American magazine, July 2016

news
Source: 2014 District of Columbia Annual Epidemiology and Surveillance Report
HIV
EPIDEMIC
IN DC
(2013 numbers)
2.5%
OF TOTAL
POPULATION INFECTED
In 2015 the National Institutes
of Health awarded $7.5 million
to fund a city-wide consortium
of HIV/AIDS investigators in
Washington, DC. That five-year
grant launched the District
of Columbia Center for AIDS
Research, or DC CFAR—a
collaborative network of nearly
200 scientists and social scientists
from American University
and five other institutions:
George Washington University,
Georgetown University, Howard
University, the Children’s
National Medical Center, and the
Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The center is part of NIH’s
national CFAR program, which
provides scientific leadership,
infrastructure, and core services
for frontline research in the
prevention, detection, and
treatment of HIV infection and
AIDS—particularly in areas like
Washington, DC, where the HIV
rate remains epidemic, although
the number of new infections and
the percentage of the population
living with HIV have declined.
553
NEWLY DIAGNOSED
CASES
16,423
RESIDENTS
LIVING WITH HIV
Only 19 full centers across
the country have received the
prestigious CFAR designation to
date. For AU faculty, partnership
in the center has meant expanded
opportunities for research,
collaboration, and funding.
Kim Blankenship, AU
sociology professor and
department chair, codirects
the DC CFAR’s Social and
Behavioral Sciences Core, which
supports innovative research
to identify how social relations,
processes, and structures affect
HIV transmission, acquisition,
treatment, and care. Central to
the core’s mission is the forging
of collaborations between social
science investigators and their
counterparts in the sciences and
the fostering of relationships with
community partners, including
the DC government, to ensure the
maximum potential for impact in
improving prevention approaches
and clinical care.
AU is unique among DC
CFAR partner institutions to
have scholars embedded in
12,446
BLACK RESIDENTS
LIVING WITH HIV
52
HIV-RELATED
DEATHS
social science disciplines and
engaged in the study of HIV/
AIDS from varying perspectives.
The university’s Center on
Health, Risk, and Society, also
headed by Blankenship, provides
resources to an interdisciplinary
community of academic
researchers, who apply social
science theory, concepts, and
methods to analyze health
and health risks from multiple
dimensions—social, political,
cultural, economic, historical,
and legal.
“One of the great strengths
of the DC CFAR is that it
represents a highly committed,
multidisciplinary group of
researchers,” Blankenship says.
“Through our collaborations, we
can challenge the epidemic from
many different directions: we have
people doing research to try to
find a cure, people doing research
to identify new models for linking
people to and keeping them in
care, and people doing research to
understand how social processes,
structures, and behaviors create
vulnerability . . . I think it will
take all of this to ensure not just
that the overall rates go down but
that the disparities are eliminated
as well.”
Presumptive presidential nominees Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump are gearing up
for what promises to be a tough scrimmage,
throwing into relief their positions on
various issues, including higher education
and how to tackle rising costs.
Under Clinton’s New College Compact,
more than half the total funds allotted
will go toward grants to states and public
colleges to ensure that students
• don’t have to take out loans for tuition,
books, and fees to attend a four-year
public college in state
• receive additional support to defray
living expenses
• get free tuition at community colleges
• contribute their earnings from working
10 hours a week
• benefit from innovative programs that
allow federal student aid to be used for
career training and lifelong learning
• receive early notification of eligibility
for Pell Grants, which can be used for
living expenses
Clinton’s plan will also cut interest rates
on student loans, allow refinancing of
loans at the current federal rate, provide
relief on interest from student debt, create
a consolidated income-based repayment
program, demand risk sharing and
transparency from colleges and universities
about metrics, and crack down on illegal
practices at for-profit schools.
Her plan will cost about $350 billion over
10 years. It will be paid for by closing tax
loopholes and expenditures for the wealthy.
Where does Donald Trump stand on
higher education? You won’t find a position
statement at donaldjtrump.com, and both
the candidate and the campaign have been
quiet about education policy specifics
during the primaries. In May his national
campaign cochair offered an outline of
ideas currently being prepared for the fall
campaign—including getting government
out of student lending, requiring colleges
to share in the risk of loans, discouraging
borrowing by liberal arts majors, and
moving the Department of Education Office
for Civil Rights to the Justice Department.
GRAY’S THE NEW GREEN
In April AU’s Gray Hall became the third building on campus
to earn the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) seal of approval.
The building, which houses faculty offices, earned the
silver certification for existing buildings.
THE FUTURE’S SO (FUL)BRIGHT . . .
AU was among the top producers of Fulbright students in
2015–2016. Twelve Eagles—more than 30 percent of AU’s 38
applicants—received the US State Department’s prestigious
grant, enabling them to study and conduct research for a
year outside the United States.
LEGAL EAGLES
In its best showing yet, SPA’s team placed third in
its division at the American Mock Trial Association’s
national tournament in April. The seven-person squad
placed sixth overall among 663 teams, and junior Anna
Mehrabyan took home the All-American Witness Award.
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