Plus, Meet the New WGSS Director, Alumni Coast Guard Leaders and More
Plus, Meet the New WGSS Director, Alumni Coast Guard Leaders and More
Columbian College

August 2021

Michael King teaching students
A generous bequest from beloved Chemistry Professor Emeritus Michael King and his wife, Linda, will fund chemistry’s first endowed professorship and support GW Hillel. 
Zeita Merchant in Coast Guard Uniform
As Coast Guard officers, alumni like Zeita Merchant, MPA ’10, are trailblazers, lifesavers and among the nation’s leading military minds. Merchant is the third African American woman to attain the rank of captain in Coast Guard history.
GW Politics Poll Logo
Democrats have more faith in state and local elections than Republicans do, according to the interdisciplinary GW Politics Poll. New data shows Republican confidence is lowest in states that President Biden won. 
Hands of graduates holding diplomas
Led on the academic side by TSPPPA’s Stephanie Cellini, the new PEER Project unites university economists and academics with attorneys to promote equity and accountability in higher education. 
Ashwini Tambe
As the new director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, Ashwini Tambe focuses her scholarship across borders, disciplines and lives.
Teacher and students
A new study led by Political Science’s Adam Dean found school districts in Iowa were more likely to adopt COVID-19 mask mandates if they had a strong teachers’ union, emphasizing the influence of educators on pandemic safety.
Students in a classroom
From deciphering troves of big data to exploring the complexities of the human brain, new Columbian College undergraduate degrees seek to prepare students for in-demand expertise in burgeoning professions. 
Dr. Kai Shu
Kai Shu, a new research fellow with the CCAS Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics, studies the scientific underpinnings of disinformation while developing a computational framework to detect it online. 

Noteworthy

Bill Adams (Public Policy and Public Administration) completed his goal to travel to every country in the world. He detailed his journey on his blog.
Yuta Watanabe, BA ’18, (Japanese Language and Literature) competed on the Japanese national basketball team in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
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