Explore the mystery of interspecies communication in the ocean depths with three pioneering Hoyas
8
DECADES OF DEDICATION
Join the chorus of gratitude for President Emeritus Jack DeGioia, Georgetown’s longest serving and visionary leader.
12
A LEGACY OF BELONGING
Since 1968, Georgetown’s renowned Community Scholars Program has created a supportive community for first-generation and low-income college students.
18 TREASURES OF THE SEA
Three Georgetown women are making waves in the world of marine mammal research, engagement, and care.
24
BEAUTY AT THE INTERSECTIONS
Exploring and understanding problems through interdisciplinary perspectives offers new insights for Georgetown faculty, students, and staff.
Cover photo: Taken under NMFS permit #23782 for the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
At times of great change, I find myself thinking about the things that unite us, the principles that ground us, and the ideas that inspire us. For Hoyas, all this originates in the call to service.
The features in this issue explore that call to service from different perspectives. In our story about interdisciplinarity, there’s a wonderful quote from Interim President Bob Groves, who served as provost for more than a decade. He says “Georgetown’s mission involves forming people for others, especially those among disadvantaged groups in the world. The unsolved world problems—climate change, epidemics, harmful effects of globalization—are disproportionately faced by disadvantaged groups. What domains of human knowledge will solve these problems? No one field has the ownership to do so.”
Another of our features shares one way we come together for positive change: our Community Scholars Program, one of the nation’s oldest academic initiatives offering pre-first year, credit-bearing college courses to a diverse cohort of incoming undergraduates who are the first in their families to attend college. You will meet the people involved and discover the impact of this unique program.
Finally, our marine wildlife feature introduces Hoyas who have felt a calling to serve our oceans. Don’t miss the section on Michaela Harrison (SFS’92) and her work with whale song, which I found particularly moving.
This issue also includes a special tribute to President Emeritus John J. DeGioia, who led the university’s growth and achievement for a remarkable 23 years, guided by the North Star of helping Georgetown become the university it’s called to be. The first lay person to lead a Jesuit institution of higher education in the U.S., DeGioia embodies Georgetown’s ideals.
I hope you will enjoy exploring all the articles in this issue, from the campus news story on José Andrés (HON’19, Parent’23, ’26) to the GUAA Corner on the Wall Street Alliance Scholarship Dinner to the Last Word written by Christopher Steck, S.J., one of the 2025 John Carroll Award winners.
Thank you for your responses to our recent survey! Please reach out to us at magazine@georgetown.edu if you have any ideas. We hope you feel closer to your alma mater with each issue.
—Camille Scarborough, Editorial Team Lead
Office of Advancement
R. Bartley Moore (SFS’87) Vice President for Advancement
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Georgetown Magazine Staff
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Editorial Team
Gabrielle Barone, Nowshin Chowdhury, Kimberly Clarke (C’07, G’09), Racquel Nassor (G’23), Patti North, Sara Piccini, Lauren M. Poteat
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Spring 2025, Volume 56, Number 1 Georgetown Magazine (ISSN 1074-8784)
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In October 2024, internationally acclaimed chef, restaurateur, and humanitarian José Andrés (HON’19, Parent’23, ’26) gave the Tanous Family Endowed Lecture at Georgetown’s Gaston Hall.
Andrés reflected on starting The José Andrés Group in 1991 and his nonprofit, World Central Kitchen (WCK), in 2010, with a mission “to change the world through the power of food.”
He explained that through WCK, he has been able to advocate for implementing effective immigration policy and programs feeding millions of people.
“[WCK] is helping where help is needed,” said Andrés. “In the worst moments of humanity, the best of humanity shows up.”
WCK provides culinary training programs to empower communities experiencing food insecurity and fresh meals in response to humanitarian crises in times of acute and immediate need.
“In Ukraine we’ve done 300 million meals,” said Andrés. “In Turkey, we were in 10 cities after the earthquake. In Gaza, we’re doing close to a quarter million meals.” Since the lecture, Andrés’ WCK provided meals to firefighters in response to the L.A. wildfires.
“It’s not just a plate of food, it’s a plate of hope. When we show up daily with food and water, we are giving people our respect and we’re gaining their respect back,” said Andrés. “This is how you create communities.” •
—Racquel Nassor
Established by Peter J. Tanous (C’60, Parent’87, ’92) in 2010, the Tanous Family Endowed Lecture Fund offers unique opportunities for Georgetown students, faculty, and staff to hear from distinguished guest speakers. The October 2024 event was led by Interim President Robert Groves.
Photo: Art Pittman
New Dharmic Life director makes space for all
Brahmacharini Shweta Chaitanya joined Georgetown as the director of Dharmic Life last August following her time as Hindu chaplain at Emory University. She sat down with Georgetown Magazine to share her impression of the student community so far, her perspective as one of Georgetown’s three woman chaplains, and what she hopes to do with her role.
What drew you to Georgetown?
Georgetown was on my radar because as Dharmic Life grew, it didn’t form a monolithic entity; it continued to maintain the plurality of the different communities it represents. I was curious to experience it.
What’s your impression of the community so far?
Dharmic Life includes, but is not limited to, the Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist communities as well as our Queer Dharma student group. It’s wonderful to see how the students operate on a day-to-day basis, what they’re looking for in their gatherings, and what’s meaningful to them. But it’s also been a lot because there are five different student groups representing a variety of traditions.
It’s a welcome challenge for me to navigate the fact that I too represent one tiny little branch in this garden of different traditions. So I try to offer space for people to lean into their own traditions in an authentic way.
What is it like being a woman Dharmic chaplain?
It’s always a good sign when an institution is not just open to hiring a woman in a religious space, but actually does it. As I was interviewing, it was reassuring to see other women chaplains at Georgetown.
But it comes with challenges because some are not used to seeing a woman in a Dharmic leadership position, especially in traditions where only men have held such positions. But now that I’m in the space, I hope my presence and work will contribute toward efforts to normalize this role for women.
Have you been to any events that were especially inspiring or enlightening?
The Queer Dharma group hosted a panel with a few Campus Ministry chaplains where they asked us how our traditions
understand and make space for the queer community. I love that this kind of conversation can take place at Georgetown.
Do you have a favorite sacred space on campus?
The Dharmic Meditation Center. It’s a space I’ve inherited and the previous director did such an incredible job. When you walk in, you really feel transported back to something very familiar—it feels like home.
What’s your goal for the future?
My goal really is to continue to get to know our students, to make room for their spiritual exploration, and uplift what it is that they’re bringing to this space. •
—Nowshin Chowdhury
MODERN CAREER CLOSET
Cawley Career Education Center partnered with MyCareerCloset, co-founded by Rahul Jindal (MBA’14), to make professional clothes accessible to Hoyas interviewing for jobs.
Brahmacharini Shweta Chaitanya was drawn to Georgetown because of the umbrella support the chaplaincy position provides to the South Asian religions and traditions.
Photo: Georgetown University
College program offers social impact experiences
In 2019, Thomas Chiarolanzio, senior associate dean and director of advising at the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS), brainstormed ways to create a program where students with growing interest in social impact careers could learn from alumni in those fields. Funded by the dean’s office, the Social Responsibility Network (SRN) was established to create a cohort-based alumni mentorship program.
Having run CAS’s Baker Scholars Program, which offers liberal arts students with interest in business the opportunity to explore different careers, Chiarolanzio aims to make SRN a similarly impactful program for students interested in social justice, service-based, and social impact careers.
An advisory board of five alumni, all of whom are professionals in nonprofit organizations, was established early on to mentor the students based on their similar interests and expertise. The board has grown to eight members.
Every year, over 50 students show interest, but the program can support only around 30 students. First-year students may apply to join their sophomore year and stay in the program until they graduate.
The program has three committees chaired by students. The site and service visits committee sets up visits with nonprofit organizations, while the speaker committee identifies guest speakers of interest to host during monthly meetings and the communications committee produces newsletters every semester to inform the board and others of new learning opportunities.
The program is designed for students to experience hands-on learning. Last fall, students from the program visited Capital Area Food Bank and One Tent Health. They also volunteered as a group at the food bank.
Daisy Fynewever (C’26), who is studying Environmental Biology and Justice and Peace Studies with a minor in Spanish, came to
Georgetown because she wanted to work in the nonprofit and advocacy field.
“SRN has been a great resource, helping me discover jobs I didn’t know existed and make connections in many different fields,” says Fynewever, co-chair of the site and service visits committee. “I especially enjoyed speaking with Mackenzie Copley (C’15), founder of One Tent Health,” which ensures that affordable HIV tests are available to all.
Chiarolanzio hopes the program can eventually offer summer stipends for students to do internships at nonprofit organizations. He would also love to find a sponsor for weekend excursions to other metro areas for site and service visits.
“Those experiences of being on the ground and doing the work are very impactful, but some students can’t afford to do it,” he says, noting that he hopes to find funding to support more students. •
—Nowshin Chowdhury
The speaker committee in the Social Responsibility Network identifies guest speakers of interest to host during the program’s monthly meetings. In January, they hosted Thompson M. Mayes, chief legal officer and general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as the guest speaker.
Photos: Rafael Suanes
Navigating digital tools and artificial intelligence
As artificial intelligence (AI) tools and language learning models increase in number and accessibility, Georgetown’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) continues to add consultations, workshops, and focused training to its slate of support tools. In addition to this support, CNDLS is offering faculty and students AI help through its Digital Learning and Technology Assistance (DLTA) Program.
“Students care deeply about their original voice. The more we instruct them in smart and poor usages of AI, the better they will be equipped with skills that are becoming more and more important in today’s society.”—MOLLY CHEHAK (G’05)
“The DLTA program originated during the pandemic when faculty had to pivot overnight from teaching in person to teaching online. Plus, our federal workstudy students were out of work. Georgetown wanted to solve both problems at once,” explains Kim Huisman, assistant director for digital learning at CNDLS.
