L SGraduate Liberal Studiesat GeorgetownVolume 6 Number 2 August 2008

In This Issue —

l Interim Leadership

l Commencement 2008

l DLS Welcomes 17 Candidates

l Ralph Nurnberger: Will There Be Arab-Israeli Peace in 2008?

2

Notes from Anthony Tambasco, Ph.D.

Education very often means simply seeing things again for the first time. Liberal Studies educa-tion may fit that description eminently. While it certainly includes learning new things and new fields, it also focuses intently on critical study and appreciation of what we may often simply take for granted about human nature, the rhythms of life, social relationships, and the beauty of nature. It centers more on the “whither and why” than the “what and how,” hence its values orientation. While it may advance career goals, it is not career training, but concern more about why one would have a career at all. And it seeks answers to these questions through the interplay of disciplines.

I am grateful for the confidence placed in me to become Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Liberal Studies and welcome the opportunity to serve the program. The first focus will be on continuity

of a very strong program with national reputation, focusing on education as described above. Assistant Dean Anne Ridder has done a marvelous job as Acting Director over the past year, passing on what has always been a very smooth and efficient administration. As we look forward to the coming academic year, I trust in the support of a competent and dedicated faculty, as well as a quite diverse and talented body of students, and I feel keenly the obligation to serve them well.

High on my agenda for this coming year will be three special projects. One is the refinement of the D.L.S. program. We have made an extraordinary start in the recruiting of our first four classes, but we now have a large program, and must evaluate what we have learned during this growth. I will be working closely with Prof. Terrence Reynolds, who for this coming year is serving as Interim Director of Doctoral Studies, to see if/what changes may be necessary in the program design and in strategies for efficient administration.

A second extensive project will be finishing preparations for the external review of our Liberal Studies graduate programs, when a Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools committee visits as part of the Georgetown reaccreditation process. The attendant self-study that accompanies this process will help us build on our strengths and improve where we can. This project will also be occasion to gather many of us in Liberal Studies together for reflection and evaluation.

My third priority, naturally, will be preparing the way for a permanent Associate Dean. I will be chairing the search committee. Before it convenes I will be working with Prof. Francis Ambrosio and the Core Faculty to carefully define the position, to look at the rest of the administrative structures in relation to the position, and then to work also with an outside search firm that will help us actively recruit candidates that fit our Liberal Studies ethos and expectations.

I mentioned at the beginning that education is often seeing things again for the first time. Maybe that is the case for education administration! I have been in Liberal Studies for twenty-five years, and now you see me in a new way. We’ll be evaluating Liberal Studies to see how we may keep the same fine programs, but in fresh and exciting ways. I am enthusiastic about the coming year and am looking forward to the challenges—and your support.

Anthony J. TambascoInterim Associate Dean of Graduate Liberal Studies

3

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

This promises to be a year of both transition and continuity for the D.L.S. program. Dr. Anthony Tambasco, my colleague in the Theology Department, has agreed to serve as the Interim Director of the Liberal Studies Program, and I have agreed to serve as the Interim Director of Doctoral Studies for the D.L.S., while Anne Ridder will continue as Assistant Dean and Associate Director of Graduate Liberal Studies. In my new role, I’ll be advising D.L.S. students with course and scheduling concerns, working with Anne to arrange Comprehensive Examinations for those who have reached that juncture in the program, and meeting regularly with Tony and Anne to address any academic issues that may arise. In addition, I’ll continue to serve as Chair of the Core Faculty for the Liberal Studies program and Chair of the Executive Committee for the D.L.S., again overseeing the admissions process

for this year’s applicants. While the year will involve a transition toward more permanent leadership in the Liberal Studies graduate programming, we have a reliable leadership team in place to assure program continuity and to move ahead as well with various program initiatives.

Dr. Tambasco has taught in the Liberal Studies program for some twenty-five years, and Anne Ridder has served as Assistant Dean to the program since 1989. For those less well acquainted with me, I’ve taught in the program since coming to Georgetown from Brown University in 1992, and have chaired the Core Faculty for approximately eight years. For the past three years, I’ve also taught “The Rise of the Modern Spirit,” the third course in the D.L.S. core requirements. Before that, Dr. O’Callaghan and I co-wrote the D.L.S. proposal and spent three years moving it forward toward its approval by the Graduate School Executive Committee in the winter of 2005. I have devoted a significant amount of time to the D.L.S. because I believe deeply in the concept of the non-traditional doctorate as well as in the students we’ve enrolled in the program. I’m also currently serving as the Chair of Georgetown’s Theology Department.

The D.L.S. program has some fifty-three students enrolled and, by all measures, has been a very suc-cessful venture. Our students bring with them a rich variety of academic, international, and work experi-ences, and I continue to be impressed with the depth and quality of the applicant pool. My intention for the coming year is that the students currently in the D.L.S. program will continue to receive a superb education as they move through their course work, their comprehensive examinations, and, finally, their doctoral theses. With the leadership team we now have in place, I am confident that the D.L.S. program will have an excellent year.

Terrence ReynoldsInterim Director of Doctoral Studies, D.L.S. Program

Notes from Terrence Reynolds, Ph.D.

4

Congratulations on your com-mencement. As you no doubt know, commencement is an odd word, mean-ing both an ending and a beginning. You are ending your lives as students in the Liberal Studies Program and beginning new lives, new lives that we hope have been renewed as a result of your work here with us. As you leave us, I hope you can take a minute to think about what the program has given you and what you have given the program.

I was, frankly, very surprised to have been awarded The Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award. I don’t think of myself as an “excellent” teacher, but rather as one who is always struggling to do better, to plan more carefully, to lis-ten more, and to be, as they say, “more dynamic” in the classroom. If I had to fill out a teaching evaluation on myself, I might not be particularly kind. So when I was asked to give this commencement address, I began to think about who

really qualified for the award. Which of my teachers had the qualities of “excel-lence” that the award rewards? Which of them are or were “gifted” teachers?

