American
Magazine of American University
Perspectives
December 2010
Donors Make a
Difference
Native
Washingtonians Wilma Estrin Bernstein, CAS/BA
’60, and Stuart A. Bernstein, Kogod/BS ’60, each came to American University to
The Honorable and Mrs. Stuart Bernstein
receive a world-class education. AU is pleased to honor the commitment the Bernsteins
have to excellence in all elements of their lives: personal, business, civic, and philanthropic.
The Bernsteins are dedicated Washington citizens who have taken their commitment to civic excellence to the highest levels. Stuart, known throughout the business
community for his leadership at the Bernstein Companies—one of Washington’s best
known real estate firms, and Wilma have both served on the Board of Trustees of the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through presidential appointments
from President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush respectively. Stuart
also was appointed as United States ambassador to Denmark by President George W.
Bush, where he served with distinction from 2001 to 2005. Wilma’s service extends to
the Boards of the Washington Ballet and Washington National Opera.
They know too that continued service to and financial support of American University is a critical component of a strong university. Their unwavering commitment to AU
is manifest in their enthusiastic support of AU’s strategic plan, American University and
the Next Decade: Leadership for a Changing World, itself a promise to prepare students to
lead and serve—as they themselves have, in the city, nation, and world.
The value the Bernsteins place on philanthropic involvement is evident in their leadership support to name the Leo M. Bernstein Financial Services Lobby in AU’s Kogod
School of Business, and as benefactors of the Sports and Convocation Center’s Centennial Campaign.
They are exemplars of volunteerism as well. Stuart served as vice chair of AU’s Board
of Trustees, chaired the board’s Development Committee, promoted the university’s
Capital Campaign, chaired the Alumni Association Annual Fund, and founded AU’s
real estate fraternity Rho Epsilon.
This commitment continues with Stuart’s and Wilma’s roles as honorary chairs of
American University’s 2010 Golden Eagles Reunion. In this capacity, Wilma and Stuart
gathered in October with members of the classes of 1960 and prior years to enjoy the
companionship of classmates and reinforce their commitment to AU.
To demonstrate a wish to guarantee their legacy for future generations, the Bernsteins named American University beneficiary of their charitable estate plans. As part of
their plan provisions the Bernsteins have guided their family to work with the university
administration to ensure the Bernstein family name is always associated with programs
that are of the highest priority for AU.
AU is deeply grateful to be the beneficiary of Stuart and Wilma Bernstein’s benevolence, and salutes the example they set for the entire AU community.
For information on the benefits you, loved ones, and American University can receive
through charitable estate planning, contact Seth Speyer, director of Planned Giving, at
202-885-5914, speyer@american.edu, or visit www.american.edu/planned giving.
American
Magazine of American University
Volume 61 No. 3
7
miss paul goes to washington
10
sight specific
18
24
The studious Quaker-turned-militant suffragette
led the 1913 march on Washington—and the
charge for the vote.
Robert Kogod means to broaden the perspective
of students mastering business. His tool is a gift
of over 200 works by modern art masters and
rising stars.
the great immigration debate
Five leading campus thinkers offer perspective on the
debate that President Obama reignited with his July
speech at the School of International Service.
know wonk
How does one get to know the essence of an
entire community?
• • •
departments
3
On the Quad
4
Athletics
31
Alumni News
36 Class Notables
48 World of Wonks
www.american.edu/magazine
On the Cover
Led by WCL alumna Alice Paul, members of the
National Woman’s Party were the first protesters
to picket the White House. Here, a delegation of
New Yorkers march for suffrage, January 26, 1917.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress American
Memory Project. Story p. 7.
Claes Oldenburg
Rolling Collar and Tie, 1995
Lithograph
28 x 27 ½ in.
Edition of 52
Published by Brooke Alexander, New York
Copyright 1995 Claes Oldenburg
From the Kogod School of Business Collection
From our readers
From the editor
Ike a Denison Denizen
Perspectives
Freshman Glee
I always look forward to receiving
American magazine, learning about the
university’s impactful programs, and
discovering the wide variety of roles
AU alumni continue to play around
the world. The August 2010 edition
contains several very interesting articles,
including one by Mike Unger about
Karl Weissenbach, director of the
Eisenhower Presidential Library and
Museum. Like Mr. Weissenbach,
I have always admired Dwight D.
Eisenhower, and that admiration grows
the more I read of his leadership in
World War II and his quiet accomplishments as the 34th president.
Having grown up in Denton, Texas,
and visited the Eisenhower birthplace,
I noticed an error in Mr. Unger’s
article. President Eisenhower was born
in Denison, Texas, not Denton. Both
cities are in north Texas about 70 miles
apart. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the
article about an AU graduate’s success
and continuing service to a beloved
American president.
per-spec-tive, n., the interrelation in which a subject is mentally viewed;
the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance; to
view your own task in a larger framework.
A wave of nostalgia washed over Javier Rivera as he
watched the 26 young actors take the stage at AU’s
Greenberg Theatre.
Just 18 years ago, Rivera, CAS/BA ’96, was in their
shoes: new to AU, eager to learn, primed to perform.
Now, as director of the Department of Performing Arts’
new student showcase, he’s calling the shots.
“I want them to fall in love with theatre—whether
it’s live performance, behind-the-scenes work, or the
writing process,” he said. “I want them to be involved in
theatre, in some form, for the rest of their lives, because
it’s made all the difference in mine.”
In September, the curtain rose on Almost Me and
Outta Here, a one-act play and one-act musical written
by Rivera and his former professor-turned-colleague,
Caleen Sinnette Jennings.
Almost Me follows a group of freshmen as they adjust
to the drama of college life and prepare for auditions for
the first musical of the season, while Outta Here focuses
on young adults struggling with what-ifs as they return
to college for their five-year reunion.
Jennings created the new student showcase in 2003
especially for freshmen. Because the first production of
the fall is cast in spring, first-year students were shut out
from the stage until November.
“This got them engaged in something immediately.
It introduced them to each other, to our space, and to
our staff,” said Jennings. “Most of all, it gave them a
chance to say to the AU community: ‘This is who we
are, and this is what we can do.’”
James Martin Mills
Jetersville, Virginia
On the Quad
For this issue we’ve collected many perspectives on subjects ranging from
AU’s (WCL) powerhouse suffragette Alice Paul (and the woman who penned
her new biography) to university benefactor Robert Kogod, whose art now
adorns the walls of the business school that bears his name.
In fact, helping students gain perspective is a university’s, and really, a
life’s work.
Deep in my memory bank lurks this example of youth gaining perspective.
At 17, I headed to New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, then a
two-year associate degree program with a neat curriculum. After graduation,
I wanted to be cool and creative, so I set out for Madison Avenue.
Mad Men, here I come.
I’d circle around the artist’s drawing boards at the agency where I worked.
Their funky clothes of the late 1960s (a bit beat, hippies having not yet made
it into the workplace), stood for cool.
But soon I noticed that clothes did not make the man or woman. The
artists may have been funny, smart, well-read, and creative, but so were the
argyle-wearing writers, grey flannel suited execs, and Ugly Betty assistants.
Somewhere between May and September, the world had evened out. My
perspective was changing.
I was learning that a world driven by passion (not fashion) for knowledge
was the most exciting one to live in. In Washington that person is proud to
be called a wonk.
Recently, two years of thorough and sometimes painstaking self-study,
research, and testing resulted in the development of a creative campaign that
encompasses AU’s core values.
Today we find ourselves with an AU that has developed a fresh perspective
on itself. We like what we see, and we think that once the world discovers the
true AU, through the campaign or otherwise, it will too.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
WONK
inside
curtain call
Sticker on my computer, developed by Kogod
School of Business for AU’s wonk campaign.
Linda McHugh
Executive Editor
 american
december 2010 
On the Quad
athletics
If this year’s edition of the
Eagles follows in the footsteps
of the 2003 team Campbell
captained to the league title
and AU’s last trip to the
NCAA Tournament, she
could be adding a coach of
the year trophy to her mantle.
Eagles Gear Flies into Washington-area Stores
It’s never been easier to outfit yourself like a true Eagle.
For the first time, AU Eagles hats, T-shirts, sweatshirts,
and other gear are now on the racks at 15 Washington-area
Finish Line stores. Merchandise also is available at Out of
Left Field in Pentagon City and Union Station.
The campus bookstore remains the primary outlet for
everything AU, but the recent deals with leading retail
stores mean it’s easier for Washington-area Eagles fans to
pick up their favorite red, white, and blue apparel in the
communities where they work and live.
“This allows us an avenue to market and expand the
brand of the university while also giving alumni a fun way to
show their school pride,” said David Bierwirth, senior associate athletics director for development and special events.
American
American, the official magazine of American
University, is written and designed by
the University Publications office within
University Communications and Marketing.
Personal views on subjects of public interest
expressed in the magazine do not necessarily
reflect official policies of the university.
Executive Director, Communications
and Marketing
Teresa Flannery
Director, University Publications
Kevin Grasty
Executive Editor
Linda McHugh
 american
american
Managing Editor
Catherine Bahl
On the Quad Editor
Adrienne Frank
Staff Writers
Adrienne Frank, Mike Unger
Art Director/Designer
Wendy Beckerman
Contributing Designers
Maria Jackson, Juana Merlo,
Evangeline Montoya-A. Reed
Photographer
Jeff Watts
Class Notes
Melissa Reichley, editor; Katie Mattern ’11,
editorial assistant
Pride is what’s made the launch of Blue Crew 2,
the athletics department’s new alumni fan club, such a
success. Members get a T-shirt, discounts to home games,
discounts at the bookstore, and an invitation to an exclusive annual Blue Crew 2 event.
Annual dues for this inaugural year are just $18.93—
a rate set in honor of the university’s charter date. Eagles
fans can join by calling 202-885-3001, or logging on
to http://www1.alumni.american.edu/register/index.
cfm?action=reg&eventID=821.
There are now more ways than ever to show your AU
pride, so get out there (you don’t have to go too far!) and
let the world know you’re an Eagle.
UP11-002
American is published three times a year by American
University. With a circulation of about 104,000,
American is sent to alumni and other constituents of
the university community. Copyright © 2010.