The Provost Office and the Office of Student Employment created the Instructional Technology Aid Program in 2020 that matched teachers with student technology assistants who provided real-time support to over 600 virtual—and eventually hybrid —courses at Georgetown.
The technology assistants, now known as digital technology learning assistants (DLTAs), are located in the Edward B. Bunn, S.J. Intercultural Center. The program offers technology support drop-in hours for faculty and students alike. Student DLTAs work with teachers to incorporate digital tools into their courses on an as-needed basis and mentor fellow students.
“I wish everyone at Georgetown knew that the DLTA request form is simple to use, our DLTAs are trained and experienced, and they can help in a lot of ways,” says Huisman.
“Everyone has had at least one professor who either needs help with technology, or whose Canvas page could be updated to make it easier to navigate. The more students and teachers who know about this program, the more people we can help,” says Taylor Lowe (SFS’25), lead DLTA for the CNDLS Program.
Continuing their goal to aid students and teachers at Georgetown work with digital tools, the DLTAs have added AI support to its range of services.
“We’ve been training the DLTAs about the wide range of AI tools,” Huisman says. “They are equipped to help faculty with any concerns they have about AI—like how students might be using it and how faculty can use it for creating assignments.”
“I think my biggest takeaway is that AI can be very helpful if you know how to use it,” says Lowe. “Being more specific in your requests and utilizing more specialized tools usually gets you better results than broad requests.”
“Students care deeply about their original voice,” says Molly Chehak (G’05), director of digital learning at CNDLS and writing program instructor. “The more we instruct them in smart and poor usages of AI, the better they will be equipped with skills that are becoming more and more important in today’s society.” •
—Racquel Nassor
MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program celebrates fifth cohort
Last fall, the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs (MORCA)-Georgetown Paralegal Program’s fifth cohort of 13 fellows received Paralegal Studies certificates from Georgetown Law.
The rigorous 24-week program trains returning citizens to understand the law and use their education to help others.
The program is funded by MORCA, in partnership with the city’s Department of Employment Services, Georgetown’s Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI), and Georgetown University Law Center.
“This program is transformative for returning citizens in helping them feel supported and gain the reentry resources that they need to stabilize themselves and provide for their family and themselves,” says Maya Hambrick (C’22, G’29), PJI’s paralegal program manager. “The program provides a thoughtfully designed educational and professional development framework, which I’ve found to be incredibly helpful for people.”
Classes are held six days per week for six months. Fellows take six classes in topics such as legal research and writing, corporate law, torts, contracts, legal technology, ethics, digital literacy, and job readiness. A stipend is available to eliminate financial barriers.
As the program concludes, fellows get help compiling cover letters, resumes, and writing samples, and then applying for jobs.
“Over the years, we’ve increased technology training significantly since that’s a barrier that returning citizens face when coming home,” says Hambrick.
Nicole Johnson graduated with the fifth cohort and accepted her role as senior legal assistant at Legal Aid DC, a local nonprofit where a number of other graduates work.
“I was interested in participating in the program because I felt like it was an opportunity for me to establish a new career while also simultaneously being able to contribute to things that impact my community,” says Johnson. “It was very challenging, but I enjoyed it. It was a good challenge.”
Johnson works for the intake unit, interviewing potential clients to see if Legal Aid DC can represent them in their civil matters.
“I appreciate the opportunity that Georgetown, MORCA, and the other partners make possible,” says Johnson. “Even if there’s no job placement guarantee at the end, I feel like it’s a great experience and a great opportunity to build our skill set in a way that is not always available.”
Another reentry program offered through PJI is the Georgetown Pivot Program, which is focused on business and entrepreneurship. Since 2018, the Pivot Program, in partnership with the DC Department of Employment Services, has graduated 80 students in six cohorts, with 91% of graduates employed within three months. •
— Nowshin Chowdhury
Photos: Lisa Helfert
Nicole Johnson, far right, graduated with the fifth cohort of MORCA-Georgetown Paralegal Program. She now works as senior legal assistant at Legal Aid DC, a local nonprofit.
Maya Hambrick
Decades of Dedication
L ast fall, John J. DeGioia (C’79, G’95), the longest-serving president in Georgetown’s history, stepped down from his role as university president to become president emeritus. He will continue serving as a faculty member.
President Emeritus DeGioia became Georgetown’s 48th president on July 1, 2001. Across the last 23 years, he has expanded the impact and footprint of the university while strengthening
its Catholic and Jesuit identity and deepening its commitment to academic excellence. He is the first lay person to lead a Jesuit institution of higher education in the U.S.
President Emeritus DeGioia’s announcement was greeted with an outpouring of messages of affection and appreciation from Hoyas; we share a sample of those messages here. •
Photo: Phil Humnicky
DeGioia at New Student Orientation in 2022.
“As we enter the season of gratitude, I am reminded of President DeGioia’s steadfast dedication to a world where all people can achieve optimal health and well-being. Forever grateful for his vision and leadership in elevating us closer to work we are called to do.”
—Christopher King, Dean, School of Health
“It is difficult to put into words the deep gratitude and admiration I feel for President John J. DeGioia... Thank you, Jack, for 23 years of invaluable service, inspiring and advancing our mission as a Catholic and Jesuit university.”
—Dani Villanueva, S.J., (MBA’15), General Coordinator of the Fey y Alegría International Federation
“Jack has been a source of energy, inspiration, and aspiration for us all and will continue to be present in our community every day…. The term Hoya Saxa translates to ‘what rocks!’ Jack DeGioia is the rock on which we have built a world-class university and community.”
—Ted Leonsis (C’77, Parent’14, ’15), Chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment
“It has been an immense privilege to experience Jack DeGioia’s presidency. During his tenure, Georgetown has ascended to new heights, propelled by his strategic vision, innovation, commitment to academic excellence, and unwavering principles. He has exemplified cura personalis and demonstrated conviction, compassion, and self-possession while guiding the university forward. Jack is truly one of a kind, and we owe a deep debt of gratitude for his exceptional stewardship and service.”
—Mannone Butler (B’94, L’99), Head of Programs and Partnerships for the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition
2024 John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award Winner Reginald Douglas (C’09) (left), with DeGioia (center), and Tiffany Thompson (right), daughter of John Thompson Jr.
DeGioia speaks at a retreat for first-year students at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in 2024.
President DeGioia and Theresa Miller DeGioia meet with Pope Francis in 2023.
“On behalf of the Georgetown University Alumni Association (GUAA) and its Board of Governors, we thank President John J. DeGioia for his lifetime of service to and 23 years of visionary leadership of alma mater…. President DeGioia’s partnership with our beloved association has strengthened and enriched Georgetown’s commitment to engaging our global alumni community of more than 230,000 Hoyas. His legacy of service will inspire our work for many years to come. We are deeply grateful to this most loyal Son of Georgetown. We offer President DeGioia and his family our very best wishes and ongoing prayers for his recovery.”
—Fitz O. Lufkin IV (C’11, G’12), president of the Georgetown University Alumni Association, and Julia Farr (C’88, Parent’19, ’21, ’24), executive director of the Georgetown University Alumni Association
Top: DeGioia (center) with his son, John Thomas, and wife, Theresa Miller DeGioia (C’89); Bottom: In 2019, Georgetown Law dedicated its campus green in honor of DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (HON’18) with (from left to right) Mayor Muriel Bowser, Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor, Norton, Rep. Jamie Raskin, and DeGioia.
DeGioia attends the commencement ceremony for Georgetown University in Qatar students in 2018.
“My friend Jack DeGioia has been an extraordinary leader for his beloved Georgetown and a moral and intellectual giant among university presidents for a quarter century. April and I pray for his full recovery and join with all Hoyas in offering our love and heartfelt thanks.”
—John Delaney (L’88, Parent’22), former U.S. Representative
“His vision and dedication have been transformative. I feel fortunate to have had this incredible human being as my leader, mentor, and friend.”
—Reena Aggarwal, Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance and Director, Georgetown Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy
“I have been fortunate to spend significant time with and around many accomplished leaders. And Jack is unquestionably on my personal Mt. Rushmore. The rarest combination of curiosity, humility, and courage….an astounding legacy.”
—Dan Helfrich (SFS’98, MBA’99, Parent’27), former chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting
DeGioia speaks at a 2021 commencement ceremony
Former Secretary of the University Ed Quinn (left) swears in DeGioia (right) as the president of Georgetown University on Oct. 13, 2001.
(From left to right) Wayne Turnage, DC’s deputy mayor for Health and Human Services; Lucile Adams-Campbell, founding director of the center; David Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s son and president of the Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation; and DeGioia cut the ribbon on the new Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Prevention in 2023.
Photo: Elman Studio
BY KIMBERLY CLARKE | DESIGN BY SHIKHA SAVDAS
For nearly 60 years, Georgetown University’s Community Scholars Program has been a pioneer among college programs in supporting firstgeneration and limited-income college students. In Fall 2024, the program welcomed 88 incoming first-year students—the program’s largest cohort ever. Managed by Georgetown’s Center for Multicultural Equity and Access, the Community Scholars Program is one of the nation’s oldest academic initiatives offering pre-first year, credit-bearing college courses to a diverse cohort of incoming undergraduates who are the first in their families to attend college. The program offers academic advising, mentoring, and personal counseling so students have the resources and network they need to thrive in Georgetown’s highly competitive environment. Often characterized as “the soul of Georgetown,” the Community Scholars Program reflects the university’s commitment to ensuring students from all backgrounds have the support and resources they need to explore their fullest potential.
