CHSS Cornerstones 2013

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSIT Y COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Bridging the Ivory Tower

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

IN MEMORIAM: JAMES M. BUCHANAN EVOLVING NARRATIVE OF THE COLLEGE UP TO SPEED WITH PRESIDENT CABRERA STUDENTS FIND PASSION IN SERVICE FACULTY BLOGS

S P R I N G 2 0 13

T h e C o l l eg e o f H u m a n it ie s a n d S o cial Sciences is a cornerstone of learning and research at Geo rg e M as o n U n iv e r s it y. T h e c o l l e g e is committed to providing a challenging education to u n d e r g r a d u a t e a n d g r a d u a t e s t u d e n ts, expanding the frontiers of knowledge through research, an d c o n tri bu t in g in t e lle ct u a l le a d e r s hip t o t he c om m unit y.

Vi s i t c h s s . g m u . e d u t o l e a r n m o r e .

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CORNERSTONE Editor—Anne Reynolds Associate Editor—Rashad Mulla, BA ’11 Alumni Editor—Maria Seniw, BA ’07 Contributors—Therese Burruss; Tara Laskowski, MFA ’06; Kimberly Ruff, BIS ’12; Ezzat Shehadeh, BA ’07; Debra Lattanzi Shutika, MA ’93 Designer—Joan Dall’Acqua Illustrator—Marcia Staimer Photographers—Evan Cantwell, MA ’10; Alexis Glenn, and Craig Bisacre Cornerstone is published annually by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University. Cornerstone is intended to keep alumni, the Mason community, and the public informed about the activities, growth, and progress of the college.

Articles reflect the opinions of the writers and not those of the magazine, the college, or the university.

We welcome your questions and comments. Please e-mail us at chssalum@gmu.edu or mail a letter to Editor, Cornerstone, 4400 University Drive, MS 3A3, Fairfax, VA 22030.

Please send address changes to Alumni Affairs, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MS 3A3, Fairfax, VA 22030.

E-mail: chssalum@gmu.edu The College of Humanities and Social Sciences Advisory Board Jamal M. al-Barzinji, parent BS ’08 David W. Bartee, MPA ’06 Gail A. Bohan, BA ’70, MPA ’82 George C. Cabalu, BA ’92 Ashok Deshmukh Nicole A. Geller, BS ’86 Michael J. Hoover, MA ’81 Eric M. Johnson, MA ’05 Robert C. Lightburn, MA ’04 Nicole Livas, BA ’90

c hss.gmu.edu

WHERE INNOVATION IS TRADITION

Allen C. Lomax, MPA ’82 Samantha E. Madden, BS ’89 M. Yaqub Mirza, parent BA ’00, BA ’09 Matthew S. Plummer, BA ’00, MA ’11 Paul C. Reber MA ’92 Jason D. Reis, BA ’93 Jennifer C. Shelton, BS ’94 Edward M. Staunton III Michael L. Whitlock, BA ’96 John A. Wilburn, MA ’76 George Mason University is an equal opportunity employer that encourages diversity.

Cornerstone is printed on FSC®-certified Opus Dull paper, by Lynchburg, Virginia-based Progress Printing, a Forest Stewardship Council™ certified printer, using environmentally friendly ink.

Dear Alumni, This year, as I near my 40th anniversary in the profession (36 of those years at Mason) and am retiring from the university, I ask for your indulgence as I review my experience teaching here.

Particularly illuminating are several classes that I remember with enormous fondness. Here’s a personal retrospective of a time of great change, in which some things remained the same.

Trained as a historian of Old Regime France and the French Revolution, I joined a department of 17 full-time history professors to teach in my subject area of European history: Western civilization, French history, and especially the French Revolution. But the times were changing. So, with the above courses as my foundation, I taught many different topics. I think many faculty members at Mason could describe a similar evolution.

The first significant departure for me was a course that followed the history of the European family from 1700 to the present. This small class consisted of 20 women, almost all of whom had children, and a then childless professor (me). My most searing battle lasted the entire semester over a scholarly contention, then widely accepted among historians, that because of high mortality rates, parents were, relatively speaking, very indifferent to their children. The students refused to believe this, seeing me as a naif who knew nothing about the bond between parents and offspring. Not surprisingly, historians of the family over time came around to the view of my students.