The expression “gifted teacher” made me think about the relation-ship between teachers, students, and gifts. You so often hear the expression “a gifted teacher,” especially here at Georgetown where they seem to litter the halls. But are the gifts the teacher might possess the important ones? What happens if we shift this expression around a little and ask not what gifts the great teacher might have but what gifts he or she might give to students.

And, as we think about that, let’s think in turn about how we can reimag-ine ourselves in the role of “teacher” as we leave Georgetown and go back out into the world. What kind of teachers do we want to be? What gifts do we want to give others? Now Liberal Stud-ies is not a teaching college and you did

not come here to get a degree in edu-cation. Why do you need to know how to teach? Well, in some ways, we are all always teaching and learning (that’s why I think the expression “life-long learner” is a bit misleading: we are all life-long learners, are we not?) But as graduates of Georgetown, you will go out into the world as role models of sorts. People who work for you and people who you work for will learn from you; your kids will learn from you; your colleagues, friends, and maybe even that guy at the gym who never says a word will learn from you. Whether you try or not, want to or not, you have all cemented your roles as teachers by completing this de-gree program. The only question is: will you be both conscious of and consci-entious about your teaching? Will you recognize the teachable moments and make good use of them? What gifts will you pass on to those who perhaps unwittingly become your students?

Commencement 2008 The Georgetown School of Continuing Studies conferred 80 degrees upon the undergraduate and graduate students of the

Liberal Studies program at its 33rd commencement ceremony on Saturday, May, 17th , 2008 . At the ceremony, Dean Robert Manuel inaugurated the School of Continuing Studies Service Award. Recognized by Dean Manuel for their service to the School of Continuing Studies were Liberal Studies professors: Elizabeth Duke, Ph.D., Eric Denker Ph.D., James Hershman, Ph.D., and Percy North, Ph.D. Recipient of “The Liberal Studies Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award,” Kathryn Temple, J.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and Director of the Liberal Studies Writing Program, delivered the commencement address which is reprinted in edited form below.

5

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

As a teacher of writing the ques-tion of genre is never far from my mind, so when agreed to speak to you today, I immediately went to the Web to look for sample commencement addresses. One thing I discovered is that they always, always contain a number of moving quotations from great speak-ers. No problem! Those quotations are also available on the Web. So I’m going to borrow from those shamelessly. (You wouldn’t believe a writing teacher would do something like that, would you?)

What’s surprising about these quotations to me is that almost none of them focus on what has become one of the primary ways of evaluating teaching today: none of them discuss a teacher as “dynamic” or “entertaining” or “not dry” or “kept my attention” or indeed use most of the other phrases that George-town professors encounter in their student evaluations every semester.

Instead, the many lists of com-ments about teaching seem to value steady effort, a focus on the student and his or her needs, on LEARNING, really, rather than on teaching.

To see this idea in action, I’d like to talk about what some of the “gifted” teachers I’ve known have been able to give their students. Here’s my short list, the gifted and the gifts:

To my mind a gifted teacher knows when to leave you alone. In the ninth grade, I had a crusty and unap-proachable, older male teacher. It was a tough school and most of the kids came from families who worked in the local factory. Many of them needed reme-dial work. This teacher surprised us: he chose four or five of us for a “special project.” In short, he sent us off to the library to become “experts” (his word: for whoever heard of a teacher who thought a ninth-grade girl could be-come an expert in anything?), experts

You are ending your lives as students

in the Liberal Studies Program and

beginning new lives, new lives that we hope

have been renewed as a result of your

work here with us. As you leave us, I hope

you can take a minute to think about what

the program has given you and what you

have given the program.

6

in what were then the six American Nobel Prize winning authors: Sinclair Lewis, Pearl Buck, William Faulkner, Eugene O’Neill, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck. We weren’t to come back for months and, indeed, I hardly ever saw him again for the rest of the school year. Instead, I learned to love walking through the library door, hanging out in that quiet sanctuary, learned to love researching the authors he had listed, learned to love delving into one au-thor’s works for as long as a month be-fore heading off to encounter another, and very different, author. I learned how to read a great many novels and even some plays, how to read biography and how to think about the writing life, also a great deal about 20th-century history and culture. The internet quotation I’d most like to put on a Hallmark card and send to this teacher is: “You have been an opener of doors for such as come after thee.” He opened the door of the classroom and let me walk out of it; he opened the library to me; he opened up a world of serious reading and thinking, a world I would not have encountered in a classroom dominated by textbooks and grammatical exercises. Thank you.

The gifted teacher does rather than talks. She sets students at tasks

that lead them towards the knowledge they need. She sets up what educators call “a positive learning environment.” Here I want to use an example from my early graduate career when I had a very quiet, un-inspiring teacher, most definitely NOT dynamic, and yet she taught me the one thing I needed to know to become a proficient writer and the one thing that I would choose to take away with me from all of my college experience if I could only take one thing. What she did was very simple: she had us write weekly, gave us a grade (rather low grades, at least in the beginning, in my case) and then allowed us to re-write as many times as we wanted so that we could work up to a higher grade. Well, I rewrote each paper five to ten times and she read every one. The results were a total surprise to me: what I learned was that I could use writing to create meaning, that each rewrite would show me new knowledge, a new understanding, that there was something in me unknown until I got it down on paper. I wish I had those drafts and revisions today: I’m convinced the final products had very little in common with their origins. What she taught us was that revision means RE-VISION, a re-seeing or even a neo-seeing, seeing something anew.

. . .as graduates of

Georgetown you will

go out into the world

as role models of sorts.

People who work for

you and people who

you work for will learn

from you; your kids will

learn from you; your

colleagues, friends, and

maybe even that guy at

the gym who never says

a word will learn from

you. Whether you try

or not, want to or not,

you have all cemented

your roles as teachers by

completing this degree

program.

7

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

What she modeled was a tireless effort to get it right. Her internet quotation: “Teachers teach more by what they are than by what they say.” Dr. Malinda Snow, thank you. You showed me my own potential as a writer, gave me the tools to write numerous articles and one and half books (working on that second half at this point), and through your quiet and yet unremitting efforts showed me that not every teacher has to be a star. Some of the most effective are effective simply because they are who they are.