The program sets Georgetown apart from other universities, says Ali Chaudhry (B’26), a Community Scholar and International Business Asia Regional Studies major. “Most universities sent me a letter saying, ‘Congratulations, you’re accepted!’ Only Georgetown mentioned a program for first-generation, low-income students,” says Chaudhry. “It reinforced Georgetown’s commitment towards caring for students and providing an accessible and equitable education for all. It was very impressive.”
Participants start their Georgetown experience with a five-week in-residence program the summer before the fall semester, which ensures a head start on earning college credit before their first year begins. The program provides a meal plan, room, and board and covers the cost of course materials for all summer classes, as well as travel expenses for students who live beyond a 250mile radius of Washington, DC.
During that summer, students enroll in two credit-bearing courses. The first class, Writing and Culture, is an intensive course that prepares students to engage in college-level reading and writing across the curriculum. Scholars all read the same material during the summer program, allowing them to gather after class in study groups to discuss the readings, support each other when they need help, and brainstorm ideas together. They continue taking this course in the fall semester with the same faculty member and English graduate teaching assistants they had for the summer. For many students, it’s their first time getting direct, individualized feedback from instructors invested in their work as writers and their intellectual development as scholars.
During the summer session, students also enroll in an elective course from a selection that includes theology, economics, biology, government, sociology, and psychology. Scholars in the McDonough School of Business are invited to enroll in the Principles of Marketing business course, while students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) enroll in the Principles and Practice biology course.
“The summer program is an entry point for many students to begin to create belonging and community, and to get exposure to academic rigor and acquire the school success strategies they need to flourish,” says Charlene BrownMcKenzie (C’95, G’23), a Community Scholars Program alumna who now serves as senior associate dean of students and executive director of access and success. “That support is available both in the summer and throughout their time at Georgetown.”
Photo: Paul B. Jones
Distinct programs also set students up for academic success in business and STEM education. Students in Georgetown McDonough are invited to participate in the Business Scholars Program, which provides early curriculum exposure and mentorship to first-year, first-generation students from underserved backgrounds. Students interested in STEM are invited to join the Regents STEM Scholars, a program that offers academic support and opportunities to create a more equitable STEM community. Workshops, seminars, and academic advising sessions help refine students’ time management and study skills, and deans guide them through their rigorous summer coursework to prepare for the fall. Students also meet with financial aid counselors and other on-campus partners who support them throughout the academic year.
“Having the support of peers and knowing that you’ve already been successful in the classroom allows you to be confident in your ability to excel and be on par with others who come from wealthier, more well-connected backgrounds,” says Darius Wagner (C’27), vice president of the Georgetown University Student Association.
For Aya Waller-Bey (C’14), a 2015 Gates Cambridge Scholarship recipient and Class of 2025 doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, those summer courses left an indelible mark years after graduation. “In one of the classes I took for the Community Scholars Program, we read Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities, and I wrote about that experience when I applied for my Ph.D. program,” she says. “The opportunity I had to learn about education inequality and get exposure to that
literature in small classes where we were forced to think critically motivates a lot of the work that I’m doing 15 years later.”
A STRATEGY FOR SUCCESS
These support systems pave the way for first-year students to build a successful academic career at Georgetown. Experts say rates of first-year persistence (the share of students who stay in college from their first to second year) and retention (the share of students who re-enroll at a particular higher education institution) are strong predictors of college students’ likelihood of staying enrolled and completing their college degree.
“Community Scholars Program faculty and staff work hard to build a strong support system for our scholars because they worked so hard to get to Georgetown,” says Brown-McKenzie. “They are extraordinarily talented and the top of their class. They earn the highest possible test scores during extraordinary circumstances in their lives. We make sure they have clarity about where they’re heading and don’t lose themselves in the face of adversity.”
The Community Scholars Program surveyed students in 2022 and found that the summer session increased their academic preparedness, familiarity with Georgetown’s academic resources, and sense of social connection. The program’s graduation rate is 92%, according to its more recent data, compared to the average graduation rate of 26% for first-generation students nationwide. During the summer, students begin building their social capital, a supportive community of peers, faculty, and staff who will guide them through their college and career journey.
The Community Scholars Program is one of several resources offered to students through Georgetown’s Center for Multicultural Equity and Access (CMEA), led by Charlene Brown-McKenzie, Ph.D, center right. Other resources include academic advising, writing support, and career and internship guidance.
Photo: Georgetown University
Photo: Courtesy of Community Scholars Program
“Having the support of peers and knowing that you’ve already been successful in the classroom allows you to be confident in your ability to excel...” DARIUS
“The Community Scholars Program has been among the best teaching experiences I’ve had in my career,” says Christopher Shinn, an associate professor and director of graduate studies at Howard University’s English Department who has been teaching the Community Scholars Program’ Writing and Culture classes for over a decade. “It’s remarkable to see students’ confidence grow over time. Initially they come to Georgetown and it feels like some kind of dream. They experience impostor syndrome where they wonder, ‘Should I really be here?’” says Shinn, who was the first in his family to attend college. “By the end of the fall, they are proud to be Georgetown students, and they feel like they have a home here.”
Fostering a community of mutual support also helps students meet their academic goals while bonding with their peers. One of the program’s outreach activities, the Fourth Hour Study Group, organizes group study sessions for first-year students outside of their curricular commitments with upperclass scholars who consult them on class assignments, help them navigate college, and aid them in translating course material to realworld applications.
Emmanuel Palacios (C’26), a mathematics major, realized the importance of peer support as a Fourth Hour instructor. “As an instructor, I see these students’ progress and relate to their
struggles as first-generation, low-income students. It’s had a tremendous impact on me,” says Palacios. “They have these learning gaps because of COVID and the failures of the education system. They come to college and don’t know how to approach certain problems. The Community Scholars Program does a tremendous job filling in those gaps and giving students confidence and a sense of hope.”
The program’s holistic approach also allows students to show up on campus as their whole selves. “I really learned the importance of seeing myself as a person before seeing myself as a student,” says Myla Taylor (SFS’27), who is majoring in International Politics. “When you’re bogged down by the rigor or seeking out professional opportunities, you’re affirmed and comforted by a community that’s built from the start, and you come to realize that you’re not solely defined by your academics or the things you can do. It’s great to do well on an exam, but it’s also important to take care of myself in the process.”
“We strive to make higher education accessible and achievable for many talented students across the country,” Brown-McKenzie says. “The Community Scholars Program is one the most visible ways Georgetown lives out its Jesuit values of a community in diversity, academic excellence, and cura personalis, or care of the whole person.”
WAGNER (C’27)
Photo: Phil Humnicky
Photo: Paul B. Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Community Scholars Program
The program’s mission embodies those values. “That sense of cura personalis was modeled by the faculty and staff,” says Waller-Bey. “When you’re seen as just another person in the classroom or are reduced to a stereotype about your race, gender, or class identity, it is difficult to thrive. The Community Scholars Program saw me in my fullness. Their commitment to equity, access, and inclusion felt like love to me.”
REACHING OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY
The core mission of the program was first proposed during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, when the university committed to meeting the needs of the predominantly Black, disenfranchised youth living in Washington, DC. To achieve these ends, Georgetown faculty volunteered to teach high-achieving Washington, DC, public high school juniors and seniors from underserved communities, instructing them via summer sessions and monthly seminars during the academic year. The budding program was a success.
“The impact of this program on the morale and interests not only of the participants but also of their classmates has been far beyond what any of us could have imagined it would be,” wrote English Department Assistant Professor Roger L. Slakey to Nursing School Dean Ann Douglas in a 1964 letter.
To continue fostering student achievement, Georgetown faculty requested that the university eventually enroll a select group of highly qualified Black college applicants they had worked with. They also proposed that those students receive a faculty tutor in their first year at Georgetown to help them navigate barriers to their academic success.
Six students formed the first cohort of the Community Scholars Program in Fall 1968, a tumultuous year in the country and in DC. Violent civil unrest spread across the nation’s capital after the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., just days after he had delivered his final Sunday sermon at the National Cathedral. With the Community Scholars Program, Georgetown established a mutual partnership between the Hilltop and underresourced schools in the District in accordance with Jesuit values and with the support of deans, faculty, and staff.
Since its founding over 50 years ago, the Community Scholars Program has provided first-generation college students with a multicultural network of peers, faculty, staff, and alumni that support them throughout their years at the Hilltop and beyond.
Photo: Courtesy of Community Scholars Program
Photo: Courtesy of Sundaa Bridgett-Jones
Photo: Leslie E. Kossoff
“The Community Scholars Program is one the most visible ways Georgetown lives out its Jesuit values of a community in diversity, academic excellence, and cura personalis , or care of the whole person.”
CHARLENE BROWN-MCKENZIE, PH.D. (C’95, G’23)
“No modern urban university can in conscience ignore the problems of the inner city and urbanization. Let’s divide up the work and get on with it,” said Robert J. Henle, S.J. in a message to the university community when he became president of Georgetown in 1969.
In the next five decades, the mission of the program has expanded from providing academic support to Black students in the District to contributing to the successful retention and graduation of first-generation undergraduate students at Georgetown who typically represent a wide variety of diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. The curriculum also developed from a pre-first-year summer program in writing and math, to a fouryear program and wraparound support services that kicks off with the credit-bearing summer session of today.
In recent years, the Community Scholars Program helped students rebound from disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately affected lower-income communities.
“Its Class of 2025, which is my class, was the first to come back from COVID, and for most of us, the last time we were on campus was our sophomore or junior year of high school,” says Julien Sims (B’25), an accounting major and president of the Nu Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. “However, the summer program allowed us to get re-acclimated to work and be educated in a classroom setting, which has been extremely beneficial.”
