American Magazine: August 2014

TROUBLED TEENS
FIND REDEMPTION
p. 18
SOC’S MOST
TELLING TALES
p. 22
THE EVERGLADES IS
THIRSTY FOR SURVIVAL
p. 30
UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014
Myths and misconceptions about the Capital City
(no, Washington wasn’t built on a swamp)
p. 12

An AU insider’s
perspective on next page

Marjorie Merriweather Post’s treasures include a diamondstudded
crown, glistening chalices, ornate Fabergé
eggs—and, of course, the sprawling, Georgian-style mansion
that houses them. But the CROWN JEWEL of the Post
cereal heiress’s collection may be the EXQUISITELY
MANICURED GREENERY that surrounds her
northwest D.C. estate.
Forty years after Post’s death, master gardener Jason
Gedeik has a hand—literally—in carrying on her LEGACY
OF IMPECCABLE TASTE and affinity for flowers.
As head of greenhouse and design operations at the
Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens, Gedeik maintains
25 ACRES bursting with vibrant azaleas, roses, peonies,
tulips, delphiniums, and POST’S BELOVED ORCHIDS.
(Hillwood has more than 2,000 specimens and hundreds of
varieties of the exotic flower.)
Gedeik says the gardens, nestled near Rock Creek
Park, were designed for spring and fall, when Post would
host EXTRAVAGANT SOIRÉES for the who’s who of
Washington—but the property is picturesque year-round.
“I love creating beauty for our visitors and continuing
to tell Mrs. Post’s story, which is one of GRACE AND
CHARM in an era long since gone,” says Gedeik. “People
don’t live this way anymore.”
Jason Gedeik
SPA/MPP ’05
18
22
28
30
Incarcerated D.C. youth
are more than the sum
of their rap sheets
Tools of the trade
have changed, but
SOC’s mission remains
the same
Al-Qaeda to Zeta Function
and 24 projects in between
Even gator-infested waters
need a protector

1 POV
4 4400 Mass Ave
Ideas, people, perspectives
16
Metrocentered
35 Your American
Connect, engage, reminisce
AMERICAN
American University magazine
Vol. 65, No. 1
SENIOR EDITOR
Adrienne Frank, SPA/MS ’08
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Suzanne Bechamps
Amy Burroughs
Ali Kahn
STAFF WRITER
Mike Unger
WRITERS
Adrienne Frank
Ali Kahn
Kerry O’Leary
ART DIRECTOR
Maria Jackson
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeffrey Watts
CLASS NOTES
Traci Crockett
VICE PRESIDENT,
COMMUNICATIONS
Teresa Flannery
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT,
CREATIVE SERVICES
Kevin Grasty
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,
CONTENT STRATEGY
Laura Garner
American is published three
times a year by American
University. With a circulation
of 118,000, American is sent
to alumni and other members
of the university community.
Copyright©2014.
An equal opportunity,
affirmative action university.
UP15-001
For information regarding the
accreditation and state licensing
of American University, please
visit american.edu/academic.
End of Watch
During my sophomore year of high school, I began
working as a community columnist for my local paper,
the Chandler Arizonan. I use the term “working” loosely,
as I wasn’t paid for my prose. But the dozens of clips I
collected were priceless.
I was, by far, the youngest of the dozen or so
columnists who worked for editor Susan Keaton, and
my articles, while lively and technically proficient, were
hardly hard-hitting. (Susan, with her friendly Southern
drawl, would call them “charming.”) While my fellow
columnists weighed in on immigration issues and the
housing boom, I penned 400 words about such topics as
my first fender-bender, which occurred, embarrassingly
enough, in my parents’ garage.
In August 1995, however, my column took a more
serious turn when I chronicled the funeral for my dad’s
friend and colleague, Arizona Highway Patrolman Bob
Martin, who was gunned down during a traffic stop on
a stretch of road my father also policed. I didn’t go to the
service intending to write about it. My dad asked me to
join him because, at 16, I was old enough to understand
the danger of his job, to share in his grief. But the
experience left me profoundly moved.
My heart ached for Officer Martin’s family, but it also
swelled with pride for my dad. Despite my teenage angst,
I was always proud of him. I remember beaming when he
brought his cruiser to my elementary school and passed
out plastic badges to my classmates. But this was
different. Sitting next to him in the pew, I realized that
the world can be cruel and unforgiving and that it takes
a special kind of person to run towards danger when
my instinct—our instinct—is to run away from it.
As a writer, you pore over every word, but you can
never be sure if anyone will read it, or care. The job is a
bit anticlimactic that way. But I know my dad read that
column—and sometimes an audience of one is enough.
That clip, now yellow with age, will always hold a special
place in my heart.
This issue, writer Mike Unger asked School of
Communication professors, students, and alumni to
share their most impactful stories to celebrate the
school’s new home in the renovated McKinley Building.
I think you’ll find their stories powerful and engrossing.
Do you have a story of your own to share? Email me
at afrank@american.edu. And follow us on Twitter
@au_americanmag.
Adrienne Frank
Senior editor

on campus
NO CAMPUS GROUP IS
CREATING A BIGGER BUZZ
than the AU Beekeeping Society.
Apologies for the pun, but as
you’ll see, there are few things AU’s
beekeepers appreciate more than a
play on words.
School of International Service
professor Eve Bratman beegan the
project in 2011 with one colony.
Interest quickly beelooned, and now
two hives on the roof of the Mary
Graydon Center are tended to by
dozens of students, staff, and faculty.
“Bees are the most important
pollinators, and without pollination,
we wouldn’t have 75 percent of the
food we eat on our tables,” Bratman
says. “We don’t keep them on
leashes, but we’re basically their
landlord. We provide a safe and
healthy home for the colony. We
check the hives to make sure that
the queen is alive and laying eggs,
the bees are free from predators,
and they have enough sugar syrup
to have decent food supplies.”
Buzzworthy
Last year, the group harvested 90
pounds of honey from the hives, and
used some of it to make lip balm that
proved so popular it sold out almost
immediatebee.
Lindsay Booth, SIS/MA ’14, was a
beeliever in the group from the start.
“There are so many interesting
facts: A queen can lay about 1,500
eggs in a day. Each chamber in
the comb is exactly the same
measurement. The bees talk to each
other through dance,” she says.
“And then there are the puns. We
named our first hive Beeyonce.
Others have been Lord of Stings,
Bee Arthur, and Obeewon. Bee
people are weird, what can I say?”
ILLUSTRATION BY HEATHER HARDISON
4 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

expert
3 MINUTES ON . . . TV Series Finales
Cristel Russell
Professor, Department of Marketing,
Kogod School of Business
Everybody
watches TV.
You sit next to somebody on a
plane and before you know it
you’re talking about the shows
you watch. But what happens
when a TV show ends?
Soap operas like General
Hospital and All My Children
aired for decades.
Every day people
would watch an
episode, sometimes
by themselves, but
sometimes with their moms or
grandmas. Viewers
were devastated
when the shows were cancelled.
Part of it was ‘what happened to
this character?’
They were in
mourning;
they were grieving.
Other shows, like
Entourage, ended well in the
sense that people
knew it was
coming so they
were able to
prepare themselves
for the death of the show.
They were able to slowly
disconnect.
We call these shows
narrative brands:
the story being told
is also a market
product. They’re
sold to the audience
for commercial time. Lots of
shows have product
placements in them.
If there’s a brand connected
to a character that a lot of
people are influenced by, the
brand can suffer when the
show’s killed.
The brands of places can also
be captured in shows.
There’s a TV show
made in New Zealand
called Outrageous
Fortune. It’s about a
family of criminals
trying to go clean. People want to
visit places on the show in
Auckland, just as they visited
New York to see sites
featured
on Seinfeld.
When a
show’s killed, the brands of places
can suffer.
Similarly, if you watch a show
with other people, when it’s
cancelled you no longer
have that connection. We studied
a group of Sopranos fans who
would get together
religiously every
Sunday night. They
would have Italian
food and watch the
show. When it ended,
they had re-run
marathons, but
it wasn’t the same. They tried to
find another show that would
give them that same kind of
connection, but they never did.
Now the friends no longer see
each other regularly.
It’s a lot easier to adjust if a
show ends well. If the storylines
are resolved and there’s
narrative closure,
then people are more at peace
with the fact that it’s gone.
The Sopranos was completely
anti-climactic. There were
a lot of
unanswered
questions.
That’s never good—people
want finality.
Anecdotally, we do have
evidence that
people will buy
DVD box sets to
watch re-runs. Some buy it
as a memento, like a
tombstone, so that they remember
it, whether they watch it or not.
I think Breaking Bad was
everyone’s favorite
finale. It had everything
you expected, and yet there were
a few surprises. You knew Walter
White was going
to die, you just
didn’t know how.
It tied all
those loose ends and
provided narrative closure. It
was brilliant.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 5

Alyssa Frederick Braciszewski, CAS/BS ’12, received a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to
study the nutritional physiology of marine organisms at the University of California, Irvine.
While other rising seniors
were basking on the beach,
environmental studies major
Daniel Pasquale spent his
summer splashing around a
different body of water.
The recipient of the
prestigious Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
Greater Research Opportunities
Fellowship, which offers
$50,000 for tuition and travel,
Pasquale monitored bacteria
levels in the Potomac River
to determine the impact of
combined sewer overflow events
on the river’s health.
It was a banner year for
students and alumni of AU’s
science programs. Pasquale and
15 others received prestigious
research awards, including
Fulbright and National Science
Foundation (NSF) grants and
fellowships from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the EPA.
Physics major Ben Derby
traveled to Boulder, Colorado, on
a National Institute of Standards
and Technology fellowship to
build a Raman spectrometer
to measure grapheme, a newly
discovered “wonder material,”
while Ben Gamache, CAS/BS ’13,
went to the Spanish National
Cancer Research Center on
a Fulbright to study how the
enzyme telomerase relates to
aging and cancer.
“What makes this year
so special is the range
of recipients we had for
prestigious science awards,”
says Paula Warrick, director
of the office of merit awards.
From the CIA to the FBI, a new master’s degree will groom students in
the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology for careers fighting
threats to homeland security.
The School of Public Affairs (SPA) launches the master’s in terrorism
and homeland security policy (american.edu/spa/protect) this fall.
The program, which prepares students for careers in federal agencies
and private firms, focuses on the sources of security threats and the
development of domestic terrorists.
The degree isn’t SPA’s only new offering. Busy practitioners can now
pursue a master’s in public administration and policy online (programs.
online.american.edu/mpaponline). The 36-credit program gives students
a foundation in budgeting and public program evaluation.
Across the quad, the School of Communication and College of Arts
and Sciences are bolstering their persuasive play initiative with a
new master’s in game design (american.edu/gamelab). The program,
which welcomes its first cohort this fall, trains students in design and
development, play theory, and engagement strategies. During their
second year, students will intern at the AU Game Lab Studio, working
on real-world projects for external clients.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KIHO KIM
MOVIN’ ON UP
AU ranks No. 2 for Presidential Management Fellowship
(PMF) finalists with 34—a new high. The program, which
drew 7,000 applicants this year for 608 slots, grooms
grad students for careers within the federal government.
Last year AU was No. 3 with 19 finalists.
AMERICAN DREAM
SPA executive in residence Anita McBride received the Ellis Island Medal of
Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition on May 10. The former chief of
staff to First Lady Laura Bush—honored alongside boxer Evander Holyfield,
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), and Wall Street reporter Maria Bartiromo—was
recognized for her contributions to the Italian American community.
6 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

news
AU has gotten one step closer to its
commitment to carbon neutrality
by 2020, signing an agreement with
George Washington University and
George Washington University
Hospital to source 53 percent of its
electricity from renewable power.
The three institutions will buy
52 megawatts of solar photovoltaic
power—enough electricity to light
up 8,200 homes a year—from
Charlotte-based Duke Energy
Renewables at a fixed rate over
the next 20 years. The project
will supply the partners with
123 million kilowatt hours of
emissions-free electricity per year,
drawn from 243,000 solar panels
at three sites in North Carolina.
“AU is firmly on its way to
achieving carbon neutrality by
2020,” says President Neil Kerwin.
“We are home to the largest
combined solar array in D.C., are
resolved to growing green power
through our purchase of renewable
energy certificates, and are now a
partner to the largest non-utility
solar energy purchase in the U.S.”
The project will eliminate
60,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide per year—the equivalent
of plucking 12,500 cars off
the road.
Rising senior Caroline Brazill always knew what she wanted to be
when she grew up.
“There was a career fair in middle school where you had to dress
up and make a poster,” recalls the Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, native.
“The girl next to me was a professional ballerina in a tutu; the girl next
to her was in scrubs. And I’m over there with a pantsuit and an American
flag, saying I want to be a foreign service officer.”
Brazill, an international studies major, and Eric Rodriguez,
CAS/BA ’14, who worked for the Yakama Nation police department
in Washington State before coming to AU to study anthropology,
are among 59 Truman Scholars selected from a nationwide pool of
655 candidates. The prestigious award, established as a memorial to
33rd President Harry S. Truman, provides recipients with leadership
training, internships, and up to $30,000 for graduate study leading
to careers in government or the nonprofit sector.
AU is one of only five institutions to have four finalists and
one of only five to have two scholars. The university has produced
13 Truman Scholars since 2000—including 11 over the last decade.
Baseball is as American as apple
pie, hot dogs, and wonks.
Celebrate AU with Clawed,
Screech, and your fellow Eagles
during the third annual AU Night
at Nationals Park, 7:05 p.m.
on Friday, August 22, when the
hometown sluggers take on
the San Francisco Giants. AU’s
female a cappella group, Treble
in Paradise, will perform the
national anthem.
In 2012, AU entered into
a strategic partnership with
the Nats that includes AU
advertising in the park as part
of the wonk brand campaign.
During AU Night, fans will
go fact to fact against the
university’s people in the know,
including School of Public
Affairs professors Anita
McBride, Jennifer Lawless, and
Connie Morella and the College
of Arts and Sciences’s U. J. Sofia,
who’ll be featured in wonk
challenges on the Jumbotron.
The Washington-centric
quizzes will focus on White
House history, D.C. geography,
baseball trivia, and more. Events
also include a pre-game picnic
overlooking right field and
T-shirt giveaways.
The AU community can
enjoy discounted Nats tickets
all season long. Visit nationals.
com/wonk and use the coupon
code “wonk.”
SUPREME IN COURT
The AU mock trial team enjoyed its best season yet, placing fourth in
its division and eighth in the country at the national championships
in April. More than 650 teams from 330 colleges competed at the
Orlando tourney. Rising senior Iain Phillips also earned outstanding
witness honors.
STRENGTH OF (140) CHARACTERS
#AmericanU is the seventh most influential college on Twitter, according
to CollegeAtlas.com. AU scored points for using social media to highlight
academic achievements and for being an early adopter. (AU joined the
Twittersphere in 2009 and now has more than 21,000 followers.)
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 7

international
AU ALUMNI CURRENTLY
IN PEACE CORPS SERVICE
PRODUCER OF PEACE CORPS
VOLUNTEERS AMONG
MEDIUM-SIZE SCHOOLS
AU VOLUNTEERS IN MORE
THAN 100 COUNTRIES
SINCE 1961 (SEE MAP)
OVERALL FOR MASTER’S
INTERNATIONAL (NO. 10) AND
COVERDELL FELLOWS (NO. 9)
PROGRAMS
MEG FOWLER ’12 KNEW
SHE WANTED TO JOIN THE
PEACE CORPS after graduating
with a dual major in international
studies and economics. She packed
off for Morocco, where she teaches
high school students how to succeed
in business, plant a community
garden, and speak English.
Ukraine volunteer Shelby Lane
taught English, launched a
newspaper for young readers, and
ran workshops on topics from HIV/AIDS
awareness to the environment. That
experience and a Coverdell fellowship
led her to AU to pursue dual master’s
degrees in international peace and
conflict resolution and secondary
education while leading the AU Peace
Corps Community and Creative Peace
Initiatives and volunteering with Little
Friends for Peace.
What do they have in common? An
urge to serve and an AU connection.
AU and the Peace Corps go back,
all the way to 1961, when the first
groups of volunteers took off for
postings in places like Pakistan and
the Philippines. Back in the day the
connection was simple and straight on:
You go to college. You graduate. You
join the Peace Corps.
Bringing It Home
Today, says Stephen Angelsmith,
director of Peace Corps programs at
AU’s School of International Service,
the partnership has many moving
parts, keeping students engaged in
a cycle of service made possible by
two Peace Corps–associated graduate
programs: the Master’s International
(MI) and the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows.
MI students spend a year in the
classroom and two years in the Peace
Corps, for credit, after which they
return to campus to complete their
graduate work. Coverdell fellows—
all returned Peace Corps volunteers
(RPCVs)—receive scholarships for
graduate studies that include an
internship in an underserved U.S.
community, an opportunity to teach
Americans about the world beyond
our borders.
RPCVs may donate memorabilia to
the Peace Corps Community Archive,
a repository of living history curated
by the AU library.
“I’ve realized how important it is to
be a role model,” says Lane. “I believe
in and enjoy service, and have seen
the power it has to inspire change.”
8 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