Throughout the 1980s, I continued to teach different subjects (history of the press, cultural history of Europe, and more), and in the 1990s, I experimented with new pedagogical approaches. In this era, I tried two innovations—one that succeeded and the other that did not. Western civilization, which had been an elective, became a requirement. This change represented a huge challenge to the department as the number of students in these classes rose by about 350 percent. As department chair, I hoped to avoid large lecture classes, so we created a series of videos. Class time consisted of discussion sections that met once per week. The problem was the videos: we found that the remotely delivered lectures simply were much harder for students to follow. I learned an important lesson in how noninteractive electronic media could easily fail.

Much more positive was my reinvention of the seminar for junior history majors. That class initiated students into historical methodology and taught the use of primary sources. Customarily, the course met once per week in a three-hour block. Because I felt that majors would benefit from a more intense experience, I decided that we would try to continue the discussion on a relevant topic all week between classes. So before Blackboard and even listservs, we used trails of e-mails (send, resend, and so on) to explore opinions and express different interpretations. Although it cornerstone.gmu.edu

was cumbersome, many students participated much more than the minimum requirement. And they pursued vigorous themes despite technical limitations. This impressed me so much that I described the course in an article published in the American Historical Association newsletter.

Other innovative efforts included two cross-disciplinary courses. In 1989, English Department faculty member John Radner and I shared a course on the culture and politics of the French Revolution. Offered during the bicentennial of the French Revolution, the class focused on the causes and course of the revolution. We read the history and the literature of the age, including the English satirical journal, The Tatler, and the poems of William Blake. But the highlight was a concert of revolutionary music, performed by Mason students and funded by one of my predecessors, Dean Paula Gilbert. As well as enlivening and enriching our class, the concert was open to the student body.

Equally exciting was a course on the 20th-century world that I presented with my close friends and colleagues, Deborah Kaplan of the English Department, and the late historian Roy Rosenzweig. Although we were all novices in the field, the class held many memorable moments, including the brilliant analyses of literature by Deborah and the extraordinarily insightful lectures and discussions by Roy. Funded by then-dean of New Century College, John O’Connor, to test the concept of a learning community, this class met for six hours weekly and included a number of extraordinary speakers from around our nation. We taught this class in the semester before New Century College began and again during the college’s first year of operation. Both this course and the class on revolutionary France benefited from the disciplinary cross-fertilization.

I closed my teaching career in fall 2012 with a graduate research course that serves as the capstone of the history master’s program. The focus for the class was for each student to produce a heavily researched, original essay on an aspect of the history of the press. Although it was the most traditional of classes, taught much as it might have been for over a century and a half, it sparkled for two reasons: one, the papers were extraordinary, exhibiting excellent writing and scholarship, and two, like the other classes these days, they had a smattering of the new. One paper on the U.S. colonial press could not have been written if American newspapers of that era had not been digitized. It required the computer’s search mechanism to gather enough evidence. Another paper concerned the role of Twitter in the attack on the Murdoch press empire in England during summer 2011.

In sum, the times and the study of past times continue to emphasize the traditional skills of analysis and writing— while ever evolving. What a wonderful time I’ve had at Mason, keeping up with (and I hope challenging) the students.

Yours in Patriot Pride!

Questions?

Comments?

E-mail chssalum@gmu.edu

Get involved with CHSS! chss.gmu.edu/ events For college news chss.gmu.edu/ articles

Follow Dean Censer on Twitter @jackatchss After July 1, follow incoming dean, Deborah Boehm-Davis @chssdean

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Jack R. Censer CORNERSTONE 1

CO N TEN TS

FEAT URES James M. Buchanan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Dean’s Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 An Evolving Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 President Cabrera’s First Year . . . . . . . .14 16th Annual Award for Scholarship . . .18

New MA in Middle East and Islamic Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Honoring Our Students . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Distinguished Practitioner Professors . .26 STANDARDS Alumni Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Notes from the Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

New Institute Focuses on Immigration Research . . . . . . . . . . .19

Annual Honor Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

The Folklore Field School . . . . . . . . . . .20

Creative Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

ERRAT UM On page 22 of the 2012 Cornerstone, the caption of the photo of the Parque Monumento Trujillo mural misspells the term “Colombian.”

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2 SPRING 2013

James M. Buchanan:

Noted Economist and Nobel Laureate Tyler Cowen, BS ’83, the Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at Mason and director of the Mercatus Center, sums Buchanan’s contributions succinctly: “James Buchanan was one of the great American economists, and he revolutionized every department he taught in. His receipt of the Nobel Prize was one of the turning points in the history of this school.”

