Corporations,
Foundations,
and Other
Organizations
Abbe Berman Foundation Trust
America-Israel Cultural
Foundation
B & R Knapp Foundation Inc.
Baxt Family Foundation Inc. ê
Berman Family Foundation ê
Bou Family Foundation ¿ ê
Busboys of Maryland
Center on Global Interests ê
Jack Chester Foundation
Naomi and Nehemiah
Cohen Foundation ¿ ê
Ryna and Melvin Cohen
Family Foundation ¿ê
Community Foundation for the
National Capital Region ê
Crosscurrents Foundation
Davis Foundation ¿ê
Ronald I. Dozoretz Foundation
Duber Family Foundation ê
œ HPKS
Embassy of Israel
Exxon Mobil Foundation
Agustin Fernandez
Foundation ê
Robert M. Fisher Memorial
Foundation
Samuel and Grace
Gorlitz Foundation ê
Grace Charity Foundation Inc.
Habonim Investment Club Aleph
Louis Ruth Herr Foundation
Israel Institute ê
Eleanor M. and Herbert D. Katz
Family Foundation ê
Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod
Family Foundation ê
Korean Cultural Center
Maryland/Israel Development
Center
McGraw-Hill Companies ê
Merrill Lynch
Jack and Annette Moshman
Charitable Foundation ê
Photias Farmakides Educational
Foundation
Razoo Foundation
Lois and Richard Rosenthal
Center For Contemporary Art
Silver Family Foundation ê
Tarbell Family Foundation
Township High School District
113
United Jewish Appeal Federation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment
Program ¿ ê
Wall Foundation
Washington Arts Museum
Weil Barnett Family Fund II
Wells Fargo ê
Wells Fargo Foundation
Wolpoff Family Foundation
Inc. ¿ ê
Member
ê The
1893 Society recognizes the
commitment of loyal donors with five or
more consecutive years of giving and the
significant role they play in sustaining
university life.
¿ Individuals who have made cumulative
contributions totaling $100,000 or more
are lifetime members of the President’s
Circle.
Ù Deceased
AU
Current or former faculty or staff
P
AU parent
G
AU grandparent
H
Honorary degree recipient
achievements
Grants
& Research
CHAP KUSIMBA (anthropology) received a
$27,335 grant from the University of California–
Irvine for a study, “Mobile Money and Coming of
Age in Western Kenya.”
ELIZABETH MALLOY (mathematics and
statistics) received an award of $16,282 from the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
for the project, “Exposure Response Relationships
for CTS and Epicondylitis from Pooled Data.”
MICHAEL ROBINSON (mathematics and
statistics) received $13,488 from the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory to research “Topological Methods for Semantic Sensor Integration:
Use Case Development.”
The New World Research Institute awarded
RANDA SERHAN (sociology) $29,050 for her
Palestinian American National Research Project.
ANASTASIA SNELLING (SETH) received
$165,524 from the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
in support of a project, “DC Healthy Schools Act:
Measuring Implementation and Impact.”
PAUL WINTERS (economics) received a
$106,7000 award from the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations to evaluate
cash transfer programs throughout Africa.
Publications
A poem, “The Robots Are Coming,” by KYLE
DARGAN (literature) appears in the anthology Best American Nonrequired Reading 2014
(Mariner, 2014).
EILEEN FINDLAY (history) published We Are
Left without a Father Here: Masculinity, Domesticity, and Migration in Post-War Puerto Rico
(Duke, 2014).
MELANIE GEORGE (performing arts) published a chapter, “Jazz Dance, Pop Culture, and
the Music Video Era,” in Jazz Dance: A History
of the Roots and Branches (University Press of
Florida, 2014).
DESPINA KAKOUDAKI (literature) published
Anatomy of a Robot: Literature, Cinema, and the
Cultural Work of Artificial People (Rutgers, 2014).
Warner Bros. released a Blu-ray box set of The
Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone
and PETER KUZNICK (history). The book,
published in paperback in 2013, was a New York
Times best seller.