mastery
Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of
Success offers a formula for success—being born
at the right place and time and investing at least
10,000 hours in pursuit of your goal. For some, that
goal emerges at an early age, and for others, like
Kogod School of Business professor Casey Evans,
it requires more exploration. Evans, 35, came to
Washington to fight crime (“21 Jump Street was
my favorite show growing up,” she recalls). After
discovering an aptitude and affinity for numbers,
however, she opted for a different sort of law
enforcement career: chasing down white-collar
criminals, calculator and spreadsheets in hand.
Helped lead the FTI team
investigating Bernard L.
Madoff Investment
Securities, one of the largest
investor frauds in American
history. Working alongside
the FBI, “WE PIECED
TOGETHER THE STORY
USING DATA AND
DOCUMENTS AS OUR
STARTING POINT.”
Appointed Kogod
executive in residence.
“TEACHING WAS
ALWAYS MY LONG-
TERM GOAL.” The
timing was serendipitous:
The job came along just as
the Madoff investigation
was wrapping up.
Son Oliver was born.
Voted Kogod undergrad
professor of the year
by students.
ILLUSTRATION BY PETER HOEY
After settling on a Florida
university, the Orlando
resident was accepted
to AU. The allure of D.C.
proved too powerful to
resist. “I WENT FROM
WANTING TO BE A
POLICE OFFICER TO
AN FBI AGENT.”
Switched majors from
justice, law and society
to accounting after
taking Principles of
Financial Accounting
over the summer.
“THE LANGUAGE
OF BUSINESS
RESONATED WITH
ME LIKE NOTHING
ELSE HAD.” Since AU
didn’t yet have a forensic
accounting track, took
classes that would prepare
her to investigate fraud
and financial irregularities.
Tutored other accounting
students.
Sat for the CPA after
five months of intensive
study. “I WOULD DO
FLASH CARDS AT
STOPLIGHTS ON
MY WAY TO WORK.”
Licensed in 2003.
Earned a master’s in
accounting from Kogod.
Accepted an auditing job
with Arthur Andersen.
Graduated from the
Kogod School of
Business. Immediately
jumped into the master’s
program in order to sit
for the Certified Public
Accountant (CPA) exam,
which requires 150 credit
hours of course work.
Interned at Arthur Andersen
in Tysons Corner—at the
time, one of the “big five”
accounting firms.
Left Arthur Andersen in
the wake of the Enron
scandal. “MY GROUP
WAS ACQUIRED
BY NAVIGANT
CONSULTING, BUT
I DECIDED TO
START FRESH.”
Moved to Knoxville with
boyfriend Le Evans, whom
she met at AU in 1996 and
who was accepted to law
school at the University
of Tennessee. Took a
staff accountant job at
McWilliams and Company
doing audit and tax work.
Earned the Certified Fraud
Examiner (CFE) credential.
Transferred to McWilliams’
litigation consulting group
and worked on first fraud
investigation. Combed
through a dentist office’s
financials to discover the
secretary had embezzled
$150,000.
Married Le.
Joined FTI Consulting’s
forensic and litigation
consulting practice in D.C.
Specialized in forensic
accounting and fraud
investigations generated
by the Securities and
Exchange Commission and
Department of Justice.
Returned to Kogod as an
adjunct professor, first
teaching Principles of
Financial Accounting—the
same class she took nine
years earlier. Also teamtaught
Kogod’s first Forensic
Accounting course before
taking it over in 2008.
Returned to D.C. Accepted
a senior forensic
accountant position at
Dubinsky and Company
in Bethesda, where she
provided litigation support
services in civil and
criminal fraud cases.
Created advanced forensic
accounting class for grad
students. Helped develop
a graduate certificate
in forensic accounting.
Kogod’s program is unique:
“OUR CUTTING-
EDGE CURRICULUM
GIVES STUDENTS
SKILLS TO WORK
IN THIS EXCITING
FIELD.” Twenty students
are already working toward
the 12-credit certificate.
Appointed program
director of Kogod’s
master’s in accounting
program.
Received university-wide
award for outstanding
teaching in a term
appointment.
Voted Kogod undergrad
professor of the year
again by students.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 9

play
ON THE HEELS OF A
BANNER YEAR that saw
three AU teams capture Patriot
League titles and the men’s
basketball and women’s volleyball
teams captivate the campus, not
even the conclusion of on-thefield
play could stop the Eagles
from picking up victories. In
June, Alexis Dobbs was
nominated by the Patriot League
for the 2014 NCAA Woman of the
Year Award, and Darius “Pee
Wee” Gardner was named the
2013–14 Patriot League
Sportsmanship Award winner.
“This year we built some
momentum in the fall with field
hockey, and then volleyball had
a spectacular season,” says Billy
Walker, director of athletics and
recreation. “The new coaches
in both basketball programs got
people excited. The way the
women started out, and when
the men got into league play,
everybody got pretty fired up.”
That’s an understatement.
Throughout the year, more than
3,500 alumni—the most ever—
attended athletics-sponsored
events held from San Francisco
to Milwaukee, where the men’s
basketball team played in the
NCAA Tournament, to New York.
The Blue Crew student group has
more than 3,000 members, also its
high-water mark.
“We want to do whatever we
can do to make people feel like
they’re part of the family,” says
Walker, who came to AU from
the U.S. Air Force Academy in
February 2013.
In November, the field
hockey team shut out Boston
University to capture its
ninth Patriot League
crown. A conferencebest
18 players
were named to the
Patriot League Academic Honor
Roll. The volleyball team also
won a conference championship,
then proceeded to shock Georgia
and Duke in the NCAAs.
Winter saw the women’s
basketball team, under the
direction of first-year coach
Megan Gebbia, earn a postseason
tournament at-large berth for the
first time. When the men’s team,
led by first-year coach Mike
Brennan, beat BU in Beantown
to win the Patriot League title,
students, faculty, and alumni
who didn’t make the trip to
Wisconsin were glued to their
TVs watching the Eagles in the
NCAA’s Big Dance.
Throughout the year, more than 3,500
alumni—the most ever—attended
athletics-sponsored events held from
San Francisco to Milwaukee.
“Our diverse campus is a
wonderful thing,” says David
Bierwirth, associate athletics
director. “One thing that
can bring everyone together
is athletics.”
After the seasons, nine
women’s basketball players and
five men were named to the
Patriot League Academic Honor
Roll. Men’s swimming and diving
and women’s soccer earned
NCAA awards for posting perfect
academic progress rates in
2012–13. It all made for a sweet
rookie season for first-year
AD Walker.
“I want to make sure
our athletes succeed in the
classroom, compete on the field,
are active in the community, and
I want to make sure we’re having
fun,” he says.
Four out of four ain’t bad.
TWITTER CHAMPS
VLAD MOST VALUABLE
Fans took to Twitter to show their love for AU field hockey, choosing
the squad as the Patriot League Women’s Team of the Year. Using
designated hashtags, fans cast their votes over 24 hours. The Eagles
beat out six other squads to earn the honor.
Former men’s basketball standout Vlad Moldoveanu ’11 capped his third professional season
overseas by leading his squad, Kalev/Cramo, to a sweep of the Estonia KML Finals, earning
most valuable player honors during the playoffs. In the title-clinching game, Moldoveanu
registered a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
10 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

news
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ANDREW ST. GEORGE PAPERS, MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVES, YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY; DOCUMENT: COURTESY OF CARTER LIBRARY
For two countries that officially
share no diplomatic relations, the
U.S. and Cuba sure like talking to
each other.
In the forthcoming book, Back
Channel to Cuba: The Hidden
History of Negotiations between
Washington and Havana, School of
Public Affairs professor William
LeoGrande and his co-author,
Peter Kornbluh, unveil the
successes and failures of these
often secretive meetings, and
suggest 10 lessons for Americans
who will consider how to engage
with Cuba in the future.
The authors visited Cuba about
a dozen times over the course
of the 10 years they spent on the
project. They combed through
declassified
documents,
obtained
others
through
Freedom
of Information requests, and
interviewed dozens of key players
involved in the talks, including
Fidel Castro, former president
Jimmy Carter, and his national
security advisor, Zbigniew
Brzezinski.
“One of the things that makes
this book unique is that we have
accounts of these negotiations
from the people who sat across
the table from one another,”
LeoGrande says. “Not surprisingly,
they sometimes saw
U.S. Ambassador Philip W. Bonsal met Fidel Castro for the first time in 1959
outside Havana. Top: A 1977 presidential directive signed by Jimmy Carter
instructs the U.S. to work toward normalization with Cuba.
what was happening
very differently.”
Every presidential
administration since
Eisenhower has held
some form of talks with
Cuba. In 1978, when
U.S.-Cuban relations
were strained because
of Cuba’s involvement
in conflicts in Angola
and Ethiopia, a series
of secret negotiations known to
only a handful of people in the
U.S. government were held in
Washington, New York, Atlanta,
Mexico, and Havana. The Reagan
administration dealt with the
Cubans on migration, as did the
Clinton administration in 1995.
Those talks were so secretive that
not even the State Department
officials responsible for Cuba
knew about them.
Among the results of those
negotiations was a provision
calling for official talks between
the two countries twice a year.
Both nations now use them to
discuss migration and other issues.
“The two sides have to listen
carefully to one another, because
sometimes they talk in code and
it’s easy for them to misunderstand
each other,” LeoGrande says.
“What the Cubans want more
than anything is to be treated with
respect, as a coequal sovereign
country. That’s one of the hardest
things for the United States to do,
because we’re so much bigger,
we’re so much more powerful,
and they’ve defied us for so long.”
What happens to college graduates
after they leave campus? What
is the value of their college degree?
Is it worth the investment?
Thanks to its graduate census
data, American University is
uniquely positioned to know.
In September a new website
(american.edu/knowsuccess) will
enable anyone to discover where
AU graduates are working and
their salary range. No other
school of AU’s size (or larger) is
accumulating data in such a manner.
An impressive 81 percent
of graduates from the Class of
2012 responded to the survey,
which showed that nine out of 10
undergrads were employed, enrolled
in graduate school, or both within
six months of graduation. Ninetytwo
percent of new undergrads work
in a position related to their degree
or career objective. About half work
for private companies, and more
than a quarter work for nonprofits.
Eighty-seven percent of master’s
graduates were working within six
months of earning their diploma,
and almost half of those secured
jobs prior to graduating.
Furthermore, AU is drilling
down to degree level, so visitors
to the site can see where graduates
are working, in what capacity, how
much they make, or where they’re
going to grad school. The site
also will feature videos and stories
about graduates and their paths
to success.
DIVE INTO THE THINK TANK
Jennifer Lawless, director of SPA’s Women
and Politics Institute, has joined more
than 300 policy experts at the Brookings
Institution. The Governance Studies fellow
will examine gender and youth issues.
MADE IN THE USA
The Ford F-Series pickup and the Chevrolet
Corvette take the checkered flag in Kogod’s 2014 Made in America
Auto Index (scoring 87.5 out of 100). Professor Frank DuBois maintains the
index, which considers production factors overlooked by other indices.
The Buick Enclave, Chevy Traverse, and GMC Acadia round out the top five.
BUSY BODIES, SHARP MINDS
As physical education minutes increase, so do test scores.
Stacey Snelling led a CAS team analyzing the impact of D.C.’s
Healthy Schools Act, enacted in 2010 to reduce obesity. They
found kids who got more physical activity performed better
on the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 11

BY ADRIENNE FRANK
Did you know that D.C. boasts one lawyer for every 12 residents or that
more wine is consumed in the District—26 liters per person, per year—than
any U.S. state?
Did you know that the average annual rainfall for Washington is three
inches more than that of Seattle? (The difference: it drizzles in the Emerald
City and pours in the Capital City.) And did you know—despite D.C.’s
infamously muggy summers—that the city wasn’t built on a swamp?
Washington is home to 646,449 people, more than the populations of
Wyoming and Vermont, and more Labrador retrievers than any other breed.
Seventeen million tourists per year clog the sidewalks; 106 miles of Metrorail
track crisscross the city; and 167,000 seats dot four sports venues.
This great city and its suburbs are also home base for more than 40
percent of AU alumni, which means the trivia below will come in handy
at your next cocktail party—where wine will undoubtedly be served.
Statue of limitations
Heard of the “hoof code”—the legend
that the number of hooves in the air on
equestrian statues indicates how the rider
died? Well, it’s a bunch of horse hooey. Of
the 30 equestrian statues in Washington,
only 10 follow the code (one hoof raised,
rider was wounded; two hoofs raised,
rider died; all hoofs on the ground, rider
was unharmed).
A sticky situation
While it’s true that D.C. is the third worst
city in America for mosquitoes (according
to a 2013 report from pest control
company Orkin), the Federal City wasn’t
built on a swamp. When architect Pierre
L’Enfant surveyed the city 200 years
ago, he did discover wetlands near the
rivers—however the majority of presentday
D.C. was crop land, wooded slopes,
and bluffs. In fact, historian Don Hawkins
estimates that swamp lands covered only
about 1 percent of the total area L’Enfant
was tasked with designing. You can chalk
up the muggy, swamp-like summers to
Washington’s humid subtropical climate.
Record highs
Red Line to the record book: Washingtonians
needn’t travel far to traverse the longest
set of single-span escalators in the Western
Hemisphere. The Wheaton Metro station’s
escalators are 230 feet long, with a vertical
rise of 115 feet. From platform to street level,
the trip takes 2 minutes and 45 seconds—
longer, of course, if the escalator is out
of service.
Ward’s last stand
Although AU students have feted their
neighbor, Artemas Ward, with barbecues,
concerts, and game shows, the
Massachusetts general wasn’t always
so welcome on Mass Ave. Members of
the AU community and the surrounding
neighborhood objected to Ward’s
representation of military power—a
distasteful image in the pacifist era of the
1930s, when the statue was erected. The
Revolutionary War general wasn’t wellknown
in D.C., causing the Eagle editor to
write in 1937, “At least so little is known
about the man that his statue can have no
evil effects on the minds of the young.”
Can you spare a hand?
Even sculptor Felix de Weldon, the artist
behind the Marine Corps War Memorial,
disputes the long-held myth that the statue,
based on Joe Rosenthal’s iconic, Pulitzer
Prize–winning photograph, Raising the Flag
on Iwo Jima, features a 13th hand among the
jumble of mitts gripping the flagpole. (Some
speculate the extra hand symbolizes the
hand of God—or the Corps.) “Who needed
13 hands? Twelve were enough,” said the
exasperated artist.
A tall tale
When it was completed in 1883, the
Washington Monument was the tallest
structure in the world, but it was eclipsed
by the Eiffel Tower six years later. At
555 feet, it’s the tallest structure in D.C.
but not the highest point (Washington
National Cathedral, while only 301 feet
tall, is perched on a hill, 676 feet above
sea level). Despite popular belief, there’s
no law that prohibits structures taller
than the Washington Monument. While
an 1899 cap was based on the height of
the Capitol dome (289 feet), the Height of
Buildings Act was amended in 1910 to limit
a building’s height to 20 feet more than the
width of the street that it faces—stunting
the District’s skyline at about 13 stories.
Monumental myth
The Washington Monument, the
tallest all-stone structure in
the world (and the tallest
obelisk), is two different
colors—not because
of a great flood but because the Civil War
caused an 18-year construction delay. When
construction commenced, stone from the
original quarry was no longer available.
The dark side
A grotesque of Darth Vader looms over
the most unlikely of places. Washington
National Cathedral held a decorative
sculpture competition for children in
the 1980s, in the midst of construction
on the west towers. Nebraska native
Christopher Rader took home third place
with a drawing of the Star Wars villain
who was to kids in 1983 what Frozen’s
Elsa is to youngsters today. Sculpted by
Jay Hall Carpenter, Darth Vader is located
on the east face of the cathedral’s
northwest tower along with other
winning entries: a raccoon, a
girl with ponytails and braces,
and a man with an umbrella.
That’s what
autocorrect
is for
An engraver inadvertently
carved an “E” instead of an “F”
in Honest Abe’s second inaugural
address, depicted on the Lincoln
Memorial’s north wall. The typo
was fixed by filling in a portion
of the letter.
12 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

