2022 Awards

About the Award: Dr. Richard F. Southby was a faculty member at the George Washington University from 1979 to 2006, having served as department chair, associate dean, interim dean of the former School of Public Health and Health Services, distinguished professor of global health, and executive dean in the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Health Affairs. He was granted emeritus status by the Board of Trustees in 2006. Dr. Southby was the founding director of the Police Science Program in the College of Professional Studies.

The Dr. Richard F. Southby Police Science Prize is presented to an exceptional graduating student from the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Homeland Security/Police and Security Studies program. The prize was established by Dr. Southby’s wife, Dr. Janet R. Southby, Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret.

About the Awardee: Michael Queen Jr. studied engineering and information systems at Morgan State University from 1994 to 1999 but realized that his true calling was public service.  Mr. Queen joined the George Washington University Police Department in 2002 where he served as a communications supervisor, a Field Training Officer, an investigator and a shift supervisor.  His colleagues know Mr. Queen as a mentor to many new police officers and a dedicated public safety professional. 

Serving the George Washington University community was a great source of pride for Mr. Queen, but he had a deep desire to accelerate his career by completing his Bachelor’s Degree.  In 2019, Mr. Queen was accepted into the Bachelor’s of Professional Studies in Homeland Security program.  Studying the various homeland security topics became a passion and Mr. Queen spent many long hours completing his assignments.  This was not easy, since Mr. Queen and his wife Erica were raising 8 year-old twins Morgan and Michael A. Queen, III (Trey), 19 year-old Nevaeh and working full time.  Through hard work and dedication, Mr. Queen received an “A” in all of his core coursework and graduates with a grade point average of 4.0.  

Mr. Queen plans to pursue Cyber Security in the next stage of his career.

About the Award: The Founding Dean Arterton Award is given to the graduating student who epitomizes professional distinction and ethical conduct in political management. F. Christopher Arterton, who served as dean of the Graduate School of Political Management from its founding in 1987 to 2010, established this award to celebrate the core ideals valued by a school of professional politics.

Before joining the GSPM, Professor Arterton taught political science at Yale, MIT, and Wellesley,
achieving national recognition as a scholar of American politics and as a professional pollster. As the founding dean of the GSPM, Arterton advanced his vision that, beyond teaching abstract theory, institutions of higher education have an affirmative obligation to prepare their students for practical participation in democratic governance and electoral politics. In the process, Dean Arterton created the new academic discipline of political management. Having led the merger of the school into the George Washington University, Arterton subsequently expanded the school’s curriculum of political management to include programs in legislative affairs, strategic public relations, and the politics of governance. During the 23 years of Dean Arterton’s leadership, the GSPM emerged as the foremost academic institution of applied democratic politics in the world.

About the Awardee: Abigail Goldring is an environmental communications strategist with expertise in sustainable investing and transportation. She is currently an Account Supervisor at the public relations firm BerlinRosen, where she develops and drives environmental, social, and governance (ESG) communications for global nonprofits and mission-driven financial organizations. Before joining BerlinRosen, she led sustainability communications at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She also has worked in television and university student affairs. A native New Jerseyan and current New York City resident, she likes to bike, walk, or take the train to explore nearby neighborhoods and towns. She is proud to share her alma mater, the University of Delaware, with President Joe Biden.

About the Award: During his time leading the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) from 2013 to 2016, the Honorable Mark Kennedy encouraged students to devote themselves to expanding the reach of freedom around the globe with the goal of making democracy work more effectively. The Mark and Debbie Kennedy Frontiers of Freedom Award recognizes the GSPM graduating student who best exhibits actions or preparations to promote or protect the expansion of political and economic freedom beyond the borders of the United States.

About the Awardee: David Overy is the media and external relations specialist for the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) at the Department of Defense (DoD), where he is responsible for developing strategies for public affairs and congressional engagements, building relationships with the media, and shaping opinions of NSIN.

David supports communications for more than $350 million in DoD and privately funded defense startups, including 370 new companies in the national security innovation base. He collaborates with defense, academic, and venture capital professionals to develop public relations campaigns promoting new technology and ideas that are used to solve military and commercial problems around the world. This includes campaigns targeting high-level audiences, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union (EU), and other international policy organizations.

Prior to working at NSIN, David worked for an international healthcare association and other nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. area, where he specialized in public and government affairs, copywriting, and communications. David also interned for the Department of State and the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he wrote video scripts, speeches, and surveys for senior staff.

David earned his master's degree in strategic public relations and a certificate in global public relations from the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. While in the program, David studied the creation and distribution of international disinformation, produced communications materials for the World Bank, and participated in a global residency of Germany and global politics. David is committed to purposeful work that promotes and protects the expansion of political and economic freedom across the world.

About the Award: The College of Professional Studies Undergraduate Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes the undergraduate student who best demonstrates the college’s core competencies of strategic thinking, communication, collaboration, leadership, and ethics.

About the Awardee: Zineb Kahdi completed her undergraduate degree at the College of Professional Studies at the George Washington University where she majored in Information Technology. Currently she is working as a Site Reliability Engineer where she is combining software engineering and systems engineering to solve problems. Her interest in technology started during her undergraduate studies where she was exposed to various topics, particularly programming and cybersecurity. Besides her interest in technology and her career aspirations, she would like to make a positive impact and help others to grow their skills and build their confidence to be successful in the Tech industry. When she is not busy with work, she likes to hike, do hot yoga and spend time with her two dogs.

About the Award: The College of Professional Studies Graduate Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes the graduate student who best demonstrates the college’s core competencies of strategic thinking, communication, collaboration, leadership, and ethics.

About the Awardee: Giuliana Macaluso is a professional editor based in northern Virginia, specializing in technical editing and copy editing. She earned her bachelor of arts from James Madison University in 2016, where she double-majored in writing, rhetoric, and technical communication (with a concentration in technical and scientific communication) as well as modern foreign languages (with a concentration in French). She is very proud to join the class of 2022 in receiving her master of professional studies in publishing through the George Washington University College of Professional Studies. Her masters capstone was entitled, “The Ethical Implications of Preprint Servers: An Examination through the Lens of John Rawls’s Theory of Justice.”

About the Award: This honor is awarded to the part-time faculty member in the College of Professional Studies who has provided extraordinary service to the students and the college. The award recognizes both enlightened teaching and meritorious efforts to advance the college and its programs.

About the Awardee: Martin B. Gold is a partner with Capitol Counsel LLC, bringing over 40 years of experience, both on Senate staff and in private practice. He is a recognized authority on matters of congressional rules and parliamentary strategies.

Gold is the author of “Senate Procedure and Practice,” a widely consulted primer on Senate Floor procedure, now in its third edition (2013). He frequently advises in offices of Senators and serves on the adjunct faculty at George Washington University. Before domestic business, professional and academic audiences, he often speaks about Congress as well as political and public policy developments.

Gold has been a guest lecturer at Tsinghua University and the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Moscow State University, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the State Parliament of Ukraine, and the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly. He published in China “The Grand Institution: A Profile of the United States Senate.”  (2011)

Between 1972 to 1982, Gold worked in senior staff positions at the Senate, culminating as counsel to Senate Majority Leader Howard H. Baker, Jr. (R-TN). Gold began his career as a legal assistant to Senator Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR) and later served as republican staff director and counsel to the Senate Rules Committee and as a professional staff member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2003, Gold was floor adviser and counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN).

Gold is a graduate of the Washington College of Law at The American University and serves on the Board of the Friends of the Law Library of the Library of Congress.