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Showing posts with label Melissa Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melissa Lee. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
Columbian College Looks to Define Role of Advisors
By MELISSA LEE
With the recent revelation of GW’s Strategic Plan (Vision
2021), as well as new administration changes in the Columbian College, CCAS
advising will be going through a number of changes within the upcoming years. Michelle
Steiner, PhD, recently became part of the GW community as the new CCAS Director
of Undergraduate Advising and she's looking to address the role of Columbian College advisors.
“I
think there are many misconceptions about who advisors are and what advisors
do, and this is a nation-wide problem…To me, a “stigma” surrounding advisors…is
that advisors are paper pushers, schedule creators, and registration helpers.”
Steiner states that in order to ameliorate this “stigma,” she seeks to create
expectations of advisors as faculty who are there to work with, not for,
students, guiding them to find the answers to their questions and teaching
students independent skills to build their own academic success.
In the future,
Steiner would also like to see increased communication between advisors and
faculty in order to inform faculty of the methods used to assist students in
their academic plans and goals. She also hopes to see more public recognition
of advisors for their work with students.
“The more positive
recognition advisors receive, the greater the understanding that advisors are
valued members of the university community, and play an important role.”
Steiner, first and
foremost, will seek to maintain and improve advisor quality within the upcoming
year. Weekly staff meetings have already discussed topics such as effective
communication and leadership skills. Staff meetings in the future will discuss
topics such as “motivational interviewing, appreciative advising, and
assessment of programming.”
Steiner also hopes to “encourage conference attendance,
presentations, and collaborative journal publications so that we are all aware
of [and] participate in the national advising community and best practices that
come out of this community.” She wishes to create a comprehensive assessment
plan for the advising office, with additional assessments taking place through
shadowing of advisors during appointments and offering performance reviews for
advisors.
“[Shadowing advisors] gives me a greater understanding of
student issues and concerns, how students choose to partner with advisors to
make progress, and how advisors communicate with students. Spring staff
meetings will revolve around strategies for more advanced-level conversations
with students so that we are challenging them in a way that helps them learn
and grow as students and as people.”
Regarding performance reviews, Steiner states, “Advisors, in
order to consistently exceed expectations, need to be provided with feedback
and input throughout the year such that they can incorporate that feedback into
subsequent interactions and engagement with students, faculty, other staff,
etc. I take reviews seriously, and appreciate the opportunity they afford me to
discuss best practices with my team.”
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
University Community Unites to Remember September 11th
By Melissa Lee
Photo Credit: Melissa Lee
On Wednesday, at 8:46 a.m., the carillon bells rang out at
GW’s Mount Vernon and Foggy Bottom campuses. At this time, GW faculty and
students paused to remember the tragedy of the September 11 attacks on New York
and Washington, D.C. Countless individuals lost their lives on September 11,
including nine GW alums.
At 7:00 p.m., students gathered at University Yard to
participate in a remembrance vigil in honor of all those who lost their lives
on September 11, as well as those who participated in acts of heroism in the
face of fear and tragedy.
Volunteers distributed small paper-lined candles to all
attendees as they entered to watch the service. Student Association President
Julia Susuni opened the event, thanking all participants. She introduced a
series of prayers that members of several faiths delivered, all of which
emphasized remembrance and reconciliation within the university community.
President Steven Knapp then gave remarks, noting his pride
in students’ commitment to service and community through university events
honoring the victims of September 11, such as the annual interfaith dinner and
day of service.
The service proceeded with those who provided firsthand accounts
of the events of September 11. An admiral, who was at the Pentagon during the
attacks, recounted his experiences on that day, and he thanked all Americans
for what they have done for their country. He also spoke about some kind
strangers who helped him get home from the Pentagon that day, as well as how
everyday people have helped to honor the victims and heroes of September 11.
GW student Mike Masseroli provided a deeply personal story
of how his father was killed in the World Trade Center during the September 11
attacks.
He said that September 11 was his first day of the first
grade, and that his father had left to work earlier that morning. Nothing
seemed out of the ordinary, Masseroli said, but later that day he learned that
his father would not be returning home. Despite this tragedy, throughout his
life Masseroli has committed himself to continuing his father’s legacy.
Masseroli said that some people describe September 11 as a day that revealed
the evil side of mankind, but he disagrees. Instead, he believes that September 11, 2001 was a day when Americans demonstrated the best side of human resilience.