Buchanan’s impact on Mason and the study of economics will be felt for many years. A conference and memorial will be held September 28-29, 2013, at the Mason Inn.

IN MEMORIAM

T

his January, George Mason University lost one of the most esteemed figures in its history. James M. Buchanan, LLD (Hon.) ’87, distinguished professor emeritus of economics and advisory general director of the Center for Study of Public Choice, died at age 93 after a brief illness.

Professor Buchanan was a prominent figure in public choice theory of economics, which examines the actions of government officials or politicians as being motivated by self-interest instead of by a purely public interest. He founded the Center for Public Choice in 1983 while a professor at Virginia Tech and moved the center to Mason when he joined the faculty in 1986. That same year, he became Mason’s first Nobel Laureate when he was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for “his development of the contractual and constitutional bases for the theory of economic and political decision making.”

The college is fortunate to be home to many noted economic scholars who worked with Buchanan and are carrying on the theories he espoused. Alex Tabarrok, MA ’92, PhD ’94, a professor in the Department of Economics and the general director of the Center for Study of Public Choice, noted that

“James Buchanan was one of the great American economists, and he revolutionized every department he taught in. His receipt of the Nobel Prize was one of the turning points in the history of this school.”

When Jim Buchanan founded what eventually became [Mason’s] Center for Study of Public Choice, he laid out a simple goal, nothing less than the rebirth of political economy. Jim Buchanan achieved his life goal, he reunited economics with political science and political philosophy and made profound contributions to each of these subjects along the way. Today we strive to expand and extend the new political economy building on the foundations laid by Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Jim Buchanan.

Richard Wagner, professor of economics at Mason and director of graduate studies in the Department of Economics, recalled Buchanan’s contribution to the art of teaching: “While James Buchanan crafted a memorable body of scholarship that I call upon often, I remember him particularly fondly for his unique style of classroom instruction which has guided me throughout my career.”

CORNERSTONE 3

Dean’s Challenge Students Find Passions in Service DEAN’S CHALLENGE

By Rashad Mulla, BA Communication ’11

T

Timothy Higashi

Amina Derbi

Amy Busch

4 SPRING 2013

imothy Higashi operates at 200 percent, does not seem to understand the concept of sleep, and gives new meaning to the word proactive. But his energy, harnessed and directed toward noble goals, has made a difference in the lives of many people who may never meet him, and he intends to continue his public service.

Higashi, a graduating senior working toward a BS in public administration, was one of 14 undergraduate and graduate students within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences to be awarded a 2012–13 Dean’s Challenge Scholarship. The award honors students who excel academically and in the community.

Three of those students—Higashi; Amina Derbi, BA Global Affairs ’12, who graduated in the fall; and Amy Busch, a second-year graduate student earning an MA in communication with a health communication focus— clearly embody the idea behind the Dean’s Challenge.

Originally from Anaheim, California, Higashi has been interested in public service from a young age, taking part in middle school and high school programs, and becoming involved with the city council and mayor’s office in his hometown. In his neighborhood, he recalls gang activity and says some of his high school classmates never bothered with the thought of college. Right from the start, his mind was trained on making a difference in the public service sector.

“When you have well-administered public programs and good, smart, innovative, engaged, committed people in the public service realm, it can really make a difference,” Higashi says. “That comes from administrative decisions, then categorical grants, and it trickles down from the federal government to the state, then to the localities, and the localities spend as they see fit. I saw those decisions make an impact at the ground level.”

Higashi chose Mason because of its access to Washington, D.C., and the opportunities to be involved in public service. To say he has jumped on those opportunities would be an understatement. In addition to his regular course work, Higashi is earning an accelerated master’s degree in public administration. He also works for the Administration for Community Living, a new organization under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, he spent a year with the

Office of the Inspector General, investigating Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud.

Higashi plays numerous intramural sports, including soccer, volleyball, and football, and he serves primarily in three student organizations: Alpha Lambda Delta, Mason Ambassadors, and Christians on Campus, all of which serve the community through food drives, homeless shelter volunteering, and other projects. Higashi, who values his faith very highly, credits Christians on Campus, along with the Department of Public and International Affairs, with introducing him to Mason.

A

mina Derbi’s passion lies in the two communities where she remains personally involved: the country of Libya, where her parents and relatives are from, and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (or the ADAMS Center) in Sterling, Virginia, where she has taught for the past eight years. She channeled this passion into action while taking an environmental policy class at Mason and has since engaged in a complex research project on Libya. As does Higashi, Derbi prides herself on taking on challenges as they arise.

