Photo courtesy McDonough School of Business

David Thomas, Dean of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, received recognition as a 2014 Minority Business Leader of the Year by the Washington Business Journal at a ceremony on March 20th.

Thomas has served as dean of the McDonough School of Business since 2011. He has been an active member of the D.C. community, serving as a trustee to the Federal City Council, an non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the District of Columbia.

He also co-chaired the executive committee of local business school deans partnering with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray on the city’s five-year economic development strategy.

This is the seventh year the Washington Business Journal has been presenting this award to the region’s top 25 minority business leaders for their professional accomplishment, community leadership, philanthropy, as well as awards and milestones. Georgetown alumnus Ted Leonsis nominated Thomas for the award.

“I am deeply honored to be nominated and selected to receive this award,” said Thomas. “My parents instilled in me very early the importance of education, and the opportunities from that education transformed my life. That’s why I’m so passionate today about creating transformational experiences for our students to enable them to change the world.”

Read more about Dean Thomas and see a video presented at the awards ceremony.

Professor Tom Sherman, Ph.D. recently served as a guest expert for 11th grade students at Capital City Public Charter School working on their research project “Food Justice for All.” Sherman advised eight groups of students on issues of food justice, including hunger, obesity, the meat industry, and genetically modified and processed foods.

“The students had really good, very appropriate topics on contemporary issues within food justice,” says Sherman. “Hopefully I was a good introduction for them to college faculty and will help them realize that professors are approachable just like high school teachers.”

Sherman is associate professor of pharmacology and physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. His research interests include the biochemistry of metabolism, the science of nutrition and food as medicine, and the control of body weight, exercise and appetite.

The interview sessions with Sherman are one component of a long-term ongoing learning expedition program at the school. Students learn pieces of the topic in each of their different classes. They also do field work and talk with experts in the community and around the country.

“Capital City is an expeditionary learning school,” says Jill Weiler, an English teacher at Capital City who coordinated the visit. “Expeditionary learning means students learn one topic or one theme with an integrated approach.”

After talking with Sherman and other experts, the students will present their final research papers during a Food Justice Teach In at a March 19 event at the school. “The students will use their persuasive writing to try to make the visitors change an attitude or belief or make a commitment to take action that will move them towards a healthier life style and ultimately a healthier planet,” Weiler says.

Capital City Public Charter School is located in Manor Park in D.C.’s Ward 4 and serves students in pre-K through 12th grade. Read the full story here.