FOSTERING STUDENT SUCCESS
For the last 20 years, the program has been complemented by initiatives such as the Georgetown Scholars Program (GSP). While the Community Scholars Program offers academic support, GSP
provides wraparound resources such as mentorship, professional development, and microgrants to further position first-generation and limited-income undergraduate students for success. All participants in the Community Scholars Program receive additional financial and basic needs support through GSP.
Both Community Scholars Program and GSP participants are poised to have even more significant roles at Georgetown, as the university continues to expand its enrollment of low-income students and ensure they have the tools they need to flourish on campus and in their chosen careers. The Class of 2028 includes the highest percentage of students who are Pell-eligible—meaning they receive federal grants because of significant financial need—in more than a decade, with 15% of the class qualifying for the designation.
That combined financial, academic, and community support has changed how scholars move through the world after they’ve left campus. “The Community Scholars Program at Georgetown was one of the most formative experiences of my life,” says Sundaa Bridgett-Jones (SFS’93), chief partnership and advocacy officer for the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet. “It helped me and other first-generation students who shared a deep drive for excellence understand that we belong— in any setting, in any room.”
“The Community Scholars Program gave me a North Star. Everywhere I go, I try to replicate the environment I had in the program,” says Michael Sobalvarro (C’16), a current M.D. candidate at Georgetown University School of Medicine. “It gave me a standard of who I should surround myself with, because anything less is toxic to your dreams.” •
Photo: Courtesy of Community Scholars Program
Georgetown faculty and alumni apply their unique talents to better understand and protect the remarkable marine mammals who inhabit our oceans
BY SARA PICCINI DESIGN BY ETHAN JEON
Photo: iStock
ach year, Distinguished University Professor Janet Mann brings a cohort of students to Western Australia to conduct field research for the Shark Bay Dolphin Project—the world’s second-longest-running study of dolphins in the wild.
“It’s a life-changing experience for them,” says Mann, a professor of biology and psychology who has received national recognition for her mentoring of undergraduates. “We’re living in very close quarters. On a boat, everyone has a role,
everyone shares in the domestic tasks. It’s physically and intellectually demanding, and also socially demanding.”
In the surrounding waters, 3,000-plus Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins carry on activities very similar to those of their human cousins aboard ship: forming social groups, finding food, demonstrating tasks to younger members.
“We all find it a privilege to observe in such detail the lives of another species, and be taken a little outside yourself,” Mann says. “I think
what students begin to appreciate is that dolphins are another big-brained, complex animal with rich, intricate lives as individuals.”
Mann is among Georgetown faculty, students, and alumni from a variety of disciplines— spanning biology, public policy, data science, history, the arts, and more—working to enhance human knowledge about marine mammals and build awareness of increasing threats to the ocean environment.
An inaugural fellow of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, Professor Janet Mann has conducted groundbreaking research on dolphin behavior for nearly 40 years.
Photo: Caitlin Karniski (C’11, G’19)
As Mann explains, little was known about wild dolphin behavior and development prior to the establishment of the Shark Bay Dolphin Project in 1984. Because dolphins typically live 50 years or more, longitudinal studies are critical.
“They’re a residential population—both sexes stay for their entire life so we can study both males and females from birth to death. The findings have been really significant, influencing studies of dolphins and whales elsewhere in the world,” Mann says.
In addition to having identifiable dorsal fins, each dolphin exhibits distinctive behavior, so researchers have been able to track and name individuals and families throughout the 40-year study period. (The Skrub family example includes brothers Pub and Grub, and younger sisters Rubadub and Hubba.)
Through their research, Mann and her colleagues have revealed the previously unknown world of dolphin social interactions. “Dolphins don’t live in a pod the way they’re often described. They join and leave each other in flexible ways,” she notes.
“And yet they have preferential bonds or social relationships embedded in those groups, so it’s not random. Just like you go and meet your friend for coffee, they go to meet up with their close associates, and there are some that they avoid.”
Another key discovery: dolphins use tools. Mann explains that a certain subgroup of the dolphin population known as “spongers” have learned how to attach conical basket sponges to their beaks in order to hunt for bottom-dwelling fish. Most of these fish lack swim bladders—gas-filled organs that facilitate the dolphin’s ability to locate and hone in on the fish because their echolocation detects the different density of the swim bladder. While echolocation may be less effective in finding these prey, with the sponge, the dolphin’s beak is protected while it disturbs the fish in the rocky substrate, resulting in a quick meal.
A still-unsolved question is how dolphins transmit know-how—including the use of sponges—through the
Since 2015, Mann has engaged students in the study of bottlenose dolphins in the Potomac River. Pictured (left-right): Shea O’Day (C’26), Verena Conkin (G’28), Karina Long (C’25), Mann.
Photos: (above) Nick Stringer, Big Wave Productions; (below) Taken under NMFS permit #23782 for the Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project
generations. “While we know it is by learning from the mother, the mechanism is unknown,” Mann says. “One of my Ph.D. students is trying to see if females actively teach. For example, does a mother change her hunting behavior to benefit a naive observer? Does she slow down or dive for longer when the calf is with her?”
Mann has published numerous scientific papers with both graduate students and undergraduates. She is particularly grateful for the university’s funding of student research. “The summer research fellowships that Georgetown offers have made a huge difference,” she says.
Far from the pristine waters of Shark Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site, Mann has also focused attention on dolphins close to home. Working with the support of Georgetown’s Earth Commons, she directs the PotomacChesapeake Dolphin Project. In the aftermath of devastating population loss from 2013 to 2015 due to morbillivirus, the project is investigating how dolphins’ synchronous breathing increases vulnerability to disease. Since the project started in 2015, they have identified over 2,000 individuals that use the Potomac River in the summer months.
In dedicating her career to advancing knowledge about highly intelligent and complex marine animals, Mann believes that enhanced understanding of other species can promote enhanced protection. “Hopefully people can appreciate that there isn’t this hierarchy that we’re on top of, that we just get to do what we want to the rest of nature. These studies remind us that there are other animals on this planet— from dung beetles to dolphins—that deserve the right to live.”
Like Mann, marine conservation scientist Elizabeth Hogan (SFS’97) has engaged in work leading her to remote regions of the world—in Hogan’s case, literally poles apart. Most recently, she
traveled to Antarctica in her role as science and innovation program for a National Geographic initiative.
“The focus is very large-scale systems change, so I’m fortunate enough to work with outstanding leading scientists,” Hogan says. “Our objective is to achieve a very broad snapshot of the overall health of certain ecosystems and find solutions using a multidisciplinary approach.”
In Antarctica, Hogan and her colleagues are studying how warming ocean temperatures may impact the health of ice seals. These marine mammals, once hunted to near extinction, are protected by a number of international treaties but now face new man-made threats.
“What role does large-scale systems change play in pathogen transfer among these mammals, and what can we learn from unusual mortality events such as the recent deaths of thousands of elephant seals off the coast of Argentina?”
Elizabeth Hogan (SFS’97), director of National Geographic’s Perpetual Planet Expeditions, on a recent trip to Antarctica studying climate impacts on ice seals.
Integral to Hogan’s work is a partnership with local communities in its areas of study, which span the globe from the Amazon rainforest to the Hindu Kush.
For several years, Hogan has been working with Indigenous communities in the Arctic on issues of food security and the conservation of beluga whales, narwhals, and Arctic char in the face of accelerated climate change.
“I so greatly appreciate the opportunity that they’re giving me to learn from them—getting to a place where the elders are trusting enough to talk to me about what they’ve observed and what they know to be different about a certain place than how it was 30 years ago,” Hogan says.
“Trying to think in a completely different way than how I’ve been trained to think is its own challenge,” she continues. “At one point we were at an unusual location where several elders had grown up, but hadn’t been back in a
Photo: Courtesy of Elizabeth Hogan
long time. They kept making the observation, ‘There are more rocks now, there are more rocks now.’ I finally realized, ‘Oh, the water is lower.’
“I have to be much more open to thinking differently. It’s a constant process. I don’t always know what I’m listening for.”
As Hogan notes, that constant quest for learning was fueled by her Georgetown education. “The biggest impact was very specific to the Jesuit value of intellect and being curious about the world around you,” she says.
She also credits her studies at the School of Foreign Service as foundational to her career, leading to several decades of work in conservation policy prior to her joining National Geographic in 2021. “It was incredibly valuable to me to have an understanding of what international organizations and international relations can achieve.”
As a program manager for the global nonprofit World Animal Protection from 2012 to 2018, for example, Hogan and her colleagues brought attention to the issue of marine wildlife entangled in fishing gear and the related issue of ocean plastic pollution.
“Unfortunately, the [U.N.] Global Plastics Treaty didn’t come to fruition this past year, but I’m still hoping to see that
come to pass,” Hogan says. “Often the most effective policy change is taking place at the local level.” She cites the Washington, DC, 5-cent plastic bag tax, which led to a dramatic drop in plastic pollution in the Anacostia River.
“The challenge with all international policy is enforcement,” she notes. “I see a lot of promise in free trade agreements. As opposed to a standalone and often voluntary international environmental guideline, something that has economic teeth is more likely to be adhered to.
“As frustrating as it can be to recognize what a slow and difficult climb it is, a lot of people want to dedicate themselves to this work,” Hogan says.
“Whatever route they choose, whether that’s through health care or economics or environmental studies, I’m optimistic about the number of people that genuinely want to improve the world and leave it better than they found it.”
Drawn to the majesty of whales from an early age, Hogan’s fellow alumna Michaela Harrison (SFS’92) has chosen an unconventional route to explore their world—music.
“I was around 12 when CD players came out, and one of the first CDs I ended up with was a recording of whale songs,”
Harrison says. “It stirred something in me, and I tucked it away deep inside.”
