AU in the News

Showcasing AU programs, professors, students and alumni in the news
Week of November 10 - 16

The Rules of Double-Dipping
George Costanza made “double-dipping” famous on the show Seinfeld, but is double-dipping really like, “putting your whole mouth in the dip?” Good Morning America took that burning question to the campus of American University, where AU professor and micro biologist Nancy Zeller dispelled the myth that double-dipping spreads bacteria. “You’re not really introducing a lot of saline with your mouth because you tend to take the bite with your teeth,” she told GMA, of the ABC News Network. Zeller was originally quoted in a Parade magazine story on Sunday, prompting GMA to visit AU. The Good Morning America piece re-aired on ABC’s World News Tonight with Charlie Gibson. (11/15/07)

Groundbreaking for SIS
American University held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new, environmentally-friendly School of International Service building and local, national and international media were on hand to witness the event. The Northwest Current, WAMU 88.5 and the Associated Press Asia Service covered the groundbreaking. The new building features “green” architecture and design, being constructed mostly from recycled and renewable materials. The school hopes to complete work by fall 2010. (11/15/07)

SOC Discusses Foreign Correspondence
Professor Bill Gentile hosted a lecture on the Future of Foreign Correspondence for his course in the School of Communication. Keith Richburg, editor of foreign affairs for the Washington Post, was the featured speaker and discussed the challenges facing journalists in the field. C-SPAN was present to cover the lecture. (11/13/07)

Online College Fair
Students will be able to shop around at different colleges from the comforts of their own home, using www.collegeweeklive.com as part of an international “virtual college fair,” a two-day event expected to offer students worldwide the opportunity to talk to admissions officers from about 100 colleges and universities, USA Today reports. USA Today turned to American University for some insight into the impact of this new college shopping. “This really allows us the opportunity to speak with students in a forum in which they're most comfortable,” says Cristan Trahey, acting admissions director at American University. “There is a lot more sort of ‘secret shopping,’ for lack of a better term.” (11/16/07)

Abroad Studies Increase
The number of students studying abroad has made a sharp increase, with several Washington-area colleges topping the list in rankings, the Washington Examiner reports. “One reason that number is so high is that we charge home tuition no matter where you go,” said Sara Dumont, director of study abroad at American University, which ranked ninth in the percentages of their students studying abroad, according to a report released by the Institute for International Education. “So if they can afford to be at AU, they can afford to go abroad.” (11/13/07)

From Grassroots to Netroots
Presidential candidates are trying to reach voters through interactive media, while activists are using the web to build community and fund-raise. During the latest edition of American Forum, the continuing series produced by WAMU 88.5 in conjunction with the American University School of Communication, a distinguished panel looked at the impact of new media on the 2008 presidential campaign. The event was moderated by Jane Hall, assistant journalism professor in the School of Communication. (11/14/07)

Irving Norman at the Katzen
The works of Lithuanian-born artist Irving Norman, which are on display at the Katzen Arts Center at American University, feature highly detailed, monumental critiques of the inhumanity of war, the inequity of capitalism and the tyranny of the elite. Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post said of the Norman exhibit, titled Dark Metropolis, “Norman's art is difficult and dense, yet hard to look away from, even today. As a critic wrote in 1970, presciently summing up what remains so compelling about Norman's disturbing art: 'You may not like what he reveals. You probably didn't like what you read on the front page this morning.'” (11/15/07)

Justice for Troy Davis
In her opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gemma Puglisi, an assistant professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, expressed outrage over the state of Georgia’s nonchalance toward recanted testimonies from witnesses in the case of Troy Davis, a death-row inmate accused of killing a police officer in 1989, and devoted time to following the case, including meeting Davis himself. “I hope that the Georgia Supreme Court admits the state made a horrible mistake and that it will do the right thing,” she wrote. “I'll be in the courtroom watching and hoping that all the years Troy Davis lost will send a clear message to the world that incompetence and injustice will not be tolerated.” (11/13/07)

Definition of Lethal Injection
The Supreme Court will hear the case of two Kentucky death-row inmates challenging the state's method of lethal injection, claiming that the practice should be deemed cruel and unusual punishment, reports U.S. News and World Report. However, Stephen Vladeck, an American University law professor, said the court's involvement may become a double-edged sword for death penalty opponents. “Maybe what these cases are is recognition by the center of the court that we are going to have a death penalty but that we have to police it.” (11/11/07)

2009
Mar	6	13	20	27
Feb	6	13	20	27
Jan	4	9	16	23	30
2008
Dec	5	12	19
Nov	7	14	21
Oct	3	10	17	24	31
Sept	5	12	19	26
Aug	1	8	15	29
July	4	11	18	25
June	6	13	20	27
May	2	9	16	23
Apr	4	11	18	25
Mar	7	21	28
Feb	1	8	15	22	29
Jan	4	11	18	25
2007
Dec	7	14	21
Nov	2	9	16		30
Oct	5	12	19	26
Sept	7	14	21	28
Aug	3	10	17	24	31
July	31
June	30
Feb	2	9
Jan	5	12	19	26