JIN Y. PARK (philosophy and religion)
published Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun:
Essays by Zen Master Kim Iryop (Hawaii, 2014),
a translation of writings by the Korean nun,
philosopher, and pioneering feminist.
ROBERTA RUBENSTEIN (literature) published
Literary Half-Lives: Doris Lessing, Clancy Sigal,
and Roman à Clef (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
RICHARD SHA (literature) published his latest
book, Romanticism and the Emotions, coedited
with Joel Faflak (Cambridge, 2014).
A chapter by VIVIAN VASQUEZ (SETH),
“Children’s Literature: A Critical Literacy
Perspective,” is featured in Literacy Teacher
Educators: Preparing Teachers for a Changing
World (Sense, 2013).
In 2014, ELIZABETH WORDEN (SETH)
released National Identity and Educational
Reform: Contested Classrooms, part of the
Routledge Research in International and
Comparative Education series.
Appointments
& Honors
JULIET BELLOW (art history) received a fellowship at NYU’s new Center for Ballet and the Arts
for the 2015–16 academic year.
KIM BLANKENSHIP (sociology) is the new
director of the District of Columbia Developmental
Center for AIDS Research Social and Behavioral
Sciences Core. She is also co-leader of the
Criminal Justice-Affected Communities Scientific
Interest Group and AU’s institutional representative
for DC D-CFAR.
MICHAEL BRENNER (history) joined the boards
of the Association for Israel Studies and the Israel
Institute. He is the new advisory board chair of the
Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
ESTHER CHOW (professor emerita, sociology) won a Jessie Bernard Award from the
American Sociological Association.
TERRY DAVIDSON (psychology) was elected
president of the Eastern Psychological Association.
His term will run from June 2015 to May 2016;
in the interim, he is serving as president-elect.
RICHARD DENT (anthropology) received a
Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding
contributions to archaeological knowledge of the
Middle Atlantic region at the 2014 Middle Atlantic
Archaeological Conference.
ANITA SHERMAN (literature) won an
ASECS/Folger Institute Fellowship to work on
a book chapter, “The Skeptical Imagination of
Margaret Cavendish.”
In March, VIVIAN VASQUEZ (SETH) was
named Routledge Education Author of the Month.
ELIZABETH WORDEN (SETH) received a
2014–15 Fulbright U.S. scholar grant.
2014 University
Faculty Award
Recipients
University Scholar/Teacher
of the Year
MAX PAUL FRIEDMAN (history)
Outstanding Service to the
University Community
ROBERT BLECKER (economics)
Outstanding Teaching in
an Adjunct Appointment
YULIYA GORENMAN (performing arts)
Promotions
Professor
DAN ABRAHAM performing arts
ELLEN FEDER philosophy and religion
MARIA FLORO economics
DAVID KEPLINGER literature
PETER KUZNICK history
JOSHUA LANSKY mathematics
and statistics
STACEY SNELLING SETH
Associate Professor and Tenure
KYLE DARGAN literature
KATHLEEN DECICCOSKINNER biology
DANIEL KERR history
DANIEL SAYERS anthropology
ANDREW TAYLOR performing arts
XIMENA VARELA performing arts
STEPHEN VASSALLO SETH
ELIZABETH WORDEN SETH
CHENYANG XIAO sociology
The 2014 Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical work went to America Is Elsewhere: The Noir
Tradition in the Age of Consumer Culture (Oxford,
2013) by ERIK DUSSERE (literature).
Associate Professor
DOLORES KOENIG (anthropology) is president-elect of the Society for Economic Anthropology; her two-year term begins in November 2015.
EMMANUEL ADDO mathematics
and statistics
SUSAN AGOLINI biology
MELANIE GEORGE performing arts
KENNETH KNIGHT WLC
THOMAS NASSIF SETH
ROBERT LERMAN (economics) is president of
the Society of Government Economists.
MARY ELLEN CURTIN history
Professorial Lecturer
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