Finally, the gifted teacher knows how to create chaos. And when and how to reestablish order– here I want to talk about my husband for a minute, Jim Slevin, a professor here at Georgetown who taught until a few weeks before he died of cancer at age 60 in 2006. His teaching was truly extraordinary, dy-namic, rigorous, exciting. But his greatest gift was one of mystification. Far be it for him to make it easy for students. He’d always start by assigning readings that even the best students could make little sense of. Then he’d come to class with long pages of not answers, but ques-tions which students were expected to work out in small groups.

After a few weeks of this, the class would become frustrated…What

were they to make of this strange, new material? Why were they doing so much work on their own? Wasn’t this guy going to do anything at all? Were they to do all the work? And just at that moment, at the moment when it felt that things were about to blow, he would step in and untangle it all. The sense of relief this brought his classes was pal-pable. It was as if the whole class could breathe again. And yet, what the stu-dents found when they listened to his explanations was that they had almost gotten there themselves. He confirmed what they had already learned but couldn’t quite yet articulate. What did this accomplish? It provided a frame for learning that was exciting, difficult, but ultimately doable. His internet quota-tion: Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand. Jim, thank you for showing me how to get students involved, even if it means making them angry with me for a while.

What is the one thing these three teachers have in common? Not that they were great speakers or “dynamic,” although some of them were. None of them lectured much (although as late as the late 1990s almost 80 percent of all teachers said that the lecture was their primary mode of instruction). Instead,

8

they created situations that encouraged students to learn on their own. They did not abandon their students, but they forced them to take action, to engage with the tasks, to, in some ways, become independent learners.

On thinking about the teach-ers who gave me these gifts, I realized something about my own teaching. Like these teachers, I don’t lecture much. I don’t consider myself the only expert in the room. I don’t try to rescue students (at least not right away) from the chaos of information and ideas that we ask them to make sense of. I do try to give them a protected space in which to do the work we ask them to do. It’s no surprise then, that I think my best “gift” to the Liberal Studies Program has been not my lec-tures or my classroom teaching, but the creation of a stronger writing program, one that offers students the tools and resources to do their best work.

In turn, Liberal Studies has pro-vided me with many teachers, almost all of them officially “students,” in one sense or another. The one I want to end with today is a student I had in my fall “Enlightenment” course, Susan Buckingham. Susan was an ideal stu-dent, smart, hard-working, professional. Never late for class, never behind in the reading, always a classroom leader, she made good use of the opportuni-ties the Liberal Studies Program offered

her. But sometime around October, Susan began to struggle: she came to my office to tell me how hard she was working and yet how difficult she found the material; she fell asleep in class despite her best efforts; she didn’t seem able to keep up. As most of you know, Susan was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumor, and she died about a year after completing that class with me. But during the last year of her life, Susan taught me what a true commitment to life-long learning might mean. She never stopped sending me emails ask-ing for reading suggestions, she never stopped reading and learning. Only a few weeks before she died she even asked me if she could come to one of my Writing Boot Camps. She wanted to be prepared when she came back to the program. For Susan, I don’t have any snappy or wise internet quotation. She gave me a gift though, the gift she shared with me about the meaning of learning and about how learning and teaching can sustain us even during the worst of times. So I want to end by thanking Susan Buckingham. Thank you, Susan, and thank you to all my Liberal Studies students for never giving up in the effort to teach me something. I ap-preciate your efforts, I appreciate what you have made of yourselves. Please, go out into the world and share it with others. LS

9

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

Susan F. Bryant, LTC, was com-missioned in the United States Army after graduating from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1989. Her assignments include two tours on the Korean peninsula and one tour at the Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin California. She received a Masters’ Degree in International Rela-tions from Yale University in 1998 and went on to teach International Relations at the United States Military Academy, West Point. After completing her teach-ing assignment, Susan won a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, which she served working as a special assistant and speechwriter for the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Upon completion of this assign-ment, she was selected as a strategic fellow to General Casey on the Joint Staff. Lieutenant Colonel Bryant also served a tour as a Strategic Planner on the Army Staff and completed an operational deployment in Afghanistan at the NATO Headquarters in Kabul. She currently works as an Assistant Professor of Military Strategy at National Defense University. She also has a Masters’ Degree from Marine Corps University’s School of Advanced Warfighting.

John Buschman is Associate Univer-sity Librarian for Scholarly Collections and Services at Georgetown University Library and a resident of DC. A native

of Indiana, he was Department Chair and Head of Collection Development at the faculty rank of Professor-Librarian at Rider University Library in Lawrenceville, New Jersey for 19 years, joining George-town in 2007. He holds a B.S. in history and sociology and a master’s degree in library science, both from Ball State University, and an M.A. in American Studies from St. Joseph’s University. He has published four books, and his Dismantling the Public Sphere: Situating and Sustaining Libraries in the Age of the New Public Philosophy (2003) was the recipient of the American Library Association’s Futas Award and the New Jersey Library Association’s Research Award – both in 2004. Buschman is a co-editor of the journal Progressive Librar-ian, is on the Progressive Librarian’s Guild Coordinating Committee, and served for three years on the National Council of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). His doctoral work will focus on a theoretical and critical review of the movement of the concept of a citi-zen in a democracy to that of citizen-as-consumer, tracing it through an analysis of his field in the form of a set of institu-tional responses, research, or policies.

Joy Chambers has her own law firm in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, specializing in wills, trusts and problems of aging. Her interesting in aging led to medical school training in psychiatry,

teaching psychiatry to law students and law to psychiatry students, produc-ing and hosting Maturity, a 30-minute monthly cable television program, and writing a best seller on wills. 9/11 led to studying Islamic law and teaching American family law at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in Delhi. She continues to lecture Islamic law students at South and Central Asian law schools. She writes about and photographs in-ternational jazz festivals and is curating a jazz photography show in Istanbul during its fall jazz festival. Her doctoral research will compare Islamic and western chari-table trusts.

