Suicide bomber kills graduate in Baghdad

GW alumna Tracy Hushin died Jan. 3 in Baghdad when a suicide bomber struck her car, Newsday reported.

Hushin, 34, had been in Baghdad for about a year while working for an American consulting company advising the new Iraqi government on economic issues. She was working under a contract for the United States Agency for International Development.

The car bomb killed Hushin and three others when it exploded at a checkpoint between the protected Green Zone and the road to the Baghdad International Airport.

Hushin, of Islip Terrace, N.Y., earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at GW. She received her master’s degree in international relations and economics in 1994, and started working for the McLean, Va.-based consulting company, BearingPoint Inc., that same year. The company advises organizations, including government agencies, on business and technology issues.

Hushin was working as the manager in charge of operations for the BearingPoint team of 120 Americans and 380 Iraqis and was coordinating a training mission for about 60 Iraqis at the time of her death, according to a statement from the company. She was traveling to the airport that day to pick up plane tickets for the out-of-country training mission.

Marvin Center copy shop closes

The Pulse Copy Center ceased operations Dec. 22 after its parent company, College Enterprises, Inc., decided to close all its stores.

The store was located on the ground floor of the Marvin Center. The University made efforts to keep the copy center in business throughout the spring semester, but College Enterprises, Inc. notified GW in December that it had to shut down all stores by the end of 2004, according to a University statement.

The Pulse had been in business since 1999. The Office of Institutional Auxiliary Services, which manages third party contracts for the University, is corresponding with other service providers to determine whether a new copy center will replace The Pulse.

Students are able to make copies at the Gelman Library with their GWorld cards. A 24-hour Kinko’s Copy Center is also close to campus at 21st and K streets.

GW hosts symposium on PBS slavery series

GW hosted a symposium on Jan. 13 to preview a new PBS series about slavery and discuss new approaches to teaching the subject. More than 100 educators joined slavery scholars, archivists and the series producers for the two and a half day symposium.

The four-part series, “Slavery and the Making of America,” will premiere Feb. 9 nationwide. The program aims to document the impact of slavery on shaping American history.

American studies and history professor James Horton co-authored a companion book, “Slavery and the Making of America,” for the series. The 256-page book was published in October. Horton is also the director of the Afro-American Communities Project at the National Museum of American History.
-Caitlin Carroll