“I was really happy
that they asked me to be a part of it this year,” Masseroli said when WRGW
asked him what Wednesday’s remembrance vigil meant to him. “Last year I
attended as a spectator, and they saw my photo in the Hatchet, and the GW events staff contacted me a couple of months
ago and asked me if I would be a part of this, and I knew right when they asked
me that I had to do it. It was a great opportunity to just give what I hope was
a unique perspective on the issue.”
After Masseroli’s speech, nine candles were lit in honor of
the nine GW alums who lost their lives on September 11. These nine candles were
then used to light the candles of the service attendees. Choral music,
including a rendition of “God Bless America,” was sung during this time. Those
present paused for a moment of remembrance.
Susuni gave closing remarks for the service, inviting
members of the GW community to become further involved with other events in
remembrance of September 11 such as the annual interfaith dinner.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
GW Hillel Hosts Holocaust Remembrance Memorial Service
by Melissa Lee
On
Monday the University commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day and the start of
Genocide Awareness Week with a memorial service and guest speaker in the Marvin
Center. The event was hosted by GW
Hillel and gave guests the opportunity to hear the story of Holocaust survivor
Edith Pick Lowy.
Before
Lowy told her story, electric votive candles were handed out to each of the
guests. Individuals were invited up to the front of the room to participate in
candle lighting, including relatives or descendants of Holocaust survivors. A
moment of silence was then taken, and the rest of the remembrance proceeded in
the form of a traditional Jewish memorial service.
After
the service Lowy was introduced and spoke about her experiences as a young
child in Poland, a place that saw some of the worst atrocities of the
Holocaust. She showed the audience the actual uniform dress that she was forced
to wear during the time that she spent in Poland’s labor-concentration camps.
Lowy talked about how growing up her rights were slowly stripped away. She and
her family were prevented from leaving their community, starting at age ten she
had to wear a starred armband identifying her as Jewish, and eventually she
couldn’t even attend school.
By
the time Lowy was thirteen, her mother had been deported and executed, and she
and her father were sent to a Polish labor-concentration camp. Lowy’s little
brother, Erik, had also been executed by this time, and Lowy’s father was
required to bury him. Although life was terrible in conditions that brought on
severe hunger, Lowy and her father supported each other. Lowy talked about her
father’s many sacrifices for her—at one time receiving a severe beating just for
trying to take a carrot from the kitchen garbage so he could give it to her.
Despite
the challenges they faced, Lowy and her father both survived.
Following Lowy’s story, the memorial service closed with prayer.
GW Women in Business Look to "Start Something" at Annual Conference
by Melissa Lee
On Saturday classrooms in GW’s Funger and Duqués Halls became business workshop centers for over 250 people who attended the university’s fourth annual GW Women In Business Spring Conference. The conference was sold out for the first time this year as hundreds of women and even some men gathered to hone their skills in business, learn more about new fields of interest, and network with accomplished female professionals. Most attendees were university students, but the event was open to people of all ages looking to improve their business skills.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Start Something,” with GWWIB encouraging conference attendees to tweet about the event throughout the day using the “#startsomething” hashtag.
Sarah Robb O’Hagan, former Global President of Gatorade and current President of the fitness company Equinox, opened the conference by describing her business journey through the athletic product industry. O’Hagan noted the importance of sports in her own life. She stated that sports were a great source of empowerment for women, as they taught principles of perseverance, teamwork, and dedication to accomplishing goals. Ultimately, she stressed the importance of “playing to win” in business and other areas of life instead of playing not to lose.
After O’Hagan’s welcoming address, conference attendees made their way to different classrooms in Duqués Hall, each home to a workshop session on topics including law and policy, marketing, entrepreneurship, and personal branding. Each workshop session included four or five panelists who were professionals in some aspect of the subject covered. They served as both instructors and potential job or internship resources for the session attendees.
The second workshop session included topics on technology, sports, fashion and design, and finance.
After a catered networking lunch, there was a keynote address by Janet Gurwitch, founder of Laura Mercier Cosmetics, and Alli Webb, Co-Founder of Drybar. The two described their own personal business experiences, as well as their joint business venture in Drybar, a bar that specializes in affordable, quality blowout hairstyling. Both women described how they took two different paths in their personal lives (Webb chose to rethink her career strategy in order to account for her growing family, and Gurwitch was always more or less strictly career-oriented), but both found success doing something that they loved.
Two more workshop opportunities followed the second address. The first round of sessions included workshops on philanthropy and business, food and events, media and communications, and food and events. The second round included topics such as Financial Literacy and How to Start Something.
