AU in the News

Showcasing AU programs, professors, students and alumni in the news
Week of April 19 - 25

A Creative Way To Quest for Careers
This spring, hundreds of thousands of graduates will search career Web sites in hopes of finding a first job. Gisele Cloutier, assistant director of career management education at the Kogod School of Business, says new graduates need to think outside the online job listings if they want to find the career of their dreams. “How many times do you see a job posting for a CEO of a Fortune 50 company? You don't." she told Washington Business Journal reporter Jennifer Nycz-Conner. Cloutier, who runs a mandatory program for first-year MBA students at Kogod, advises her students to anticipate a company's need and offer to fill it before a job is posted. "Look at that company. Figure out what's going on with it." (4/18/08)

AU is Climate Neutral
Americans have become increasingly aware of global warming and climate issues in recent years, with many making small changes to improve our environment. Now American University is taking a larger step towards improving the environment by signing a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the campus “climate neutral,” says the Northwest Current. One day before Earth Day, AU president Neil Kerwin signed the “American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment,” adding to the long list of green initiatives at AU. Willy Suter, director of facilities management at American University, said he has spent more than a decade looking for ways to make campus facilities environmentally friendly. “A facilities manager's job is an environmental job,” he said. “A lot of the early efforts started in facilities.” (4/21/08)

Living the Green Life
There has been a recent surge in environmental advocacy, but actor Ed Begley, Jr. has been living eco-friendly for the past 38 years, USA Today reports. Those who have adopted the practice earlier on are making a difference, said Matthew Nisbet, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C., who studies public affairs. “Citizens who eagerly adopt environmentally-friendly behaviors are what marketers call 'influentials,’” he said. (4/21/08)

Nothing But Nets
Malaria currently kills more than one million people a year, many of them African children. Two American University students are doing their part to save those children. Students Artemis Antippas and Marissa Tasho organized an event on campus to raise awareness and money for the cause, which would help buy mosquito netting to protect African children. They also appeared on WUSA to get their message out. “It touched our hearts, learning about all the children that die from it every year,” said Antippas. “We’ve put together this great event and our mission is to educate and promote awareness throughout the student body and faculty at American University.” (4/23/08)

Rise in Foreclosures Produces Rise in Rent
With the rise in home foreclosures, many homeowners are becoming tenants once more, resulting in an increase in rents, reports USA Today. “In some areas, because the demand for rentals is happening closer to cities and job markets, there will ultimately be demand for new construction,” says Peter Chinloy, a real estate professor at American University's Kogod School of Business. “As rents keep rising, there is more demand, although it also means it's harder to find rental units.” (4/21/08)

A Possible Frontrunner?
Though Sen. Hillary Clinton defeated Sen. Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary by 10 percent, she would have needed a bigger victory in order to officially take the popular vote lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bloomberg News reports. Sen. Clinton is fighting for the inclusion of votes in the Michigan and Florida primaries to boost her campaign. However, according to Allan Lichtman, a professor of political history at American University, the votes will not help the results. “No one is going to buy the argument that you have to count Michigan and Florida,'' he said. “Those were not contested primaries.'' (4/21/08)

Anyone But a Third Party Candidate
An extended primary race, extensive media coverage and Sen. Barack Obama’s message of hope have invigorated young voters. But as the Associated Press reports, the youth vote isn’t necessarily going strictly to Obama, but it is clearly not going to a third party candidate. Ross Colebrook, an American University junior from Nampa, Idaho, supports Obama, but says he would vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton, if she becomes the Democratic nominee, rather than vote for a third party candidate. Michael Imbrenda, a 20-year-old AU student from Philadelphia, said he flirted with the idea of voting for a third-party candidate. "If they don't have the momentum, even if you give them the ideological vote, it's not enough in the winner-take-all Electoral College system," Imbrenda said. This article appeared in more than 70 news outlets. (4/19/08)

Bush Administration against Carter trip
Although the government stated it did not attempt to dissuade former President Jimmy Carter from talking with the Palestinian group Hamas, the Bush administration disapproved of his recent visit due to political concerns with the state of U.S.-Middle East relations, reports the Boston Globe. However, Robert A. Pastor, professor of international relations at American University who helped organize Carter’s trip, said the administration’s only concern was for security in Gaza, stating that meetings with David Welch, assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, was about security concerns rather than political. “When I said we would probably go anyway, he told us not to meet just with Hamas but with other Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere,” Pastor said. (4/23/08)

Anger Management?
“Temper can sometimes be a political instrument,” James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, told the Washington Post in reference to John McCain’s temperament. “There are sometimes calculated displays of temper, which is what Lyndon Johnson used to persuade people,” he said. “But sometimes somebody's temperament can get in the way of aides telling him the truth, which happened [during the Vietnam War] with LBJ. His temper scared some [aides] away, which was not good for anyone. That's always part of the risk with a strong temper . . . and so it's always relevant.” (4/20/08)

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