News

News

AU artists celebrate at AmLit party

By Blair Payne | December 6

A standing room-only crowd gathered to hear American Literary contributors read their work from the student magazine's fall edition at a 1970s porn-themed party Sunday night. American Literary features photography, artwork, poetry and prose from AU students and faculty.

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Santa gets professor an award

By April Seipp | December 6

AU journalism professor W. Joseph Campbell recently won the American Journalism Historian Association's top faculty research award for his work on the editorial "Is There a Santa Claus?" He presented his 20-page paper on Oct. 23 in Cleveland at the organization's annual conference. His work is part of a larger project that he hopes to turn into a book on the importance of the year 1897, which he describes as "a pivotal time in news media, especially print media."

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Campus calendar

By Kate Oczypok | December 6

Events to attend around campus until Sunday, December 12.

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News

AU study abroad ranks 12th for undergrad participation

By Stokely Baksh | December 6

AU ranked 12th out of the top 20 U.S. doctoral/research institutions for estimated undergraduate participation in study-abroad programs, according to a study from the Institute of International Education. This is the first time AU has achieved a ranking in this particular report. The total number of AU students going abroad has increased by 65 percent in the last three years to 887 students this year, according to AU Abroad.

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More U.S. undergrads go abroad, fewer foreign students study in U.S.

By Stokely Baksh | December 6

While the number of U.S. students studying abroad has increased since 9/11, the number of international students studying in the United States has significantly decreased due to factors that include difficulties in obtaining student visas and perceptions of American distrust of foreigners, according to a study released by the Institute of International Education. The number of international students studying in the United States decreased to a level unmatched since the 1970s, according to the 2004 Open Doors Report, which was released last month and funded by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

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Bills inhibit file sharing

By Kelly Kerr | December 6

While two bills working their way into federal law do not specifically address the common practice of illegal sharing of music and movie files, they represent a greater effort to crack down on widespread illegal use of today's technology. One bill, the Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement Act, known as CREATE, currently awaits President George W. Bush's signature.

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GW student efforts to join Board of Trustees thwarted

By Valerie Smith | December 6

In mid-November, two high-ranking officials at George Washington University rejected student efforts to put a student on the Board of Trustees. University President Stephen Trachtenberg and Board of Trustees Chairman Charles Manatt said they did not support a Student Assembly resolution in favor of adding a permanent student member to the Board of Trustees, The Hatchet, George Washington's student newspaper reported. AU's Board of Trustees adheres to a similar policy. The Board is one of the highest decision-making organizations at GW and most other colleges, including AU.

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AU celebrates Lee Hamilton's service

By Stokely Baksh | December 6

AU's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies presented former congressman Lee Hamilton with the Distinguished Public Service Award at the center's 25th anniversary celebration Nov. 16. Hamilton is the president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and also commits time to the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and the School of Public Affairs. He has lectured on campus and received an honorary degree from AU last spring.

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Campus briefs: Students protest Victoria's Secret; AIDS film screening postponed

December 6

Two campus briefs from the News desk: the Pandemic on Aids viewing has been moved, and a student protest of a Victoria's Secret catalog.

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Police Blotter

By Kate Oczypok | December 6

Safety and security events from around campus since Dec. 1.

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New Google engine helps academics

By Kelly Moynihan | December 6

Google released a new search engine called Google Scholar Nov. 18 to help academic researchers find reliable information online. Google is targeting this tool at scientists and academic researchers who wish to access scholarly journals, books, peer-reviewed papers and abstracts. It is still unknown how much information the service will make available.

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New professor evaluations aim at clarity, accuracy

By Mary Specht | December 6

Students in nearly 100 classes this semester will fill out an experimental version of the Student Evaluation of Teaching along with the current version in an effort to develop an evaluation that is more clear and accurate, according to an independent committee of professors charged with investigating the system.

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Memorial to be held for student

December 2

AU junior James K. (Kyle) Parker, 21, died in his sleep on Nov. 18, friends say. Parker, a psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, was found unconscious in his apartment and transferred to a medical examiner before he died. He died of unknown causes, according to University Chaplain Joe Eldridge.

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Chemicals tested at AU in WWI may cause disease

By April Seipp | December 2

Spring Valley residents are questioning the link between the chronic diseases they have and the chemical weapons that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tested and buried at AU during and after World War I, the local newspaper The Northwest Current reported last week. Military objects were discovered in Spring Valley, a 66-acre area in Northwest D.C. that includes AU land, in 1993, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Arsenic was discovered at AU's main campus in 2001 after student athletes who played on the intramural fields noticed that blisters appeared on their bodies when it rained, The Eagle previously reported. The Army Corps had tested chemical agents and munitions at AU during the World War I era.

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AU senior's screenplay wins a visit to L.A., 'The West Wing'

By Debbie Kang | December 2

Vsevolod Horodyskyj, a senior at AU, met the cast of "The West Wing" in Los Angeles in November after winning the Fourth Annual D.C. Screenwriting Competition in September. In three days, Horodyskyj met Martin Sheen and worked as a background actor in three "The West Wing" episodes, one which aired last night, called "A Change is Going to Come," and two that will air by February.

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Campus Briefs: Comedians take on Mideast, Robbery at Park Bethesda

December 2

Campus briefs from this week: comedians' take on the conflict in the Middle East, and an apartment robbery in Park Bethesda.

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Former AU President dies

By Kate Oczypok | December 2

Joseph John Sisco, president of American University from 1976 to 1980, died at the age of 85 of complications from diabetes on Nov. 23 at his home in Chevy Chase. Sisco became university president because he wanted to acknowledge all that education had done for him after coming from an impoverished background, The Washington Post reported.

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