Face that launched
a thousand myths
Rumor has it that Daniel Chester French—
a starving, Depression-era sculptor and
Confederate sympathizer—carved Robert
E. Lee’s face onto the back of Abraham
Lincoln’s statue. Thousands of visitors
to the Lincoln Memorial claim to see Lee,
looking across the Potomac to his old
home, Arlington House. But much like
Virgin Mary sightings in toast, there’s no
truth to this one. The “face” is nothing
more than the viewer’s interpretation
of Lincoln’s hair.
Site selection
How the hulking Treasury Building, the
third oldest federal structure in the city,
came to sit on 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue
is the subject of much speculation. Some
theorize that President Andrew Jackson,
whose relations with Congress were rocky,
selected a swath of land immediately east
of the White House so he couldn’t see the
Capitol out his window. Others say Jackson
was out walking with his aides when the
hotly debated locale of the new Treasury
Building came up. Angry, he slammed
down his walking cane and ordered, “Put it
here!” Unfortunately, the truth is far less
interesting: the building was erected on
what was cheap government land.
Cracking the code
Sculptor James Sanborn’s “Kryptos,”
a 10-foot-tall copper installation that
resembles paper emerging from a printer,
has been teasing brains at the CIA’s
Langley headquarters for 24 years. The
sculpture—named for the Greek word for
“hidden”—features an 865-character code.
Three of the four encrypted messages,
which include all 26 letters of the standard
Latin alphabet, have been decoded (it took
a CIA analyst eight years to crack the first
three sections), but the fourth remains
one of the most famous unsolved codes in
the world. A Yahoo! Group with more than
2,000 active members has been trying to
solve the riddle for more than a decade—
but if the spies can’t solve it, is there
any hope for the rest of us?
Street surrender
H, I, K, L: what about J? The omission
of J Street on the downtown grid has
puzzled Washingtonians and tourists alike
for generations. Many believe the city’s
architect, Pierre L’Enfant, held a grudge
against the first Supreme Court justice,
John Jay, and thus wiped J Street from
the map. (L’Enfant was reportedly irked
about the controversial Treaty of Amity,
Commerce, and Navigation—otherwise
known as the Jay Treaty—which was seen
as more favorable to Brits than Americans.)
The truth? The letters “I” and “J” were
often indistinguishable, especially when
handwritten. (Fun fact: Thomas Jefferson
marked all his possessions with the initials
“T. I.”) Having both I and J Streets would’ve
been redundant and confusing.
Lobbying for answers
Ulysses S. Grant might have referred to
the hangers-on who hounded him for
favors and jobs in the lobby of the Willard
as “those damn lobbyists,” but the 18th
president, who frequented the downtown
hotel for cigars and brandy, didn’t coin the
term. It can be traced back to seventeenthcentury
England and the lobbies in the
House of Commons, where powerbrokers
mingled with the public. The verb “to
lobby” appeared in print in the United
States in the 1830s—three decades before
Grant took office. (That’s not to deny the
Willard’s storied history: Martin Luther King
Jr. penned his “I Have a Dream” speech
there, and Abraham Lincoln stayed in the
hotel on the eve of his inauguration.)
CHECK OUT THE NOVEMBER
ISSUE OF AMERICAN FOR MORE D.C.
TRIVIA AND THE CHANCE TO WIN YOUR
OWN PRESIDENTIAL BOBBLEHEAD.

syllabus
INTERNATIONAL
SERVICE 419
Conflict Cuisine
The best way to win hearts and minds
might be through the stomach.
Last semester, 19 School of
International Service students
whet their intellectual appetites
with a first-of-its-kind course on
gastrodiplomacy: the use of food
to foster cultural understanding.
The undergrads munched their way
across D.C. to learn how conflicts in
Vietnam, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and
El Salvador influenced local cuisine
and the diaspora who prepare it.
“Sitting around the table with
the chef . . . who can explain the
history of a cuisine or a specific
regional dish is an invaluable way to
understand the course of a nation’s
history,” says scholar in residence
Johanna Mendelson-Forman.
SIS students aren’t the only
ones taking a bite out of
gastrodiplomacy. In 2012, former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
organized a corps of 80 chef
ambassadors who travel abroad
on public diplomacy missions.
Next course
HEALTH AND FITNESS 535
Global Nutrition
On students’ plates: a survey of
the nutrition-related aspects of
infectious and chronic diseases
in developing countries.
MANAGEMENT 596
The Business of Water
Kogod students are lapping up this
class about the $450 billion water
industry. Topics include regulation
and sustainability.
14 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

wonk
Q. Why is it important that humankind continue
space exploration?
A. We don’t exist on the surface of the Earth anymore.
We exist from the surface of the Earth about 25,000 miles
out in geosynchronous orbit.
We keep our weather satellites and our communication,
global positioning, and navigation systems in space. It’s as
much a part of our existence as going to Chicago, only with
Chicago you travel across the globe, and with space you go up.
Space exploration is important for commercial reasons,
for scientific reasons, for national security, and for national
prestige. We’d also like to diversify humanity onto more than
one orb.
The big move for NASA right now is public-private
partnerships. NASA has tried since 1972 to reduce the cost
of space access and they haven’t yet been successful. The
new technique is to farm it out to entrepreneurs like Elon
Musk and Richard Branson. SpaceX has already successfully
docked cargo carriers with the International Space Station.
Out of that hopefully will come technological
breakthroughs that conquer the money barrier in space.
It costs about $10,000 to launch a pound of material into
space—we need to be able to move large structures into space
less expensively.
The prestige of the space program is still terribly
important in the geopolitical forum. A great nation, a great
economy, it is thought, has to be a space-faring nation. You
can see this in China, Russia, and other nations that are
coming up like Brazil and Thailand. One of the amazing
things about the Air Malaysia loss is that it caused a lot of
nations that you didn’t think had space assets to reveal them.
It’s a club, and if you’re going to be a major world power,
you want to be a leader in the club.
HOWARD MCCURDY
School of Public Affairs professor and winner of the American
Astronautical Society’s 2013 John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award
“Public interest in
space exploration has
been fairly constant
since the Apollo years:
30 to 40 percent of
the population favors
space exploration and
an aggressive space
program. It’s a sizable
enough block to keep
the government
program for civil
space alive at about
$17 billion a year.
Military spending for
space is even greater
than that.”
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 15

WORK-Sarah McElveen,
WCL/JD ’04
Attorney, Wade, Friedman and
Sutter, P.C., Washington Street
between Wythe and Pendleton
Streets, and president,
Alexandria Bar Association
WORK-Breanna Bock-Nielsen,
BA/SPA ’10, MS/SPA ’12
Director of government affairs,
National Sheriffs’ Association,
Duke Street between Peyton
and West Streets
WORK-Elliot Bell-Krasner,
SPA/MPP ’12
Youngest-ever member of the
Historic Alexandria Resources
Commission, which meets monthly
at the Lloyd House, Washington
and Queen Streets

An urban playground. A laboratory for learning. A professional hub.
A vibrant collection of neighborhoods—and neighbors. Washington’s
got it all. And for our alumni, students, and faculty, Metro is their
ticket to ride, connect, and explore AU’s backyard.
Which Metro stop is the center of your world? Share your story: magazine@american.edu.
WORK-
Simone Echeverri-Gent,
CAS/BA ’08
Director of strategic
alliances, Entrepreneurs’
Organization, Montgomery
Street between
Pitt and St. Asaph Streets
CHRONICLE-Michael Pope,
WAMU 88.5 reporter
Old Town resident and author,
Hidden History of Alexandria and
Ghosts of Alexandria
LET’S TALK #AMERICANMAG 17

ART BY TREVOR BLAKE, DENNIS FLEMING, AND KERRY O’LEARY
WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW
ALUMNI WHITNEY LOUCHHEIM
AND PENELOPE SPAIN HELP
INCARCERATED D.C. YOUTH
REWRITE THEIR FUTURES
DEALERS, DOPERS, DROPOUTS, DELINQUENTS.
They wear the labels given them by teachers,
peers, family, and society, which has turned
its back on them—or never had much hope
for them to begin with. Trouble finds them,
or they find trouble, and they’re plucked off
the streets to spend six months, maybe 12 or
18, in the District’s optimistically named New
Beginnings, a $46 million juvenile detention
center tucked away in Laurel, Maryland.
But to Whitney Louchheim, WCL/JD ’05,
and Penelope Spain, WCL/JD ’05, these thieves
and thugs, corner boys and bangers, are more
than the sum of their rap sheets. These young
men, nearly all of them D.C. born and raised,
are children deprived of a childhood, troubled
souls in need of an advocate, a confidante, a
mentor, a North Star.
SPAIN AND LOUCHHEIM WEAR LABELS OF
THEIR OWN: do-gooders, bleeding hearts,
idealists. But just like the juvenile offenders
with whom they work at Mentoring Today, the
nonprofit they founded in 2005, they aren’t so
easily categorized.
“One of the kids once said, ‘Y’all are like
goldfish that bite,’” laughs Louchheim, 35.
“They look friendly enough, but don’t mess
with them.”
In truth, the pair are idealists. Like
generations of American University students
before them and waves still to come, Spain and
Louchheim came to Washington in fall 2002
“to make a difference.”
“We just needed to define it,” recalls
Spain, 38.
A native of Napa, California—a community
of vineyard owners and the migrant workers
who labor in their fields—Spain’s family
constantly teetered on the poverty line. She
met Louchheim, who came from a liberal,
human rights–focused family in Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, during their first day of
orientation at the Washington College of Law
(WCL). The women chatted for hours after
their serendipitous meeting, swapping stories
about their childhoods, their spirituality, and
their desire to use their law degrees for good—
whatever that might look like.
A budding interest in juvenile justice
solidified their bond.
“The summer after my first year of law
school, I shadowed a public defender at Oak
Hill Youth Center and was blown away by
the conditions,” says Spain of the violent,
crumbling facility, which preceded New
Beginnings. “It broke my heart that we were
treating kids like this in America.”
Struck by the shortcomings of the juvenile
justice system—the rats and roaches that
roamed Oak Hill, the mountains of case files
that littered social workers’ desks, the racial
disparity among D.C.’s juvenile offenders—she
knew she’d found her calling.
In fall 2003, Spain and Louchheim,
who clerked for a magistrate judge in D.C.
Superior Court’s child abuse and neglect
division, founded Students United, pairing
WCL student mentors with 16- to 21-yearold
inmates at Oak Hill. The goal: to help
the young men successfully reintegrate into
their neighborhoods and empower them to
become productive members of society. Today,
Mentoring Today draws its corps of volunteers
exclusively from Students United. (Over the
last nine years, Mentoring Today has matched
58 mentors with 64 mentees.)
“I remember we were walking the halls of
Oak Hill one day [as law students], watching
the mentors and mentees work together, and I
said to Whitney, ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if this
was our job?’” says Spain.
The goldfish finally had something to sink
their teeth in.
ACCORDING TO A 2010 REPORT by the federal
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, 67 percent of incarcerated youth
(roughly 70,000 kids nationwide) reported
having witnessed someone severely injured
or killed. Twenty-two percent had attempted
suicide, and 30 percent (five times the rate for
all kids) had dabbled with crack or cocaine.
Locally, 70 percent of the approximately
1,000 juveniles arrested annually in the
District grew up east of the Anacostia River
in Wards 5, 7, and 8—communities marred by
poverty, high unemployment, and dismal high
school graduation rates. Fifty to 80 percent
of the young men who churn through New
Beginnings, which opened in 2009, have
also cycled in and out of Washington’s child
abuse and neglect system. Some are homeless;
many wrestle with mental health issues, drug
problems, or post traumatic stress disorder.
Nearly all come from fatherless homes.
Given the complexity of the juveniles’
issues, the first rule Spain and Louchheim
share with Mentoring Today volunteers is a
surprisingly simple one: show up.
“ONE OF THE KIDS
ONCE SAID, ‘Y , ALL
ARE LIKE GOLDFISH
THAT BITE.’THEY
LOOK FRIENDLY
ENOUGH, BUT DON’T
MESS WITH THEM.”
- WHITNEY LOUCHHEIM
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 19

“These kids are used to empty promises,
so they don’t expect much,” Louchheim says.
“The first step to building trust is showing up
every week.”
D.C. native Marquis was used to being left.
His mother went to prison when he was eight,
and he bounced around the foster care system
until her release, seven years later. Marquis
was arrested for the first time at age 12 for
stealing a car; he was wrapping up a nearly
two-year stint at New Beginnings for drug
charges in 2010 when he was matched with
mentor Claire Grandison, WCL/JD ’14.
“I think we’ve been to every restaurant,
library, and museum in the city. I also call her
with my lady problems,” says Marquis, now 22,
with a gentle laugh. Grandison, who will work
at Philadelphia’s Community Legal Services
starting next year, helped Marquis with
everything from his Spanish homework to job
and college applications to apartment searches.
“She taught me how to advocate for
myself—how to properly ask for what I need—
and to be a productive, positive person,” says
Marquis, a polite young man with a charismatic
smile, who greets everyone with a hug.
Grandison is gratified to have witnessed
Marquis’s transformation from lost boy to a
mentor himself. “Despite confronting so many
obstacles, he remains a constant optimist
who never ceases to develop creative goals
to improve himself and his community. It’s
been incredibly rewarding to watch Marquis
work hard to get the jobs he wanted, continue
his education and training, and advocate on
behalf of himself and others in the juvenile
justice system.”
Today, Marquis works as a youth leader
with FREE Project, a group founded by
Mentoring Today mentees that advocates for
education and employment opportunities
for kids caught up in D.C.’s criminal justice
system. In June, he collected the Coalition
for Juvenile Justice’s prestigious Spirit of
Youth Award during the nonprofit’s annual
conference—with Grandison proudly looking
on from the audience.
“She’s not just my mentor, she’s my
friend,” Marquis says. “Anything I need, I
know she’s always going to answer my calls.
She’ll always be there—and you can’t say
that about many people.”
THE SUMMER BEFORE HER THIRD YEAR
OF LAW SCHOOL, Spain did something
unprecedented: she took time off.
She retreated to Venezuela, where she once
worked for the Carter Center, to undertake
a silent meditation and pen a business plan
for Mentoring Today. She envisioned an
organization where volunteers would serve
not only as mentors but also as legal advocates,
helping juveniles—who opt into the program—
navigate the murky reentry process.
Unlike other programs, which connect
mentors with kids after they return home,
Spain wanted to begin building relationships
with the juveniles four to six months before
their release. “There’s this really rich moment
where the kids are literally a captive audience,”
she says. “If you wait until they come home,
they quickly get sucked back into their old lives,
and you’ve lost that window of opportunity.”
Louchheim, meanwhile, took crash courses
in grant writing, website development, and
fund raising—all while studying for her last
round of finals. “I was researching things like
insurance—we couldn’t pay for it just yet, but I
knew what we needed.”
“WE WERE ESCORTED
TO WORK EVERY
DAY BY THE DRUG
DEALERS FROM D.C. , S
LARGEST OPEN-AIR
HEROIN MARKET.”
- PENELOPE SPAIN
In October 2005, a month after they sat
for the bar exam, Spain and Louchheim—who
also work as defense attorneys, representing
young, lower-level offenders in delinquency
court—got their nonprofit status. Soon after,
they found space in a warehouse near Marvin
Gaye Park in northeast D.C. Calling it an
“office” might be too generous; the converted
closet had lights and a small desk, but no heat,
air conditioning, or windows. (The space
was, however, great for fund raising. “Donors
would say, ‘We’ll give you money just to get
out of here,’” laughs Louchheim.)
“We were escorted to work every day by the
drug dealers from D.C.’s largest open-air heroin
market,” Spain recalls. Staff retreats consisted
of snacking on ice cream sandwiches and
strolling through the park. And they couldn’t
have been happier, she says.
In July 2006, the women received a
$45,000 award from D.C.’s Justice Grants
Administration. Weeks later, they made their
first seven matches inside Oak Hill. Mentoring
Today was up and running.
WHEN THEY FIRST MEET UNDER THE HARSH
LIGHTS of the New Beginnings cafeteria, the
mentees don’t tell their new mentors what
landed them under the supervision of D.C.’s
Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services
(DYRS). The details will emerge eventually, but
up to this point the youth have been defined by
their crimes: drug slinger, auto thief, disturber
of the peace. For the first time in a long time,
the kids have a clean slate. “We want them to
lead with their goals, to focus on the future,”
Louchheim says.
There are games and food—carefully
laid out on the same tables each week, as
structure and routine are important—to help
the pairs get to know one another in a relaxed,
nonthreatening environment. Though they
receive 10 hours of training, the mentors, who
are recruited every September, don’t come in
with an agenda for those first few 90-minute
sessions. “We want them to develop a level of
comfort and understanding with the mentees,”
Louchheim says. “We don’t want them to get
too deep, too fast.”
Early on, the mentors’ job is to encourage
the young offenders to take accountability
for the choices that landed them behind bars
and challenge them to imagine a life outside
the watchful, unblinking eye of the criminal
justice system. As the final months of the
juveniles’ sentences begin to tick away, the
mentors switch into advocacy mode, sitting
in on meetings with DYRS and social service
officials to hash out the terms of release and
ensure housing, education, mental health, and
employment needs are addressed. That’s where
the volunteers’ legal training comes into play.
“The academic lessons I learned in the
classroom felt incomplete without seeing their
practical effect,” says Marquis’s mentor, Claire
Grandison. “Mentoring provided a window
through which I was able to learn about the
intricacies of the juvenile and criminal justice
systems and see how they function in practice.
“Addressing issues in a piecemeal fashion is
often ineffective because housing, employment,
education, safety, and other factors are all
connected, and a deficiency in one area
threatens security in all.”
When juveniles are released from New
Beginnings, they’re assigned to one of a dozen
group homes scattered across the District for 30
to 90 days. They’re fitted with GPS monitoring
20 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

