Student Laura Harris Drafts Legislation
SPP Master’s student Laura Harris recently helped to draft a bill which impressed state delegate Terry Kilgore (R-Gate City) so much that he introduced it to the General Assembly. If passed, the bill would give participating Virginia college students and their families more security when budgeting for tuition payments.

Master's Student Najla Shawaw: USAID Presidential Scholar
Najla Shawa, a native of Palestine who is getting her master’s degree from SPP, is at George Mason as a Presidential Scholar chosen by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID funds the studies of Palestinians they consider potential leaders who can play prominent roles in the development of the economy and society.

Frendak: Synthetic Environments for National Security Estimates Program
SPP Assistant Professor Allison Frendak-Blume, the director of POPP, has been working with S.E.N.S.E. since before she arrived at George Mason. In May 1999, she was hired to serve as a trainer for Akrona parliamentarians in the S.E.N.S.E. simulations.

Auerswald's New Journal: Innovations
As of this month, SPP is home to a new journal, Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization, about how people use technology to address global challenges. The journal is co-edited by SPP Assistant Professor Philip Auerswald, the Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy, and Iqbal Quadir, founding Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Program in Developmental Entrepreneurship.

PhD Student Edits New Book
SPP Ph.D. student Pritam Banerjee has a new edited book: "Beyond the Transition Phase of WTO." "It considers the central issues of the World Trade Organization, or WTO, through an Indian perspective," explains Banerjee. "It also looks at India's trade policy options outside the multilateral framework of the WTO."

Student: Erik Saar's Book: "Inside the Wire"
Last year, Erik Saar, a master’s student in his first semester at SPP, co-authored a book called "Inside the Wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier's Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantanamo" (Penguin Press, May 2005). "It’s about my time as an Arabic linguist and intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army and how my experience in Guantanamo strongly challenged some of my beliefs regarding U.S. policy," Saar says.

Graduate Career and Internship Fair
SPP and the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution recently hosted their fourth annual Graduate Career and Internship Fair on Wednesday March 1, 2006 at the Arlington campus.

ODKM's New Website
SPP’s Organization Development and Knowledge Management (ODKM) program got its new name at the beginning of this academic year, when Associate Professor Ann Baker took over as director, and the program began offering classes in the executive format. Now, ODKM also has a new website, which can be seen at http://odkm.gmu.edu/.