The POGO Watercooler » Laurels http://pogowatercooler.org Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:38:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 POGO Journeys to Smith College http://pogowatercooler.org/2010/02/26/pogo-journeys-to-smith-college/ http://pogowatercooler.org/2010/02/26/pogo-journeys-to-smith-college/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:02:43 +0000 bryan http://blog.pogowatercooler.org/?p=504 Last week several of the POGO staff went to Northampton, Massachusetts to see POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian receive the Smith College Medal “to recognize women who exemplify in their lives and work ‘the true purpose’ of a liberal arts education.”

The visit included a packed audience to hear Danielle speak about “Going Above the Influence to Make a Difference,” crazy hats, one member of the staff getting inked, and an announcement that was so warmly received by Smithies that it looks like Keith Olbermann got a little jealous. Check out our slideshow of photos from Rally Day below.

- Mandy Smithberger

More background here.

]]> http://pogowatercooler.org/2010/02/26/pogo-journeys-to-smith-college/feed/ 0 Smith College Honors Danielle http://pogowatercooler.org/2009/09/11/smith-college-honors-danielle/ http://pogowatercooler.org/2009/09/11/smith-college-honors-danielle/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:57:05 +0000 bryan http://blog.pogowatercooler.org/?p=400 Hang around the POGO office long enough and you’ll notice that POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian credits her Smith College education when she thinks she’s done something great (and Florida public schools on those rare occasions when she screws up). Yesterday Smith College announced that they’ve formed a mutual admiration society with Danielle by awarding her the Smith College Medal “to recognize women who exemplify in their lives and work ‘the true purpose’ of a liberal arts education.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the selection process, this award is a big deal. The vetting process takes years — the Board of Trustees wanted so many updates they were close to making the holiday card list — and, frankly, it made the Obama administration’s vetting process look haphazard in comparison. But perhaps the best part is the referral Smith chose to recognize Danielle:

“Praised for her “take-no-prisoners” approach to exposing fraud, waste and corruption among government agencies and contractors, Brian works with whistleblowers and government insiders, Capitol Hill decision-makers, agency policymakers and the media. She has also worked to fortify government oversight systems through training congressional staff in oversight techniques and bolstering the federal Inspectors General.”

This week Danielle is in Sweden, but we can’t wait for her to come back for us to celebrate!

– Mandy Smithberger, Smith ’08

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