Whitney Louchheim, left, and Penelope Spain in
the H Street Corridor, blocks from the Mentoring
Today office in Northeast Washington
bracelets, which must be charged for one hour,
twice a day. They submit to weekly or twiceweekly
drug tests, counseling, and substance
abuse treatment and must attend school, work,
or both. They have multiple—often conflicting—
curfews and daily appointments that can take
them to opposite ends of the city. (A frequent
question for mentors: How do I pay for $12 a
day in Metro fare?)
And as their lives get more complicated
postrelease, so do the juveniles’ relationships
with their mentors.
DESPITE THE RIGOROUS TERMS OF THEIR
RELEASE, the youth enjoy more freedom on
the outside. It’s easy to slip into old habits;
temptation seemingly lingers on every corner.
“Kids get out and they’re looking over their
shoulders. They can become more guarded,
they’re easily derailed,” Louchheim says. “In
some ways, mentors have to start all over.”
Some juveniles see the mentoring
relationship as an escape—from their group
home, at the very least. Others fall off the radar
but reemerge when a crisis arises and leads
them back to their mentor for help. “Kids know
they can come to us with anything,” Spain says.
Whether they stick together from the start
or reconnect down the road, most of Mentoring
Today’s pairs weather the storm of reentry.
Nationally, 45 percent of mentoring
relationships last 12 months. Twice as many
of Mentoring Today’s matches—90 percent—
hit the year mark and, in fact, most pairs work
together for about two and a half years. Under
the guidance of the WCL students, 97 percent
of youth active in Mentoring Today enroll in
school or a GED or vocational program upon
their release—compared to only 57 percent of
juvenile offenders nationwide. Many go on to
college. Seventy-one percent also obtain partor
full-time employment.
Often, as is the case with Marquis and
his mentor, Claire Grandison, they stay in
touch even after the mentor collects her law
degree and takes a job outside of the D.C.
area. It’s at that point that a different kind
of relationship emerges.
“The kids have learned to advocate for
themselves, but they still want someone to
talk to,” Louchheim says. “In the end, it’s a
friendship that remains.”
LOUCHHEIM, A SELF-PROFESSED DATA
WONK, is always quick with a statistic. You
have to be when you’re accountable to donors
and funding agencies.
But asked for evidence that the Mentoring
Today model works, Louchheim—a mother
of two young sons, whose instinct to nurture,
encourage, and protect extends to her other
kids—offers an anecdote.
“When we go to New Beginnings, I hug
all of our mentees—that’s powerful. These
kids are more childlike than they appear,
and they just want to be loved. For them, our
meetings are a very bright spot in a rough
week, a rough month.”
A rough life.
“KIDS GET OUT
AND THEY , RE
LOOKING OVER THEIR
SHOULDERS. THEY
CAN BECOME MORE
GUARDED, THEY , RE
EASILY DERAILED.”
- WHITNEY LOUCHHEIM
Spain says it’s easy to get discouraged.
“Kids are still coming through our program
in dire straits. Have we eradicated the need
for a program like Mentoring Today? No.
Will we ever? I’m not sure.” The mother of a
nearly two-year-old son, Spain says she finds
encouragement in the “ripple effect.”
“Some of our mentees are having kids
themselves. One of them said to me, ‘I never
had a father figure, but I’m going to do
things differently for my daughter.’ That
gives me hope.”
Spoken like a true idealist.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 21

this is a story about
by mike
unger

From
Aristotelian
times to
the age
of Twitter,
people have
educated,
entertained,
and
enlightened
humankind
through
stories.
American University began teaching
journalism in the 1920s, when pen,
paper, and film were the primary tools
of the trade. Nearly a century later, the
School of Communication’s new home
in the McKinley Building features mindblowing
technology like a Sony 4K cinema
projector (one of only five deployed in
North America) in the 144-seat Michael
Forman Theatre and state-of-the-art
television and audio studios in a gleaming
2,500-square-foot media innovation lab.
You can’t walk through the halls
without seeing students pecking at their
phones or swiping pages on their tablets.
Laptops are rendering desktops obsolete,
and digital cameras have made darkrooms
feel like relics of the dark ages.
In the world of communication,
technology seems to evolve as quickly as
breaking news. But yet, at its core, SOC’s
mission hasn’t wavered.
“Things change all the time, but
for us, what has been fairly solid is
good storytelling,” says professor John
Douglass, director of the film and media
arts division. He’s been at AU since
1978. “How you use [technology] really
depends on your vision and the stories
you’re telling. We need to prepare our
students to tell their stories in whatever
medium is best suited for the story
and for the audience that they’re
reaching out to.”
But stories don’t exist in a vacuum.
Like a tree falling in that hard-to-wrapyour-head-around
forest with no one in
it, they must be heard (or read or seen)
to exist at all.
“Story is a platform for engagement,”
Dean Jeffrey Rutenbeck says. “It’s
a construct, a narrative strategy.
Engagement is ultimately the concept
that unites all the pieces of the school.
We are engaging people through the
journalism that we do, through the films
we make, the campaigns we develop, and
eventually the games we make. We’re
not just telling stories to do one thing.
We seek not just to entertain but to
inform, to transform; we seek to revise,
to reinforce. There are a lot of verbs that
come along with storytelling.”
SOC’s January move into historic
McKinley, whose cornerstone was laid
by President Theodore Roosevelt in
1902, is the latest chapter in SOC’s story.
Ever since being granted independence
in 1984 (prior to that it was housed
in the College of Arts and Sciences),
it’s been a nomadic unit, its faculty,
classrooms, and centers headquartered
on the cramped third floor of the Mary
Graydon Center but also scattered
throughout campus. The relocation
to McKinley, which underwent a $24
million renovation that preserved its
classic architecture while adding a
sleek, modern expansion, was in one
sense a reunification.
“By occupying such a prominent,
historic place on campus, it reaffirms
the role that communication plays in
the structure and life of the university,”
Rutenbeck says. “It’s a promotion of sorts.
You go from a smattering of spaces and
places to a powerful physical presence.”
To celebrate
SOC’s new
home—and to
contextualize
it—we asked
faculty, alumni,
and current
students to
share with us
a story that
impacted
them in some
meaningful way.
It didn’t have to be an article that won
a Pulitzer or a film that took home an
Oscar (though an Oscar winner is among
our storytellers), we said, rather, just a
tale that for some reason made a lasting
difference in your life.
In The Art of Storytelling, Nancy
Mellon writes that “because there is a
natural storytelling urge and ability in all
human beings, even just a little nurturing
of this impulse can bring about astonishing
and delightful results.”
We think she’s right. We hope you
do, too.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 23

Charles Lewis
professor and executive
editor, Investigative
Reporting Workshop
Forty years ago, while doing my undergraduate
senior thesis research about the U.S.
destabilization of Chile, I met and talked
with Pulitzer Prize–winner Seymour Hersh
at the New York Times’s Washington bureau.
Months earlier, he had broken the story about
the Nixon administration’s successful, covert
efforts to topple the democratically elected
government of President Salvador Allende.
That same remarkable day, I interviewed
Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean defense
minister under Allende who had been granted
asylum in the U.S. and was teaching at AU’s
School of International Service.
Letelier told me that
the U.S. had illegally
wiretapped the Chilean
embassy in Washington,
which later was
revealed to be one of the
Watergate “plumbers’”
illegal break-ins. He also
showed me secret Chilean intelligence cables
in Spanish indicating that, at the exact time of
the coup d’état that led to Allende’s death and
the brutal new regime of President Augusto
Pinochet, U.S. naval forces had been nearby,
just off the coast of Santiago. Letelier was
deeply suspicious, and he certainly did not
believe that was coincidental.
I left his Bethesda home that day stunned
by what I had heard. A year and a half later, in
September 1975, I was in a grad school class
when I heard constant and very loud sirens. A
few blocks away, on Sheridan Circle, Letelier
had been assassinated by killers specifically
sent to Washington by President Pinochet. In
the dead of night, they had placed a radiodetonated
bomb beneath his car parked in
that same cul-de-sac in Bethesda where I
had driven and parked the year before. It was
and remains the first and only time a foreign
head of state ordered a known political
assassination on the streets of Washington.
24 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014
I was 21 years old and had never met anyone
who was later brutally murdered. The U.S.
destabilization of Allende and the assassination
of Letelier were defining moments for me.
From then on, there could be no higher calling
for me than exposing abuses of government,
corporate, or other power, through tenacious,
tough, but fair investigative reporting.
Jeffrey Rutenbeck
SOC dean
I went to the University of Missouri to become
a journalist. I was in the journalism library
late at night, looking for a book in the stacks.
A book fell off the shelf
and hit me in the head.
It was called Existential Journalism by a guy
named John Calhoun Merrill, who actually
was a faculty member at Missouri.
It was maybe 150 pages. I sat down
and read it immediately, and reading that
book changed my mind about becoming
a journalist. I decided to become a scholar
of journalism.
Russell Williams
SOC/BA ’74,
distinguished artist
in residence
When I was still a student at AU, I cohosted a
Saturday afternoon radio program. One day I
was watching local news, and there was a story
about Maya Angelou being in town for a book
signing. I thought, we’re just a little college
radio show, but maybe if we go down there and
beg and plead, we might get an interview.
She was staying at the Madison Hotel, and
she sat down and gave me an interview like
I was somebody from 60 Minutes. She talked
about how she pulled herself up out of the
South and went to Europe, and about how
disappointed she was at the youth of the time
who seemed reluctant to take an educated risk,
a risk that would eventually pay big dividends.
After we played that on the air, I
would periodically go back and revisit her
comments. After I graduated I said, if I
don’t go out to L.A. I’m always going to
be saying “what if.” I had applied to the
American Film Institute’s (AFI) directing
program. As luck would
have it, the same day
I got a rejection letter
from AFI, the U.S.
government sent me a
nice tax return. So I took a
90-day leave of absence and went to L.A.
I didn’t see her again for 17 years. The
night before I won Oscar No. 2 for Dances with
Wolves, she was at a black-tie dinner. When I
got to the lectern, I looked out at the audience
and saw her. I said, “You probably don’t
remember me, Ms. Angelou, but I took your
advice.” That was an omen—I felt I would win.
Leena Jayaswal
SOC, CAS/BA ’94,
professor, film and
media arts
The summer after my first year of grad school,
I cold-called Mary Ellen Mark, a photographer
who shot for Life magazine and still shoots
for Rolling Stone. A lot of her photos focus on
India, where my family’s from, so I’d always
been attracted to her work. I called her New
York studio and said, “Can I work for you?”
I got the job.
One day she was shooting the “Women in
Rock” issue for Rolling Stone, which included
a photo of Yoko Ono. It was exciting to see
Mary Ellen so nervous on set, because she had
been doing this for 40-some years. She was
published in every major magazine, so to watch
her get nervous about shooting somebody
was a real lesson to me: you always have to be
humble, you have to keep yourself grounded.
I got to be Yoko Ono’s
stand-in while they
were organizing the
lights, because I was
about the same height.
When Yoko Ono came out, I was standing
between her and Mary Ellen Mark thinking,
how is this my life? Here I am with these
two amazing women artists. It was one of
those defining moments that made me think
anything is possible for me in this career.

Eric Vignola
CAS/BA, BS ’17
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved
playing video games. My earliest memory
with them is of my cousin, my uncle, and
myself all crowded around a small television
screen playing a game called Mega Man X.
It was also during this time that my father
introduced my brother and me to football.
As time went on, I found that I didn’t enjoy
playing football quite as much as my brother,
but it soon became apparent that football was
a source of bonding for my brother and father.
I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to share
a common interest with my father like my
brother did.
A game console called
the Super Nintendo
helped to build a bridge
between my father and
me. Some of my fondest memories are
sitting next to him, ducking my head under a
blanket because I was afraid of the zombies we
fought together. I may have been scared, but I
always knew my old man was there to protect
me. Not only did we spend time actually
playing the games, but we also enjoyed many
conversations about them as well.
In the years that followed, I bonded with
many new people over video games. They
helped me through moving, helped me make
friends in school, and continue to shape my life.
I attend AU on the Frederick Douglass
Distinguished Scholars scholarship. My fellow
scholars and I have made the decision to
dedicate our careers to helping others, and I
believe that video games are the way to do it. I
hope that the games I make can educate, help
others through tough times, or create bonds in
the same way they did for me.
John Watson
professor and director,
journalism division
I was working at the Jersey Journal, a small
newspaper in northern New Jersey with a
circulation of 100,000. One day, two longtime
friends went to a bar in Bayonne after work
for a beer. The bar hung balloons near the
mugs; you could toss a tiny pen knife, and if
you popped the balloon, you got a free beer.
In a one-in-a-billion,
freak accident, the
knife one friend threw
ricocheted off a glass
and slit his friend’s
jugular vein. He bled
out in minutes.
We covered the story about the horror of
killing your best friend. The police came and
took the guy home.
Eighteen months later, we got another
story about two cousins riding the subway
back to Jersey from lower Manhattan, where
they were watching Kung Fu movies. They
were pantomiming the fights when one guy
hit the glass, fell onto the tracks, and died.
The cousin who kicked the other one was
taken out in handcuffs and charged with
involuntary manslaughter.
I looked at the story: legally, it was identical
to the story in Bayonne. Why was this guy
being charged? He’s black. That’s the only
difference I could see.
Our front-page story compared the cases: this
one was facing a felony indictment and this one
never even went to the police station. The next
morning the prosecutor dropped the charges.
Richard Stack
professor, public
communication
Seventeen years ago my daughter was born 15
minutes into my first sabbatical. I had a baby
to play with in the morning, a three-year-old
to play with in the afternoon, and a little time
on my hands.
One day I watched Dead Man Walking, and
later I read the book. I was so inspired by it.
One of the footnotes led me to Steve Hawkins,
the executive director of the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. I told
him, “I have time on my hands, motivation, a
legal background, and the resources of terrific
students. What can I do?” He asked me to take
a look at the organization’s reading room.
It was a small, dinky space, and I examined
their books, videos, posters, and bumper
stickers. I reported back that the coalition had
two groups with incredibly powerful stories to
tell, yet neither had a voice. The two were the
universe of exonerates and murder victims’
families for reconciliation.
After analyzing their literature and
messages, I helped reframe the debate. It
boiled down to this question: is the death
penalty a deterrent to violent crime? I looked
at studies that went both ways and thought,
if you ask the wrong question, you won’t get
the right answer.
I thought that if
we’re going to move
the debate forward,
we’ve got to change
the question. The new question
I was part of developing was, “Can we trust
our government to make such irreversible
life and death decisions when it makes so
many mistakes?”
No matter how ultraconservative the
political point of view, the execution of an
innocent person destroys the credibility of the
system. Now conservatives no longer use the
deterrence argument. It’s been discredited by
and large. Along with several other people, I
was part of a group that changed the debate on
the death penalty. If I’ve got any contribution
that I’m proudest of, it’s this little nugget.
Amy Eisman
professor and director,
Media Entrepreneurship
and Interactive
Journalism
As a young reporter, I covered the family of
a young man who had been taken hostage in
Iran during the 444 days in captivity known as
the hostage crisis. The parents at first refused
to talk to journalists, but I sat outside the
father’s Baltimore office—he was a professor—
until they would talk. He said I reminded him
of a student. I ended up covering the family
rather closely, sleeping several times at their
eventual home in Memphis—I guess I was an
early embed—and driving my rental car to a
pay phone so I could file my stories to rewrite
at the News American in Baltimore.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 25