As she later transitioned from work in the nonprofit sector to a full-time career as a singer, Harrison continued to encounter signs pointing her on a new path—among them, an aweinspiring whale sighting off Maryland’s Assateague Island and an introduction to interspecies communication through the book Dolphin Dreamtime by environmental activist Jim Nollman.
In 2016, Harrison began performing with her band at Projeto Tamar, a sea turtle reserve in the Brazilian state of Bahia. “I casually mentioned to the director one day that I had always harbored this dream of singing with whales,” she says. “The day after that conversation, he booked me on a whale watching tour.”
Out on the sea, the tour group spotted three humpback whales. “I was so overcome with emotion that I just burst into song. The song that came to me was ‘Wade in the Water,’” Harrison says. “The whales swam right over to the boat, and they danced. It was this sublime experience.
“That’s when I knew it was time to begin, whatever this was that had started as a seed in my childhood.”
Harrison joined forces with Projecto Baleia Jubarte, a marine research and conservation group founded in 1988 to protect Brazil’s threatened population of humpback whales, and launched the Whale Whispering Project. Beginning with Harrison’s encounters with Bahia’s whales—including listening to whale song underwater through the use of a hydrophone—the project now encompasses activities ranging from live Whale Whispering events in DC to musical recordings including her most recent release, “Love Wins.”
As the project continues to evolve, Harrison has plans to develop a theatrical presentation, a full album, and a
Hogan’s career in marine conservation has taken her around the world, including fieldwork in the Gulf of Alaska studying Steller sea lions.
Photo: Kim Raum-Suryan
documentary, as well as increasing her geographic reach to include populations such as the North Atlantic right whale.
At its heart, the Whale Whispering Project is about healing. “I’ve been able to see over and over that in listening to whale song, everybody stops whatever they’re doing and goes to a place of stillness and peace,” Harrison says.
Forging powerful connections between humans and whales, Harrison has found a unique path to raising awareness of threats to the world’s oceans. “We need to pull all the possibilities out of the hat in terms of how we address this crisis that we’re facing.”
Delving deep in the spiritual meaning of whale song, Harrison has also embarked on a more personal journey of healing for the descendants of Africans sold into slavery in the Americas. “As I have delved into ancestral knowledge, I have felt that people on slave ships heard the whales singing and found comfort. So at the core of this work is reaching into that connection
that my ancestors were able to make, to support the reckoning with the legacy of slavery.”
It is perhaps no accident that “Wade in the Water” sprang immediately to mind when Harrison first began singing with whales. “I had the high honor and blessing of being mentored by Bernice Johnson Reagon, the founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock. ‘Wade in the Water’ was one of the group’s songs I really identified with.
“Harriet Tubman sang the song to encourage people in the escape process to trust that a way would be made across dangerous waters,” she says.
“Something Dr. Reagon really impressed on me is how music is a way in,”
Harrison says. “People from various backgrounds and perspectives might not necessarily be able to sit down at a table and talk, but the power of melody, of sound has an effect that brings people into resonance, and creates spaces where different levels of understanding and exchange are possible.
“So the Whale Whispering work is about our relationship with the planet and the ecosystem, and it’s also work on a personal level with my ancestors and their journey—reaching into the musical exchange with these great beings of a compassionate, generous nature to create and co-create songs of healing for this time.” •
Photo: Michael Muchnij
Renowned singer Michaela Harrison (SFS’92) created the Whale Whispering Project following her encounters with humpback whales in Brazil, sharing the beauty of whale song. Her latest release is “Love Wins,” a meditative call-and-response.
Photo: Courtesy of Michaela Harrison
Fostering new perspectives through interdisciplinary work
BY JANE VARNER MALHOTRA |
DESIGN BY SOFIA VELASQUEZ
When Miami native Akil Cole (C’24) began his first year at Georgetown, it was Fall 2020 and classes were meeting remotely due to the pandemic. He planned to study political science and government, but a course that first semester called Environment and Society with Professors Randall Amster and Martha Weiss opened a new door.
“I’ve always wanted to be helpful to people, and I’ve always wanted to protect our planet, but I didn’t really know how to do that in a way that made sense,” recalls Cole.
The professor brought in an inspiring guest lecturer: executive director of the Community Ecology Institute, an environment and education nonprofit in Columbia, Maryland.
“They were doing what I wanted to do. The combination of that place, that guest speaker, and that organization connected the dots for me,” shares Cole. “COVID set me on a path that was a much more winding road than I would’ve expected at the beginning.”
He continued taking environmental and sustainability courses every semester. At the time there was no environmental studies major at the College of Arts & Sciences, but he learned about another option from his friend Joel-Anthoney Bossous (C’23).
“He was studying Africana studies and philosophy and I was like, ‘How are you combining those things?!’” Cole says.
Discovering the Interdisciplinary Studies major Since the late 1970s, the university has offered a major in interdisciplinary studies, explains Professor Bernie Cook (C’90, G’91), director of the program which is housed in the College of Arts & Sciences.
“It’s an opportunity to design a major around a series of questions that the student articulates, and it’s built around a research experience,” says Cook.
Students apply for the program as sophomores and propose their majors. “They need to have an awareness of themselves and their interests, but they also need to have worked through the core curriculum enough to have been exposed to different fields of knowledge. That way they have a sense of, oh, okay, pursuing these questions through this discipline might lead me here, but there are other aspects of my questions that could be illuminated more if I looked at another discipline.”
Recent students have explored a range of fields including biology, game theory, philosophy, and political theory. As a film and media studies scholar who teaches American studies, Cook’s expertise is broad, but no one professor could possibly cover the scope of interest that students in
“It’s an opportunity to design a major around a series of questions that the student articulates, and it’s built around a research experience.”
—Professor Bernie Cook (C’90, G’91)
Cook, who directs the Interdisciplinary Studies major, is Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences and Founding Director of the Film and Media Studies Program.
Interdisciplinary Studies pursue. The program requires that students work with two faculty mentors to help guide their path as they design a major based on big questions.
“Interdisciplinary studies is a great way to tackle really difficult problems because you’re seeing potential solutions from different perspectives, and you’re trying to find overlap or coherence or integration among them,” Cook adds.
Cole realized that the interdisciplinary approach offered him the creative and challenging approach that he needed. What began for him as a big question about how to save the world evolved
over time as he took more classes and spent summers working in the field of ecology. He refined his question to “How do we make sure that everyone has quality food to eat without destroying the planet?”
“I wanted to understand how to pursue these questions and activities related to agriculture, community resilience, and environmental sustainability as fully as possible, while also addressing issues like justice, inequity, and social structures,” Cole notes.
In the end he came up with his final research question: “How do environmental justice organizations use farming, gardening, and other land-based initiatives to resist oppressive systems and make their communities more resilient?” For his thesis, he developed a podcast called Peace of Earth.
“I crystallized my journey with the Interdisciplinary Studies major through a four episode mini-series that is a comparative case study of two organizations: one in Columbia, Maryland and one in Cape Town, South Africa. Both of them use farming and gardening to grow food, but also to make their communities more resilient, particularly against oppressive systems like capitalism, patriarchy, and the legacies of apartheid and civil rights issues here in the United States.”
Photo: Phil Humnicky
Liberal Arts 2.0
Interdisciplinarity itself is foundational to any liberal arts education, and has been part of the fabric of Georgetown since its beginning. The university is placing a renewed emphasis on it in order to help answer increasingly complex questions in our interconnected world today—challenges like the pandemic, mass migration, and climate change. In 2023, Georgetown created the position of vice president for interdisciplinary initiatives and appointed Soyica Diggs Colbert (C’01), Idol Family Professor of Performing Arts and African American Studies, to the new role.
“All colleges and universities exist to advance the boundaries of knowledge,” says Colbert, who was named Interim Provost in November 2024. “But as a Jesuit institution, we are also encouraged—some might go as far as saying required— to do that work towards the common good. And we also know that the problems and challenges that we face in our world—problems that we’re training our students to solve, that the research that we’re currently doing at the university is helping to solve—do not fit neatly in disciplinary boundaries.”
As part of her work in the role over the past two years, she partnered with other university leaders to build and support cross-school and crosscampus collaborations, including the Emergent Ethics Network, the Tech & Society Initiative, and the Medical Humanities Initiative.
“There are lots of places we could point to at Georgetown University where interdisciplinarity has existed,” Colbert notes, adding that interest is growing, but often students and faculty run into hurdles. She helps break those down.
“A lot of my work focuses on supporting initiatives that cut across more than one school. For example, students who are enrolled in one school find it
difficult to even take classes at another school. Part of my role is to create the structures that make it easier for our students and our faculty to collaborate, decreasing the friction that has existed for a while, even as people were already doing this work.”
She describes the effort succinctly: liberal arts 2.0.
“Georgetown has had a liberal arts education since our founding in 1789. The assumption is that there’s a general basis of knowledge that all of our students should attain, and they go back to their dorm rooms, to their own work, and integrate this knowledge. For example, they might realize that something they heard about in their economics class relates to something they heard about in their history class. What we’re doing now is giving students the support to make those connections in real time in classrooms. The fundamental need of having these different bodies of knowledge speak to each other has always been a part of the liberal arts mission. How we are delivering on that mission is shifting.”
Noteworthy examples include new degrees across schools, such as the interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program delivered jointly by the School of Foreign Service and the McDonough School of Business. The Dikran Izmirlian Program in
Cole gave remarks to the news in Belfast, Northern Ireland, about the unveiling of the first Frederick Douglass statue in Europe as part of his time in 2023 as a Frederick Douglass Global Fellow, an experiential learning, comparative study of social justice leadership in four countries (USA, South Africa, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland).
