Last July, President Barack Obama announced that he would nominate Alexander Arvizu (SFS ’80) to become the U.S. Ambassador to Albania. On Wednesday, Arvizu was formally sworn in as Ambassador.

Arvizu, who was born on an Army base in Japan and grew up in Colorado Springs, previously served the Foreign Service in Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, and Japan.

“Many, many congrats to Alex! I know that he will be an outstanding ambassador for the United States,” Professor Anthony Arend, who graduated with Arvizu and attended his swearing-in ceremony, wrote on his blog.

Photo: State Department

h/t Anthony Arend

Remember how five Georgetown Law Center grads went on NPR‘s “All Things Considered” last summer to commiserate about their employment opportunities? We guess they didn’t know about GULC’s post-grad funding program.

As initially reported by Above the Law, graduates who worked full-time at public interest organizations for three months were eligible for $4,000 stipends from GULC. In late October, students learned that the program was recently extended for three more months. According to an email sent to students by GULC’s Office of Career Services, qualifying students will be able to receive another $4,000.

“[A] requirement of the funding is that you continue to seek full-time employment,” read the email.

However, Above the Law notes that the funding program has not run smoothly; one tipster alleged that his stipend, which was smaller than he expected due to tax processing, arrived months late.

A GULC official responded to the claims, arguing, “The amount of taxes withheld varied significantly based on the student’s particular situation and in some cases, no taxes were withheld.”

Johanna Cox, the CW reality show contestant who won a gig at Elle magazine, recently announced that she quit Elle and moved back to D.C.

Cox, a Brown alumni who earned a Master’s from Georgetown in 2006, beat out 11 aspiring Stylista editors for the Elle job in 2008. In addition to securing a year of work at Elle, Johanna’s winnings scored her a paid year-long lease to a Manhattan apartment and a clothing allowance from H&M.

In the no-holds-barred post on her blog, Cox complained about long hours, low pay and “inter-office bitchery.”

“[W]ith the dumpster state of the economy, I knew how lucky I was to keep my tiny plot in that Broadway office,” Cox admitted in the post.

Although she’s back in D.C., don’t expect to see Cox around campus. She once told the Washingtonian, “[T]he best I can do is to tell people to avoid Georgetown at all costs, especially on the weekends. Nothing but entitled, preppy trouble in that part of town.”

Sorry Johanna, but the Curator of D.C. Style begs to differ.

Photo: CW

h/t: Jezebel

On Thursday, the Associated Press projected that Pat Quinn (SFS ’71) will be elected to serve his first full term as governor of Illinois.

Quinn, who replaced scandal-ridden Governor Rod Blagojevich in the state’s highest office, beat Republican Bill Brady. Brady, a member of the state senate, has refused to concede the race until all of the ballots have been counted.

However, AP claims that the number of absentee ballots that are yet to be counted—approximately 19,000—is too little for Brady to overcome Quinn’s lead.

After taking over from Blagojevich, Quinn became quite unpopular for a number of questionable programs, including a prison-release program that involved a number of repeat offenders.

Some analysts did not expect Quinn to win the race, especially because Republican Representative Mark Kirk (LAW ’92) won the Senate seat that was being held by Blagojevich appointee Roland Burris.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday, while all the political junkies were waiting anxiously for the polls to close, Vox highlighted the tossup and leaning races that featured Georgetown alumni. Today, we’ve got the results of yesterday’s elections and how Hoyas fared.

Race yet to be decided

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski (COL ’80) still might win her write-in bid for reelection. Total write-in ballots lead the race, but names on the write-ins cannot be counted until officials determine that a write-in candidate has a legitimate chance to win.

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Do you consider yourself a political geek and a Georgetown super-fan? If so, we’re here to help.

To celebrate Election Day, we tracked down all of the close races that involve Georgetown alumni; four Hoyas are deadlocked in toss-up elections, while five others are caught in close, but leaning, races.