American University is an equal opportunity and
affirmative action university and employer. American
University does not discriminate on the basis of race,
color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status,
personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity
and expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation,
disability, source of income, place of residence or business,
or certain veteran status in its programs and activities.
For information, contact the Dean of Students (DOS@
american.edu), Director of Policy & Regulatory Affairs
(employeerelations@american.edu) or Dean of Academic
Affairs, (academicaffairs@american.edu), or at American
University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20016, 202-885-1000.
www.american.edu/magazine
Send address changes to:
Alumni Programs
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, D.C.
20016-8002
or
e-mail: alumupdate@american.edu
Laura Campbell Returns Home
When new AU women’s lacrosse coach Laura Campbell
tells her players she knows just where they’re coming from,
she’s not being figurative.
“I’ve been exactly in their shoes,” said Campbell,
SOC/BA ’03. “My junior year we lost the [Patriot League]
championship game, and last year they lost a game by one
to get into the tournament.”
Campbell is taking over an AU squad that has struggled
recently. It’s a similar situation to the one she inherited at
Marist College when she became head coach in 2008. In
her two seasons leading the Red Foxes, the team posted
a 22-13 overall record and won the 2010 Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference Championship. Marist’s 12 victories
last year set a school record for most wins in a season.
“The toughest thing was getting them to work together
as a team, which is already happening here,” Campbell
said. “You have to communicate, and when things work
out and we win, they start to believe. We had a great fall
here at AU, we went undefeated, so I think they have
pretty much bought in.”
Growing up in Connecticut Campbell was a soccer
player until the curiousness of lacrosse drew her in. It was
the speed of the game that hooked her. A four-year starter
at AU, she scored 13 goals and recorded seven assists as a
senior to help the Eagles set a program record with 11 wins.
After stints as a high school and club team coach,
Campbell took over Marist before returning to Tenleytown.
“We are very excited to have Laura back on the
American University campus,” Athletics Director Keith
Gill said. “It is always wonderful to welcome an alum
back, especially one as accomplished as Laura. Her success
as a head coach at both the collegiate and high school
levels, combined with her success as a student-athlete here
at American, demonstrates her ability to lead a championship-caliber program not only on the playing field but also
in the classroom.”
A star player coming home to her alma mater as coach
to lead the program back to the promised land. It sounds
like a fairy tale—though this story’s ending has not yet
been written.
“I loved it here,” said Campbell, who met her husband,
John, SOC/BA ’03, as an undergrad. “I have nothing but a
positive idea of the program and the school. This is one of
those things that’s been a dream job for me.”
december 2010 
On the Quad
icon
Miss Paul
Everyday Rebellions
 american
oes
to
Washingto
G
n
issue facing women today.” Calling colleges and
universities like American “red hot centers of activism,”
she implored the mostly female audience to continue to
fight for access to safe and legal abortions, child care, and
equal political representation.
“We need to understand that the voting booth is the
one place where [we’re all] equal—so we have to use it.
We need to vote; it isn’t the most we can do, but it isn’t
the least.”
“I hope we all leave this room with a new
feeling of support; some new, subversive
organizing tactic; and new friends,” said
Steinem, who was hosted by the Kennedy
Political Union and Women’s Initiative.
Alice Paul’s battle for the ballot might just be the most riveting story you’ve never heard.
Photos courtesy of the American Memory Project
Half a century after she emerged as the face of secondwave feminism, fighting for economic equality and
reproductive freedom, Gloria Steinem proved she’s still
the queen of consciousness-raising.
The 76-year-old was greeted with a standing ovation
as she breezed into the Ward Circle Building, October
5, cutting as confident and commanding a figure as she
did in 1970, when she led 20,000 New Yorkers in the
Women’s Strike for Equality. Wearing a sleek jumpsuit
and her signature center part, the charismatic Steinem
charged the hundreds of students in attendance with
doing something “daring and assertive” in the name of
social justice and sexual equality.
“Because there are just a few things left to do,” she
said with a smile. “Right?”
The Ms. magazine founder said reproductive
freedom—“the right to have children and the right not
to have children”—remains “the single most important
“It’s the Rocky story; it’s David and Goliath. It was
Alice against the president—and the whole United States
government,” says writer Mary Walton. “And it’s all but
left out of the history books.”
Walton’s new biography, A Woman’s Crusade, aims to
fill in the blanks, chronicling Paul’s transformation from
studious Quaker girl to the leader of the militant wing of
the American suffrage movement.
A three-time graduate of AU and the Washington
College of Law, Paul picked up where Susan B. Anthony
left off, leading the charge for a constitutional amendment
granting women the right to vote.
In 1913, on the eve of
President Woodrow Wilson’s
inauguration, she staged a
grand parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, which drew 5,000
suffragettes from across the country. Taunted and attacked
by hostile, drunken men along the route, the marchers
were led by what came to be known as the “Great Demand”
banner. Despite the pageantry of the day—the women wore
beautiful robes in a rainbow of colors: teachers in blue and
artists in rose—the banner cut to the quick.
We demand an amendment to the constitution of the
United States enfranchising the women of the country.
“‘Demand’ wasn’t a word women used back then.
They asked politely,” says Walton, a longtime Philadelphia
Inquirer reporter. “Today we
wouldn’t think twice about
that but, in the early twentieth
century, that was revolutionary.
by Adrienne Frank
december 2010 
“And that was Alice. She was a master strategist, a skilled fund
raiser, a talented publicist,” Walton continues. “She constantly
came up with new ways to keep the issue alive and out front.”
A year after founding the National Woman’s Party in 1916,
Paul and her “Silent Sentinels” became the first protesters to
picket the White House. As cordial slogans—“Mr. President,
how long must women wait for liberty?”—gave way to more
aggressive tactics—“Kaiser Wilson: Have you forgotten how
you sympathized with the poor Germans because they were not
self-governed?”—Paul and her followers were continually tossed
in jail, force-fed, and brutalized.
“Women had picketed before, but the idea of picketing
a sitting president—especially during wartime—was very
sophisticated and original,” explains Walton. “Alice must have
Excerpted from A Woman's
A
lice Paul arrived in Washington
in mid-December of 1912,
rented a room in a spartan
boardinghouse on I Street and began at
once to lay the groundwork for the first
suffrage parade in the nation’s capital.
She had a vision: a spectacular unfurling
of bands, floats, and marchers in multi-hued
capes, a melodious, harmonious ribbon of color
on monochromatic Pennsylvania Avenue that
would announce to the new male president, the
incoming male Congress, and the nation’s male
voters that a distaff cry for equality could not be
ignored.
But first, Alice needed money.
An old list of Washington members supplied by the National American Woman Suffrage
Association proved useless. The women Alice
Mary Walton
recognized that being attacked and arrested would increase
visibility—and that’s exactly what happened.”
After Wilson announced his support for the amendment
in early 1919, the House and Senate followed suit. On August
18, 1920, the Tennessee General Assembly—by a one-vote
margin—became the 36th state legislature to ratify the proposed amendment, granting American women the right
to vote.
And while Walton’s story ends
there, Paul’s did not.
She authored the Equal
Rights Amendment (ERA)
in 1923, though the legislation didn’t find its way to
the Senate for another 49
years. Although it passed
both houses of Congress in
1972—five years before Paul’s
death—it was never ratified.
Paul spent her last years in a nursing
home in her native New Jersey, where she
continued to talk up the ERA to anyone who
would listen, imploring one nurse to “take up
the mantle . . . and further the cause of women.”
“That was Alice: no one else devoted themselves so completely to the movement,” says
Walton. “She personified suffrage. She was
the cause.” n
 american
Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot by Mary Walton, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
Alice Paul, LLB from WCL, 1922; LLM from AU,
1927; DCL (doctor of civil laws) from AU, 1928
contacted had mostly moved or were dead, with
one happy exception: Emma Gillett, the founder
of the Washington College of Law and one of just
four full-time female lawyers practicing in Washington. Not only was Emma “the first person I
met who was friendly and interested,” but—this
was no small matter—she was “still living,” Alice
said later. Gillett steered Alice to an office at 1420
F Street, next to her own. F Street was the city’s
principal shopping thoroughfare, and the location
was just up the street from “Woodies”—Woodward & Lothrop, Washington’s storied department store. The office entrance was just below
street level; fashionable females strolling by could
not miss it.
When in December of 1912 Alice
called upon Washington, D.C., Police Superintendent Richard Sylvester to request a permit
for a parade, he told her that she was asking for
trouble, first by demanding the use of Pennsylvania Avenue, which was just a few paces from the
seedy saloons in Washington’s Bowery district,
and second by demanding to march on March
3, 1913, when the city would be full of men
scheduled to take part in the next day’s inaugural
festivities. Men with time on their hands. Time
that they would spend in those very saloons.
Alice was just days short of her twentyeighth birthday; her weight seldom topped
a hundred pounds. Twice her age and bulk,
Richard Sylvester cut a commanding figure.
He was at the top of his profession. Not
only was he the city’s chief law enforcement
officer, but he was also the president of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police, a
progressive organization working to purge urban
forces of corruption and professionalize the
calling. In the eyes of the public, he stood for
modern policing.
The Washington police force was spread
thin, just 631 men to police a city of 331,069
people occupying sixty square miles. Two
parades back to back—Alice’s and then the
inaugural—would strain Sylvester’s resources. To
make his point, he confessed that at one recent
inauguration, carousers from the Pennsylvania
militia had captured a police lieutenant, thrown
him on a blanket, and playfully tossed him in
the air.
Alice would not be swayed. As she saw it, on
March 3, the city would be overflowing with as
many as 150,000 visitors, a huge audience for a
suffrage spectacle. Among them would be wives
and daughters of the men marching in the inaugural parade—women who might be persuaded
to turn out for suffrage. Only March 3 would do.
And Pennsylvania Avenue was incomparable, a broad river of commerce flowing west
from the Capitol to the White House and the
majestic, columned Treasury Building, with a
plaza that constituted a natural stage that would
be perfect for a tableau, if she could pull one
together.
They had to have the Avenue.
That was where the men marched.