I have a picture of me,
sitting on the sofa with
them, watching the
scratchy TV news as
their son was freed.
I also was mentioned in a New York Times
story about media, noting how I was describing
phone calls that came in before dawn. I used
to ask the parents why they talked; the families
just wanted their stories told, to keep their
relatives front and center. They grew bolder as
time wore on. Mostly I wrote about everything
they tossed into keepsake boxes for their son’s
return—cards, news clippings, political flyers,
pictures, knickknacks the neighbors left. I
guess what I wrote was in there, too. This was
before cellphones, social media, and the world
online. For a while we sent holiday cards but
eventually lost touch. Then the parents and I
reunited several years ago after finding each
other on Facebook.
We giggled like relatives, and I was glad
I had treated them with respect so long ago.
John Sullivan
journalist in residence and
Washington Post reporter
I got hooked on investigative reporting
in 1995. I had recently quit my job selling
title insurance to banks and was working
for free at the Chicago Reporter. After a
few months, my editor, Tom Corfman,
assigned me to gather data for a story on
hate crimes, an annual roundup of reported
bias-motivated crimes throughout the
city and suburbs.
As I set out to gather the data,
I discovered that the
Illinois State Police
officers were breaking
the law by failing to
track hate crimes. The new
computer system they had spent hundreds
of thousands of dollars on was plagued by
glitches that made electronic collection of
the data impossible. But instead of reverting
to the old paper system, state police just
ignored them.
26 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014
In the meantime, using data we gathered
from the Chicago Police Department, Tom
taught me how to analyze data using FoxPro
for DOS. It was a revelation to see how one
reporter with the right tools could produce
such a detailed and revealing analysis.
Public reaction to the story and the
failure to track crimes was strong, and I
was asked to appear on an hour-long drivetime
show on Chicago’s public radio affiliate.
U.S. senator Paul Simon, who had sponsored
a federal law mandating collection (a separate
state law mandated the state police to
collect the data), weighed in to lament his
state’s performance.
Local papers published blurbs about
the story, and soon the state police vowed
to gather the statistics on hate crimes.
I realized then the power of the press to
set right a wrong. I saw firsthand how
powerful data-driven stories could be.
The next year I set off for the University
of Missouri and the National Institute for
Computer–Assisted Reporting.
I’m still amazed at the power reporters
have to force leaders and the public to
confront the failings of government to
protect the most vulnerable. It’s the most
rewarding job there is. I suspected it then,
but I know it now.
Bill Gentile
journalist in residence
and director, Backpack
Journalism Project
I worked as a photographer for Newsweek
for quite a few years. When the Persian Gulf
War started, they sent me to the region on two
occasions for about two months apiece. At
the time of the U.S. invasion, I was in
a pool with the 101st
Airborne Division,
whose mission at the
onset of the war was
to fly into Iraq and cut
off Saddam Hussein’s
troops, who would
flee from Kuwait back
into Iraq.
I was part of the first wave of helicopters
that flew into Iraq from Saudi Arabia.
These guys had to fly about 100 feet off
the ground at 100 miles an hour so that they
wouldn’t be detected. On the morning of
the invasion, I and a few other journalists
were spread out among the helicopters,
which were sitting like giant insects with
their blades drooping down. I was standing
out on the tarmac with American forces, the
sun coming up, and one of the commanders
was listening to BBC on a small radio. It
was an intense scene—some of the soldiers
were openly praying, making the sign of
the cross. No one knew what to expect.
In a thick British accent, the BBC
announcer said, “And the onslaught has
begun.” They had word that the first ground
troops had moved in.
“And the onslaught has begun.” I’ll never
forget it—it still sends chills up my neck.
It occurred to me at that time, what an
extraordinary opportunity it was for me to
witness and participate in these historic
events. To me that’s one of the most powerful
draws of journalism.
Brigitta Blair
CAS/BA ’16
Journey is unlike any video game I have
ever played. I discovered it through Flower,
a video game in which you pick up flower
petals by controlling the wind. Flower was
shown at the Smithsonian’s The Art of
Video Games exhibit in 2012 and instantly
caught my eye. After doing some research,
I discovered Journey was made by the same
company as Flower, and within the next few
days, I bought a PS3 to play for myself.
The objective of Journey is to get to a
mountain far in the distance without any
knowledge of why you need to get there.
Your character, a genderless cloaked creature
with black pointy legs and a scarf, appears to
be the only creature of its kind in what starts
out as a desert. After exploring for a while,
you eventually encounter another character
who looks just like you. This character isn’t
just another character in the game, though—
it’s an anonymous player. Your experience
in this world is affected by how you interact
with this other player. Working together can
lead you to new areas and regenerate health,

while turning your back can leave you more
vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Journey was the first
video game that showed
me how gameplay
didn’t have to involve
violence and the first game that
moved me without the use of written text.
Instead, Journey uses visuals, sounds, and
interactions. This was the game that sparked
my interest in games that tell stories. So many
game designers rely heavily on written text
above other methods to communicate their
message. Although it’s by no means a bad thing,
it’s not the only way to get an idea across. Body
language, images, color, size, style—they all tell
stories in their own way.
Rachel Boehm
SOC/MA ’11,
communications
manager, Consumer
Specialty Products
Association
In 2008 I stumbled across a magazine article
on dying languages. One of the languages
listed, Wendish, is connected with Serbin,
Texas, an unincorporated town not too far
from Austin, where I am from and where I
was living at the time.
I love languages and
words; I’ve been a
storyteller my entire
life. I also love history and culture, so
I was amazed that I had never heard of the
Texas Wends or their efforts to preserve
their language and culture.
The word “Serbin” means Wendish
land, and the town was founded in 1855 by
a group of about 500 Wends who fled their
native Lusatia to escape Germanification
and religious persecution. Their settlement
flourished for a time, but eventually the
Texas Wends were absorbed into the German
Texan culture.
At the time I interviewed volunteers of
the Texas Wendish Heritage Society, few if
any descendants remained who could speak
the Wendish language, though recordings
allow people to hear it. Traditions, however,
remain alive. I learned that certain egg
noodles, Easter egg decorating techniques,
and other traditions can be traced back to the
Wends.
When I was able to place an article in
the Hill Country Sun telling the story of
the Texas Wends and the heritage society’s
efforts to spread awareness, I, and they, were
thrilled.
I’ve told many stories over the years, but
few have evolved as organically and touched
me as personally as the story of this hidden
gem in my own backyard.
Lillian Skye Noble
SOC/BA ’16
My first year on staff with tb two, a newspaper
for high school students published by the
Tampa Bay Times, I was attending an annual
music festival called Next Big Thing. While
I was there representing the paper and
inviting attendees to stop by our booth, I also
walked around, listening to music and visiting
different vendors.
There was a booth near ours called
To Write Love on Her Arms, which is a
nonprofit that helps people struggling with
depression. Inside the tent was a wall where
people anonymously jotted down their fears
and dreams. Some of the fears included
codependent relationships, and some of the
dreams were graduating high school, loving
your body, inspiring others. As I was reading
them, I realized that everything on that wall
had a story behind it.
I decided to talk to one of the girls who had
just finished posting on the wall. I explained
that I wrote for the local paper, and she opened
up about her life. Her name was Sydney, and
her greatest fear was
relapsing into what she
used to be—someone
without hope. She had thoughts
of suicide. She had a tattoo on her wrist of
the word “love,” to remind her that she was
loved and she should love herself. It also was
a reminder for her to stay strong, even when
her life gets difficult. Her greatest dream was
to tell her life story to keep other people alive.
Sydney was my first impromptu interview.
I didn’t know her, I hadn’t meticulously
mapped out my questions. I only knew that I
wanted to learn more about her. Talking to her
showed me that there are so many amazing
stories unfolding around us every day.
Dan Merica
SOC/MA ’11,
CNN associate producer
While I was a student at AU, I covered a
story at D.C. Central Kitchen, a nonprofit
that, among other things, trains former
inmates and homeless people to get their
food handler’s license. I went to cover the
program but quickly realized an abundance
of other stories in the kitchen. One such
story was Dawain Arrington, a kitchen
manager and graduate of the program who
had served time in jail for murder.
I was fascinated by his story. He’s a tall,
good-looking guy, who was 38 years old at
the time. He had a presence in the room
and a good relationship with all the people
there. So I came back and spent the day
with him. He took me to a crime-ridden
neighborhood called Eastgate in D.C.,
where he grew up. He showed
me the place where he
sold drugs for the first
time and where he was
arrested when he was
14. He then told me what landed him
in jail. Standing at the scene of the crime,
Arrington told me about how he was at the
parking lot where a young man was killed.
He was charged with the murder.
He got out at the age of 32 on a technicality,
and at that moment he turned his life
around. He struggled, at first, with life on
the outside. And then he found D.C. Central
Kitchen. I could tell it meant a lot to him to
tell his story, and it was very moving for me.
It showed me that stories aren’t just about
people who are powerful or people you know
by name. Some amazing stories are about
people you’ve never heard of, and Arrington
was a perfect example.
FOR MORE SOC STORIES, VISIT OUR BLOG, SIDEBAR,
AT AMERICANMAG.BLOGS.AMERICAN.EDU.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 27

A N ABECEDARY OF
HONORS CAPSTONES
BY ADRIENNE FRANK
FOR THE MORE THAN 200 GRADUATING SENIORS WHO COMPLETED HONORS CAPSTONES THIS YEAR, THE PROJECT MARKS AN END AND A BEGINNING: THE
CULMINATION OF FOUR YEARS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES AND A LAUNCHING PAD FOR THE FUTURE. WHETHER IT’S A 50-PAGE MISSIVE (SOMETIMES WRITTEN
IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE), A FILM, PHOTOGRAPHS, OR A PLAY, THE CAPSTONE ENCAPSULATES STUDENTS’ INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY—AND CREATIVITY.
AL-QAEDA The
Boston Marathon
bombings were the
impetus for Kevin
Iannone’s research on
the rise of homegrown
terrorists. The international studies
scholar, who minored in Arabic, explored
how al-Qaeda uses the Internet to attract,
radicalize, and train lone wolfs like the
Tsarnaev brothers and Fort Hood shooter
Major Nidal Hasan.
International studies major
Nicole Atallah examined
the official narratives
of Vietnam, Indonesia,
and the Philippines to
determine if their historical
memory colors presentday
relations with Japan.
Atallah’s research question
blossomed during her
study abroad experience at
Ritsumeikan University in
Kyoto, Japan.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Public health meets graphic
design in Ada Thomas’s
capstone, which explored
how visual communication
can promote nutrition and
food access in low-income
neighborhoods across D.C.
The graphic design major
used maps and graphs to
convey the scope of the
problem and created a
cohesive brand identity
for the nonprofit Fruit and
Veggie Alliance.
BIRTH RATES As the
daughter of Mexican immigrants,
Nallely Mejia is intrigued by the
intersection of immigration and health.
A sociology and international studies double
major, she analyzed the fertility patterns
of Hispanic women in the United States
and their implications for the country’s
racial composition.
Is Chinglish—English influenced by the
Chinese language, often ungrammatical or
nonsensical—a perversion of the English
language or legitimate dialect? International
studies and Chinese double major Alexandra
Vanier argued the latter in her capstone,
written entirely in Mandarin.
DEGENERATE
ART
Sparked by a stint at the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial
Museum, art history major
Madeline Ullrich delved into
the life of female German
painter Käthe Kollwitz,
deemed a degenerate artist
by Adolf Hitler only to have
her work eventually used
as Nazi propaganda.
INTERSTELLAR EXTINCTION
Under the guidance of astrophysicist
U. J. Sofia, Dhanesh Krishnarao explored
the prominence of sulfur—one of the
most copious elements in the universe—
in interstellar dust and its impact on
extinction. The math and physics major’s
research utilized spectroscopic data from
the Hubble Space Telescope.
E. COLI
A bio wonk
fascinated
by molecular genetics, Sneh
Hanspal worked with biology
professor David Carlini
and his research team to
explore the evolutionary
effect of codon bias on
Escherichia coli, harmful
strains of which can cause
food poisoning.
SPA’s Zoé Orfanos—
who volunteers as
a poetry teacher
at the Montgomery
County Correction
Facility—penned
An Elegy for Old
Terrors, verse about
the penal system.
The collection was
published by advisor
Robert Johnson’s
press, BleakHouse
Publishing.
FEMALE
OFFENDERS
Public health
major Emily
Brincka—who interned at
a women’s halfway house
in northeast D.C.—used
her research on the
disproportionate effect
of the War on Drugs on
female offenders to create
educational materials
about HIV, women’s health,
and nutrition.
KILLER
APPS
Ironically,
killer apps
can save
lives.
Originally
defined
as a valuable computer
program, “killer app” now
refers to six key tools
that have led to Western
economic prosperity over
the last several centuries.
Business administration
major Nick Linsmayer
explored how two killer
apps—utilitarian giving and
leapfrog technologies—
help nonprofits combat
global poverty.
LIVE SOUND Jamie Darken looked beyond academic
journals for his capstone, experimenting with different live
sound settings at a punk show, open mic night, and open DJ
night. The music major worked with an advisor from AU’s
top-rated audio tech program.
28 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

MUSLIM GRANADA
Written entirely in Spanish,
Emma Maher Horvath’s
capstone drew on
architecture and narrative
accounts to chronicle
14 centuries of Muslim
Granada’s history. Horvath
graduated with dual
degrees in anthropology
and Spanish and Latin
American studies.
REALITY TV
Sociology student Nicole
Piquant trained her eye on
Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta to
determine how the “Black
Barbies” featured on the
reality show shaped black,
college-educated women’s
perceptions of friendship
and beauty. Her conclusion:
a great body trumps talent
or a pretty face. Women also
felt pressured to put more
effort into their looks.
Computer science major
Michael Egan used WebGL,
or Web Graphics Library—
rather than traditional,
proprietary software—to
create a graphical
simulation of the Northern
Lights that’s compatible
with any JavaScript API
web browser.
NUDES Playing with dramatic studio
lighting and using a large-format camera,
Rebecca Zisser explored the similarities and
differences between the male and female
form. The journalism and graphic design
major’s capstone features eight nudes.
SCHOOLS UNDER SIEGE
History views the crack epidemic in D.C. as a
problem that lingered on street corners—
but what of the playgrounds? History major
Kathryn Gillon combed through newspaper
clippings, school board minutes, and oral
histories to understand how youngsters were
both involved in and affected by the crack
epidemic of the late ’80s and early ’90s.
XXXI SUMMER OLYMPICS
The World Health Organization deemed
Dengue Fever the most important vectorborne,
viral disease in the world—and
named Brazil a hotbed for the disease.
Public health major Alexandra France
detailed risks related to the XXXI Summer
Olympics, to be held in Rio de Janeiro
in 2016. Her research spawned AU’s first
Global Health Case Competition.
OYSTERS In
Harbor Heroes, SOC
documentarians Jaclyn
Yeary and Taryn Stansbury
detailed how, in the wake
of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy,
New Yorkers are looking to
oysters to create a natural
wave barrier against future
storms and restore the
health of the harbor waters.
The storm pummelled the
Big Apple with 25-foot
waves and caused $50
billion in damage.
PR FLOPS Public
communications grad Emily
Hawk analyzed three poor
presidential communication
plans, including Herbert
Hoover’s unsuccessful
reelection bid in 1932, and
offered lessons learned
for future commanders in
chief. Also under Hawk’s
microscope: FDR and
Jimmy Carter.
THEATRE Anna Kark’s capstone, PIG, is
a modern comedy based on Moliere’s classic
farce, The Misanthrope. The international
relations major and former member of the
Rude Mechanicals, AU’s Shakespeare theatre
group, staged a reading of her play and even
designed costumes.
YOGA Aspiring
magazine editor
Emma Gray, who
recalled waiting
by the mailbox
in anticipation of
the latest issue
of American
Girl as a child, created her own 44-page
publication, Gates Ajar Magazine, which
focuses on issues of spirituality. The
journalism and religious studies major’s
inaugural cover story: the ancient tradition
of yoga.
QUESTIONS PONDERED
What’s in a hyphen? Julian Chehirian’s
capstone, “Intersubjectivity, not Inter-
Subjectivity,” explored origins of human
intersubjective experience through the
lens of Western psycho-developmental
discourse. A 2014–2015 Fulbright Scholar,
Chehirian is studying the social history of
Bulgarian psychiatry.
UNLIKELY
UNIONS Mollie
Wagoner’s internship
with the BlueGreen
Alliance inspired her
capstone about the
ways in which environmental groups and
labor unions can team up on sustainability
issues. She offered two case studies: the
Timber Wars, which represent a failure
to work together, and the 1999 Battle in
Seattle, which demonstrates cooperation.
VOTER MOBILIZATION
Poli sci major Emma Lydon took
the fall 2012 semester off to
support California Democrat
Ami Bera’s congressional run.
The experience inspired her
capstone about how campaigns
use academic research on voter
mobilization to get out the vote.
ZETA FUNCTION
Andreas Wiede offered a
computational analysis
of the Riemann Zeta
Function, first introduced
by Leonhard Euler in the
eighteenth century to solve
his equation in the real
plane when evaluated at
even natural numbers.
The applied mathematics
major’s capstone only
gets more complicated
from there.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 29

THE EVERGLADES SPANS TWO MILLION SQUARE ACRES IN FLORIDA. IT’S HOME TO MORE THAN
900 TYPES OF FISH AND CRUSTACEANS, 830 VARIETIES OF PLANTS, 250 SPECIES OF BIRDS,
65 DIFFERENT REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS, 40 SPECIES OF MAMMALS, AND A WHOLE LOT
OF INSECTS. ONE MAN LEADS THE ORGANIZATION THAT’S ITS BEST HOPE FOR SURVIVAL.
WILL ERIC EIKENBERG, SPA/BA ‘98, SUCCEED?
PHOTO BY AARON ANSAROV
30 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