Check back with Vox tomorrow for a full listing of the winning and losing alumni, including those that are running in races considered either solidly Democratic or Republican. In the meantime, start preparing those internship resumes.

Key Races

Alaska Senate

Incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski (COL ’80) lost to Tea Party favorite, and Sarah Palin-endorsed, candidate Joe Miller in her primary bid for reelection. Murkowski opted to try to remain in the race as a write-in candidate. FiveThirtyEight projects Miller winning, with Murkowski coming in a close second, and the Democratic candidate falling short of both.

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A man shot this afternoon in Bowie, Maryland has been identified as former Georgetown basketball standout Charles Smith, according to TBD.

Smith, who played for the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team and won the Big East Player of the Year award during the 1988-1989 season, remains hospitalized with injuries that are “not considered life threatening.”

Prince George’s County police responding to the shooting at approximately 12:20 p.m. to find Smith conscious and alert,” despite reportedly being shot twice. An unnamed source told TBD that a gambling debt allegedly sparked the shooting.

“Last word that we received is that the suspect fled on foot and this might have been the point of travel so our investigators are taking every step they can to investigate the crime,” Cpl. Larry Johnson, Prince George’s County police spokesperson, told TBD.

After his college career, Smith played for a short time for the Boston Celtics. In Boston, he struck and killed two Boston University students while driving; he was later convicted of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crime.

Smith retired from professional basketball in 2001 after spending a decade playing overseas and in Canada.

Chances are you’ve heard the story of the three Georgetown graduates—Nicolas Jammet (MSB ’07), Jonathan Neman (MSB ’07), and Nathaniel Ru (MSB ’07)—who opened  Sweetgreen to almost instant entrepreneurial success.

Well, things are looking even better for the trio of alumni, who were recently featured in Food & Wine.

According to an SEC filing discovered by citybizlist, the salad chain raised $2.1 million during its Series B financing round. Before opening in 2007, Sweetgreen raised $850,000 in seed funds from fellow students, investors, and oddly enough, celebrity chef Mario Batali‘s business partner.

While Sweetgreen’s success may lie in its simple menu, the company’s socially responsible business model has also attracted media attention. The company powers its restaurants with wind energy, uses biodegradable utensils and cups, and composts all kitchen waste. Sweetgreen menus are even embedded with wildflower seeds for at-home gardening.

In addition to its Georgetown location and Sweetflow Mobile, Sweetgreen has locations in five other D.C.-area neighborhoods: Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Bethesda, and Reston.

Photo: Flickr user “koshalek“

The three Georgetown grads who founded Sweetgreen, Nicolas Jammet (MSB ’07), Nathaniel Ru (MSB ’07), and Jonathan Neman (MSB ’07), have been named three of the “40 Big Thinkers 40 & Under” in the November issue of Food & Wine.

The trio of “eco salad chain founders,” numbers 34, 35, and 36 on the list, were praised their commitment to eco-friendly service, products, and financial backing from other environmentally-conscious investors, such as Stonyfield Farm founder Gary Hirshberg.

Sweetgreen’s commitment to sustainability is no accident. Jammet, Ru, and Neman began planning a cheap, healthy, and practical alternative to Georgetown dining during the senior year.

Today, the restaurant they opened less then three months after graduating reflects that same eco-friendly philosophy. Sweetgreen composts waste, buys from local farmers, uses low-energy designs and compostable packaging, has plantable takeout menus, and furnishes its locations with furniture made from reclaimed materials.

Yeah, you can’t get much greener than that.

Photo: Eater.com

Earlier today, the MacArthur Fellowship announced that Dr. Carol Padden (COL ’78) won one of its $500,000 “genius grants” for her groundbreaking work in the field of signed language linguistics.

Padden, who is the first deaf MacArthur Fellow, studies the distinct structure and evolutionary patterns of signed languages. Among other accomplishments, Padden’s research revealed that signed communication tends to have its own “vocabulary, syntax, and grammar” that relies not on visual space, but how signers use that space.

Her work on Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language, for example, provided insight about the fundamental elements of language.

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