Sylvester expressed his reservations
at every meeting, whether Alice came alone or
accompanied by the prominent women who
were gravitating to the cause—wives and daughters of congressmen, eminent professionals, and
military officers—or whether she sent them in
her stead.
He offered alternatives. Why not parade on
March 5? Many people would be in town. And
why not march on 16th Street, a thoroughfare
that was almost half again as wide as Pennsylvania
Avenue and lined with handsome homes occupied by well-behaved Washingtonians? On 16th
Street, he assured them, they could still “wear
their beautiful dresses and have beautiful floats.”
In 1913, the concept of marching
on Washington was almost unknown. To the
American people, the federal government was a
remote entity, bottled up in a few buildings in
an out-of-the-way spot along the Potomac, and
many in the government liked it that way. Not
until the following year would Americans in
every state vote for their senators, who were previously elected by state legislatures. The framers
of the Constitution had deliberately sought to
insulate lawmakers from popular pressure.
While Sylvester attended to everyday police
matters, Alice was busily recruiting volunteers,
furnishing a headquarters, and lining up parade
units and continuing to press her choice of date
and route. Thanks to the industrious Alice,
Sylvester heard from the Chamber of Commerce,
the Board of Trade, the Merchant’s Association,
and other civic organizations, all urging “our
right to the Avenue.”
In the last week of December, after more
calls, letters, and visits than he cared to count,
Sylvester blinked. He announced the women
could have their requested date, March 3. But
until the route was determined, it was still a
parade with nowhere to go.
As Washington prepared to celebrate
its final New Year’s Eve under a Republican
administration, Alice and a quartet of well-bred
women appeared in the office of John A. Johnston, one of the three appointed commissioners
who governed the city. A retired army general,
Johnston’s bailiwick was the police department.
He was Sylvester’s boss.
Johnston seemed, if possible, even cooler toward the parade than Sylvester. He recommended
that the chairman of the Wilson inaugural committee, William Eustis, be asked for an opinion.
Eustis was no friend of suffrage. He had already
refused to rent Alice the inaugural grandstands on
Pennsylvania Avenue for her parade.
The women left Johnson’s office feeling both
defeated and humiliated. The holdout was Alice.
Publicly she never wavered.
A week after the December 31 meeting,
Eustis surprised everyone. He announced that
he had no objection to a March 3 parade on
Pennsylvania Avenue. U.S. Treasury Secretary
Franklin MacVeagh granted permission to use
the south plaza of the Treasury for an allegorical
tableau with “great pleasure.”
That same week, Sylvester opened the
newspapers to discover that the disagreeable
Alice Paul had gone public with her quest for
Pennsylvania Avenue. The suffragists’ plaint appeared in all the newspapers.
On January 9, 1913, Sylvester capitulated.
[Alice’s] Congressional Committee could have
exactly what had been requested: the entire
stretch of the Avenue from the Capitol to
Continental Hall on 17th Street, a block past
the White House, where a post-parade rally was
planned. The Washington Post headlined the victory: “AVENUE FOR PAGEANT . . . Suffragists
Win Permit to Use Thoroughfare March 3.”
To read more about Mary Walton and Alice Paul,
visit www.american.edu/americanmagazine.
december 2010 
Sol LeWitt’s Stars
hang in a classroom
in the new Kogod School
of Business expansion.
Sight Specific
Creating the
Kogod School of Business
Art Collection
by Lee Fleming
O
n a wall of
the main
staircase, lyrical,
earth-toned
abstractions by American
art master Robert Mangold
softly glow. Across the
way, the exuberant, hardedged colors of two works
by Sol LeWitt introduce
a very different aspect
of abstraction. This
calculated contrast in mood
and method is repeated
throughout the corridors
and larger spaces, where
pieces by artists already
in the art history books
hang with compelling work
unfamiliar to all but hardcore art lovers.
As in most small
contemporary museums,
the art gives an overview
of postwar schools and
styles: conceptual, mystical,
minimalist. Pop and Op.
Neo-Expressionist, abstract
 american
impressionist, figurative,
even digital-experimental.
The range of artists represented is also broad: art
world “names,” emerging
talent, and the accomplished
but lesser known—drawn
from the United States,
Germany, Japan, Israel,
Britain, Spain, and France.
But this collection doesn’t
hang in an art institution.
Rather, it animates the
classrooms, corridors, and
other public spaces of the
newly expanded Kogod
School of Business.
Only a half dozen other
business or professional
schools—including
Harvard, Columbia, and
the London School of
Economics—can boast their
own art collections. Most
of these have been selected
by committee or accrued
over time, thanks to gifts
and bequests. Often they’re
confined to small galleries
within the school building,
sequestered from students’
daily lives.
Robert Mangold’s lithograph series
Fragments I-IV and Fragments V, VI, VII
create a dynamic visual in Kogod’s
main staircase.
In contrast, over 200
pieces hanging in the Kogod
School of Business are
the gift of Robert Kogod,
Kogod/BS ’62, and his
wife, Arlene.
The Kogods’ roots run
deep in real estate—she
is the daughter of the late
Charles E. Smith, founder
of the Charles E. Smith
real estate empire, and
sister of the late Robert H.
Smith. A few years after
their marriage, Kogod, who
was already a developer,
joined the Smith family
companies and with
brother-in-law Robert led
the development of Crystal
City in northern Virginia,
just across the river from
D.C. Formerly cochairman
and co-CEO for Charles
E. Smith Commercial
Realty and Charles E. Smith
Residential Realty, Kogod
is the president of Charles
E. Smith Management, a
private investment firm, and
also serves on the board of
trustees of Vornado Realty
Trust, listed on the New
York Stock Exchange. The couple’s generosity is
well known in philanthropic
december 2010 
Dan Flavin’s bold Untitled
(Triptych) aquatints are
similar to the hues of his
well-known fluorescent
sculptural work.
Daniel Buren’s
1 + 2 = 3 (Triptych)
welcomes students.
circles, especially those
concerned with the creative
and performing arts. “Arlene
and I realized after we first
married that what we put
on the floor or the wall
mattered,” Kogod recalls,
discussing the origin of their
this conviction that fine
art exerts a life-enhancing
influence, the Kogod school
collection is the outgrowth
of the couple’s decades-long
passion for visual art, and an
equally strong commitment
to the AU community and
the business school that bears
their name.
The Birth of a
Collection (Phase I)
Select print from Sol LeWitt, Arcs and Bands
in Colors, A-F, 1999, six linocuts, 20 x 20 in.,
edition of 50, courtesy of the Artist and
Schellman Art, Munich–New York
Joseph Cornell, Untitled (How to Make a Rainbow), 1972, color screenprint with
varnish stencil, 19 ½ x 15 ½ in., courtesy of Brooke Alexander, art © The Joseph
and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation/Licensed by VAGA–New York, N.Y.
All art in this story is from the Kogod School of Business Collection.
 american
interest in the arts, which he
credits with being not just
educational but “expanding
our personal lives.” Reflecting
The Kogod art program got
underway in 2000, a year
after the school moved to its
present location. The building,
previously home to the
Washington School of Law,
had undergone a complete
renovation at the time of the
move. While this updated the
60s-era structure, it did little
to alleviate the institutional
feel of the building.
But where some saw
long, empty halls and blank
walls, Kogod recognized an
opportunity. “Two branches
of the path—my interest in art
and in the business school—
came together,” he says. He
saw introducing art into the
school as a way to stimulate
awareness of and interest
in other areas, including
morality, philosophy, and
culture. Business students “are
living in a wider world,” he
explains. “You should be aware
of wider aspects.”
The adage that “every
journey begins with a single
step” was literally true at
Kogod, involving a walkthrough of the building with
floor plans in hand. According
to Stephanie Rachum, former
senior curator of modern art
at the Israel Museum, who
has advised and collaborated
with the Kogods on their art
initiatives for more than 20
years, “We looked at all the
spaces on all the floors,”
identifying areas where art
Robert Rauschenberg, Tap, 2004, color
screenprint, 8 ¼ x 6 ¼ in., edition of 180, art
© Robert Rauschenberg and Gemini G.E.L./
Licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y.
could be hung and highlighting
them on the plans. She and
Robert Kogod paid special
attention to focal points such
as high walls and open spaces,
and to areas outside the
classrooms where students
congregate.
With a firsthand understanding of the building’s
spatial challenges and virtues,
Kogod turned his attention
to the kind of art that would
work best for the audience and
the space. “I wanted to appeal
to a younger audience and
expose students to the highestquality works possible, by
some of the best modern and
contemporary artists,” he says.
To accomplish this within
the budget, he decided to
build a collection of limited
edition prints.
Conversations about Robert
Kogod with those who have
worked with him often touch
on his extraordinary grasp
of the big picture and the
smallest details, his ability to
assess the current situation and
<< Installation — 48 hours in april
Volunteers unwrapped each work
after hand-carrying it to a specific
location in the building.
Ingrid Calame’s
Tracings from
the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway
I, II, III serve as
a backdrop for
learning in this
Kogod classroom.
Groupings were carefully lined
up in anticipation of Robert
Kogod’s walk-through.
Reference pictures guided
volunteers where to place
each specific work of art.
One of Robert Mangold’s
Semi-Circle I-IV prints is
unpacked in a classroom.
Volunteers worked together
to move and position larger
works and series.
Malcolm Morley’s print
Black Rainbow Over Oedipus
at Thebes II in transit
december 2010 
Michael David’s Entelechy, I and II
await installation on the terrace level.
John Baldessari’s
Domestic Smoke:
Desire, Power,
Colored Intervals,
and Genie (with
Two Boxed Asides)
was carefully
selected to anchor
this busy corridor.
Countless yards of bubble wrap
protected the framed works.
Walnut frames
were custom made
for each piece in
the collection.
see long-term implications.
These strengths served him
well when it came to building
this collection. Clear about
their mission, in early 2000,
Kogod and Rachum made the
rounds of Washington galleries
and a well-known local print
workshop, but soon realized
that the available selection
would not meet their needs.
They decided to expand the
search to New York galleries
known internationally for
their fine-art print expertise.
The resulting extensive array
of possibilities was whittled
down. Kogod negotiated the
purchase of their final choices,
and he and Rachum oversaw
the framing of the 91 prints in
this original gift.