Photo: JoLyn King
Business & Global Affairs, which graduated its first cohort in 2023, offers an experiential and research-based program to prepare students to address the complex interactions that occur when business and international affairs mix, all with a grounding in ethics.
Additional programs include a new joint degree between the College of Arts & Sciences and Georgetown McDonough focusing on proficiency in multiple languages, and a new master’s degree in sustainability offered through The Earth Commons and Georgetown McDonough, developing business leaders with a scientific understanding for how sustainability functions.
Supporting interdisciplinary work among faculty is the William and Karen Sonneborn Chair for Interdisciplinary Collaboration—more of a loveseat, says Colbert, because it’s made for multiple collaborators—which currently supports a global team looking at predicting migration patterns, and another on studying the Indian Ocean, which includes faculty from the Qatar campus.
“All of this is an effort to respond to questions that our students and faculty want to answer,” says Colbert.
At the intersection of society and technology
An interdisciplinary initiative percolating at Georgetown since 2019, Tech & Society offers itself as a way to connect work already underway
across campuses “to explore emerging questions and realities” relating to the “increasingly ambiguous terrain of information technology.” The effort encompasses multiple centers and programs touching on different aspects of technology and society, including ethics, privacy, national security, law, policy, governance, and data.
In addition to organizing conferences, spearheading research, and supporting education such as the popular new Technology, Ethics, and Society minor, the organization offers a variety of programs, including the Fritz Family Fellowship. Offered for students at all levels, the collaborative research projects are codesigned and mentored by faculty from at least two different areas of expertise. The goal is to develop a network of public-interest tech leaders grounded in the social and ethical impact of technology.
Fritz Fellow Jason Yi (C’26) has been interested in STEM subjects throughout his life. The computer science major learned how to code in middle school and studied mechanical engineering at his STEM-focused high school in Virginia. But he also started doing more work in the humanities and social sciences, branching out to become part of Model U.N. and studying educational equity. These interests drove his decision to come to Georgetown, knowing that he wanted to study technology but as it connects to social impact and government.
“When I came to Georgetown, I wanted to merge these two areas, but I had no formal way of doing that,” says Yi. “The Tech & Society Initiative made it really easy, with all the departments and research centers under them. Students can create a way to get involved in this space no matter if you want to work more on the qualitative research or the technical side.”
During his first year at Georgetown, he worked at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and
Photo: Phil Humnicky
Interim Provost Colbert, who recently served as Vice President for Interdisciplinary Studies, is the Idol Family Professor and author of Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry
Innovation, which he credits for contributing deeply to his interdisciplinary mindset. The center fosters partnerships between students and practitioners working on projects that advance good governance, using data, design, technology, and policy as instruments for equitable societal change.
“The amount of research I was able to do while looking at different tech initiatives the government is putting on gave me a general awareness of what is going on in the field,” Yi notes, crediting his mentors for the trust they offered him as he pursued his research. During that time he learned about an issue in government—the problem of making web forms mobile-friendly—and developed it into a winning hack-a-thon project to digitize paperwork in one click.
He had the opportunity to demo the project at BenCon, the digital benefits conference sponsored by the Beeck Center. “I ended up getting a lot of great feedback, because I was able to demonstrate how technology is really able to improve a lot of aspects about government.”
Yi cites a favorite interdisciplinary course called Intro to Tech Ethics and Society featuring guest speakers who ranged from philosophers to computer scientists, offering different perspectives on ethical issues related to technology “and really explicitly put these topics in conversation with each other.”
In the fall of his first year he took an Ignatius Seminar theology course called Human Flourishing: East and West with Professor Erin Cline—an experience that also informs his interdisciplinary approach. “We learned about different religions from Eastern and Western cultures, and learned how to analyze and extract value from different perspectives.”
Naturally, interdisciplinarity is also happening outside of the classroom, Yi notes, in conversations between friends.
“Every once in a while we’ll just talk about some issue going on in the world today, or my pre-med friends will talk to me about their research. My other roommate will talk to me about his China
research. Another close friend is interested in labor relations. And I’ll talk to them about my computer science research. There’s a lot of really smart people around me, with different perspectives, and I learn so much from them every single day.
“There’s a strong formal network of interdisciplinary work here at Georgetown, but also a very strong informal network as well of people being interested in the topic, talking to other people in the field, making connections in that area,” Yi adds. “Even in just the three years I’ve been here, the interdisciplinary community at Georgetown has gotten stronger.”
Indeed the last four new majors developed at the university are each shared by two schools.
Interim President Bob Groves, who previously served as provost for 12 years, underscores the increasing importance of interdisciplinarity at Georgetown, and the need to construct spaces to foster it. He notes that students today seek more experience-based learning, which aligns well with an interdisciplinary approach because it integrates education with research and is problem-oriented. Above all, interdisciplinarity aligns with Georgetown’s values.
“Georgetown’s mission involves forming people for others, especially those among disadvantaged groups in the world,” says Groves. “The unsolved world problems—climate change, epidemics, harmful effects of globalization—are disproportionately faced by disadvantaged groups. What domains of human knowledge will solve these problems? No one field has the ownership to do so.”
Aspects of interdisciplinarity can be challenging, he adds, as experts from different fields learn over time to speak the same language, and work in a model of shared leadership rather than a more efficient but less fruitful top-down hierarchy. It’s good for faculty, for students, and for the world.
“Interdisciplinary work can be risky, but it generates possibilities.” •
Wall Street Alliance Dinner hits silver anniversary
By Julia Farr (C’88, Parent’19, ’21, ’24), executive director of the Georgetown University Alumni Association
What began as an idea between friends in the early 1990s has grown into one of the most robust networks in Georgetown’s history and the source of Georgetown’s second largest endowed scholarship.
The seed for the Wall Street Alliance was planted in 1993, when William P. Frank (C’63, Parent’00,’02), Victor R. Wright (Parent’96, ’99), and James F. Higgins (B’70, Parent’99, ’08) independently proposed that the university develop a Wall Street affinity group. Each had seen similar groups at peer institutions and recognized the benefits of such an alliance, both for individual members and for universities and their students.
In 1995, the Wall Street Alliance was founded with an ambitious mission: to raise Georgetown’s profile and that of its alumni, parents, and friends in business; to create and participate in networking opportunities for business professionals; to provide networking, mentoring, and scholarship support to current and future Georgetown students; and to build relationships between members’ firms and the university for the mutually beneficial exchange of resources.
“I’ve always felt that Georgetown does a great job of staying in touch with students by class or region, but I saw an opportunity for Georgetown to connect with students by profession,” explains Wall Street Alliance Board Member John Wooters (C’75), who served as chair for five years and later joined the staff. “I think students want that and we want to support Georgetown students.”
Growth and impact
The Wall Street Alliance began with a mentorship focus.
“We started by building a database of people in the industry with Georgetown ties,” says Wooters. “I think it’s key that we asked for people’s time, not their money.
“We also started at the top, figuring that if a company’s leadership was on board then they could get other managers and employees to join as well. Using this approach we were able to grow the alliance quickly.”
Wooters explains that WSA always had networking events with guest speakers, but the idea for a gala fundraising dinner
The 25th Annual Wall Street Alliance Scholarship Dinner took place in March 2025 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. With over 450 in attendance, the event raised just over $2M for undergraduate scholarships.
“The highlight of each of these dinners is hearing from the past recipients and how the scholarship made the difference for them in attending Georgetown.”
—JOHN
WOOTERS
(C’75)
came in 2001. The first one was held that March at The Plaza hotel in New York City and featured remarks by honoree Paul Tagliabue (C’62), then the commissioner of the National Football League. That inaugural event drew 500 people and raised $1 million for the new Wall Street Alliance Scholarship Fund for undergraduate students.
The event has continued to grow with an endowment that today has a value of over $20M.
“Each year we have a speech by our honoree as well as one of the scholarship recipients,” says Wooters. “The highlight
of each of these dinners is hearing from the past recipients and how the scholarship made the difference for them in attending Georgetown.”
A model for others to follow
“The Wall Street Alliance Dinner continues to succeed because we are never complacent,” says Wooters. “We are always tweaking the program, making changes. We also make sure we are meeting with students on the Hilltop to find out how we can help them.
“I’m proud that we’ve been a model for other Georgetown alliances and would love to see that tradition continue,” adds Wooters.
Inspired by the Wall Street Alliance, the Georgetown University Alumni Association now has several alliances related to professions including the Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance, the Georgetown Tech Alliance, the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance, and the Georgetown Angel Investor Network. •
Clockwise from top left: A Wall Street Alliance gathering in 2006; Georgetown leaders smile at a 2016 event; a group of Hoyas pose with President Emeritus DeGioia at the dinner in early 2020; a full perspective of the event at its Cipriani Wall Street space.
Photos: Phil Humnicky
Hoyas celebrate ‘Black Joy’ at Black Alumni Summit
Last November, the Georgetown University Alumni Association’s Black Alumni Council presented the 5th biennial Black Alumni Summit (BAS), an event open to all members of the Georgetown alumni community.
Since 2015, BAS has celebrated the professional and personal achievements of Georgetown’s Black alumni community. This summit asked attendees to reflect on the theme “Black Joy” while also discussing the recent election and the future of the Black community through topics such as finance, technology, leadership, athletics, and health.
The event’s host organization, Black Alumni Council, serves as a university-wide council for all Black alumni across all Georgetown campuses. It was founded through the collaboration of three cornerstone organizations: the leadership from previous summits, the Georgetown University
African American Advisory Board, and the Soul Hoya Alumni Group.
Event co-chairs Mannone A. Butler (B’94, L’99) and Eric Woods (B’91) welcomed everyone by saying “never forget the magic that’s present in this room.”