BY MIKE UNGER
In the Everglades, where water seemingly
engulfs everything and everyone in a
mucky, haunting landscape the size of New
Jersey and Connecticut, Eric Eikenberg
sees a thirsty ecosystem. On this breezy
and surprisingly pleasant-for-Florida mid-May
day, the CEO of the Everglades Foundation sits
atop an airboat’s three tiers of benches pointing
out signs that the largest subtropical wetlands
in North America is critically wounded—and
slowly being revived.
“In January or even February this is
about three feet of water,” he says as the boat
floats in six inches of muddy water known as
slough. “When the water flowed naturally, you
would have enough here during this part of
the dry season. You have eight million people
who rely on this ecosystem for drinking
water. But if we don’t engineer this correctly,
you’re going to lose habitat for this national
treasure. It’s a complex balancing act, both
scientifically and politically.”
Eikenberg, SPA/BA ’98, has been a lead
player in this delicate dance since being
tapped in 2012 to head the country’s most
prominent Everglades advocacy organization.
A former political operative and lobbyist, he
now fights for reptiles with the same fervor he
once did for Republicans.
He takes off his Nikes and white socks,
rolls up his khakis, and hops off the boat onto
one of the thousands of tiny islands in this
50-mile-wide, 125-mile-long slowly flowing
river. “This is what my kids think I do all day,”
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 31

jokes Eikenberg, who spends most of his time
wearing a suit and working on dry land.
Standing on a swath of soggy soil the size
of a pitching mound, he’s surrounded by saw
grass that reaches above his knees.
“If there were high levels of phosphorous,
fertilizers, or pollutants in this water, it would
change the entire dynamic of what we’re
seeing right here,” Eikenberg, 38, says. “All
this saw grass would turn into cattails. Cattails
are the tombstone of the Everglades, because
they thrive off phosphorous. When we see
too many cattails we know there’s too much
pollution in the water. These saw grasses
demonstrate a healthy part of the system.
When we see this, you know the restoration
efforts are succeeding.”
Environmental rehabilitation is not
a field for those inclined toward instant
gratification. Progress in the Everglades has
been marked for years by tiny victories that
pale in comparison to bureaucratic delays and
inaction. It’s a one-step-forward, two-stepsback
process, the pace of which can seem as
sluggish as the flow of the river itself.
Complicating matters is the reality that
restoring the Everglades, the largest and most
expensive environmental project in history,
is about much more than just the
environment. Like the plants and
animals here (some of which don’t
live anywhere else on Earth), human
beings have an insatiable appetite
for the Everglades’ chief resource—
water.
“Water is the new oil,” Eikenberg
says. “The minute you lose control of
it, you’re finished.”
Not long after Florida
achieved statehood in
1845, its newly minted
legislature concluded that
the Everglades needed
to be drained. Politicians haven’t
stopped fiddling with it since. Over
the next century, a series of dikes
and canals built to enable agricultural and
residential development artificially altered its
natural flow, which runs southwesterly from
“WATER
IS THE
NEW
OIL.THE
MINUTE YOU
LOSE CONTROL
OF IT, YOU’RE
FINISHED.”
its headwaters at Shingle Creek in Orlando,
through Lake Okeechobee, into Florida Bay.
After a massive hurricane—the secondmost
deadly in American history—
killed more than 2,500 people in
1928, President Herbert Hoover
ordered construction of a floodprotection
dike in Lake Okeechobee.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
then connected canals that enabled
it to empty water from the lake both
west into the Gulf of Mexico and east
into the Atlantic Ocean.
Perhaps no year has been as
important to the Everglades as
1947, when Everglades National
Park formally opened and Congress
formed the Central and Southern
Florida Flood Control Project, which
built 1,400 miles of canals, levees,
and water control devices. That same
year Marjory Stoneman Douglas, an
activist and writer, published The Everglades:
River of Grass. The book remains highly
influential and is credited with popularizing
32 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

PHOTO BY JESSICA HODDER
the term “river of grass,” which had been used
by Native Americans indigenous to the area
for years. (Much of the Everglades is still in
Miccosukee and Seminole Indian territory.)
Douglas, who died in 1998 at the age
of 108, is a folk hero to many
environmentalists, and parks,
statues, and schools are dedicated
in her honor. It was from Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High in Broward
County that Eric Eikenberg
graduated in 1994.
“You could see the Everglades
in the outfield,” says Eikenberg, a
baseball player who moved to south
Florida from his native Long Island
after ninth grade.
But Eikenberg, intrigued by a
school assignment to follow the 1992
Bush-Clinton presidential election,
found politics more fascinating than
environmentalism. So he headed to
AU for college, where he immersed
himself in the Washington culture by
interning each semester in a variety
of roles.
In the office of House majority
leader Dick Armey he studied the
Contract with America. He worked at the
Heritage Foundation think tank and at a
lobbying firm. As an intern in Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen’s office he was taught how to
make Cuban coffee. Prior to his junior year,
he served as a page at the 1996 Republican
Convention in San Diego. It was a thorough,
only-in-D.C. education that cemented his
interest in politics. When Eikenberg’s friend,
future U.S. senator George LeMieux, asked
him to run his campaign for the Florida
statehouse immediately after graduation, he
jumped at the chance.
“That previous December I did the twoweek
[School of Public Affairs’s] Campaign
Management Institute, and we were assigned
Jim Bunning, who was a member of the House
running for Senate,” Eikenberg says. “All those
consultants, all those experts came in during
a condensed, intense period of time to explain
the nuts and bolts of campaigning. Being able
to carry that out six months later in an actual
state legislature race was exciting.”
LeMieux came up short, but Eikenberg’s
behind-the-scenes political career was off
and running. Because five college internships
weren’t enough, he spent his summers in
the Fort Lauderdale office of Rep. Clay
“THE
POLICIES OF
PRESERVING
THIS
ECOSYSTEM
ARE ALL
VERY MUCH
INTER-
TWINED
IN THE
POLITICS.”
Shaw. When the receptionist took a leave of
absence, he was hired, and after a later stint in
Tallahassee with the state Republican Party,
he ran Shaw’s 2000 re-election campaign.
It was a razor-close race, one slightly
overshadowed by another election being
contested that year in Florida.
After a two-week recount (hanging
chads and all), Shaw won by 539
votes. At the age of 26, Eikenberg
moved back to Washington, where
he served as Shaw’s chief of staff
until the 13-term congressman was
voted out of office in 2006. Next it
was back to Tallahassee to serve in
the administration of then-governor
Charlie Crist, for whom he was
chief of staff from 2008 to 2009. He
was working as a lobbyist when the
Everglades Foundation called in 2012.
“You may ask, why the Everglades?”
he asks from behind his desk. His
office is on the sixth floor of the former
Burger King corporate headquarters,
which overlooks picturesque
Biscayne Bay south of Miami. Two
pairs of binoculars, for bird watching,
rest on a window sill. “The policies of
preserving this ecosystem are all very much
intertwined in the politics. Clay Shaw was
the author of the House’s comprehensive
Everglades restoration plan that Bill Clinton
signed in 2000. In a weird way I’ve [always]
been around this Everglades issue.”
Formed 20 years ago by hedge fund
billionaire Paul Tudor Jones and the late
developer George Barley, the private
nonprofit Everglades Foundation is not
a typical environmental group. Its board
members, who include singer Jimmy Buffett
and golfing icon Jack Nicklaus, hail from
throughout the country and harbor views
across the political spectrum. The foundation
raises nearly $7 million annually, employs
five scientists (including hydrologists,
wetlands ecologists, and environmental
engineers), lobbies politicians on behalf
of the ecosystem, and aims to increase
education and awareness about the issues
surrounding it.
“Eric impressed us from the first moment
we met,” Jones said when Eikenberg was
hired. “He has a deep understanding of what
it takes to achieve success both in Washington
and Tallahassee and he has the leadership
skills that will help the foundation continue to
be at the forefront of Everglades restoration.”
In the summer of 2013, nasty blue-green
toxic algae began bubbling to the surface
in several central Florida waterways. This
picture is not the postcard that masses of
chapped-lipped northerners have in mind
when they migrate south for a brief vacation
or a permanent one from winter.
“Who wants to buy a million-dollar
home with smelly, toxic algae in the water?”
Eikenberg asks rhetorically.
FOLLOW US @AU_AMERICANMAG 33

The impact of Everglades restoration
on the state’s economy is never far from his
mind. In 2010 the foundation commissioned
a study by Mather Economics that reported
the project would create nearly half a million
jobs and generate four dollars for every
dollar it invested over a 50-year period. The
biggest benefit would be in real estate, the
study showed, where property values would
jump 35 percent due to increased quality
of drinking and recreational water. Cutting
down on water purification methods, like
desalination facilities, would result in a 28
percent economic gain. Tourism, boating,
fishing, and hunting are other industries
that would benefit from a clean Everglades,
both the report and Eikenberg say. That’s
not inconsequential considering that Florida
should pass New York as the country’s third
most populous state late this year or next,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Thanks to decades of manmade
engineering, each day 1.7 billion gallons of
water are dumped in the gulf and the ocean.
Worse, that water is largely polluted, which
harms fish and reefs in the estuaries. Runoff
from increasing residential and commercial
development and fertilizers from agriculture
south of Lake Okeechobee (much of it from
sugar farming) creates harmful nutrients in
the water, which destroy mats of composite
algae called periphyton.
“It looks like a bunch of oatmeal on top
of the water,” says Eikenberg, pointing to
the brown slop. “It’s made up of all kinds of
organisms that birds and fish feed off of. The
fish are food for the birds, the birds are food
for the alligators. Periphyton is gone when
you have high nutrients.”
Florida spends billions of dollars each
year to clean the water in natural wetlands,
in large part because its average citizen uses
180 gallons of water per day, according to
the foundation.
There are a lot of swimming pools to fill
in the Sunshine State.
“It’s water quantity and water quality,”
Eikenberg says of the twin goals of
restoration. “Instead of wasting billions of
gallons by putting it out to sea, we want to
direct more clean water to the central part
of the Everglades.”
That’s why the foundation has strongly
supported projects like raising a stretch of
the Tamiami Trail, a road that runs straight
through the Everglades and now acts as a
dam. By doing so, water will again flow south,
instead of being diverted by a canal to the east.
The first mile recently was completed—25
years after it was authorized, but not funded.
Earlier this year Florida governor Rick Scott
committed $90 million in state funds toward
completing the next 5.5 miles. He praises the
foundation’s advocacy.
“The Everglades Foundation and
Eric Eikenberg play a large role in
protecting Florida’s natural treasures
and ensuring the necessary steps are
taken to be good stewards of Florida’s
environment,” Governor Scott says.
“The health of the Everglades
is critical to our communities . . .
plays a major role in attracting
tourists to our state, and is essential
to continuing our efforts to create
more jobs and opportunities for
Florida families. That’s why this
year we worked to invest more than
$250 million towards Everglades
restoration. I look forward to
continuing to work with Eric
to ensure that Florida’s natural
treasures are protected.”
Still, setbacks are numerous.
In April, the Army Corps
of Engineers delayed a key
decision on the Central
Everglades Planning
Project, an important step in the
restoration plan that would send
Lake Okeechobee water south into
the central Everglades. The project,
which requires Congressional
authorization, is critical because it
provides the necessary infrastructure
to move water south, thus reducing
the harmful discharges of polluted
water east and west.
The delay left Eikenberg as testy
as a hungry gator.
“This means Congress will be
unable to act on [the plan] for years,”
he told the media. “Once again, the
Corps is bogged down in its own
bureaucracy, stumbling past important
deadlines, showing an unwillingness to be
creative, and determined to follow a trail of
red tape that leads to public frustration.”
After a career spent in the political arena
(and perhaps a future in it—Eikenberg, who
has four children from ages seven to three,
“IT’S
WATER
QUANTITY
AND
WATER
QUALITY.
INSTEAD OF
WASTING
BILLIONS OF
GALLONS BY
PUTTING IT
OUT TO SEA,
WE WANT
TO DIRECT
MORE CLEAN
WATER TO
THE CENTRAL
PART OF THE
EVERGLADES.”
says he’d like to run for office one day), he’s
used to navigating in the political muck. But
his patience is not perpetual.
“Everglades restoration and protection
is a nonpartisan issue,” he says. “This is
not a regional issue, it’s not even a state issue.
It’s not the Florida Everglades. I avoid that
term as much as I can. This is America’s
Everglades. It’s a natural treasure
in the same breath as the Grand
Canyon, Yosemite National Park,
Mount Rushmore.
“Quite frankly the general public
doesn’t even know why this is
important. If it was a mountain
range, people would be in awe
because you’d see it, but it’s a
mosquito-ridden, alligator-infested
[ecosystem]. But it is the lifeblood
of south Florida.”
In 2013, Everglades National
Park drew just more than one
million visitors, ranking it 19th
among the 59 national parks. (Great
Smoky Mountains was tops with
9.3 million.) Those who do go are
treated to a landscape breathtaking
in its vastness, made even more
remarkable considering that the
Everglades is now just half its
original four million acres.
Over the deafening blare of
the airboat’s propeller, Eikenberg
points out a soaring snail kite, one
of 67 threatened or endangered
animals in the Everglades. A large
alligator, its eyes and snout poking
above the water, glides gracefully
through the slough. This is the only
place in the world where gators and
crocodiles coexist.
“That’s what this is all about,
making sure we hold as much water
as we can in the core part of the
system so we avoid impacting the
ecology and preserve the water
supply for eight million people,”
he says.
Back at the dock the puffy white clouds
are quickly replaced by ominous gray ones.
Seconds later the sky opens and rain
begins to pour. There’s no escaping
the water—it’s everywhere.
34 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

Forget flowers. More than 3,500 students gave
their moms the best Mother’s Day gift of all,
collecting their diplomas and joining the ranks
of AU alumni. Traditionally held on the second
weekend in May, the 128th commencement
events kicked off on Saturday, May 10, in Bender
Arena and continued on Sunday, May 18, with
the Washington College of Law ceremony.
PHOTO BY HILARY SCHWAB
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 35

1960s
Robert Angle, Kogod/BS ’65,
and Hu Di, SIS/MS ’11, met at
a volunteer service program
in Beard’s Fork, Virginia, and
discovered their AU connection
over dinner. They were pleased
to find that two alumni separated
by half a century shared the same
passion for volunteerism and
global citizenship.
-1964-
TIME
CAPSULES
TOP TUNE:
“I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the Beatles
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
Goldfinger
IN THE NEWS
Activist Nelson Mandela is sentenced
to life imprisonment in South Africa;
three civil rights workers are murdered
in Mississippi; The Beatles appear
on The Ed Sullivan Show
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
Students are outraged when Cleaves
Cafeteria hikes prices for milk,
apples, hard-boiled eggs, and
other snack favorites to 15 cents.
The stomach ache-inducing beef
goulash also draws ire.
AT THE HELM
Barry Yeskel was 1964–1965
Student Association president;
he’s now a real estate broker in
New York and New Jersey.
“Sharon Stone, Jennifer Aniston,
Courteney Cox, and many more donated
more than 300 handbags, making this
our most successful year ever.”
—Janet Janjigian, SOC/MA ’73, on the 11th annual Lupus L.A.
Hollywood Bag Ladies Lunch, which raised more than $400,000
for patient advocacy programs and research
Esther Greenfield, CAS/BA ’65,
authored the forthcoming Tough
Men in Hard Places, a collection
of rare black-and-white photos
from the Western Colorado Power
Company that chronicles the story
of the men who brought electricity
to rural areas of the state.
Published by West Winds Press/
Graphic Arts Books, the book is
due on shelves September 2.
1970s
Maria Tadd, CAS/BA ’70,
wrote Happiness Is
Growing Old at
Home, a resource
for seniors and
those with aging
loved ones. The
book has been
endorsed by
gerontologists
Christiane
Northrup, Larry
Dossey, and Norman
Shealy. agingathome.info
UPDATE
YOUR EMAIL
ADDRESS AT
ALUMNIASSOCIATION.
AMERICAN.EDU/
UPDATEEMAIL.
Dennis Lucey, Kogod/MBA ’72,
cochaired the American-Ireland
National Gala on March 13,
honoring Vice President Joseph
Biden. The event raised more
than $1 million for peace and
reconciliation, arts and culture,
education, and community
development programs in Ireland.
Michael Mercer, CAS/BA ’72,
is author of Hire the Best and
Avoid the Rest, now in its 13th
edition. Companies across North
America assess job applicants
using Mercer’s three preemployment
tests.
James Winkler,
SOC/BA ’72, is
editor of Creating
the Future, a
collection of
University of
Toledo (UT)
president Lloyd
Jacobs’ writings
and addresses.
Jacobs was a driving
force behind the 2006 merger
of UT and Medical University of
-1974-
TIME
CAPSULES
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
The Towering Inferno
IN THE NEWS
Richard Nixon becomes the first
American president to resign; People
magazine debuts with Mia Farrow on
the cover; Patty Hearst is kidnapped by
the Symbionese Liberation Army
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
AU installs parking meters behind the
Letts-Anderson complex. Students
complain that they now must shell out
a dime per hour to park—on top of
$20 for an annual permit.
AT THE HELM
Rick Baker was 1974–1975 Student
Confederation president; he’s now senior
vice president of Regions Bank
in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ohio, a freestanding academic
health science center. Winkler
is also one of four editors of
A Community of Scholars:
Recollections of the Early Years of
the Medical College of Ohio, which
was published in 2011.
Noah Hanft, SPA/BA ’73,
was appointed president and
CEO of the International
Institute for Conflict Prevention
and Resolution.
Janet Janjigian, SOC/MA ’73,
and Danielle Gelber, SIS/MA ’82,
hosted the Lupus L.A. Hollywood
Bag Ladies Lunch on November
15, 2013. The annual event, which
36 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