“I find that the more I challenge myself, the more opportunities open up for me, and the more I learn about myself and the world,” she says. “It is hard a lot of the time.

But you should devote as much time as you can to fulfilling your true potential. And it helps when you really care about what you are researching.”

Although she recently earned her BA, Derbi is continuing at Mason to pursue an accelerated MA in global affairs.

In the past, she has interned for the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Her research on Libya covers and analyzes the Great ManMade River Project, a system in which water is pumped from aquifers under the Sahara Desert and into Libyan reservoirs to provide Libyans access to clean drinking water.

Derbi is looking into alternative water solutions because researchers have found that there is not enough water in those aquifers to sustain the Libyan population for the long term.

Derbi served for six years as an assistant preschool teacher for the ADAMS Center’s weekend Arabic program. In that capacity, she taught children how to identify,

recognize, and recite the Arabic alphabet. For the past two years, she has been the lead teacher for the center’s firstgrade level. She teaches students how to identify letters in the beginning, middle, and end of words, works with them on pronouncing tashkeel, or Arabic vowel symbols, and introduces some vocabulary. She includes some creative teaching aids, such as Play-Doh.

A

s have Higashi and Derbi, Amy Busch has applied her research to the world, and she has traveled firsthand to make that opportunity possible. Busch earned a BA in communication studies from Ohio University in 2009, focusing on health communication. She decided to put her research into action right away.

“The thing about health communication that interests me the most is the intersection between health and culture, and then critical health issues such as minority health and addressing health disparities,” Busch says. “I think communication is a fantastic tool that can be used and is not always recognized as something that is important to the health process.”

With that in mind, Busch set out to travel. In the words of one her friends, she is a “doer”: she sets her mind to conquer whatever tasks may appear before her. In 2010, she won a Fulbright grant and traveled to South Korea to serve as a teaching assistant. Over the past two years, she has lived in Cambodia, where she volunteered at a health clinic, and Mexico, where she volunteered at an HIV/ AIDS clinic. Having worked and researched frequently as an undergraduate, she took full advantage of these life experiences.

In her short time at Mason, she has already made an impact, most recently at a National Communication Association conference in fall 2012, where she presented two research projects. One, co-written with two PhD students, was about the effects of warning labels on cigarette packages; the other focused on communication between parents and children in Mexico about food. For the second project, she conducted qualitative interviews with actual mothers in Mexico, where they discussed childhood obesity and communication. In summer 2012, she interned at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

These three students never stop working hard to get to where they are, and they don’t plan on stopping now.

Higashi spent the spring semester studying in Oxford, England, in a trip organized by Mason’s Center for Global Education. On his return, if all goes according to plan, he will receive an MA in spring 2014. He then wants to spend two years in Bible school before returning to work in a public service or public finance capacity. Eventually, he would like to run for mayor of Anaheim, bringing his story full circle.

DEAN’S CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP The Dean’s Challenge Scholarship was established in 2007 to acknowledge exceptional undergraduate students who have excelled while making academically challenging choices. The recipients of this award receive a scholarship to help with their educational expenses. The Dean’s Challenge is funded by generous donations from friends and alumni of the college. In its six-year history, the college has honored 36 graduate and 47 undergraduate students with the award.

DEAN’S CHALLENGE UNDERGRADUATE WINNERS, 2012–13 Emily Arnold Department of English Jessica Campbell Department of History and Art History Amina Derbi, BA ’12 Global Affairs Program Timothy Higashi Department of Public and International Affairs Nathan Ludwig Global Affairs Program Emily Mann Department of Sociology and Anthropology Rochelle Sceats Department of Psychology Anastasia Uzilevskaya Department Criminology, Law and Society DEAN’S CHALLENGE GRADUATE WINNERS, 2012–13 Leah Adams, MA ’10, PhD candidate Department of Psychology Laura Boyette, MA ’12 Global Affairs Program Amy Busch Department of Communication Kathleen Danskin, MS ’12 Department of Public and International Affairs (Biodefense) Kristen Randolph Department of Psychology Cody Telep, PhD candidate Department Criminology, Law and Society

Derbi will continue her work on the Great Man-Made River Project, as well as her teaching at the ADAMS Center, but she would like to pursue further research about indigenous institutions in Libya and how they can be studied to better the country’s constitutional reform.