Then came the installation,
which was anything but cut
and dried. Although Kogod
and Rachum approached the
task with definite ideas about
 american
what should go where, new
options emerged when they
were on-site and could see
how pieces interacted visually.
Moshe Kupferman, Untitled (cat. #37)
1997, screenprint, 168 x 128 cm.,
edition of 38, courtesy of Har-El Printers
& Publishers
Some ideas became satisfying
realities: for example, hanging
the Mangold prints high on
the stairway wall created
the strong visual anchor
that they had imagined.
“Other installations required
repeated attempts at various
combinations until we felt that
they looked right,” Rachum
remembers.
Kogod also felt strongly
that art installed in the
classrooms should not take
away from the “real business”
of educating students. “That’s
why the pieces are only
installed along the back and
the periphery,” he explains.
“They’re not there to compete.”
Positive comments from
students and faculty soon
proved the rightness of
Kogod’s vision. The art
was enlivening spaces and
providing a cultural backdrop
to the usual routine of classes,
study, and just hanging out.
There’s no doubt that the
collection made a powerful
impression in 2005 on one
candidate for the dean’s
position. “When I came here
to interview in 2005 and saw
the art I was just blown away.
It was phenomenal,” Robert
and Arlene Kogod Dean
Richard Durand remembers.
Prints were installed
using a formula throughout
the building to keep works
at a consistent height.
to the success of the project’s
capital campaign. (In fact,
the 20,000 sq. ft. expansion,
completed in 2009, became
Back by Popular
Demand (Phase II)
Despite its 1999 renovation,
the new Kogod building soon
proved inadequate for the
business school’s needs.
Many classes still were
held in other buildings. An
empty theater-in-the-round
next door beckoned. Plans
began for an expansion that,
while retaining the theater’s
footprint, would more than
double the size of the school.
In 2003 Robert and
Arlene Kogod again stepped
forward to provide a new
naming gift that became key
was answered when, after a
construction walk-through,
Kogod said that he would
like to expand the collection,
using the art as an additional
way to unite the old and new
spaces. “We all were thrilled
yet again by his generosity,”
Durand says.
New Spaces,
New Challenges
Select print from Margaret Prentice,
The Center Holds Nothing I, 2006, etching,
suite of six prints, 15 ¼ x15 ½ in., edition
of 12, courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic
the first campus building
project funded entirely by
donations.)
Dean Durand recalls that
as construction progressed,
many were quietly hopeful
that the Kogods might
extend the art program into
the new building. This hope
For the art program’s second
phase, Robert Kogod
increased the emphasis
on younger generations
of artists, such as Jennifer
Bartlett and Keith Sonnier,
and sought out more local
and emerging artists. He
and Rachum also revisited
the existing collection to
determine if anything needed
“filling in.”
The final selection of
110 new works more than
The placement of some prints
was reconsidered after they
were unpacked.
doubled the collection’s
size. It also brought new
installation challenges. The
old building presented few
dramatic spaces. But the
expanded Kogod school is
a place of many transitions:
old building into new, upper
level to lower, corridor to
classroom and break-out
room. Forceful pieces were
needed to help navigate those
transitions and stand up to
the larger scale.
This task of transitioning
is achieved by some of the
collection’s most striking new
work. For example, in a small,
sunlit passage leading from
the old space to the new, the
moody blue layers of Malcolm
Morley’s myth-inspired
Black Rainbow Over Oedipus
at Thebes II create a strong
exchange with the ironic
visual twists of Sigmar Polke’s
Presvergleich.
<< 48 hours in april
From left to right,
William Steiger’s
Semaphor, The Mill,
Elevator I
Installer Steve Roberts, left,
led the installation process in
both 2000 and 2009.
Lara Kline and Roberts discuss
the location of Sigmar Polke’s
Presvergleich.
Robert Kogod considers
the placement of a piece
from the collection.
december 2010 
Layers of imagery seen
and unseen unite the
powerful works of
Moshe Kupferman in the
collection; displayed at
left is Untitled (cat. #36).
Elizabeth Murray’s
Snake Cup was one
of three prints by the
artist added to the
collection.
Prints still needing placement were
gathered together for review.
Before finding a home in
classroom 233, Ingrid Calme’s
work was briefly considered
for the KCCD.
Robert Natkin, Apollo II,
1972, lithograph, 24 x 36 in,
edition of 125, courtesy
of Pace Prints
 american
recall his better-known
fluorescent light installations,
with three yellow and white
woodcuts by Daniel Buren
that continue his trademark
exploration of the stripe. In
the lounge outside, students
and recruiters hold discussions
whose intensity is echoed by
the suite of Gunther Forg
etchings on the walls.
And there’s more.
Much more.
Equally challenging
was the tight time frame
for hanging the new work
and relocating some of the
old. “We had just 48 hours
last spring to install 116
pieces,” says Lara Kline,
Kogod’s assistant dean of
marketing and strategy, and
the collection’s unofficial
guardian “on the ground” at
AU. To prepare for this feat,
Kline moved dollhouse-sized
Large works by Malcolm Morley and Sigmar Polke hold a powerful dialogue in a corridor
between the original and new Kogod buildings.
the two switch places, and
suddenly, everything worked.
In its new location on the
corridor wall, the Gornik
rewards up-close scrutiny,
while Goldman’s green and
gold amphora glow alluringly
at the end of the hall.
“The question is,” says
Kogod, reflecting on the
collection’s ultimate impact,
“students are surrounded by
art—will that give them a
wider frame of reference?”
While the answer may not
be evident until years after
graduation, students clearly
appreciate the school’s unique
visual environment. “One of
the first things we heard after
the new building opened was
‘when are we going to get
more art?’” Kline says.
Individual pieces have
even received the Twitter
treatment: “So there is
an original Baldessari in
Kogod,” went a recent
tweet from SOC senior
Jeff Mindell about a print
by California artist John
Baldessari that hangs at
the bottom of the staircase
leading to the student
lounge. “Glad to see it got
prime placement,” replied his
business fraternity brother
and roommate, Kogod junior
Kayden Horwitz. Each
recognized the image from
their separate visits to the
Baldessari retrospective, Pure
Beauty, at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art this
past summer.
Mindell and Horwitz
agree that the collection
gets noticed. “Students are
generally aware of the art in
the building,” says Mindell.
“I hear comments about
different pieces all the time.”
Horwitz characterizes the
art more as a backdrop to
their everyday lives than
something that insists on
getting attention, “although
it definitely makes the
building nicer.”
And on the roommates’
wish list? A program about
the collection, so that
students could connect even
more to individual pieces—
something that surely would
please the Kogods, inspired
as it is by their gift of art.
...
A book and Web project are in
development.
Lee Fleming is a Washington
writer whose articles have
appeared in the Washington
Post, ARTnews, Discovery,
Washingtonian, and the
European.
Robert Kogod reflects on which
prints are best suited for the highly
visible KCCD lobby.
<< 48 hours in april
Single print from Gunther Forg, Leaves, 1999,
set of four etchings, 33 ¼ x 25 in., edition of 50,
courtesy of the Artist and Schellman Art,
Munich–New York
Elsewhere, staircases lead
to walls hung with huge
Holocaust-haunted prints
by Moshe Kupferman and
an eerie (and enormous)
woodcut by Richard Bosman
of a canoe empty and adrift.
Other stairs pass by Elizabeth
Murray’s brilliantly hued,
cartoon-wacky images, and
witty, Pop-provocative pieces
by Robert Rauschenberg
and Claes Oldenburg. To
find work by these renowned
artists gracing a stairwell
demonstrates how intensely
Kogod wanted to surround
students with art.
In the new building
proper, William Steiger’s
images of solitary structures
create a minimalist yet
mysterious transition to the
new Kogod Center for Career
Development (KCCD). The
center’s reception area pairs
three Dan Flavin aquatints,
with glowing colors that
images of the prints around
a miniature blueprint of the
floor plan, experimenting
with different configurations.
Then, in a move worthy
of Extreme Makeover, the
building was shut down for
a weekend, its doors and
windows taped. Volunteers
provided extra security as the
framed art was distributed
throughout the new spaces.
“We were working on pure
adrenaline,” Kline says, “but
it was so worth it, to see the
art come together and claim
the space.”
As with phase one,
Kogod had the final decision
on what should go where.
In the process, he solved a
number of installation issues,
including how to activate and
anchor a wall at the end of
a long corridor connecting
the new and old buildings.
The shadowy landscape by
April Gornik that originally
held the spot was now
virtually indistinguishable
at a distance. A large Susan
Goldman etching of three
Roman amphora had the
opposite problem: in the
corridor’s close quarters,
viewers could not stand back
far enough to appreciate its
impact. Kogod suggested that
Peter Doig’s Curious is unpacked
and placed for installation in
classroom T60.
Robert Kogod and Stephanie Rachum
discuss the sequencing of Forg’s
Leaves in the student lounge.
Susan Goldman’s Three Amphora V
in its new location
december 2010 
The Great
Immigration
Debate
AU professors weigh in
They come by the thousands every day, as thousands have for generations before
them. Some bear the proper papers; others have nothing but the clothes on their backs. Each harbors a past and
hopes and dreams for the future.
Individually, some fade into the dark crevices of our culture, hardly visible. Collectively, they can, do, and will alter the
very fabric of our society.
“We’ve always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants, a nation that welcomes those willing to embrace
America’s precepts,” President Barack Obama said July 1 during a speech at American University. “ Indeed, it is this
constant flow of immigrants that helped to make America what it is.”
It’s a country where 1 million people from around the globe take the oath of citizenship each year. It’s a country
where an estimated 11 million undocumented people live illegally, both creating and solving problems. It’s a country
where nearly everyone has an opinion on immigration, one of the most multifaceted and politically muddled
issues in the United States today.
Following the midterm elections, comprehensive immigration reform may return to the country’s political agenda,
so American magazine turned to five leading campus thinkers for perspective. Each is an expert in his or her field, and
brings a unique background to the debate Obama reignited with his speech at the School of International Service.
by Mike Unger
 american
december 2010 
Christopher Rudolph
School of International Service, author
of National Security and Immigration
N
ational security, if we think about
it broadly, has had an influence on
how states view immigration and why
that changes across time. After 2001
immigration dipped, but by 2005 we
were at or beyond pre-9/11 levels, and
immigration continues to go up.