class notes
features an auction of celebrity
handbags, raises awareness and
money for lupus research.
John Schalestock, CAS/BA ’74,
was a finalist in the 2013 William
Faulkner-William Wisdom
Creative Writing Competition.
Dark Swans and Painted Faces: A
Tale of the Vietnam War is about
a Marine Force Recon team’s
secret assassination mission.
tatepublishing.com/bookstore
David Nolan, SPA/MPA ’75,
coauthored Quest for Freedom:
The Scots-Irish Presbyterian
Rebellions for Political and
Religious Freedom.
Chuck Wheeler, SPA/BA ’79, was
elected treasurer of the McHenry
County Republican Party Central
Committee in Illinois.
1980s
Kimberly Willson-St. Clair,
CAS/MA ’80, and three other
librarians won the Association of
College and Research Libraries’
2014 Instruction Section
Innovation Award for their work
on the software Library DIY.
Glen Bolger, SPA/BS ’85,
reunited with other alumni
to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of the AU-Leeds
exchange program with
the University of Leeds. In
attendance were Stephen
Daoust, SPA/BA ’85, Josefina
DeVarona O’Sullivan, SPA/
BS ’85, and Mary Hoffman
Holtschneider, SPA/BS ’85,
SPA/MPA ’86.
Dawn Du Verney, SPA/BA ’85,
was appointed cochair of the
American Bar Association
Section of Litigation’s Criminal
Litigation Committee.
-1989-
TIME
CAPSULES
TOP TUNE
“Look Away,” Chicago
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
IN THE NEWS
Islamic militants put a price on Salman
Rushdie’s head after the publication
of Satanic Verses; the Berlin Wall falls;
ruptured tanker Exxon Valdez sends
11 million gallons of crude oil gushing
into Alaska’s Prince William Sound
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
Fifteen members of AU for Choice
stage a rush-hour rally outside
Domino’s Pizza in Dupont Circle to protest
the company’s contributions to Operation
Rescue, an antiabortion group.
AT THE HELM
Jim Akers was 1989–1990
Student Confederation president;
he’s now the vice president and
global head of indirect procurement
at Teva Pharmaceuticals in
New York City.
Guy Enderle, Kogod/BSBA ’85,
gathered with eight AU alumni
for a five-day trip down the Grand
Canyon over Labor Day 2013. The
group included alumni from the
classes of ’85, ’86, and ’87.
Benjamin McCarty, SIS/BA ’86,
and his legal support team
received the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security Office of
General Counsel Excellence
Award for legal assistance in
the response to Hurricane Sandy.
McCarty is an attorney with
the U.S. Coast Guard First
District in Boston.
Mark Bergel, CAS/MS ’87, CAS/
PhD ’96, founder of A Wider
Circle, a D.C. nonprofit that helps
impoverished families furnish
their homes, was named a 2014
CNN Hero.
1990s
Mehrzad Boroujerdi, SIS/PhD
’90, associate professor of
political science at the
Maxwell School
of Syracuse
University, is
among four
recipients of
the O’Hanley
Scholars Award.
She will receive
three years’ worth
of supplemental
financial support for
teaching and research.
Michael Lally, SIS/BA ’90, a
career senior foreign service
officer, was promoted to minister
counselor in the U.S. Department
of Commerce’s Global Markets
Division. He and his family are
currently assigned to the U.S.
Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. In
summer 2014, he will be the
department’s executive deputy
assistant secretary for Europe, the
Middle East, and Africa, based in
KNOW
ABOUT UPCOMING
EVENTS. VISIT
AMERICAN.EDU/
ALUMNI/EVENTS.
Washington, D.C. michael.lally@
trade.gov
Jose Negron Fernandez,
Kogod/BSBA ’92, was appointed
secretary of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation of
Puerto Rico in January.
Devorah Rosenzweig, CAS/BA
’93, and her husband Monte
Rosenzweig had their
10th child. She
divides her time
between raising
her children,
working parttime
with her
husband in his
insurance office
on Long Island, and
volunteering at one of
her kids’ schools.
Emilie Cortes, Kogod/BSBA
’96, has received lots of press for
her new endeavor, Call of the
Wild Adventures for women. In
January, Cortes and Call of the
Wild were featured in the Bend,
Oregon, TV show myWindow. In
February, she was interviewed
for a new online course at
Stanford University. In March,
Cortes was nominated as a
local MUSE for the 2014 MUSE
Conference in Bend.
“Our goal is to end poverty, to go out of
business. We owe it to people who are
born into poverty to make this the social
movement that ending slavery was.”
—Mark Bergel, CAS/MS ’87, CAS/PhD ’96, founder of A Wider
Circle, who vowed never to sleep on a bed again (opting for the couch
or floor instead) until every poor person in the country has one too
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 37

Giving is a personal
endorsement of
the university and
the experiences
alumni have here,
and it helps solidify
AU’s prominence.
GIVING TO ONE’S ALMA MATER does more than demonstrate
gratitude, an ongoing connection to the institution, and a
commitment to the educational values of the university.
It’s also a sign of community.
Toby McChesney, SPA/BA ’02, generously gave $25,000 in the
hope of challenging his fellow alumni to join him in making a gift
by the end of the academic year. When we were approaching our
goal of 1,000 donors, alumnus Rajiv “RJ” Narang, SPA/BA ’02,
stepped up and gave a gift of $5,000 to extend the challenge for
an additional 500 donors. We reached 1,575 donors in all. Alumni
answered the call. They met and surpassed both goals.
In fact, during the fiscal year, thousands of donors gave more
than $1.9 million to our annual funds, providing financial aid for
students and money that provides the lifeblood for much of AU.
This says a lot about AU community and AU pride. Giving is
a personal endorsement of the university and the experiences
alumni have here, and it helps solidify AU’s prominence. But
giving is just one demonstration of AU pride.
Another indicator is the personal time alumni offer to the AU
community. Just last year, there were more than 13,000 contacts
between alumni and students, and more than 1,200 alumni
volunteers involved in the life of the university.
Nearly 1,000 people participated in activities tied to the men’s
basketball team’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Alumni
also rallied around the women’s basketball team, which received
an at-large bid to a postseason tournament for the first time ever.
And the women’s volleyball team not only went to the NCAA
Tournament but also beat Georgia and Duke to make it to the
Sweet 16, its best showing ever.
As we prepare to welcome an unprecedented number of
freshmen this fall, now is the time for alumni to demonstrate to
those new students their commitment to AU. That will instill
in these freshmen—and those in future classes behind them—
a similar lifelong commitment to the university.
We work hard to nurture that kind of engagement, and
I know that we’ll continue to do that very well. Alumni are a
critical part of our success. Giving is something we can do
together—as a community—to demonstrate our strength, and
further strengthen, American University.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Minar, PhD
Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations
38 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

giving
MEANINGFUL INTERACTIONS
BETWEEN STUDENTS AND
ALUMNI inspire learning and foster
lasting relationships. The Alumni
Association hosts a variety of events
that bring students and alumni together.
Students benefit from the advice and
guidance of experienced, professional
alumni, who continue to be a vital part
of the AU community.
AU WILL WELCOME A
FRESHMAN CLASS this fall
that’s just as strong and talented as
prior crops of students. Early decision
applicants, those who declared AU as
their first choice, numbered 950—the
largest in AU history. Early decision
applicants will constitute more than
one-third of the Class of 2018.
TOBY MCCHESNEY, SPA/BA ‘02,
ISSUED A CHALLENGE and
nearly 1,600 people stepped up, making a
gift to AU during the last two weeks before
commencement. This demonstration by
alumni of their commitment to the university
set a great example for the Class of 2014.
FROM REUNION PLANNING
AND RECRUITING TO
CHAPTER PROGRAMMING
and more, alumni volunteers are the
lifeblood of the university. Whether
you’re an active chapter leader, a student
mentor, or a school-based volunteer,
there’s a plethora of ways to give back.
Visit american.edu/alumni/volunteer.
ALUMNI CELEBRATED
EAGLE PRIDE IN DROVES
this year. The men’s basketball team’s
appearance in the 2014 NCAA Tournament
sparked spirited watch parties around the
world. Alumni also cheered the women’s
basketball squad on to its first-ever
postseason tournament. And the women’s
volleyball team made it all the way to the
Sweet 16—its best showing ever.
WHETHER YOU’RE STROLLING
THE QUAD or attending an athletics
event, art exhibit, or alumni gathering, you’re
always welcome back on campus. Enjoy free
parking on campus after 5 p.m. on weekdays
and all day on weekends, as well as a free
shuttle from the Tenleytown Metro station
every day. Also, join the record number
of alumni who return to AU every fall to
celebrate All-American Weekend.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRUCE MORSER
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 39

class notes
Courtney Curatolo, SPA/BA ’99,
was appointed director of public
affairs and education at Planned
Parenthood of Collier County.
Curatolo is responsible for
building community support for
the organization through public
affairs, advocacy, education,
community outreach, and
volunteer engagement.
Evan Glass, SOC/BA ’99, was
a candidate for the Montgomery
County Council in Maryland’s
Democratic primary on
June 24, 2014.
David Rosen, SPA/BA ’99,
joined Bleacher Report in San
Francisco as senior director
of marketing.
2000s
Katherine Belinski, SIS/BA
’01, was elected partner at the
law firm of Nossaman LLP in
Washington, D.C.
Sarah Moss, SOC/BA ’01, is
creator of the 2014 State of the
Union bingo card, featured on the
Washington Post’s Monkey Cage
blog. She lives in Denver and
manages community, legislative,
and communications outreach
for the Denver Fire Department.
Tara Castillo, SIS/BA ’02,
WCL/JD ’07, moderated a
panel, “Key Policy and
Operational Challenges to
Outstanding RMBS,” at the
annual American Securitization
Forum Conference in Las Vegas
on January 28, 2014.
-2004-
TIME
CAPSULES
TOP TUNE
“Yeah!,” Usher featuring
Lil Jon and Ludacris
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
Shrek 2
IN THE NEWS
Tsunami kills more than 200,000 in
Asia; Massachusetts becomes the
first state to legalize gay marriage;
graphic images of Iraqi prisoners at
Abu Ghraib prison go public
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
The Eagle spotlights students residing
in the “unluckiest rooms” on campus,
including Anderson’s “Satan room.”
“My roommates and I are from
religious families,” says Deanna Niles.
“We thought it would be funny to have
mail sent to room 666.”
AT THE HELM
Nick Terzulli was 2004–2005 Student
Confederation president; he’s now the
director of business development
at the Nassau County Industrial
Development Agency.
Sharon Foster, SOC/MA ’02,
published her first e-book, Live
Lightly: A Summer of Poetry,
in April. The poetry in this
collection is grouped into seven
sections: change, inspiration,
love lost, love found, the streets,
humanity, and beauty.
Michael Lamm, SIS/BA ’02,
celebrated the first anniversary of
his company, Corporate Advisory
Solutions LLC, on May 1. The
merchant bank, headquartered
in Philadelphia, focuses on
outsourced business services.
L. Trenton Marsh, Kogod/BSBA
’02, won first place in New
York University’s
eighth annual
MLK Oratorical
Contest on
February
3. Marsh’s
original speech
was titled “The
Courage to
Dream.” A PhD
candidate studying
social-psychology and
urban education, Marsh is on an
educational leave of absence from
IBM Corporation, where he is a
managing business consultant.
Pamela Martin, SOC/BA ’03,
and Joseph Popiolkowski, SPA/
BA ’05, welcomed their first
child, Evelyn, in November.
Kerri Anderson-Czerkas, SOC/
BA ’04, joined Keres Consulting
Inc., a Native American–owned
firm, to assist with the Native
American Lands Environmental
Mitigation Program.
Mark Overman, SIS/MA ’05,
and AU adjunct professor Sherry
Mueller published the second
edition of Working World: Careers
in International Education,
Exchange, and Development.
Forrest Dunbar, SIS/BA, ’06, is
running for congress in Alaska’s
at-large congressional district.
Nicole Zangara, CAS/BA ’06,
author of Surviving Female
KEEP
YOUR FRIENDS IN
THE LOOP. SEND
YOUR UPDATES TO
CLASSNOTES@
AMERICAN.EDU.
Friendships, the Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly, was
quoted on WebMD.com and
allparenting.com.
Caitlin McCann, SIS/BA ’07,
and several AU alumni
living in Buenos Aires
volunteered with
an organization
called TECHO to
build a house for
a needy family.
They raised the
money to pay for
the house, tools,
and transportation
and spent a weekend in a
shantytown along with other
volunteers.
Kimberly Meyer, SIS/BA ’08,
has been promoted to executive
assistant at Avison Young
in Boston.
“Letting go—
especially of a
longtime friend—
can be difficult.
But it will leave
more room in
your life for people
who are supportive
and caring.”
—Nicole Zangara, CAS/BA ’06,
on the ebbs and flows of female
friendships
CONNECT
alumniassociation.
american.edu
FOLLOW
Twitter.com/
AmericanUAlum
LIKE
Facebook.com/
AmericanUAlum
VIEW
Flickr.com/photos/
AmericanUAlum
40 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

teamwork
SOMMER LOVE
Joni Palew Sommer, CAS/BA ’67 + Gerry Sommer, CAS/BA ’66
They met on the steps of Mary Graydon Center on MAY 15, 1964, to arrange a carpool to a dance. She was being courted by his
Zeta Beta Tau brother, and he had a date of his own. BUT SPARKS FLEW. “For some reason, I said, ‘Would you like to dance?’
And we’ve been dancing ever since,” Gerry says. Two days after their first spin around the dance floor, Gerry called Joni on the
McDowell Hall lobby’s shared phone to ask for a date. The smitten twosome enjoyed evenings at the Marshall Hall amusement park
on the Potomac River and dinners at the Charcoal Hearth on Wisconsin Avenue. They threw pennies in the fountain at the newly
opened Dulles International Airport. “IT WAS A DESTINATION DATE,” Gerry says. When Gerry took evening classes at
AU’s downtown campus, he used a CB radio to get in touch with Joni, and the two would grab a late-night bite at Hot Shoppes.
HE POPPED THE QUESTION on Joni’s 21st birthday. “He gave me four boxes,” she recalls. “I kept opening the boxes, and at
the very end, there was an engagement ring.” The Sommers settled in the Washington area, where he worked as a labor attorney for
more than 40 years and she as an elementary school teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland. MARRIED FOR 47 YEARS,
they have two daughters and four grandchildren. AND THEY’RE STILL DANCING.
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 41

class notes
-2009-
TIME
CAPSULES
TOP TUNE
“Boom Boom Pow,” The Black Eyed Peas
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
Avatar
IN THE NEWS
Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger lands a
U.S. Airways plane in the Hudson River
after striking a flock of geese; Michael
Jackson dies at age 50; Air France flight
447 disappears off the coast of Brazil
with 228 on board
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
Lines snake around the Student
Health Center as more than 2,000 AU
community members wait for the H1N1—
or swine flu—vaccination.
AT THE HELM
Andrew MacCracken was 2009–2010
Student Confederation president;
he’s now executive director of the
National Campus Leadership Council
in Washington, D.C..
Emily Willard, SIS/BA ’08, SIS/
MA ’09, was named a Rotary Peace
Fellow. She is one of the youngest
ever selected for the program.
Michaela McGill, SOC/BA ’09,
and Andrew Beideman, SIS/BA
’09, were married on December
31, 2013, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Many AU alumni attended the
wedding. The wedding party
included Elizabeth Prevou,
CAS/BA ’09; Benjamin Kern,
SIS/BA ’08; Griffin Greenberg,
SPA/BA ’08; Michael Kerman,
SPA/BA ’09, WCL/JD ’12; and
Ritesh Patel, Kogod/BSBA ’09.
Jesika (Pufnock) Steuerwalt,
SPA/BA ’09, married Benjamin
Steuerwalt on July 19, 2013, on
the lawn of Wagner Vineyards in
the Finger Lakes region of New
York. The wedding party included
American University field hockey
alumna Katie Turner, Kogod/
BSBA ’09. Several AU alumni
were in attendance.
2010s
Melissa Gang, SIS/MA ’10, and
Sara Cady, SIS/MA ’12, each
had a paper published in the
winter 2013-2014 issue of Peace
and Conflict Review, a journal
published by the University of
Peace in Costa Rica.
Andrew Clark, SIS/MA ’11, has
been published on EcoMENA.org,
a highly influential knowledge
bank on sustainability in the
Middle East and North Africa.
Will Hubbard, SIS/BA ’11,
accepted a position with the
Student Veterans of America
national organization as the vice
president of external affairs.
Aaron Sutch, SIS/MA, ’11,
coauthored a paper outlining the
potential economic and energy
benefits of a solar industry in
West Virginia.
“Thailand’s ruling military junta has a
midnight to 4 a.m. curfew. It hasn’t had
a big impact on my life, but it’s been
problematic for people who want to
watch the World Cup.”
—Emily Willard, SIS/BA ’08, SIS/MA ’09, one of 20 Rotary
Peace Fellows, on adjusting to life in Bangkok
Elliot Bell-Krasner, SPA/MPP ’12,
was unanimously approved by
the Alexandria City Council for
his first civic office. Bell-Krasner
is now a member-at-large for the
Historic Alexandria Resources
Commission.
Tangela D. Richardson, SOC/
MA ’13, was awarded a Social
Security Administration
Commissioner’s Citation for her
work involving African American
national outreach.
To update your address
EMAIL
alumupdate@american.edu
VISIT
american.edu/alumni/connected
WRITE
Office of Alumni Relations
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016-8002
Five plaid-clad, pickax-packing
coeds pitch in to build a new stone
walk on campus during AU’s Arbor
Day celebration, April 14, 1937. They
are, from left: Ella Harllee, Margaret
Snavely, Margaret Warthen, Florence
Yeager, and Ruth Hudson. Green
thumbs gathered every year for
AU’s Arbor Day festivities from 1933
to 1945; students got the day off
from classes to help build bridges,
fireplaces, and walkways.
S. Barton Gephart,
CAS/BA ’50, WCL/JD ’66,
November 30, 2013,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Margaret Graham
Kranking, CAS/BA ’52,
November 26, 2013, Chevy
Chase, Maryland
William Jones,
CAS/BA ’64, March 12, 2014,
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Kenneth Cook,
CAS/PhD ’67, October 28,
2013, Arlington, Virginia
Frank Spillman,
SIS/BA ’67, March 18, 2014,
San Francisco, California
Shawn Kuykendall,
SOC/BA ’05, March 12, 2014,
Washington, D.C.
42 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