George Dwyer is a television reporter and producer with Voice of America’s Afghanistan Service. Earlier he served in the same capacity with the United States Information Agency’s WORLDNET Television. Before joining USIA in 1992, Mr. Dwyer spent 14 years as a staff TV Producer with ABC News in New York and Washington. He also served briefly as Director of Broadcast Services for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a national animal welfare organization based in New York. Over the course of his career Mr. Dwyer has covered politics, the environment, art, education, business, and publishing. Between 1983 and 1986 Mr. Dwyer was employed as a contract employee by film Director Stan-

DLS Welcomes 17 Candidates Upon their acceptance in the spring of 2008, 17 new students entered the Doctoral of Liberal Studies (D.L.S.) Program. They

join the program’s 36 current students. The diversity of their personal backgrounds and proposed research demonstrates the broad ap-peal of the Liberal Studies program and current-day relevance of a values-based education. Biographical sketches of the new candidates, arranged alphabetically, follow.

10

ley Kubrick, providing film research and acquisition services for the film “Full Metal Jacket” (1987). Mr. Dwyer has a B.A. in Sociology from Niagara University (1979) and a Masters Degree in Irish Studies from the Catholic University of America (1997). In the course of those studies he served an internship with Irish Prime Minister Ber-tie Ahern in Dublin. In December 2005 he earned an Executive Masters Degree in Leadership from Georgetown Univer-sity’s McDonough School of Business. His doctoral work will focus on the concept of “Mutuality” in Public Diplomacy, with particular emphasis on organizational behavior and listening systems.

Martin Ferrell currently teaches History at the Madeira School, an all-girls’ boarding and day high school in McLean, Virginia. He has taught in a variety of public and private high schools since 1996, when he began his teaching career in Charlottesville, Virginia. Martin received his B.A. in History and Russian Studies from Bowdoin College in 1992. He holds a Masters in Teaching (‘96) from the University of Virginia and a Masters in Liberal Arts (‘04) from St. John’s College in Annapolis. His focus of study at George-town will be an examination of competing philosophies of education and knowledge and the way in which an understanding of these might be useful in fashioning responsible public education policy.

Daphne Palmer Geanacop-oulos is a journalist and freelance writer. She received a B.A. degree in English from Virginia Tech (1979), a Masters De-gree in Business Administration from The George Washington University (1985), and a M.A.L.S. from Georgetown (2007) with a concentration in the Humanities. She writes on a variety of topics from parenting to pirates: fitness to philan-thropy. Her work has been published in magazines and newspapers including The New York Times and The Washing-ton Post. As a regular contributor to the New York Times Syndicate “Lifestyles” column her articles ran in national and international publications. While pursing an M.B.A., Ms. Geanacopoulos served on the staff of the US House of Representa-tives (Congressman Edward P. Boland, D-MA). Prior to entering the field of writing she pursued a career in manage-ment consulting. Her doctoral thesis is expected to explore various aspects of maritime history especially the unexam-ined lives of participants in seventeenth and eighteenth-century New England maritime history.

Mary Jo Gresens has enjoyed a career of over thirty years in the automo-tive and manufacturing industry as an engineer and business and financial man-ager at leading companies such as Ford, Volkswagen, A.O. Smith Corporation, Lear Corporation, and ITT Industries as

well as consulting with Arthur D. Little. The majority of her time was served abroad. In 1999, Mary Jo was named President of the Automotive Division and shortly thereafter assumed the position of Chief Financial Officer for the Schaeffler Group based in Herzogenaurach, Germany. She is a senior member of the Society of Auto-motive Engineers and has been elected Automotive News Woman of the Year and Financial Times 1 of 25 Female European Leaders. After seven years with the Schaef-fler Group, Mary Jo retired in 2006 and returned to the US where she completed a Masters Degree in International Policy with a focus on Environmental Policy and Ethics at The George Washington Univer-sity. She is continuing her pursuit of the topic in the DLS program at Georgetown.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Griffith spent the first 20 years of her career in executive positions at prominent nonprofit organi-zations, including National Public Radio, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and the Phillips Collection. Since 2005 she has been a partner at Tatum LLC, an executive services firm, serving in management and client-facing roles. Academically, Betsy’s primary interest is the place of Venice in medieval Europe. She has researched the Venetian Arsenal, the state shipbuilding factory, which used what we think of as “modern” assembly-line methods of pro-duction, employed thousands of workers with minimal labor incidents, and operated

11

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

continuously from 1104 through the end of the Venetian republic in 1797. She has presented academic papers on the Arsenal at the invitation of the European Business History Association (Barcelona 2004, Frankfurt 2005). She has taught business communications in the MBA program at the Darden School at the University of Virginia, where she earned her MBA in 1985, and leadership theory and practice at Trinity College, where she earned her undergraduate degree in 1978. This summer she taught “Venice: Prototype of the Knowledge Economy” in the Liberal Studies program, where she earned an MA in 1995. Betsy is interested in the pre-modern origins of modern business concepts and is also interested in learning more about these non-western trading circuits, how the Mediterranean economy interacted with them, and why they have been so largely excluded from the canon of business history.

Johanna Gross, a Philadelphia native, has lived in the Washington, D.C. area since attending undergradu-ate school at The George Washington University. She received an MS in Au-diology from Gallaudet University and works professionally as an audiologist at Fairfax County Public Schools, having previously worked as an audiologist at Georgetown University Medical Center for seven years. Johanna works primarily

with culturally and linguistically diverse children demonstrating developmental delays, autism or hearing loss. Return-ing to school after almost 30 years away from academia, Johanna graduated with an MA in Philosophy from George Mason University in May 2007, with a particular interest in political and ethical resistance to genocide. She volunteers for Amnesty International towards that end. Her doctoral research will focus on utilizing the ideas and theories of phi-losopher, Emmanuel Levinas, and political theorist, Hannah Arendt, for the pur-pose of broadening the ethical-political discourse required for individuals and nations to confront and resist genocide.