In addition to the panels and discussions, the summit seeks to develop support networks for undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni. Tkeyah Lake (G’16) attended her second summit this year.
“Having attended Georgetown [School of Continuing Studies] as a grad student, it was nice to hear from undergrad alumni who shared the journeys that led them to choose Georgetown,” says Lake. “Despite not having as much time at Georgetown, I felt the impact that our university has left on all of us on a personal and professional level.”
To help attendees stay connected after the summit, the GU Alumni Events app provided a way to opt-in to networking.
“We’re stronger when we’re together,” said Butler in farewell. •
—Nowshin Chowdhury
Event co-chairs Mannone A. Butler (B’94, L’99) and Eric Woods (B’91) (top right) hosted the 5th biennial Black Alumni Summit with 50 speakers, 13 panels, and over 300 attendees last November. “Black Joy” and topics such as finance, technology, leadership, athletics, and health were highlighted.
Photos: Leslie E. Kossoff
Saving lives in Ukraine
As co-founder of Zero Line, a nonprofit provider of front-line aid, Ian Miller (C’09) strategizes how to save Ukranian lives and shorten the war with Russia.
“The third day of the Russian invasion, I was managing an MIT software team watching the news, horrified. So, I flew over to east Poland to try to help Ukrainians,” says Miller.
“When I got to Ukraine, I connected with other volunteers with complementary software, logistical, and military skills. We had a shared desire to provide front-line aid—targeting where most people are dying in the war and aid saves the most lives,” he explains. That summer, with American and Ukrainian cofounders, Miller formalized the nonprofit Zero Line to provide vehicles, IT equipment, and other non-weapon supplies to frontline Ukrainians.
“My Georgetown professors instilled in me— and many of my classmates—a general belief in the value of public service and foreign service.”—IAN MILLER (C’09)
“What you provide matters. To whom and why is also crucial. We support Ukrainian programs with multiplier effects,” says Miller. With donor funding, Zero Line supports Ukrainian programs that digitally map the front-lines and build defense equipment like jammers.
“The digital maps are used by tens of thousands of Ukrainians to increase the survival rate of operations like evacuating wounded people and moving supplies under Russian fire. And the jammers protect against Russian strike drones,” he says. Zero Line procures and ships these supplies into Ukraine via large aid convoys driven by dozens of volunteers.
“Volunteers and donors overlap, and that’s part of our fundraising strategy,” he says. “The convoys safely bring volunteers to Ukraine to provide direct logistical value—driving vehicles, unloading, and delivering aid—and to see things firsthand.”
“Georgetown alumni have been generous supporters of Zero Line’s aid work, both in the first weeks of the invasion and, supporting and joining our autumn aid convoy,” says Miller.
“My Georgetown professors instilled in me—and many of my classmates—a general belief in the value of public service and foreign service,” he says. “I think that’s one reason we’ve earned a lot of support from alumni.”
Looking to the future of Zero Line, Miller says, “The mission remains the same: save as many lives as possible, but get a lot bigger and better at doing that.” •
—Racquel Nassor
Recent gifts to Called to Be: The Campaign for Georgetown
Supporting Georgetown’s nursing students
Patty (N’93) and Chris (B’93) Mosher (Parents’24) established the Nursing Student Resource Endowed Fund to provide immediate financial assistance to undergraduate nursing students with a critical financial need. Thanks to the Mosher family, Georgetown is ensuring that our student community thrives.
Enhancing the Center for Jewish Civilization (CJC)
A $3 million gift from the A. Alfred Taubman Foundation, on whose board William and Ellen Taubman (Parents’16) sit, will expand the CJC’s events and academic offerings. Thanks to this foundation, Georgetown is shaping the future of teaching, research, and learning.
A new Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities
Through combined gifts of $19 million from a group of donors, Georgetown, in partnership with MedStar Health, launched the Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities, a multidisciplinary academic center focusing on child and family mental health, disabilities, health equity, and digital health. Thanks to these donors, Georgetown is advancing the health and security of people and the planet.
Beeck Center receives $8M to support civic technology development
Last fall, the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation received an $8 million funding commitment from the Ballmer Group to enhance its work providing hands-on technical assistance and capacity-building support for all levels of government. Thanks to the Ballmer Group, Georgetown is building a stronger, more ethical society.
ALUMNA LEARNS TO LIVE IN SERVICE TO OTHERS
When Joan Nau Huai (SFS’21) came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor refugee from Myanmar, she was resettled in foster care in Arizona by Catholic Charities. She decided to pursue political science and chose Georgetown because the Jesuit values aligned with her own.
Nau Huai received full financial aid and was accepted into the Community Scholars Program.
“It was an invaluable opportunity for me to be a part of a meaningful and caring community and learn about different resources, like Georgetown Scholars Program (GSP) peer mentorship and the Center for Social Justice (CSJ),” says Nau Huai, who later served as a GSP peer mentor.
Participating in CSJ’s alternative break program in New York City with the Queer Youth Homelessness program and working with DC Schools Project “provided further insight into the different injustices that aren’t often highlighted,” she says.
She was also a member of the Asian Pacific Islander Leadership Forum and studied abroad in Singapore, though her trip was disrupted by COVID-19 pandemic.
“During the pandemic I didn’t have a home to return to,” says Nau Huai. “I’m very grateful to Georgetown for not only supporting me throughout my undergrad, but also serving as my home when I didn’t have one.”
After graduation, Nau Huai found a new home among the Burmese Catholic community at Our Lady of Victory
(OLV) Parish in Baltimore. She co-founded the community’s association where she organizes cultural, religious, and volunteer events throughout the year.
When the Archdiocese of Baltimore proposed to close OLV as part of its Seek the City to Come initiative in April 2024, Nau Huai and fellow parishioners successfully organized and campaigned against the proposal by speaking at the public hearing session and through writing petition letters.
“I witnessed the power of community organizing, from children to elderly, showing up and being present in solidarity with one another,” says Nau Huai. “I believe that including and amplifying everyone’s lived experiences, particularly that of Burmese Catholic refugees, made a significant impact on the Archdiocese’s decision to keep the parish open.”
Nau Huai continues her service work by coordinating a tutoring program for the community’s low-income students, co-creating the parish’s community garden that partly supports the food pantry for neighborhood households in need, and serving on the pastoral council at OLV. She also works full time as an administrative coordinator for Education Abroad at the University of Maryland, College Park. •
—Nowshin Chowdhury
Photo: Lisa Helfert
After graduation, Joan Nau Huai (SFS’21) continued her commitment to Jesuit values of community service with the Burmese Catholic community at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Baltimore.
THE UNIFYING POWER OF FOOD
“Hilana Falafel is more than a food business,” says owner and founder Manal Insley (SCS’24).
The Washington, DC-based business is “a celebration of my Palestinian heritage and a way to share the authentic flavors of Jerusalem with a wider audience. It’s been a rewarding journey that allows me to blend entrepreneurship with cultural expression,” she says.
“I never made falafel in Palestine, but I missed it after living in the U.S. and I wanted to feel closer to my Palestinian identity. I called my friend who owns the best falafel shop in Ramallah and he gave me his recipe,” she says. In 2016, Insley reached out to farmers markets and started selling Jerusalem-style falafel sandwiches.
“I am Palestinian Christian, and Jerusalem holds a big place in my heart,” she explains. “I call it Jerusalem-style falafel because I see myself in the mirror of Jerusalem— how it should look like. I gather with my Muslim-Palestinian and Jewish-American staff under one canopy and we serve people from all over the world, regardless of their identity, race, or beliefs.”
“The flavor, the freshness, and the authenticity in combination makes it really unique,” she says.
Hilana Falafel’s years of success allowed Insley to attend Georgetown’s bachelor of arts in liberal studies program when the COVID-19 pandemic slowed business. She was finally able to finish the business and entrepreneurship
degree she started in her native country but was interrupted by unrest in the early 2000s.
“Completing my education was a lifelong dream,” she says. “So, when I got my Georgetown acceptance letter, I collapsed in tears.”
“At Georgetown, I learned I did everything right for my business by focusing on one high quality product, but the program gave me the confidence and tools to think more strategically and rationally about Hilana Falafel,” Insley says. “Every class and professor is incredible; they just want you to succeed. I feel they are your mentors forever, beyond your time at Georgetown.”
Insley still looks to former professors for guidance as she imagines a future where Hilana Falafel has a brick-and-mortar location, is in international markets, and can partner with grocery stores for pre-packaged products. She also dreams of fostering economic and social change by developing a business management educational curriculum for women, helping them turn their ideas into realities.
“It’s not going to be an easy ride, but I believe in Hilana Falafel. It’s a place where everyone breaks bread and works together in harmony,” says Insley. “Food is what unites us together.” •
—Racquel Nassor
Photo: Courtesy of Manal Insley
Manal Insley (center, in black), owner of DC-based Hilana Falafel, stands surrounded by her team under the canopy of her authentic Jerusalem style falafel stand.
Alumnus shares the story of DC Central Kitchen
Alexander Justice Moore (G’09) grew up in Maine, and recalls touring Georgetown’s campus in middle school. He hoped someday life would bring him to Washington, DC, again— and it did.
While attending Ithaca College in New York state, Moore was a grant writing intern at DC Central Kitchen. He found a larger family of people from all walks of life and wanted to do something positive for the city, he says. So he applied to the master’s in security studies program at Georgetown.
“I was wrestling with two areas of interest: one was domestic policy and one was the international realm—how we can make a safer, more secure, prosperous, and peaceful world,” he says. “Georgetown changed my life in a way that I didn’t anticipate. So much of what I learned there about practical applied research, asking questions of smart people if you can get access to them, making connections in your community that lead to better outcomes—all of that was really valuable time and experience, and certainly helped me do what I’ve been able to do since.”