Not surprisingly, there has been
increased border fortification. It’s interesting to note that while border security
on the U.S.-Canadian side increased
threefold-plus, it’s threefold from
almost nothing. Right before 9/11 there
were 300 border agents on the entire
northern border.
At the same time, the southern border
had around 9,000 agents; that number
has also risen. Ironically, there are no
verified cases of terrorists crossing from
Mexico, while we have verified cases of
terrorists coming from Canada.
The Center for Immigration Studies,
which researched the cases of foreign
terrorists who have infiltrated the nation,
found the terrorists have used every
avenue of entry, including refugee and
asylum claims. Still, we frame immigration and border crossing as a security
issue, which casts a pall over all immigrants as security threats.
In this country, discussing immi-
 american
gration policy isn’t appealing to many
people. The political lines and support
groups don’t line up very nicely. There
are overlapping interest groups. It’s become a dangerous tool to try to wield for
political advantage.
Perhaps that’s the role academics will
play—talking about this in a comprehensive fashion, and at some point, maybe
the conversation will infuse itself into the
public debate. n
Alan Kraut
Department of History, College of Arts
and Sciences; chair of the Statue of
Liberty–Ellis Island History Advisory
Committee and consultant to the Lower
East Side Tenement Museum
M
ass migration as we know it from
Europe really begins in the 1830s
and picks up in the 1840s. It’s the period
of the Irish famine migration; it’s the
period when Scandinavians are coming to
escape poverty. Between 1840 and 1860
about 4.5 million come to the United
States. That’s an extraordinary number in
a 20-year period.
By the late nineteenth, early twentieth
centuries, we again see a massive wave of
immigration to the United States. At the
same time, we’re also gaining people from
Mexico and Canada. We’re constantly
replenished and changed by newcomers.
There’s always been tremendous
backlash. In the 1840s to 1860s many of
the newcomers to this Protestant country
were Catholic. So a tremendous wave
of anti-Catholicism sweeps across the
country. The signs that say, ‘Help wanted,
Irish need not apply,’ or the publication
of a pulp literature that accuses the Pope
of wanting to come to America and establish his kingdom here—it’s pretty vicious.
Quite lately folks talking about
Islamaphobia have begun to look back at
this period and say it’s not unlike what
Catholics faced, when the Know Nothing
party, a whole party geared toward antiCatholicism and anti-immigration, arose.
There is an old immigrant saying we
can trace back to the late nineteenth
century—‘America beckons, but Americans repel.’ What it means is all the
opportunities of life in America attract
immigrants, and some Americans want
the labor and energy of immigrants,
but many more Americans see them as
a threat to their jobs, to the culture, to
democracy.
We’re seeing that now.
These things happen; yet each group
has managed to find its place in and
adjust to American ways. Though there
are some who believe this is not happening for the Mexicans, the historical record
says otherwise.
Assimilation is a highly contested
word among scholars. For a time we
stopped talking about assimilation and
talked about incorporation; sometimes
we talk about integration. There are lots
of reasons assimilation doesn’t appeal to
many [scholars], simply because the notion of people losing their identity doesn’t
square with the experience many immigrant groups have had in this country.
But it is true that groups change
their relationship to American society. It
involves learning the language, sometimes changing one’s name, sometimes
even changing one’s appearance or one’s
religious practice. It’s a negotiation that
occurs on the group level, but also for
the individual—deciding exactly what
you’re willing to relinquish in exchange
for acceptance.
Some years ago at a conference a
young Muslim woman asked me, ‘What
do we have to do to integrate into American society?’ I only half facetiously said,
‘Produce a great second baseman.’ What I
was trying to address was how Americans
tend to embrace those who embrace our
ways, our entertainment, our styles.
The extent to which every group does
that indicates their wish to become part
of the society, and the society responds,
though it’s not always an easy process. It
can take generations.
I believe in the enormous power of
American culture to bring people into it.
Every school child knows the best
shows on TV are in English, knows the
rock ’em sock ’em movies they want to
see are in English. Every child knows
the baseball stars, or the movie stars, are
speaking in English. Do you really mean
to tell me that next generation, Born in
the USA, as Springsteen would say, is
not going to learn English? Especially
when they learn to get the best jobs, they
need English. n
Rita Simon
School of Public Affairs, expert on
immigration policies and public opinion
I
f public opinion determined the United
States’ immigration policies, we would
have millions fewer immigrants in this
country. This basic question, ‘Should
immigration be kept at its present level,
increased, or decreased?’ has been asked
since 1946. The last data I have is from
2000, but never have more than 13
percent of the American public said
immigration should be increased—even
during periods in the 1960s when we
were admitting only about 300,000
immigrants a year.
How you ask a question is very
important. If you ask the question in the
abstract you get one answer. If you ask it
in a specific personal way you get another.
Should we admit more immigrants?
‘No, no, no, we don’t want that.’
What about that family across the
street who just recently came to the
United States? ‘Oh, they’re a lovely family, my children play with them.’
We’ve had different attitudes toward
immigrants at different times. We’re
concerned that immigrants will take jobs,
especially if the economy isn’t doing well.
We’ve always had groups that we didn’t
like. When the Irish started coming there
were riots in Boston.
Whenever you ask about attitudes
toward immigrants, it’s the ones that are
coming now that we have the most negative attitudes toward. In retrospect, the
Irish of course, they’ve made such lovely
contributions. The Germans, the Polish,
the Japanese in this country have made
it better.
When the public thinks about immigrants, they think about strangers who
will change American customs, traditions.
You know, Washington used to be a black/
white city, but now with its boutiques,
restaurants, and neighborhoods, it’s
become a much more interesting city
because of immigrants. n
december 2010 
Jayesh Rathod
Washington College of Law, director
of the Immigrant Justice Clinic, former
attorney at CASA de Maryland, where
he represented low-wage immigrant
workers on employment law and
immigration matters
M
y parents immigrated to the United
States from India in 1970. They
were fortunate, in the 1960s the U.S.
changed its immigration laws to allow
freer immigration from Asia. Individuals with professional degrees were able to
get green cards fairly readily. My father
applied and came to the U.S. by himself.
He lived in a shared apartment in Chicago
with some other Indian immigrants. My
mom and my sister came a year later.
When I was born, my parents had
been in the States for about five years and
had been through some of the most difficult years for cultural assimilation. During my childhood I remember difficulties
in terms of accent, discrimination. Even
though there was a growing Indian community and everyone was familiar with
the culture and the dress, I got questions.
While I was at CASA we represented
low-wage day laborers and domestic
workers. It was fascinating to see the day
laborer phenomenon and how prevalent
wage theft is in the D.C. area. Many
workers expect that they won’t get
paid. Employers make excuses to avoid
paying workers.
It becomes easy to demonize employers, but a lot of them are just a couple of
steps up the immigrant ladder.
It taught me about our assumptions
about immigrant workers. They’re doing
all kinds of work, and they have a mix of
goals. A lot of them don’t want to settle
here permanently. They’re here to earn
some money and go back home.
Among those who intended to stay
here, I observed a desire to learn skills
and integrate with the community. CASA
of Maryland had extraordinarily long
waiting lists for English classes.
[My thoughts on] the Arizona law,
which was a local enforcement initiative, are that it’s an effort by the state to
control unauthorized immigration within
its borders.
Given where it’s situated, I understand the legislature’s motivation. I think
it’s unquestionable that unauthorized
migration affects Arizona. So the question
becomes what’s the best way to control it?
There’s the border theory of build a
wall. That’s not going to work, certainly
not by itself.
There’s a theory that if we punish
employers or make it difficult for them to
hire unauthorized workers, we will reduce
the flow of migration. In 1986 we had a
law premised on that. It was not vigorously enforced and didn’t really work.
Now we see a move to criminalize
unlawful status, to impose penalties on
being here unlawfully, and to vigorously
enforce and deport law breakers to reduce
migration.
That’s what’s behind the Arizona law.
It remains to be seen whether or not that
will be an effective approach.
But, until you address the root causes
of why people migrate, enforcement and
building a wall are not going to curb the
migration. You have to think about the
economic reality.
The conventional wisdom is that this
issue of local enforcement will make its
way up to the Supreme Court.
It may go to the Supreme Court, but
I think the broader political question will
not be resolved. n
Leonard Steinhorn
School of Communication, author of
The Greater Generation: In Defense of
the Baby Boom Legacy; his expertise
includes American politics, culture and
media, and recent American history
T
he media is doing what the media
tend to do, which is shine a spotlight on the most outraged and angriest
parts of our country and give them a
megaphone far beyond their numbers or
their meaning in our culture. You end up
seeing these very agitated and indignant
anti-immigrant groups in the news because it makes for good pictures, when in
fact there’s a silent majority who have far
more complex views on the issue.
Immigration has always led to anxiety
among the people who were already in
the country. Dial back 100 or so years
you see many of the same comments and
invectives that are currently applied to
Latino immigrants were directed at Poles
and Russians and Italians and Jews. The
perception was that they’re not learning
the language; they can’t be assimilated;
they don’t want to be part of America;
types of commentary that led to very
serious immigration restriction laws.
It was quite common as immigrant
families came to this country for only one
of them to learn English. Yet their kids
all learned English and adapted to the
society. I see that as very similar to what’s
happening today. Sometimes it’s important to have a longer historical look to
realize that the people who are here really
want to become American.
There’s always the issue of looks and
how that’s associated with some of the
nativist impulses in our society. In the
long run we have a very diverse country,
and at least ideologically, we pride ourselves
on that. We have people who look every
which way, and they are 100 percent
Americans. There are millions upon
millions of Latinos who have gone
through the process of becoming
American citizens. They’re as American
as anybody whose ancestors came on the
Mayflower. I think the issue here is that
the question of illegal immigration, of
breaking the laws, gets conflated with a
degree of nativism and ethnic hostility,
and I think that’s too bad.
As a country we ought to figure out
a way to deal with it without raising
the temperature, which bleeds into ugly
incidents and laws that could ultimately
result in racial profiling and Americans
feeling less American simply because of
the color of their skin.