Mary A. Lentz is a former public school teacher and attorney who special-izes in public and private school law and child safety. Ms. Lentz received her M.A. degree from Georgetown University in African and Asian History and taught in Africa on a Jennings Master Teacher Award. She has served as legal counsel to the Ohio State Board/Department of Education, as an assistant county pros-ecutor in the criminal division and as a municipal police prosecutor. Ms. Lentz writes, teaches and provides training to public and private school administrators, teachers and law enforcement assigned to the school setting. She is the editor/author of Baldwin’s Ohio School Law and Lentz School Security, a manual for law

enforcement, school administrators and at-torneys. Both are published by Thomson-West legal publishers. Ms. Lentz has also authored numerous articles on criminal law, education law and child safety for profes-sional journals and also for the The Catholic World published by The Paulist Press. She is the author of a curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade twelve, as well as a Parent Guide in Spanish and English for the prevention of child abuse for children in pre-school through age seventeen. Her doctoral research will focus on the moral, ethical and constitutional rights of children to personal safety and bodily integrity.

Paul Linehan is a senior foreign affairs advisor at the Office of Secretary of Defense for Policy, focusing on internation-al defense and strategic technology policy for East Asia. For 16 years, he managed a range of East Asian intelligence issues and ultimately served as senior operations advi-sor to the director, Defense Intelligence Agency, and undersecretary of defense for intelligence. He spent 13 years working in Asia and Europe, in business, government, and as a U.S. Congressional Fellow to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Cabinet Intelligence Office, and the Diet. A graduate of Boston College, Mr. Linehan completed post-graduate stud-ies at Waseda University, Tokyo; holds a masters degree in international affairs and China studies from The Johns Hopkins Uni-versity School of Advanced International

12

Studies; and is enrolled in the national security studies program at the National War College. He will pursue his doctoral studies on human character factors of Asian foreign affairs practitioners who formulate national security strategy and foreign policy.

Chuck O’Connor is a senior partner in the Washington DC office of the international law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, and until stepping down in January 2008 was long-term chair of McKenna’s 30-lawyer Environ-mental Department. He graduated from Harvard College, cum laude, in English in 1964 and from Georgetown Law Center in 1967, then served 2½ years on active duty in Navy JAG, including a year in Vietnam. In 1970, Chuck entered private practice with the 15-lawyer Washington DC law firm of Sellers, Conner & Cuneo, now the 450-lawyer McKenna law firm, and began his career as an environmen-tal lawyer, focusing on chemical regula-tion. During the 1970s and 1980s he represented the chemical industry in most of the U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency’s major administrative proceedings on pesticides, and he is a principal author of the firm’s two leading treatises in the chemical regulatory field, the Pesticide Regulation Handbook and the TSCA Handbook. He received his M.A.L.S. degree from Georgetown in 1985. In the D.L.S. Program he would like

to study the impact of the First World War on Western Culture.

Sabine Palmreuther joined the Urban and Local Government Team at the World Bank Institute, World Bank, in April 2007. She has been working in areas of capacity development, using innovative learning approaches such as distance education via radio. She has also been involved in aspects of urban planning and management, provid-ing assistance in the formulation of a framework to strengthen capacities of the municipal planning offices in Guate-mala, including initial steps to develop a certification system for urban planners. Sabine worked in the capacity as Special Assistant to the Vice President from July 2004 until March 2007 where she provided leadership support to the Vice President and the Front Office, as well as operational support to the manage-ment team. Prior to joining the Bank, Sabine worked in the Program Finance department for the German Investment and Development Company (DEG) in Cologne, Germany. She was in charge of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) proj-ect portfolio for the Latin American and Caribbean Region, mainly Mexico. She was responsible for organizing a series of expert meetings pertaining to an IDB initiative on “Helping Small and Medium Enterprises Access Finance and Capital in Emerging Economies,” and working

on SME issues. Sabine holds a Master’s degree in business administration from Germany. Her doctoral research will focus on ethics and urbanization in developing countries.

Donald Pruefer, Jr. is originally from Port Washington, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wiscon-sin-Madison with a BA in Russian Language and Literature, and holds a Master’s Degree in Russian and East European Studies from Indiana University at Bloom-ington. He was a career active duty United States Army intelligence officer, serving at various locations in the states, South Korea, Germany, and Hawaii. He retired from the Army in 2003 and became the China Senior Analyst with the civil service for U.S. Pacific Command. In 2006, he accepted a position on the National Intel-ligence Council as a deputy-level assistant and northeast Asia specialist. His master’s thesis focused on Russia’s problems with decommissioning Cold War-era nuclear submarines. Among the reasons he ad-dressed this topic was the opportunity of engagement between Russia and NATO to protect the environment and share ex-pertise on common problems. His profes-sional travels have taken him to a variety of regions, including the southern Caucasus, former Soviet Union, Europe, and Asia. He is currently working for the Office of Director of National Intelligence on intelli-gence reform issues. In the D.L.S. program,

13

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

he plans study the history, religions, and culture of Russia to gain insights into how these factors bear on societal problems and solutions in the post-Soviet period.

Joe Schittone hails from Baton Rouge, LA, and now resides in Silver Spring, MD. He holds a BS in Zoology from Louisiana State University, an MA in Marine Affairs and Policy from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmo-spheric Science (a part of the University of Miami), as well as a JD from LSU. He is currently employed at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-tion (NOAA), National Ocean Service, in its Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, as a Tropical Marine Ecologist. Actually, Mr. Schittone has been employed twice by NOAA, once before and once after working a year’s stint (2001-2), for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) office in The Hague, The Nether-lands. During an earlier legal career, Joe was a partner in a law firm as a litigator in private civil cases, primarily involving personal injury matters, and also served a year as a judicial lawclerk in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. He intends to concentrate his doctoral research on factors that influ-ence states’ ratification and implementa-tion of various United Nations environ-mental conventions.

Louise Pisano Simone grew up outside of Philadelphia and has lived in Washington, D.C., since she graduated from Georgetown University in 1981. Her BSFS and MA in Latin American Studies, both from Georgetown, focused on the literature, history, and society of a variety of cultures around the world. In 2004 she earned her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Chil-dren and Young Adults. She has worked as a researcher at a law firm focused on women’s employment issues, as a human rights advocate with particular interest in Central America and the Southern Cone of Latin America, a fund raiser for a micro-credit organization, and a writing tutor. She has taught Latin American history, writing, and research in a vari-ety of Washington area independent schools, has led groups of high school students on community service trips in Central America, published articles on ancient Mexican cultures in magazines for children, and is currently the librarian at Sheridan School. Her academic program will focus on the intersection of literature and history in works for young people.