In 2010, Moore began working for DC Central Kitchen full time and is now the chief development officer. Last summer, he published the second edition of The Food Fighters: A History of DC Central Kitchen.
“I wrote the first edition for the 25th anniversary,” says Moore. “There was a lot to celebrate, and it was a time when our founder Robert Egger was leaving. This time around, 10 years have passed and the organization has grown tremendously. It’s physically in a very different place.”
The headquarters recently moved to a 36,000-square-foot space in Southwest DC.
“Having a little bit more time and space in the book, I was able to help illustrate how far people can come, what they can be part of, not simply as recipients of a service, but as leaders of how that service is designed and delivered,” says Moore. “I was able to highlight the leadership journey of several colleagues and share stories of staff members who have passed as a lasting memory of what they accomplished for our city.”
“My greatest challenge and opportunity as a storyteller is that all I’m doing is pulling back the veil,” he continues. “I’m making it possible for people to see what I see because I am DC Central Kitchen’s biggest superfan.” •
—Nowshin Chowdhury
Photo: Courtesy of DC Central Kitchen
Following Kate Brody down the Rabbit Hole
Although becoming an author was Kate Brody’s (C’13) childhood dream job, when she arrived at Georgetown University, she planned to go into medicine.
“I was stressed. I had been taking science classes, so I took one creative writing class for fun. I got derailed by that one intro class with David Ebenbach—who really became my mentor. He’s an excellent creative writing teacher,” says Brody. “Writing quickly became my whole life.”
Soon, Brody declared as an English major, later becoming a Lannan Fellow, and taking every writing course available to her taught by Dinaw Mengestu, Norma Tilden, and others who guided her development as an author. After graduation, Brody completed an MFA at New York University—and completed her first literary fiction novel exploring grief. However, the first book bought by her publisher, Soho Crime, was the mystery novel that came next.
“Rabbit Hole was born out of a childhood love of mystery books and my adult devotion to literary fiction,” she says.
Brody’s Rabbit Hole follows a young English teacher, Teddy Angstrom, in the wake of her father’s suicide. While preparing for the funeral, she discovers his Reddit investigation into her sister’s cold case disappearance and picks up where he left off. As Teddy follows the thread of the mystery, she gets tangled in the web.
“Grief is often very boring from the outside,” she explains. “Mystery novels are very propulsive, the plot moves quickly, and yet most mystery novels where someone goes missing are also stories about grief.”
“I had been taking science classes, so I took one creative writing class for fun. I got derailed by that one intro class... Writing quickly became my whole life.”
With Rabbit Hole, Brody gives the structure of a mystery plot to the effects of grief on a family. Maintaining the same first readers she had at Georgetown helped her stay committed to writing even as she changed genres.
“When I think about my writing education, I think about those Georgetown workshops,” she says.
“I met my husband, Chris Insana (C’13), who’s a writer, in a Georgetown workshop and he reads all my early work. I met an author friend, Jacquelyn Stolos (C’13), at Georgetown—we meet once a month to exchange work. I’ll also still send David an early draft of things that I’m working on,” she says.
“There’s a period after leaving the institution where you have to sink or swim as a writer. The fact that we all had each other to hold onto is helpful,” Brody explains. “Just meeting those people at Georgetown was huge.” •
—Racquel Nassor
Photo: Sally Sum
Lives Well Lived honors a few alumni who have recently passed away. We share with you these portraits of alumni who have made an indelible impact living day to day as people for others. Memories collected by Patti North.
You can find a more complete list at alumni.georgetown.edu/in-memoriam.
Stephanie Leifer (C’90)
New Jersey native Stephanie Leifer, 56, passed away June 28, 2024, from cancer. She worked for ABC for 30 years. As senior vice president of comedy development, she played a pivotal role in shaping some of television’s most popular shows, including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Scandal,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty,” and “black • ish.”
As a court-appointed special advocate with CASA of Los Angeles, she dedicated her time to working on behalf of foster children.
She is survived by her husband, Jonathan Bluman, their children, Amelia and Noah, and her sister, Michelle (C’93).
“When I started at Georgetown as a freshman, Stephanie was a senior,” Michelle recalled. “She made everything easier— guiding me with her wisdom, encouraging me when I needed it most, and showing me how to face life with confidence. She had a way of making everyone around her feel valued. Her connection to Georgetown was something she carried with her throughout her life. As an alumna, she stayed involved, interviewing prospective students and giving back to a community she cared about so deeply.”
Anthony Joseph Allen Sr. (C’90)
Anthony Allen, 57, passed away at his home in Maryland. He played high school basketball in Texas, winning two state championships, leading to his being recruited by coach John Thompson Jr. He attended Georgetown, graduating in 1990. Despite knee and ankle injuries, he scored 221 points over his college career.
After playing on a U.S. exhibition team in France, he returned to Georgetown in 1994, joining GUPD as a campus police officer and eventually rising to the position of master police officer.
While at GUPD, Anthony also completed his graduate studies in divinity and became assistant pastor at Mount Horeb Baptist Church in Washington, DC.
He is survived by his wife, Laura, and his children, Aniyah, Anthony Jr., Ava, and Aiden, who shared the following: “Rooted in faith and driven by purpose, our father exemplified a life dedicated to service, knowledge, and community. As a proud member of Georgetown’s men’s basketball legacy and a steadfast servant to its community for over 30 years, he embodied the GU mission—glorifying God and uplifting humanity through wisdom, compassion, and the power of God’s Word.”
“Dad was remarkable and unique as a father and as a person,” the family shares. “He taught us all how to laugh, how to love, and how to live.”
—THE COHN FAMILY
Sherman Cohn (SFS’54, L’57, L’60)
Sherman “Sherm” Cohn, the longest-serving member of the Georgetown faculty, died last year at age 92. Born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, to immigrant parents from Eastern Europe, he was the first in his family to attend college.
A summa cum laude SFS graduate, Professor Cohn enrolled at the Law Center and served as the managing editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. After graduating in 1957 as class valedictorian, he clerked for Judge Charles Fahy (L’14, HON’42) on the U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit. He followed that by seven years at the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, while also completing an LL.M at Georgetown Law.
Joining the faculty in 1965, Professor Cohn taught civil procedure, Jewish law, and alternative and complementary medicine law. He authored numerous articles from “The Legal Status and Problems of the American Abroad” to “Medical Acupuncture: The Legal Environment as Practiced by the Physician.”
Professor Cohn founded the Continuing Legal Education Program and its Appellate Litigation Clinic, while serving as Chair of the Law Annual Fund, and later the University Alumni Fund. He was also a member of the Board of Governors and received the John Carroll Award in 1980.
Professor Cohn is survived by five children, three of whom are Georgetown alumni: Steven Cohn (SFS’87), Ronald Cohn (L’84), Jerald Cohn (L’85), Leah Guihen, and Joshua Cohn, as well as partner Gail Kauffman. Two daughters-in-law, Vanessa Cohn (L86), and Robin Cohn (L’85) are also Law Center alumni. “Dad was remarkable and unique as a father and as a person,” the family shares. “He taught us all how to laugh, how to love, and how to live. His children and many grandchildren will carry his values with us throughout our lives. We miss him every day.”
Friends and family of Professor Cohn are raising funds to dedicate a space in his name in the new academic building to be constructed on the Law Center campus. To make a memorial gift in his honor, please contact Melissa Slaughter, Director of Donor Relations at ms5280@georgetown.edu
Christopher Steck, S.J.,
Thomas J. Healey Family Distinguished Professor in Ethical Studies, on “unfolding stories”
One of the hats I wear at Georgetown is that of residential minister. I love being a dorm chaplain, particularly since my dorm (New South) houses not just any ol’ students but first-years. I joke that my favorite classes at Georgetown are first semester freshmen and second semester seniors.
I often refer to my ministry in New South as a “shift of gears.” Much of my professional life can lean toward the cerebral—class preparation, research in animal ethics, editing an academic journal. But dorm ministry is different: It requires less head and more heart as I try to meet students where they are.
Much of my professional life can lean toward the cerebral... But dorm ministry is different: it requires less head and more heart as I try to meet students where they are.
It’s been a gift to share a living space with the former. Only three months or so out of high school, the firstyears arrive on the Hilltop and are quickly immersed in a demanding social and intellectual environment. They endeavor—sometimes deftly, sometimes awkwardly—to find their group and way of belonging, gain their footing in the classroom, and attend to all those projects and activities that beckon beyond it. Being with these students allows me to experience, if indirectly, the excitement of encountering a new intellectual landscape, the challenge of negotiating new and fragile relationships, and the struggle to overcome academic disappointment and social heartbreak.
Pope Francis once encouraged priests to “be shepherds with the smell of sheep.” If there is any part of my life where I get close to that exhortation, I suspect it’s my work in the dorm. The “sheep” of New South bring their own particular smells that regularly waft up and down the hallways—sometimes invitingly and sometimes… less so. They serve as token signs of the remarkable stories unfolding around me as a special group of students begin a new stage in life’s pilgrimage.
I hope that all of my work at Georgetown, somehow and in some way, serves the greater glory of God. But I think residential ministry is privileged in at least one sense: It reflects the movement of the God whom I strive to follow—a God who wants to keep getting close, not just to the elevated and distinctively spiritual parts of our stories but to the quotidian and seemingly commonplace events that fill them. •
2115 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20007
Produce from the Hoya Harvest Garden is distributed via the Hoya Hub, Georgetown’s on-campus food pantry, and other partners identified by the Center for Social Justice, honoring our Jesuit values of People for Others and Care for Our Common Home