From a political perspective it’s a twoedged sword for both parties. The Republican perspective might rouse up the
Tea Party or Minutemen vote to generate
support in parts of the Southwest. But
by conflating their concerns about illegal
immigration with an overriding nativist
message, they risk alienating Latinos for
years to come.
Democrats on the other hand want
to maintain, celebrate, and respect the
diversity and pluralism of America, but
they run the risk of angering people who
feel undocumented immigrants may take
their jobs.
I think each party is thinking about
the political calculus, and there’s no question there are some people thinking on
the short term and some people thinking
on the longer term.
There’s a lot of tightwire walking by
each party on this issue. n
Picturing Latin America
The photos running along the bottom of this story were taken in Nicaragua, Haiti,
Cuba, and Brazil by School of Communication journalist in residence Bill Gentile, left. During his decades of work with United Press
International (UPI) and Newsweek magazine, Gentile snapped thousands of images in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year, he
offered access to his entire archive to AU’s new Center for Latin American and Latino Studies.
“I opened them up for use by the center because I believe these images can help us all understand the reality of our southern
neighbors—the good, the bad, and the ugly,” said Gentile, founder and director of both the Backpack Journalism Project and Foreign
Correspondence Network at AU. “I want to contribute to the center’s mission of cultivating that understanding, which should foster a
more harmonious coexistence.”
 american
december 2010 
WHY a
campaign
With competition for talented
students, faculty, and funds
in a crowded marketplace
growing more intense by
the day, universities must
differentiate themselves.
No longer your father’s AU,
the university decided two
When a university transforms
years ago to help close the
itself into a vibrant, thriving
gulf between its reputation
institution with talented faculty and reality. The goal was
and students passionate
to bring AU’s strengths to
about creating meaningful
the surface in order to
change it’s critical that the
motivate people to engage
world notice.
with the university.
By
mike
unger
How does one
get to knowAt AU, the
was
the essence answer
found by
of an entire flipping
a key
word in this
community? very question.
FROM THE
BOTTOM UP
Among the first steps was
to hire the marketing
strategy firm Simpson
Scarborough, which
reached out and touched
thousands of students,
faculty, alumni, and staff in
hopes of identifying AU’s
distinctive characteristics.
Using that information
and boatloads more,
a university marketing
advisory council
composed of the provost,
deans, faculty, staff, and
students recommended
moving forward with
a brand strategy focused
on three messages:
active citizenship,
learning from leaders,
and Washington as a
powerful lab for learning.
“Just like any athlete, these top Scrabble word wonks have memorable plays.”
—Dallas Morning News (August 7, 2010)
 american
december 2010 25
One day, after countless hours
considering dozens of ideas
to illustrate the strategy, in its
Tenley Campus war room—an
erstwhile conference room
transformed into a creative oasis
complete with bean bag chairs
and a hip-swaying Elvis clock—a
University Communications and
Marketing team rediscovered a
cartoon Nate Beeler, SOC/BA
’02, drew for a 2008 edition of
American magazine.
THE BIG IDEA:
how to just do it?
“The term can apply to anyone because it’s
The Washington Examiner cartoonist a smart person who is
depicted a flock of men and women
incredibly passionate
sitting on a telephone wire near the
Washington monument like birds (or about what they do,”
said Beeler, a selfperhaps Supreme Court justices),
squawking “wonk.” But how would
described journalism
wonk play to different age groups,
wonk. “D.C. attracts that
audiences, and even in different
kind of thing, and AU is
languages? Months of testing and
the perfect place for it.”
research commenced.
ROLLING
OUT
Wonk’s campus coming-out party
was in August during the annual
Celebrate AU soiree on the quad.
Lines started forming for free
wonk T-shirts around 1:00 p.m.
So popular were the 18 varieties,
each adorned with a Beeler
character, that three hours later
the lines kept going and going
and going . . .
In the end 3,500 T-shirts were
handed out. The first to go was
Peace, followed by Global,
then Green.
The word about wonk
quickly spread. A September
24 Washington Post story
detailed the campaign. Ads
have begun appearing at
Metro stops and in local
newspapers. During AllAmerican Weekend in
October, a Wonk of Fame
exhibit highlighted successful
(and some famous) AU
wonks.
For videos, stories, wonks in the news,
and more, visit www.american.edu/wonk/.
SEEDING
Teams of undergraduate
and graduate students
were hired to help
figure out how to
introduce the concept
to their classmates.
After developing the
They let their fingers do
concept and testing it
the walking, spreading
with a host of campus
constituencies, alumni, the word about wonk
and potential students, through Twitter,
Facebook, videos,
it became clear that
and even wonk walks.
wonk was a hit.
“And when you get in there, if you’re an earnest policy wonk like he is and I was, it’s hard to
believe there are people who really don’t want you to do your job.”—President Bill Clinton in
 american
26
reference to President Barack Obama, New York Times (September 20, 2010)
YOU SAY YOU’RE A WONK >>
“[Jack Eichenbaum] is . . . a bit of a Brooklyn wonk. He has 3,000 slides of historic Brooklyn images and one-third of his basement has been taken over by Brooklyn Dodgers paraphernalia.”—New York Times (June 9, 2010)
december 2010 27
>>>
Eddie
Leavy
Olha
Onyshko
SOC/BA public communication
(theatre minor) ’12
SARAH
FARHAT
SOC/MFA film and electronic media ’09
FILMMAKERS, Three Stories of Galicia
(Cannes and Hamburg Festivals)
CARL
LEVAN
ALYSSIA
ALEXANDRIA
SPA/MA political science ’98
Assistant professor, SIS
Africa coordinator, Comparative and
Regional Studies Program
CAS/BS audio technology ’90
Founder, My Darling Theo Foundation (MDT)
TheatrE wonk
FILMMAKING wonkS
Animal advocacy wonk
Africa wonk
I love everything about the theatre—being
on stage, and having the spotlight on you,
and performing, you know, singing, acting,
and dancing. I have been doing musical
theatre from third grade on. Musicals are
still my first love because they’re my comfort
zone, I’ve grown up on them. I never would
audition for straight plays—I never thought I
was good at it. But the experience I just had
doing The Three Sisters was probably the
most valuable learning experience of my life.
Olha The summer before enrolling at AU, I went on
There’s a shortage of wonks on Africa. The result is a
mismatch between the ideas being implemented and
the big questions being asked. I’m interested in Africa
at the policy level because it’s become more and more
important for the United States. There’s been a massive
increase in trade in both directions. And I’m concerned
about how Western security interests have the potential
to trump the fragile state of democracy in Africa and to
put things off course. It may become harder for people
to engage in self-help activities at the community level,
and they may have less freedom to participate in politics.
I feel like theatre people have this big secret. If you’re not
a theatre person, it’s hard to explain how amazing theatre
can be. I think it has the potential to change someone’s
life. Different shows have different reasons to be done:
some stories should be told just for pure entertainment,
shows like Grease. And then there are shows like The
Three Sisters that need to be told because they make you
think. People came out of Three Sisters in tears, saying
that it was inspiring and thought provoking. When I hear
that, it makes me so happy because all this hard work we
did really impacted people. That’s the kind of theatre I
love to do—that makes people reevaluate their life.
Sarah It’s the stories of three people who come from
the same region but from different backgrounds: Jewish,
Ukrainian, and Polish. What they have in common is
that they all had risked their lives to save somebody who
was supposed to be their enemy. We chose those stories
because they give a message of tolerance, of reconciliation.
My mom was a visiting nurse in New York and
she brought home everything with a broken
wing or leg, so I’ve been involved with animals
all my life. I’ve personally rescued 10 animals,
all cats, and now have a little puppy. My cat
Theo was number one. When he died, I decided
that I was going to found a nonprofit in his
name. I wanted to create the first “superfund”
for animal shelters—and to go after organized
dog fighting. We have to say no, we’re not
going to tolerate it. The cost of ignorance
regarding animals is very high because we
share the world with them.
My director in high school always said, “Be extraordinary
on stage—and be extraordinary at everything you do.” I
think that if you strive to be extraordinary on stage, you
should strive to be extraordinary in real life, because in
theatre what we’re trying to do is mimic real life. And I
think if you’re serious about having a great work ethic on
stage, you should carry that over to your life. I’ll never
forget that.
28 american
a journey in Ukraine collecting stories. I knew there
was this region, Galicia—I am from there. I heard a lot
of things that happened to my own family during the
Second World War. But when I was at the Soviet school,
I was not able to talk about it, and it was not in the
history books. So, when I started to record the stories, it
was interesting for me because they are not recorded
anywhere else. When Sarah and I met—it was our first
semester at AU—I told her that I had these stories, would
she be interested? And I guess being from Lebanon—
they were similar to what was happening in her part of
the world.
Olha We made this film because we want change,
we want these groups to start talking to each other. And
we think this is a universal lesson—that first, you have
to record history from the people’s perspective, then
you can have all kinds of discussions. But at least it’s
recorded, you cannot just erase it.
Sarah When we first started, it was kind of a mission
impossible. But we kept pushing and so it was four years
of really hard work. The result is that it’s already starting
to touch people. Media is very powerful if you can use
it to do good. We would love to continue to make similar
films—but we’re not just interested in entertainment for
entertainment’s sake.
One of my biggest passions is to break the cycle of
domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty: The
father abuses the mother, the mother abuses the child,
the child abuses the animal. It’s a big circle. I’m
gathering data on juvenile crime against animals. I’m
going to create a juvenile crime map with the hope
that the message will reach people who can influence
policy and provide funding. MDT is trying to focus the
message so people who are not part of the “movement”
can understand and get on board.
At this point, the focus of the organization is educating
the public so we can promote humane treatment of
animals. If we can get to kids when they’re young, we
can prevent them from doing bad things to animals.
I think that wonks are pioneers, people who follow
their own star, who aim for the moon. Everybody wants
to steer the ship when the sea is calm; when the sea is
not calm, you have to be brave and steer the ship.
I left government wonkdom to become an academic.