Michael R. Turner received a B.A. from Ohio Northern University, an MBA from the University of Dayton, and a Juris Doctorate from Case Western University School of Law. He practiced corporate and real estate law for 17

years. In 1993 he was elected mayor of the city of Dayton, Ohio where he served for two consecutive terms, while continu-ing to practice law. During his eight year tenure as mayor, he balanced the city’s budget and instituted significant improve-ments in police protection, historic pres-ervation, inner-city housing development, and the redevelopment of brownfields. As mayor he worked to establish exchange programs and sister-city agreements with Zagreb, Croatia and Sarajevo, Bosnia to as-sist in Balkan redevelopment in support of the Dayton Peace Accords. He is currently serving a third term in Congress repre-senting Ohio’s Third Congressional District. He is a member of the House Armed Ser-vices, Veterans’ Affairs, and the Oversight and Government Reform Committees. He has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East as part of his service on the Armed Services Committee. He is a strong advocate for urban revitalization and economic development as the chair of the House Policy Committee’s Urban Revitalization Taskforce and the vice-chair of the Congressional Urban Caucus. He also co-chairs the House Former Mayors Caucus, and the Historic Preservation Caucus. His D.L.S. research will focus on the successful adoption of federal policies to accommodate grassroots innovations and will include a review of the federal earmark process as a vehicle for encourag-ing local innovation. LS

14

Dr. Ralph Nurnberger spoke on March 5 in the ICC Auditorium on the topic “Will there be Arab-Israeli Peace in 2008?” The title of the talk was derived from pledges made by the Bush Admin-istration that they hoped for a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict before President George W. Bush leaves of-fice. President Bush made this prediction at a conference in Annapolis on Novem-ber 27, 2007, which was attended by representatives from over 40 nations, who had accepted the American invita-tion to support such peace efforts. He repeated this pledge during a visit to the Middle East in January, 2008, as well as at numerous other times during the past months.

The basis for these optimistic fore-casts was the fact that, for the first time, an Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and a Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, respected each other and were willing to work with each other on behalf of a peace agreement. Dr. Nurnberger was less optimistic. He said

that both Olmert and Abbas were weak politically within their respective commu-nities and that the United States was no longer perceived in the region as a domi-nant force. In addition, Dr. Nurnberger provided an overview of the difficulties that remained before agreements could be reached on such key issues as Jerusa-lem, the fate of Palestinian refugees, final borders, settlements and security. He also pointed out that even if Israel could reach an agreement with the PA, it was not clear that Hamas would accept any settlement.

In addition to the Israeli-Palestinian talks, Dr. Nurnberger also discussed four other ongoing sets of diplomatic activ-ity in the region. He focused on the talks between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which were taking place

Will there be Arab-Israeli Peace in 2008?

in Yemen; the talks between Hamas and Egypt that focused on reducing violence between Israel and Gaza; the Syrian-Israeli discussions which were taking place in Turkey; and diplomatic efforts to resolve problems in Lebanon which were being held in Qatar. Dr. Nurnberger mentioned that in previ-ous years the United States would have had a more prominent role. He also mentioned that in each of these disputes, Iran was the key supporter of “the other side,” namely Hamas in Gaza, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Thus, he concluded that he was concerned about the declining influence of the United States and the rising impact of Iran as two additional factors that made it increasingly unlikely that there would be Arab-Israeli peace in 2008. LS

15

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

On June 19th, the Graduate Liberal Studies Degree Program hosted a panel discussion moderated by Liberal Studies professor Kathryn Temple that examined the eternal questions, Why Write? Why Not! The panel featured three Liberal Studies alumni, Jan Gold-man, MALS ‘93, Ed.D., John McClena-hen, MALS ‘98, Anton Trinidad, MALS ‘04, M.D., and well-known attorney and bibliophile, Paul Ruxin, J.D. The discussion was far ranging in its breadth, as it went from the practical nature of how to get a book published, to the philosophical un-derpinnings of the writing process itself.

Prior to the start of the panel discussion Liberal Studies celebrated an-other publishing milestone, the release of its 4th vol. of Writing Across the Curricu-lum. Fourteen student authors and their professors who had recommended their papers for the book were recognized.

They are:William Barrett Professor Jim HershmanJoel Bergsman Professor William DouglasAlexandra Birnbaum Professor Joseph SmaldoneDorothy Campbell Professor Pamela SodhyRaymond Danieli Professor Ronald Johnson

Daniella Foster Professor Nikki CastleDaphne Geanocopolous Professor Diane Apostolos-Cappadona Adrianne Goodman Professor Joseph SmaldoneBen Gustafson Professor William McDonaldMichele Hatty Professor Alisa CarseWilliam Hooper Professor Rory Quirk Anne Quito Professor Arnold BradfordBrooke Salkoff Professor Rory QuirkLeigh Ann Smith Professor Anthony Tambasco

Theta Alpha KappaInduction

Why Write? Why Not?

The Alpha Beta Kappa Chap-ter of Theta Alpha Kappa National Honor Society for Religious Studies/Theology inducted four MALS stu-dents this spring: Nathan Abdul Karim Al-Khazraji, Vivian Scott, Lori Wagoner, and Maria Ferrara. Students in the fields of Religious Stud-ies, Catholic Studies, Humanities, and Islam & Muslim-Christian Relations are eligible upon meeting the criteria for membership: 15 credits in religious studies courses with a 3.5 cum GPA in these courses and overall GPA of 3.0 or higher. Dr. Anthony Tambasco, pictured above with the MALS inductees, is the Faculty Moderator of the Chapter at Georgetown.

16

Liberal Studies Alumni, Student, and Faculty Notes

News of Alumni

Joseph Esposito, MALS ‘91, a self-proclaimed life-time learner, earned his fourth graduate degree from the University of Virginia in January 2008. Former deputy under secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Depart-ment of Education, he is currently the director of the Center of the Study of Catholic Higher Education and editor of The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College, 2007.