The final keynote speech of the day was made by former Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan magazine Kate White, who emphasized to the audience to always “go big or go home.” She told the audience that when pursuing dreams in business, people should always ask themselves how they could make their goals and ideas bigger. Her speech included hilarious self-references when describing her work at Cosmo. Each conference attendee was also given a copy of White’s new book, I Shouldn’t be Telling You This.
Catherine Jessen, a GW student attending the event, said she loved the conference.
“I chose to attend the event because I saw it online and it looked like there were a lot of amazing speakers,” Jessen commented. “I’m a women’s studies major and I think it’s so invaluable to learn from women who have been successful in their own careers. There just seemed like there would be amazing women speaking and a great opportunity to learn.”
credit/ Melissa Lee
The banner for the GW Women in Business Spring Conference hung at the entrance of Funger Hall, where the keynote addresses for the conference were held.
On Saturday classrooms in GW’s Funger and Duqués Halls became business workshop centers for over 250 people who attended the university’s fourth annual GW Women In Business Spring Conference. The conference was sold out for the first time this year as hundreds of women and even some men gathered to hone their skills in business, learn more about new fields of interest, and network with accomplished female professionals. Most attendees were university students, but the event was open to people of all ages looking to improve their business skills.
The second workshop session included topics on technology, sports, fashion and design, and finance.
credit/Melissa Lee
The technology in Business workshop session.
credit/Melissa Lee
Conference attendees gather to receive free "swag bags" from Rent the Runway and to pick-up their catered lunch.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Supreme Court Justice Visits GW
by Melissa Lee
On Tuesday night Lisner Auditorium hosted Associate Justice Antonin Scalia for an informal interview with NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, who has earned widespread recognition for her coverage of the Supreme Court. Prior to taking the stage, Scalia was introduced as certainly “one of the most outspoken conservative voices” on the Supreme Court, setting the stage for an interview that addressed Scalia’s legal views but also his personal experiences.
On Tuesday night Lisner Auditorium hosted Associate Justice Antonin Scalia for an informal interview with NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, who has earned widespread recognition for her coverage of the Supreme Court. Prior to taking the stage, Scalia was introduced as certainly “one of the most outspoken conservative voices” on the Supreme Court, setting the stage for an interview that addressed Scalia’s legal views but also his personal experiences.
As the interview occurred on the same night as the State of the Union Address, Totenberg opened the interview by asking Scalia about his attendance record for the State of the Union, noting that Scalia hadn’t attended one in several years. Scalia explained that he felt the State of the Union had turned into “something of a circus,” describing what he felt was the comical standing-and-clapping of both sides of the room to demonstrate support for what the president was saying at the time.
The interview progressed to address Scalia’s core beliefs on issues such as constitutional interpretation, where Scalia affirmed his stance as an “originalist” or “textualist,” meaning he believes the Constitution should be defined by what “it was taken to mean at the time it was written.” Scalia explained that he dislikes referring to the Constitution as a “living” document and sometimes calls it “dead” as somewhat of a joke to express his views that the words of the Constitution are fixed in meaning. Scalia said that at the time the Constitution was written, there was no controversy about issues such as gay marriage, the death penalty, and women voting. He explained that the public of the time had already come to conclusions about these issues and had thus conveyed that meaning into the text of the Constitution. Scalia emphasized that this does not mean he doesn’t feel the Constitution can’t be amended—only that the words that already exist have a set definition.
Totenberg introduced other issues such as Super-PACs, where Scalia favors the disclosure of donors, and gun control, discussing Scalia’s District of Columbia vs. Heller decision against the ban of handguns. She also asked Scalia about his work experience. For example, how he wrote majority opinions and dissents. When asked about this, Scalia stressed the importance of dissent writing. Writing dissents, in Scalia’s opinion, helped to “keep justices honest,” so that the public clearly knew their viewpoints instead of seeing an anonymous vote. Scalia also explained how dissents could be gratifying if not now, sometime in the future. He cited a single justice’s dissent in the case of Korematsu vs. United States, the case that ruled Japanese American internment constitutional during World War II.
Although the interview addressed in-depth legal issues, it also included more personal and occasionally amusing questions about Scalia. Totenberg introduced a range of subjects that included Scalia’s black, fez-like hat at the presidential inauguration, his friendships and travels with fellow justices, especially riding on elephants with Ruth Bader Ginsberg in India and going game hunting with Elena Kagan, and even his high school extra-curricular activities.
In high school, Scalia broadcasted on a radio program entitled “Mind Your Manners,” where he and other hosts talked about proper etiquette to help students be more polite when attending dates and other social events.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
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