And fortunately, academia has been a little ahead of
the game. Scholars have been working very hard to
integrate the study of Africa with social sciences and
political science and to bring some of the core issues to
the attention of policy makers. And now we’re at a point
where they’re starting to really listen.
The impact of my blog, Development4Security, I
hope will be to bring some undernoticed resources
into the academic community and to bring some
underrepresented views to the policy community. I’ve
been really excited by some of the debate that’s started
to play out, and eventually I’ll integrate this into my
courses. So as I build my blog as a knowledge tool,
then it will also become a teaching resource.
I’m hoping that my work will help bring to light some
of the ways in which viewpoints and communities have
been marginalized. I think that if I can help stem a policy
drift that jeopardizes the democratic gains that have
been made in Africa over the last two decades, then I’ve
made my contribution.
—Alison Kahn
december 2010 29
ROLLING
ON
32
All-American Weekend
34
Campaign Celebration
36
Class Notables
40
Class Notes
www.american.edu/magazine
As the wonk campaign
continues to grow, it will do
so as it was hatched—in a
calculated, collaborative,
and focused manner.
Alumni news
AU’s new welcome center is
scheduled to open in the
Katzen Arts Center in January.
Wonk and its anadrome (know
spelled backwards) will be
featured in everything from
enrollment materials to the
physical decoration of the
space to the welcome video.
“Cheese!” The photo booth brought into the Katzen Arts Center especially for All-American Weekend’s Saturday night All-Alumni Bash on
October 23 was a hub of activity. From left: Krassi Genov, SOC/BA ’96; Z. Selin Hur, SIS-CAS/BA ’94; and Bailey Kasten, SPA/BA ’05;
Pam Dahill, Kogod/BSBA ’85, Kogod/MBA ’95, and her husband, Jay; and Krisy Lawlor, SIS/BA ’04; and Naila Huq, Kogod/BSBA ’05
AU—the choice of a new
generation of wonks.
Look familiar? These ads already have appeared
in local
 newspapers
american and Metro stations.
Nate Beeler’s "World of Wonks" in its early inception.
For more Beeler cartoons, go to page 48.
AU’s new Welcome Center, depicted in the top
two renderings, will incorporate wonk campaign
materials, like the view book, above.
december 2010 
A
L
ME
L
A
Alumni and Families Return for Festive
All-American Weekend
E R I C
A
A M
N
N
RI
U
I
Nearly 700 alumni and guests—and even more parents and family members of current AU students—came to
campus October 22–24 for All-American Weekend to find out what’s new, who’s old, and which new styles at
the campus store caught their fancy. Eagles from classes as far back as 1939 attended milestone reunions, the
alumni awards ceremony, classes with popular AU faculty, an alumni authors panel, and much, much more.
V
R
CAN
E
T Y
S I
To find photos of your friends—and/or yourself—during the weekend’s events,
visit http://ucm.american.edu/alumniweekend.
Mark your calendar for next year’s festivities: Alumni Weekend 2011 will be held Oct. 21–23.
Contact Heather Buckner at 202-885-5902 or reunion@american.edu to get in early on the planning.
W
Alumni & Family
Weekend
A
S
H
D
I
N
G
T
,
O N
WE
N
E
EK
D . C
.
1980s Reunion
e All-American Picnic
Amanda Barker Doran, SIS/BA ’05, and her family enjoyed the
live music and beautiful fall weather at the All-American Picnic
in the Woods-Brown Amphitheater.
Alumni Board member Sandra Walter-Steinberg,
Kogod/BSBA ’86, got a friendly smooch during
the 1980s reunion from her friend, Michael Chase,
Kogod/BSBA ’85.
e Alumni Awards Ceremony
President Kerwin congratulated this year’s 2010 alumni award recipients:
Richard Hocker, Kogod/BS ’68, Kogod/MBA ’70 (Alumni Recognition award);
Jim Brady, SOC/ BA’89 (Alumni Achievement award);
and Kevin Malecek, SPA/BA ’01, SPA/MA ’02 (Rising Star award).
All-Alumni Party
e Brunch with Lonnie Bunch
Founding director of the Smithsonian’s yet-to-be-built National Museum of
African American History and Culture, Lonnie Bunch,
CAS/BA ’74, CAS/MA ’76, chatted during the brunch with CAS senior
Rashad Muhammad and his proud mom, Kathi Muhammad.
e
Photo by Laura Legg
Caitlin Douglas, SOC/BA ’08; Matt Bormet, SPA/BA ’03; and Ashley Philips,
SOC/BA ’02, SOC/MA ’03; welcomed more than 200 of their fellow eagles
to the All-Alumni Party at the 4Ps on Friday night.
Alumni Authors
e
Alumni authors Lewis D. Moore, CAS/PhD ’74; Priscilla Ramsey,
CAS/PhD ’75; and Ann McLaughlin, CAS/PhD ’78; were joined
by panel facilitator, Professor Derrick Cogburn; host of this
year’s new Alumni Book Club series Ann Kerwin, CAS/BA ’71;
and AU Librarian Bill Mayer following the authors panel.

32 american
e
Judi Salkin Stagg, SPA/BA ’82, and Patty Acerenza, SOC/BA ’81,
were among the many 1980s alumni to attend their reunion on
Friday night in the Katzen Arts Center.
Golden Eagles
e
Members of the Class of 1960 celebrated their induction into AU’s
Golden Eagles, the special group of alumni celebrating 50 years
since graduating from AU. From left, front row: Kenneth Koons,
CAS/BA; Robert Kimmins, CAS/BA; Franklin Paulson, Kogod/BS;
Stuart Bernstein, Kogod/BS; Larry Pierce, CAS/BA, Kogod/MBA ’66;
Ann Joseph, CAS/BA; Sofia Cukier Fudge, Kogod/BS; Brenda Hencke
Smith, CAS/BA. Back row: Richard Clampitt, Kogod/BS; Gunther
Gottfeld, SPA/MA; Eugene Levine, SPA/PhD; Ellen Schwarzschild
Kreuter, SOC/BA; Tom Kurtz, CAS/BA; Don Jackson, Kogod/BS; Amelia
Wright, CAS/BA; and Carla van den Berg Kelk, Kogod/BS.
december 2010 
1
W
2
b e c au s e o f y o u . . .
e have surpassed our $200 million campaign goal
by nearly $10 million!
Few journeys to success can happen without the
dedication, energy, talent, and generosity of friends and
colleagues who have shared in the vision to reach new levels
of excellence.
On October 21, nearly 400 of American University’s most cherished volunteers
and benefactors gathered on campus for the 29th Annual President’s Circle Dinner
to celebrate the many accomplishments of FY2009–2010, the most successful year of
fund-raising revenue in history, and the AnewAU campaign. It was an evening to be
remembered.
Among the highlights, the evening’s program featured the contributions of some key
donors and the students and faculty who benefited from their generosity.
More than 30,000 donors have made these and so many other successes a reality. From
the rise of spectacular new facilities, including the new School of International Service
Building, the Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center, the Kogod Expansion, and the Harold
and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre, to the $52.6 million in endowment gifts resulting in 80 new
scholarships since the campaign began, AnewAU has brought new and much-appreciated
resources to deserving students and faculty across campus and beyond.
We could not have done it without you.
We look forward to forging new and ongoing partnerships as we plan the next
phases in AU’s already bright future.
 american
Thank you
1. Alumni Board president Brian
6
Keane, SPA/BA ’89 (second from left),
and his wife, Kate (far left), enjoyed
the evening with Alumni Board VP
Erin Fuller, SPA/BA ’93, MPA ’94,
and her husband, Mike Leurdijk,
SIS/BA ’94.
2. Alan Meltzer ’73 and his wife,
Amy, caught up with AU president
Neil Kerwin, SPA/BA ’71, Athletics
Director Keith Gill, and Steve Oram,
Kogod/BS ’71.
3. Kogod professor Parthiban David
(with VP of Development and Alumni
Relations Tom Minar and former
provost Milton Greenberg), thanked
former AU trustee George Collins,
Kogod/MBA ’70 (not pictured), for
endowing his Strategy and
Consulting chair.
5
3
4
4. The 29th annual President’s Circle
dinner came home to Bender Arena
. . . transformed into an elegant venue
for the evening of celebration and
gratitude.
5. Clawed spread his wings—and
AU spirit—to Kogod parents Joel and
Jill Reitman, and grandparents Len and
Janet Goldberg.
6. Greenberg Theatre benefactor
Sylvia Greenberg looked on while Ann
Kerwin, CAS/BA ’71, chatted with
performing arts cochair Caleen
Sinnette Jennings.
Please join us in thanking all our donors by viewing the AnewAU Campaign Celebration video at: http://american.edu/anewau/Campaign-Video.cfm.
december 2010 
SO YOU CAN CATCH UP WITH PEOPLE YOU KNEW AT AU
(Annette) Lee Marrs, CAS/BA ’67
he author and artist of hundreds of comic books published by Marvel and DC Comics, Lee Marrs has had a
colorful career bringing to life Batman, Wonder Woman,
and Indiana Jones.
“The thread I’ve followed my whole life is as a storyteller,”
says Marrs, multimedia department chair at Berkeley City
College in California, where she teaches storytelling in digital art,
animation, storyboarding, and scriptwriting.
From producing mainstream tales of superheroes to underground comix to running a consulting company as president of Lee
Marrs Artwork, her 30-year career spans the media spectrum—
video games, graphics animation, digital media, and interactive
design. “It mostly came out of economic necessity. I had to move
from one medium to another to make money, to survive,” she says.
Her comic break came while she was an AU student. Here
Marrs met her best friend, Barbara Blaisdell, CAS/BA ’68, whose
father, comic book artist Tex Blaisdell, was known for his accurate
copying of Little Orphan Annie, Prince Valiant, and other comic
characters. He invited her to spend her summers in New York
assisting him on comic strip background work (filling in the area
surrounding characters).
In the late ’60s there were no female comic artists, and it didn’t
occur to Marrs to pursue a career creating comics. So, she cast a wider
net, taking Amtrak from Washington to New York for long weekends
to hunt down freelance gigs with publishers. “Once I discovered [the
prevalence of] sexism, I started using my middle name, ‘Lee.’”