David Fleming, M.D., MALS ’08, serves as Governor of the Missouri Chapter of the American College of Physicians. He is a professor at and the director of the University of Missouri Center for Health Ethics.

Elizabeth Foxwell, MALS ‘90 has been named the staff editor of The Catholic Historical Review, a scholarly journal on the history of the Catholic Church, based at Catholic University of America. She continues as managing editor of Clues: A Journal of Detec-tion, the only U.S. academic journal on mystery and detective fiction.

Leila Hanafi, MALS ‘07, is work-ing with the Africa Region of the World Bank. Her article on “Young People and the UN MDGs in the Arab World, a Case Study of Morocco,” was published by Vision, a UN magazine, and the Me-dill News Service created a radio piece based on her article.

A Foreign Service Information Re-source Officer with the U.S. Department of State, Steven Kerchoff, MALS ‘01, is currently based in New Delhi. He is responsible for managing the U.S. Em-bassy libraries and information centers in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. He held a similar position in Mexico City.

John McClenahen, MALS ‘98, had his first book published this summer. Eight Mile: Selected Poems is a collection of 30 poems written mostly during the past decade. A retired business journalist and the first editor of Liberal Studies at Georgetown, John’s writing now focuses on poetry and nineteenth-century American cultural history.

Bob Murray, MALS ‘91, has been appointed coordinator for the landscape and site development of a monument honoring the Old Guard, the

oldest active duty infantry unit in the U.S. Army. The monument will be placed in the historic district of Fort Myer, VA. More information about the monument may be found at www.theoldguardmon-ument.org. John Leekley, MALS ‘07, is the presi-dent of Georgetown University’s chapter of Toastmasters International.

Hope Solomon, BALS ‘06, shared graduation joy with her mother in May. Hope’s MALS degree was conferred May 17 and her mother, Gerri Solomon, was awarded her Ph.D. in Education degree May 10th at American University.

News of Students

Pamela Carter-Birken, MALS ‘96 and current D.L.S. candidate, published an article in the peer-reviewed Cura-tor: The Museum Journal (vol. 51, no. 2) entitled “Interpretation and the Role of the Viewer in Museums of Modern and Contemporary Art.” She used unpub-lished essays by collector Duncan Philips, who advocated that museum visitors be empowered with the philosophies of John Dewey, James Elkins and others who

17

Graduate Liberal Studies at GeorGetown

espouse art as experience. She quotes Mark Rothko: “A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience.”

Shawn Dougherty, recently named a Madison Foundation Fellow and awarded an academic scholarship, begins his graduate coursework in the MALS degree program at Georgetown. Shawn teaches AP American History at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland.

University Professor & Director, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and also a Liberal Studies faculty member, co-authored Re-ligion and Globalization: World Religions in Historical Perspective. Published by Ox-ford University Press, the book examines the relationship between the traditions of seven major religions and today’s secular world. It also explores the ways in which religions have been shaped by society since the Scientific Revolution and how religions affect present-day global issues.

Paul Heck, Ph.D., 2008-2009 Fulbright scholarship awardee, spends this academic year in Morocco. He will be teaching at Muhammed V University in Rabat, delivering courses in Arabic which examine the role of religion in the U.S. society. He also plans to continue his research on Sufism and the Muslim society. He anticipates joining the LSP faculty again in the fall of 2009.

Chester Gillis, Ph.D., stepped into his role as Interim Dean of The College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown Uni-versity July 1st following the departure of Dean Jane McAulliffe. He holds concur-rently his position as the Amaturo Chair of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

James Lengle, Ph.D., has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Political Science for 2008-2009. He will be in residence at The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. His research includes the relationship between economic conditions in the U.S. and presidential election outcomes. Additionally, he will lecture throughout Australia about the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the “Aussies” good fortune.

Summer class, "Venice: Prototype of the Knowledge Society" at the National Gallery with Professors Denker and Griffith by Titian's portrait of Doge Andrea Gritti.

In Memoriam

Robert Countess, MLS ‘78 1937 - 2005

In addition to his MLS de-gree he held master’s and doc-toral degrees from Bob Jones University and continued in post-doctoral studies in history. He taught philosophy at Tennes-see State University, history at the University of Alabama and served as an ordained minister and U.S. Army chaplain from 1976-1984.

News of Faculty

The recent issue of Georgetown Magazine notes that Dr. John Esposito,

18

Program News/Announcements

Saturday Art Lecture/ToursJoin the fall National Art Gallery tours, Two by

Two, on September 20, October 18, and November 22 conducted by Dr. Eric Denker, Liberal Studies faculty member, Head of Tours and Education for the National Gallery of Art. The featured artists for each tour are listed in the calendar. Participants meet in the Rotunda in the West Wing. Note that the tour schedule is 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM. Participants, new and continuing, please email or phone Anne Ridder to register for the series and indicate if you plan to bring a guest, riddera@georgetown.edu; 202-687-5706.

Feet-First Fall Outingsfor Students, Alumni, and FacultyInitiated by two alumni, Nan Morrison, MALS

‘02, BALS ‘99 and Anne Ridder, MALS ‘82, two walking tours to points of interest are planned for this fall. We welcome ideas for similar walking tours for the spring. For more information or to make your reservations email lsp@georgetown.edu or call 202-687-5706; 5913, space limited.

Saturday, Sept. 13: Lafayette Park, DC, 10:30 AM. Join Nan Morrison, graduate in the field of art and culture, for a walking tour of this extraordi-nary public space full of rich history, dramatic monu-mental art, and 19th century buildings including the White House and Renwick Gallery. Lunch, optional, after tour at CosiCosi, 17th & Pennsylvania. Reserva-tions due by Sept. 8.

Saturday, Oct. 25: Foliage and Fabrics in Alexandria, 10:30 AM. Meet at the home of Anne Ridder, 8322 Lilac Lane, for brunch. Anne will discuss and share her collection of family handwork, 1850 to the present. Then take a “foliage” walk on the GW Parkway path along the Potomac River. If your schedule allows - continue on down the Parkway on foot or by car to tour Mt. Vernon Estate and its new educa-tional center. Reservations due by Oct. 20.