memories
Excerpts from the Eagle archives at theeagleonline.com
REMEMBER
when David Bromberg
headlined orientation
weekend ’74?
Share your memories:
email magazine@
american.edu.
KURT COBAIN PHOTO: FRANK MICELOTTA/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
1968
Though some griped that
the Student Union Board
shelled out $10,000 to lure
the Godfather of Soul to
AU (papa got a brand-new
bag), James Brown’s May 11 show at the
Leonard Center was the highlight of
spring weekend for 3,500 sweaty, cramped
concertgoers (the baseball field, which
would’ve allowed more elbow room, was
rained out). After the show, Mayor Walter
Washington presented Brown with the
key to the city as thanks for helping to
“cool down” riots in D.C. after the April
assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
1974
Bruce Springsteen and his
E Street Band treated 1,200
lucky concertgoers to four
hours of tunes, November
16 in the Leonard Gym. The
marathon show was one of the earliest
stops on the Jersey-based band’s yearslong,
multicontinent, seven-leg, Born to
Run tour. The setlist included “Jungleland”
and “She’s the One,” songs that would
appear the following year on the Boss’s
third album, Born to Run (considered by
many to be his mainstream breakthrough).
Tickets were free to students, included in
their $27 activity fee.
1986
Slam dancing, fistfights,
and flying beer cans: the
crowd at the Ramones’
October 24 show in the
Tavern was anything but
sedated. During its hour long set, the
New York punk band—which toured
virtually nonstop for 22 years—treated
1,000 rowdy fans (250 over capacity for
the Tavern, which contributed to the
chaos) to such hits as “Rock and Roll
High School” and “I Wanna Be Sedated.”
“I flipped out when I saw [frontman] Joey
Ramone,” junior Melissa Rubenstein told
the Eagle. “He is so hot.”
1993
The announcement came
moments before Nirvana
took the stage at Bender
Arena, November 13: “Please
do not throw shoes on
stage or Kurt will walk away.” (Cobain was
clocked in the nose by a shoe earlier that
year.) The Seattle trio served up the hits,
including “Come As You Are” and grunge
anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” before
a crowd of 1,000 flannel-clad fans. The
show was something to tell the grandkids
about: it was Cobain’s last Washington
concert, as he committed suicide just five
months later.
Pearl Jam, the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, the Roots, Joan Jett, Moby—what band rocked your world?
Email your favorite concert memory or a photo of your ticket stub to magazine@american.edu.
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 43

NESTLED ALONG
THE COLORADO
RIVER, SMACK
DAB IN THE
CENTER OF THE
LONE STAR STATE,
Austin is an incubator of small,
independent businesses; an
emerging hub for pharmaceutical
and biotechnology firms; and
the live music capital of the
world. The birthplace of
Whole Foods, Dell, and South
by Southwest, the city features
a diverse mix of professors
and students, musicians and
artists, tech wonks and bluecollar
workers.
Texas’s eclectic capital city is
also home to 317 AU alumni, who
are among the nearly 900,000
Austinites keeping it weird.
What besides a charming
Texas twang and a relaxed, urban
sophistication do these Austin
Eagles share? The insider’s
knowledge of Washington, D.C.,
gained while studying at AU.
Get to know some of our Texas
transplants here.
JAYSON RAPAPORT, KOGOD/BSBA ’97
COFOUNDER, BIRDS BARBERSHOP
“Our goal is to un-salon the salon,” says
Jayson Rapaport. He’s talking about Birds
Barbershop, his and business partner
Michael Portman’s Austin-based chain of six
modern-yet-nostalgic hair cutteries that are
redefining the neighborhood barbershop.
The laid-back locale of South Lamar,
where honky-tonks and taxidermy shops rub
shoulders with hip eateries and boutiques,
saw the opening of the first Birds in 2006.
The approachable, low-key SoLa vibe was
a mirror for the Birds brand, with spaces
varying in design from one site to the next
but consistently focused on being an allinclusive
place to get an honest, dependable
cut. “It’s a twenty-first-century shop; we
welcome everyone and want them to feel
comfortable.”
Clients won’t forget they’re in Austin,
though. The city’s ubiquitous alternative
vibe sets the stage for the Birds experience.
Services include a Shiner beer and
meticulously curated music. Vintage arcade
games and murals by hometown artists
adorn each waiting area.
“Austin is a small town, but an important
town,” Rapaport says. “The neighborhoods
have strong identities. They give the local
guy the first opportunity.” Birds continues to
turn heads in the city that bucks convention,
and new ventures for the Texas natives
include a product line, Verb, and a seventh
location in the works.
OUT OF BOUNDS COMEDY FESTIVAL
Dave Buckman, CAS/BA ’94, producer. The Second City
alum has produced the laugh fest since 2010. By day, the
actor and funny man works as membership relations
manager with the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
GORGEOUS MILLIE
Laura Jacks, Kogod/BSBA ’92, cofounder.
The mediator, former judge, and mother of
two boys created the teacher-led playgroup to
give moms a place to sip lattes and chat while
their youngsters enjoy educational activities.
THE CONTEMPORARY AUSTIN
Maggie McGrath, SOC/BA ’09, art school
registration coordinator. The Art School at Laguna
Gloria, which offers classes in painting, drawing,
wheel throwing, mosaics, photography, glass, metal,
and more, just celebrated its 50th anniversary.
44 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

where we are
Richard Tagle
CAS/BA ’94, CAS/MA ’96
CEO, ANDY RODDICK FOUNDATION
Working for one of the world’s most famous tennis
players sounds like a grand slam gig. Turns out it’s even
more rewarding when that athlete is working just as
hard as you to improve the lives of thousands of children.
Since becoming CEO of the Andy Roddick Foundation
in July 2013, Richard Tagle has helped shepherd the
organization’s grants, programs, and partnerships.
Founded by the 2003 U.S. Open champion nearly 15 years
ago, the organization—which supports after-school and
summer programs for students across Austin—has raised
about $12 million since its inception. It focuses on
out-of-school time, the hours when students are at risk
of losing academic skills, being a victim of violent crime,
gaining weight by not being physically active, and
engaging in risky behaviors.
“The foundation’s mission is to create opportunities
for young people to succeed and thrive,” says Tagle.
In 2012 alone, the foundation provided 165,579 hours
of care, tutoring, sports camps, and education; 7,700
school uniforms; and 4,292 meals and snacks. Next year,
it will open the Sports and Learning Center to give
youngsters a safe space to learn and play.
Born and raised in the Philippines, Tagle came to the
United States when he was 16. In Washington he served
as CEO of Higher Achievement, an academic program
for middle school kids designed to get them on a college
track. He loved the job, but after a total of 27 years in
Washington, he was ready for a change.
“Austin is exciting, dynamic, and growing,” he says.
“It’s trying to be a social entrepreneurship capital in
additional to being the live music capital of the world.”
With about 6,000 nonprofits in the area—and at least as
many musicians—it’s coming up aces.
PHOTOS BY ALISON NARRO
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
MeLisa Creamer, CAS/BA ’06, doctoral candidate,
School of Public Health. A Michael and Susan Dell Health
Scholar, she worked on the 2012 surgeon general’s report
on preventing tobacco use among youth.
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
Hailey Woldt, SIS alumna, research analyst. The former
2008–2009 Ibn Khaldun research fellow works on the Texas
Emerging Technology Fund, created in 2005 by Governor
Rick Perry to foster innovation and development.
TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Ada Ortega, SOC/BA ’12, regional press
secretary and Latino media coordinator.
The broadcast journalism major manages
¡Pa’delante Tejas!, an online campaign aimed at
Hispanic voters—a group key to turning Texas blue.
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 45

vision + planning = legacy
WAMU 88.5 is as vital to
Virginia “Ginny” McArthur’s
day as her morning cup of
coffee. A noted Washington
trusts and estates attorney,
she tunes into AU’s public
radio station—D.C.’s leading
NPR affiliate—to keep abreast
of current events.
McArthur settled in D.C.
after serving as a Peace Corps
volunteer in Ethiopia from
1964 to 1966. In 1992, she
founded an estate planning
practice as a solo practitioner;
McArthur Franklin PLLC has
since grown to four attorneys.
A longtime member of
WAMU, McArthur leverages
her expertise for the station’s
benefit as a member of WAMU’s
development advisory council,
on which she’s served as vice
chair since 2010. “It’s been a
great way to get to know other
supporters who are passionate
about WAMU and to better
understand the inner workings
of the station,” she says.
When working with clients,
McArthur stresses the
importance of preparing for
the future and providing for
the people and organizations
that matter most. In 2012, she
established the Virginia A.
McArthur Endowed Fund
at WAMU to support the
station’s operations, and she
has named WAMU among the
beneficiaries of her estate.
“WAMU is such a vital part of
my day-to-day life,” McArthur
says. “How could I not
support its future?”
Attorney, public radio lover, and
longtime supporter of WAMU 88.5
For information about how your
vision and charitable estate
planning can create a legacy at
American University, contact
Kara Barnes, director of planned
giving, at 202-885-5914 or
kbarnes@american.edu, or visit
american.edu/plannedgiving.
46 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

top picks
1
6
Patalsky’s tips for styling
plate pics:
1. TOUCH OF TEAL
Everyone should have a signature color—
mine’s aqua or light teal. It’s my favorite
color; I use it for plates, napkins, wood
boards, and glasses.
2. MIND THE SCALE
Regular-sized flatware can overpower a
shot. I always use salad forks and dainty
appetizer spoons and forks when need be.
Vegan blogger Kathy Patalsky,
CAS/BS ’05, started Happy.
Healthy. Life. in 2007 with a
philosophy as simple as the
ingredients in her first recipe for
green tea: “Good food was
meant to be shared.”
Seven years later, the health
promotion major has traded her
point-and-shoot camera for a
professional Canon, and her site,
lunchboxbunch.com, attracts as
many as 1.8 million unique
visitors per month. A
second, recipe-swapping site,
findingvegan.com, has gotten
300,000 “likes” on Facebook.
The fit foodie, who calls sunny
SoCal home, whips up all her
recipes from scratch
(pumpkin pistachio kale fried rice
with maple tofu cubes, anyone?)
and shoots her own mouthwatering
photos. “Some girls buy
shoes, I buy berries,” says Patalsky.
Though her repertoire ranges
from pastries to pasta, Patalsky
has a special place in her healthy
heart for smoothies. Last year she
released 365 Vegan Smoothies; a
second cookbook, Happy, Healthy
Vegan Kitchen, is in the works.
3. SET THE SCENE
Don’t just photograph food, photograph
a scene. If you’re snapping a picture of a
doughnut, add a coffee mug, a fruit salad,
or the corner of the Sunday paper.
4. GO NATURAL
I never use a flash for food photos.
Manipulating natural sunlight is a skill
learned through practice, practice,
practice. The light is always changing;
you have to learn to adapt.
5. THE CRAVE-IT TEST
You haven’t done your job unless the food
looks delicious. Unusual shots like a cookie
torn in half with melting chocolate chips
will leave your audience craving more.
6. PORTION CONTROL
Less is more when it comes to serving
sizes in photos. If you want to feature a
larger serving, add a second dish instead
of piling on more food.
7. SIMPLE IS BETTER
Use patterns sparingly. Busy napkins, place
mats, and dishes distract from your subject
matter: the food.
8. GO PRO
If you’re serious about food photography,
save up for a professional SLR camera and
a few different lenses. I use a 6D Canon
body with a 100 mm macro lens and a
50 mm 1.2 fixed lens.
9. WHITE OUT
White is a food photographer’s best friend.
White studio walls, curtains, tabletops,
reflection boards, and plates allow colorful
food to pop.
10. TASTE THE RAINBOW
Embrace colorful foods. Using a few bright,
complementary colors will make your
photos sing.
2
3
4
5
7
8
9
10
AMERICAN.EDU/ALUMNI 47

must haves
3
4
7
9
10
2
5
1
11
6
8
*Mountaineer and PhD candidate, American Politics and Public Policy, School of Public Affairs
1. Alaska is one of the coldest places
to climb; when I was in Denali in May
2013, it was 20 degrees in the sun
during the day, but it got down to -40
at night. Down is the best insulator.
2. Good boots, gloves, and a parka keep
you alive. My Scarpa Phantom 6000
double boots are waterproof and warm.
3. In mountaineering, an “alpine start”
means you begin climbing well before
dawn, when ice and rocks are more
stable. My Black Diamond Storm
headlamp is essential at night.
4. My Petzl Elios helmet protects me
from falls, rocks, and icefall. I’ve never
been hit by rock or ice, but I often see
it as I climb.
5. Black Diamond Sabretooth crampons
attach to my boots and help me keep
my footing.
6. My Petzl Summit ice ax is my
connection to the mountain—and
what I use to catch myself if I fall.
7. Climbing can burn as many as
5,000–8,000 calories a day. You can
lose your appetite at high altitudes, so
you should carry high-calorie food you
want to eat. Dried fruit and chocolatecovered
almonds are my favorites. You
melt snow for drinking water or treat
water with chemicals or filters.
8. There’s lots of sun at high altitudes, so
you have to protect your skin and eyes.
9. Your rope connects you to your
partner or climbing team. My dynamic,
nylon Mammut Glacier Line is 8.3 mm
thick and 40 m long, and it can stretch
to absorb the impact if I fall.
10. My Black Diamond 55L climbing pack
is durable and lightweight. When I
went to Alaska, I had 60 to 70 pounds
of gear, food, and fuel split between a
pack and a sled towed behind me. The
goal is to be prepared—but to carry as
little as possible.
11. I used to carry a guide book, camera,
journal, and GPS—now I can do it all on
my iPhone (very compact solar panels
keep it charged). But you never want to
depend on something that might break,
so I still carry a compass and map.
48 AMERICAN MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014
Photographed at Sugarloaf Mountain, Dickerson, Maryland

THIS YEAR WE WILL CELEBRATE
THE CLASSES OF 1964, 2004, AND 2009 AS WELL AS THE
SECOND ANNUAL MULTICULTURAL ALUMNI REUNION.
Enjoy a weekend of
fun with friends, old and new.
#AllAUWeekend

NON-PROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE PAID
BURLINGTON, VT 05401
WASHINGTON, DC 20016-8002
PERMIT NO. 604
Address Service Requested
For information regarding the
accreditation and state licensing of
American University, please visit
american.edu/academics.
THE BACKGROUND
Public health problems span the history of human civilization: Water pollution
spawned the spread of communicable diseases among early civilizations. The Romans
wrestled with waste disposal. Fourteenth-century Europeans contended with a plague
propagated by rodent-borne fleas. Centuries later the issues have changed (from
smallpox to sugary soda), but the demand for innovative solutions is greater than ever.
Public health is one of the hottest disciplines in higher ed: the Association of Schools
of Public Health estimates that 250,000 new health workers will be needed by 2020.
Causes, cures, and disease prevention extend beyond biological complexity to
dozens of disciplines, including one of professor Blake Bennett’s areas of study: the
built environment. Assistant director of AU’s Public Health Scholars, an intensive,
three-year bachelor’s program that will graduate its first cohort in 2015, Bennett teaches
Urbanization and Public Health, a course that explores urban design, environmental
science, and public health to understand how neighborhood walkability and mixed-use
development affect residents’ quality of life.
THE CHALLENGE
To reduce obesity and air pollution, Healthville, USA, wants to promote walking, biking,
and mass transportation among its citizenry. Drawing on concepts of urban design, land
use, and housing density, offer suggestions to get residents out of their cars and onto
bikes and buses. (Hint: think about sidewalks and green space, the cost and availability
of parking, and traffic patterns.)
Go fact to fact
WITH AU’S PEOPLE IN THE KNOW AT
AMERICANWONKS.COM/QUIZZES.
THE DETAILS Submit suggestions to magazine@american.edu by September 15
to be entered to win a six-month subscription to Politics and Prose Bookstore’s
Book-a-Month Gift Program.
Congratulations to George Siehl, CAS/MS ’62, who aced last issue’s final exam.