AU in the News

Showcasing AU programs, professors, students and alumni in the news
Week of September 20 - 26

The financial crisis continues to be the news topic of the day. Below are a few examples of how AU's faculty and students engaged in the national conversation on this topic.

Is a financial bailout necessary?
Students from American University’s Kogod School of Business appeared in a WUSA-TV segment about the federal government’s plan to help in the Wall Street situation. They agreed that the government has no choice but to step in, saying that the financial institutions are necessary for survival. (9/22/08)
Buffett knows best
Gerald Martin, a finance professor at American University in Washington, was quoted in a Bloomberg News story about billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s $5 billion purchase of stock in Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., which suffered a 40 percent drop in market value last year. ``When the price gets right, you have to get in,'' he said. ``The pendulum may finally have swung too far the other way.'' (9/24/08)
Turning the tables
Robert Losey, professor of real estate and finance at American University, was quoted in a Star-Ledger of New Jersey story about investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group becoming bank holding companies to avoid further losses in the midst of the Wall Street financial crisis. “You are now dealing with an institution that has FDIC backing,” he said. “It should stabilize them and make investors less concerned about runs on the bank. It also puts more risks on the FDIC.”
Financial plan crash and burn?
Stephen Kroll, a professor at American University's School of International Service, was quoted in a Washington Post story about the skepticism surrounding the federal government’s hasty bailout plan for large investment banks. “All of a sudden, things are happening lickety-split, resulting in an enormous concentration of executive power the likes of which no one has seen in the financial area before,” he said. (9/23/08)

In non-financial news, below are this week's stories that featured AU faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Firms compete for top number-crunchers
Susan Marcum, director of the master’s in accounting program at American University’s Kogod School of Business, was quoted in a Washington Business Journal story about the stiff competition a CPA shortage has caused among accounting firms. “Students call me and say, ‘Professor Marcum, I have a problem. I got three competing offers,’” she said. “There is extreme competition for the top students.” (9/19/08)

Discovering Omaha
Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Kaldhun Chair of Islamic Studies in AU’s School of International Service, was subject of an Omaha World-Herald feature about his “Journey Into America,” and his team’s discoveries about Muslims in the Omaha area. The World-Herald editorial page also wrote a piece about Ahmed’s journey and its effort to build stronger ties between America and the Muslim World. (9/24/08)

War, politics and art
The Washington Times featured three new exhibits currently showing at the Katzen Arts Center at American University, “Disparates,” “Sandow Birk: The Depravities of War,” and “Close Encounters: Facing the Future. “Economic meltdown has become the key issue of the presidential election campaign, “ said reporter Deborah Dietsch, “but several provocative artworks at the American University Museum make a persuasive case for refocusing attention on the Iraq war.” (9/21/0808)

Access insurance
James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, was quoted in an Associated Press story about donations from mortgage finance lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sent to lobbyist and Sen. John McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis. “The payments are for 'access insurance' with the Republican Party and with someone very close to McCain," he said, adding that the money was instructive with regard to Sen. John McCain. (9/25/08)

Getting started young
Alison Prevost, project manager for SPA’s Center for Democracy and Election Management, and Cyndee Pelt, an SPA alum, were featured in a Gannett News Service story and video on efforts by CDEM and others to recruit younger poll workers in this election. “It’s one of the best ways to see how our elections really go on,” Prevost said to a potential poll worker. “We need young people.”

Eras of immigration
Alan Kraut, a professor of history at American University, was quoted in a USA Today story about the expansion of the Ellis Island Museum and its plans to focus on other areas of immigration. “It's very important that we tell in the fullest way possible the story of the peopling of America, and that's much larger than the Ellis Island experience," he said. "We're talking about slaves who were part of a forced migration, Mexicans who were literally engulfed by the United States; the earliest arrivals, of course, Native Americans. … Then in the later period, especially since 1945, we're looking at waves of Southeast Asians (and) Latinos." (9/24/08)

Nuclear pressure on United States
Peter Beck, a specialist in Korean affairs and a professor at American University, was quoted in a Reuters story about North Korea’s threat to restore its nuclear plant in order to have a bargaining chip with the Bush administration. "I would be surprised if they are pushing for a full-on breakdown and crisis," he said. "At this point, I think it is just an attention-grabbing move to make North Korea a higher priority in Washington." (9/25/08)

The single life
Nancy Polikoff, a professor of law at American University's Washington College of Law, was quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle story about the many Americans choosing to remain single rather than entering into marriage. “There's a very heavy focus on marriage as a public-policy matter,” she said. “You have it in the Bush administration's policies that spend three-quarters of a billion dollars to promote marriage, and a really widespread campaign to convince the country that the decline of lifelong heterosexual marriage is responsible for all our social problems.” (9/21/08)

The influence of the youth vote
Curtis Gans, a professor at American University, was interviewed for a Voice of America television segment about the importance of the youth vote in this year’s election and the importance of the Internet in attracting young voters. (9/24)

American University professors Dotty Lynch and Nick Clooney were also in Voice of America news segments. Lynch spoke about how issues shape a voter’s decision, and Clooney discussed his journalism career, teaching at American University, and his humanitarian work in Darfur. (9/22-9/23)

CampAignU continues...
This week, in light of the Wall Street Crisis, professor Leonard Steinhorn's presidential election class, Inside the War Room and the News Room, discussed the economic platforms of presidential candidates Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.. Steinhorn’s class is Webcast live on WTTG-TV's Web site, myfoxdc.com. every Thursday from 9:55 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Online viewers can join in the discussion through the Web cast chat. Each Web cast will be previewed through interviews with Steinhorn and students during the 7 to 8 a.m. hour of the Fox 5 Morning News.

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