Liberal Studies Fall 2008 Academic Calendar

Aug 25-26 Walk-In Fall Registration and Payment, 9:00 AM - 6 PM White-Gravenor Bldg. for payment, only; Suite 225, ICC for registration assistanceAug. 25 New Student Orientation: 4:00 PM, Rm. 107 Intercultural CenterSept 1 Holiday: Labor DaySept 2 Fall classes begin. (Check your schedule and syllabus on the

Liberal Studies Website for the exact date and location of your first class meeting. Main campus departmental courses begin Aug. 27th and follow the Monday/Wednesday scheduling rule.)

Sept 9 Last Day of Add/DropSept 13 Feet First for Fall: DC Circles and Statues with Nan Morrison,

10:30 AMSept 15 Incomplete Deadline for summer courses with approval of pro-

fessor and submission of late work by 4 PM to ICC 225, Gradu-ate Liberal Studies Office

Sept 20 Art Lecture/Tour - 10:30 AM, National Gallery of Art Two by Two: Canaletto and Tiepolo Oct 13 Columbus Day Holiday (no classes)Oct 18 Art Lecture/Tour - 10:30 AM, National Gallery of Art Two by Two: Rembrandt and RubensOct 25 Feet First for Fall: Foliage and Fabrics with Anne Ridder, 10:30 AM Nov 3 Spring Online Registration begins (Stu.Acct.must be below

$2000)Nov. 22 Art Lecture/Tour - 10:30 AM, National Gallery of Art Two by Two: Degas and ManetDec 3 MALS Applications due for Spring 09 Admission Thesis Submission Deadline for fall 2008 MALS candidatesJan 7 Walk-in Spring Registration and Payment, 9:00 AM - 6 PM White-Gravenor Bldg. for payment, only, Suite 225, ICC for registration assistance Spring classes beginJan 15 Incomplete Deadline for fall courses with approval of profes-

sor and submission of late work by 4 PM to ICC 225, Graduate Liberal Studies Office

Feb 2 D.L.S. Application DeadlineMay 15 Graduate School Commencement- 2:30 PM, MALS, DLS gradu-

ates may participate.May 16 SCS Liberal Studies Commencement: 10:45 AM, Gaston Hall,

3rd Fl. Healy Bldg., followed by Reception in the ICC Galleria.May 17 University Baccalaureate: 9:00 AM, Healy Lawn

*Philosophy Roundtable Dinner Discussions resume: two in the fall, two in the spring. Watch your email for dates, topics, and to make your reservation.

Editor

Sandra Vieira

dEpartmEnt Editor

Laura Trivers

WritErs

Anne RidderLaura TriversSandra Vieira

dEsignEr

Rosemary Henry

About Graduate Liberal Studies at Georgetown

Graduate Liberal Studiesat GeorGetown

©2008 GRADUATE LIBERAL STUDIESDEGREE PROGRAM,

SCHOOL OF CONTINUING STUDIES,GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY.

Requests for permission to quote from articles must be sent to:

Anne Ridder,Georgetown University

Box 571011Washington, DC 20057-1011

As a graduate of the Liberal Studies program, I was deeply honored to be asked by Anne Ridder to serve as the new Editor of the magazine. As it has for many other graduates, the Liberal Studies program con-tinues to have an important and long lasting influence upon my life. I am grateful for this opportunity to make my contribution to the Liberal Studies program and the magazine.

Many of you have noticed that the Liberal Studies program is still in a continu-ing period of transition. Recently, two new Liberal Study appointments have been made: Anthony Tambasco as Interim Associ-ate Dean of Graduate Liberal Studies and Terrence Reynolds as the Interim Director of Doctoral Studies. Anne Ridder, Assistant Dean and Associate Director, will continue to work closely with them both during this interim period while the search for a new Di-rector continues. Their comments and plans for this coming academic year can be found on pages two and three.

As you have probably already seen, the magazine itself will be undergoing its own process of visual and editorial transitional de-velopment. Please feel free to email Liberal Studies (lsp@georgetown.edu) with your comments or suggestions on the changes.

Featured in this issue, is Commence-ment 2008 with speaker Kathy Temple’s reprinted graduation speech and lots of pic-tures for the 2008 graduates. For alumni, pic-tures of commencement always bring back wonderful memories of their own gradua-tion and for those who have not graduated, anticipation of what is yet to come. Person-ally, the picture format that most symbolizes

graduation is of the candidates leaning out from the line-up waiting to receive their commencement instructions. To the gradu-ates of 2008, congratulations, and please enjoy the pictures and the edited reprint of Kathy Temple’s speech.

Georgetown’s Liberal Studies program has always been considered a leader and innovator, as demonstrated by the inception in 2005 of the first Doctor of Liberal Studies program in the United States and Canada. Since 2005, the biographical profiles of the entering candidates have been featured in the magazine and each year they are increasingly impressive.

Graduate Liberal Studies at George-town is produced entirely by a volunteer team that creates a thoroughly professional magazine, one befitting of our sophisticated readership. We encourage all of our alumni, current students and faculty to either join our volunteer group or propose article ideas for this bi-annual magazine. Please contact Anne Ridder (riddera@georgetown.edu) if you wish to contribute to our efforts. I close these remarks with a welcome and a list of people to thank. Liberal Studies would like to welcome Jonathan Henry and Heather Melman who will be replacing Kelly Robbins and Isaiah Wooten. Kelly and Isaiah are both moving on to Ph.D. programs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Stanford University respectively, and we wish them the best of luck. Finally, I want to thank the following for all their help and valuable input: Anne Ridder, John McCle-nahen, Kelly Robbins, Stephanie Blake, Laura Trivers and Rosemary Henry.

Enjoy. LS

Graduate Liberal Studiesat GeorGetown

First ClassU.S. Postage

P A I DWashington, DCPermit No. 3901

School of Continuing StudiesBox 571011Washington, DC 20057-1011