She would mail samples of her artwork and then arrange a
face-to-face meeting with a publisher. She saw many faces fall
when she walked through an office door—most publishers assumed Lee Marrs was male. “Some laughed, some didn’t believe
that I did the work.” Few took her talent seriously.
 american
AU has a connection to Wonder Woman creator
William Moulton Marston—also known by his pen
name, Charles Moulton. In the 1920s, Moulton was
an AU psychology professor, a feminist theorist,
inventor of the polygraph, and comic book writer.
Coincidentally, Marrs wrote some special issues for
this very comic. Wonder Woman may return to the
TV screen. According to the Hollywood Reporter,
Warner Brothers TV has asked David Kelley (Ally
McBeal) to bring the superhero back to life.
Meanwhile, Marrs developed her own style, creating the
underground comix series The Further Fattening Adventures of
Pudge, Girl Blimp (1973–77). “If you have such a hard time
even getting your toe in the door, you’re going to get angry. The
feminist angle is a natural one.” She is working on a Pudge book,
due out in 2011.
But initially, Marrs hoped to be a political cartoonist. “My
mom wrote my great uncle who awarded Carnegie grants, asking
what college he thought would be a good match for my interests—politics and art. AU was the best choice for me [he said]
since it is well known for the School of International Service and
was one of the only schools in D.C. with a substantial art department,” says Marrs.
The AU art department’s connection to the Washington
Color School movement proved important to Marrs’s artistic
development. “The teachers had their own careers,” she says,
“they weren’t concerned whether or not you emulated them. At
other art schools, you had to learn their styles—at AU you could
develop your own style.”
—sonja patterson
T
Phil McHugh, SPA/BA ’08, SPA/MS ’09
Lee Marrs ’67
Trying to break into television as a graphic artist, she met with
the same sexism that darkened the comics world. But Marrs persevered, finally landing a job at the CBS affiliate in Washington,
where she worked on an Emmy Award–winning piece about the
1968 riots in D.C.
Photo by Liz Calka ’10
Class notables
Did you know?
always wanted to be a cop. There are pictures of me
‘locking up’ my grandparents when I was a little kid,”
says Phil McHugh. In June he traded in his suit and tie
to attend the very police academy his recent policy work helped
reinvigorate. He will graduate in December.
“I thought I knew about criminal procedure, the Constitution, and people’s rights. But it’s really different [in the academy]
“I
Phil McHugh ’08, ’09
learning about the responsibility you have when you’re taking
away somebody’s freedom,” says the double alumnus in justice.
A go-getter by any account, McHugh took his first law
enforcement class freshman year. After one session in which a
Metropolitan Police Department inspector spoke, he asked: ‘I’m
really interested in MPD, I love the city. Can I come follow you
around at work . . . and get to know what MPD does?”
A few months and an internship later, and he had launched
his short but already accomplished career.
McHugh found a mentor in Professor Josh Ederheimer,
SPA/BA ’95, a former MPD officer turned researcher, while
enrolled in his Introduction to American Policing course the
following semester.
In 2007, Ederheimer called McHugh with news that Cathy
Lanier, D.C.’s new police chief, had asked him to come work
for her, and Ederheimer wanted McHugh to work for him. His
excitement spilled out when telling his suburban Philadelphia,
school teacher parents: “I’m going to work for the MPD, the
department that protects the capital of the free world.”
december 2010 
As deputy chief of staff to Ederheimer at the police academy
(a job he held for just five months in 2007 while a junior at
AU), McHugh helped revamp the academy, which is located in
Anacostia.
“We got the place painted, we held off-site brainstorming
sessions with staff, and we took them to the home team locker
room at RFK stadium,” he says, all with the goal of reenergizing
the institution. “And we did.”
McHugh was assigned to spearhead a nationwide benchmarking initiative that would identify best practices in police academies across the country. He sent the entire staff of the academy
in small groups to 10 police academies across the country and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Three months later, after having seen his research implemented at the academy, Ederheimer asked McHugh to join him
in MPD headquarters in downtown D.C., where Ederheimer had
been promoted to assistant chief for professional development.
“I don’t like boasting, but I am very proud that at 19, an assistant
chief of police in the nation’s capital trusted me enough to have me
on his staff and to lead some of these projects,” McHugh says.
In November 2008, Chief Lanier pulled McHugh onto her personal staff. He was charged with coordinating departmental operations, overseeing threat assessments and intelligence operations, and
serving as Lanier's liaison to the community and other government
offices. Notably, McHugh was asked to procure and sell the special
presidential inaugural badges that 15,000 officers from across the
country would wear while working at the landmark event.
His efforts raised $900,000, and the proceeds went to the
District’s Crime Solvers program, which rewards citizens who
provide information that may lead to solving a crime. He has the
badge proudly displayed in a frame in his apartment.
If McHugh’s policing career unfolds like his first few years
have, he’s likely to add more medals and badges to his collection.
—melissa reichley
Award–winning film Happy Feet (November 2011) and Sherlock
Holmes (December 2011). “It’s about both mitigating risk and
taking risk,” Velkes says. “We look for blockbusters and ‘franchiseable’ films.” Success is in the numbers: the company’s films
have grossed more than $10 billion in worldwide box offices.
Velkes’s move to the West Coast to get into the film industry
was itself an adventure. His wife, Liza Chasin, a film graduate
of NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, was drawn to Hollywood
and wanted to move. So they made a bet: whoever got a job first
would dictate whether they stayed on the East Coast or headed
west. After five days of job hunting Chasin called home from Los
Angeles with a job offer from CBS.
In L.A., Velkes first worked at a boutique investment firm, but
felt the draw of the town’s core trade. “I decided if I was going
to live in Los Angeles, I wanted to be part of this main industry,” he says. He met the right person by chance at a backyard
barbecue, which led to a job at Twentieth Century Fox where he
Zandria Conyers ’02
later became senior vice president for motion pictures finance and
business development.
So what might be his sequel to Village Roadshow?
“To come full circle, working in the international nonprofit
world,” where he had hoped to land after his AU graduation. In
1984 however, as a South African citizen, he had no green card.
He found it difficult, because of the sanctions against South
Africa, to get work at an NGO. “Instead, I went where they don’t
care where you come from—Wall Street,” he says with a chuckle.
—sonja patterson
Matthew Velkes, SIS/BA ’84
atthew Velkes, chief financial officer for Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment, sees the “venture” in an
adventure, viewing film, especially the production side,
as an investment—full of risks and rewards.
Velkes runs the day-to-day operations of the company, which
has coproduced such films as the Matrix trilogies, Oceans 11, 12,
and 13, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Sex and the City 2.
Village Roadshow favors films that lend themselves to sequels,
with upcoming projects including follow-ups to the Oscar
Zandria Conyers, WCL/JD ’02
M
 american
’ve always been into extreme, off-the-cuff sports,” says
Zandria Conyers, who heads the legal department of the
Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She knows
both her mind and her sports, having competed in boxing and
marathon training while at law school.
She began her legal career in a traditional D.C. mold—with
a position at the Federal Trade Commission. After a move to
Atlanta, however, she became your “typical” lawyer-roller derby
competitor—at her day job with the Georgia governor’s Office
“I
Matthew Velkes ’84
of Consumer Affairs and as a blocker for the Atlanta Rollergirls
when off duty.
When the team needed legal help she became their head of
business and legal operations, and in the process she learned how
the corporate world merged with the sports and entertainment
worlds.
In 2008, she joined the LPGA. “It was a great way to combine my love of professional sports with my love and interest in
the law,” she says of her work there. “It’s 90 percent business, 10
percent law, and 100 percent sports.”
Conyers’s unconventional path to a career she loves is no
surprise when you hear of her mother’s career determination.
While growing up in Florida, Conyers watched her mother
persevere to become one of the first black female attorneys as a
criminal defense lawyer. “She was a trailblazer and pioneer in setting a path for women of color,” Conyers says.
“It’s my biggest accomplishment to have a job I am committed
to [where I] know that I’m making a meaningful contribution.
“I think it gives my children a sense of pride to see their mom
try to have a career and to be involved in an area that is not traditionally held by a lot of women and women of color.”
­—katie mattern ’11
december 2010 
world of
wonks
Esquire’s “This Way In.
” “Back Story” in Newsweek. The New Yorker’s “Cartoon
Caption Contest.”
The back page of a magazine is treasured real estate, which is why we chose this space as the
new home for “World of Wonks,” an original cartoon series that debuts below.
Penned by Washington Examiner editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler, SOC/BA ’02, exclusively for
AU, the cartoons get to the heart of the university’s new branding campaign, which Beeler himself
accidentally inspired.
In 2008 we commissioned Beeler to draw a cover for American, and one of his submissions
depicted men and women sitting on a telephone wire near the Washington Monument squawking
“wonk.” We ended up using a different Beeler classic, but it was his wonkish creation that helped
spark the idea for AU’s new campaign.
We thought it’d be fun if he took the idea and ran with it, so in the next few issues we’ll be
running more of Beeler’s scenes from the “World of Wonks.”
“The idea is that being a wonk is not something that is unique to a small number of people,”
he said. “A wonk is somebody who knows their field through and through and is passionate about
it. This sort of brings the concept home in a humorous way.
“I brainstorm, doodle, come up with an idea here or there, and it all goes into a stew that’s
bubbling in your head. Then you figure out what works and what doesn’t.
“Cartoons are a visual medium, so one of the things that work great are sight gags. You think
of what would be funny to look at, and it’s usually something that doesn’t belong in a certain
situation. I like to work in a pun, which some people say is the lowest form of humor. I strongly
disagree.”
As do we. —mu
When a science wonk unwinds . . .
Communications wonks are always well connected.
“Even in a city of policy wonks, Mr. [Roger Blaine] Porter is an acknowledged black
belt in white paper . . .”—Maureen Dowd, New York Times (March 29, 1990)
 american
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage PAID
Permit No. 451
Dulles, VA
Washington, DC 20016-8002
Address Service Requested
A night at the opera calls for glamour, and
the 280 University College students who
attended the October 12 Washington
National Opera performance of Salome
didn’t disappoint. The Kennedy Center
outing was organized by the University
College, AU’s first-year residential
learning program.
Photo by Jeff Watts