Her long-term goal is to create and lead an international journal called Right to Write, in which kids from around the world submit their artwork and stories, and a team of editors and translators ready them for global publication.

After finishing her final practicum for her master’s program and concluding the interpersonal communication course she is teaching, Busch has her eye on continuing to affect communication for social and behavioral change.

Some of her most passionate topics include obesity and smoking. She hopes to find work in those areas, and she has thoughts of earning a PhD, as well.

Meeting extraordinary students such as Higashi, Derbi, and Busch is becoming quite the norm at Mason because of their remarkable work habits and attitude.

“I don’t know if I can properly convey the fulfillment I get from public service, but it’s amazing. For a lot of people, this makes a big difference,” Higashi says. “I know I’m only one student here at Mason, but everyone else here is doing so many amazing things.

He adds, “I’m just too interested in everything going on in life, so there’s not much time to be sleeping.”

Timothy Higashi, right, was one of 14 students to receive a Dean’s Challenge Award from Jack Censer in 2012–13.

CORNERSTONE 5

An Evolving Narrative: A History of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences HISTORY

By Rashad Mulla, BA Communication ’11

I

n 2006, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at George Mason University split into two distinct groups, the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. The realignment made sense. Spurred by a need for funding, expensive equipment, and intensive, technical research, the merger of the science component of CAS with the School of Computational Sciences would create a unit focused on natural sciences and mathematics.

For the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, however, the path forward was not so clear. Humanities and social sciences fields did not traditionally rely on healthy sums of money pouring in through sponsored research and grants. The college’s strength was not in its capital components, but in its human assets: a top-flight pool of scholars, which included Nobel Prize, MacArthur, and Guggenheim winners, innovative faculty members and center directors, and a devoted student body.

On July 1, 2006, Jack Censer took on the leadership of the new college. He came to the role through what is now the Department of History and Art History, which he joined in 1977 from the College of Charleston. As are many Mason students, he was attracted to the university—at least in part—by its locale; its proximity to Washington, D.C., which allowed access to libraries at Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the Library of Congress.

In the 1970s, Fenwick Library was relatively new, and most of the current campus was nonexistent. Only about 8,000 students were enrolled full time in 1977, and the only buildings were East, West, North (now Finley), South (now Krug), Lecture Hall, Student Union Building I, half of Fenwick Library, the old P.E. Building, the Buchanan

6 SPRING 2013

House, and a remote building on Route 50, near Fairfax Circle. The then-Department of History faculty comprised 17 members.

Along with history, other departments grew in size and reputation. Likewise, the student body began to diversify substantially in the mid-1980s and research came to take its place as an essential part of the college. Experimental programs were begun; many were very successful and became vital parts of the college and university. For example, the Center for History and New Media was created, as was a doctoral program in history, and the Psychology Department became a university leader in governmentally sponsored research.

After humanities and social sciences were joined in one unit in 2006, the college soon decided to change its name from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences to reflect more precisely its scope.

“I love the disciplines that make up the college,” Censer says. “The college had to work to define itself. Its subject matter is human activity. The approach is ‘feet on the ground, head in the clouds.’ We are capable of the deepest, most abstract, most theoretical thinking on a subject, and we apply it.”

The university’s Board of Visitors unanimously approved the name change, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) was born on January 1, 2007.

In the same October 2006 Board of Visitors meeting in which the college’s new name was proposed, the college added an MA in anthropology and PhDs in linguistics and communication. In July 2007, CHSS supported the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science in its bid to hire more researchers following the departure of Nobel Prize winner Vernon Smith. In November 2007, the college hosted the first annual Dean’s Challenge Award, in which a select few students are honored for high academic achievement in academically challenging course work. A year later saw the creation of an endowed chair in Islamic Studies, funded by the International Institute for Islamic Thought.

CHSS began to evolve. Of course, learning and academic scholarship continued to be the primary focus, but the college saw tangible advances from a number of other sources, many predating the formation of CHSS. The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media benefited from numerous grants and awards, while pioneering the field of digital humanities. The Department of Psychology had become a haven of sponsored research, with the Human Factors and Applied Cognition program and the Center of Excellence in Neuroergonomics, Technology, and Cognition leading the way. A number of prestigious faculty members, including criminologists

David Weisburd and Catherine Gallagher, sociologist Jim Witte, and Middle East scholar Bassam Haddad, to name a few, had made advances outside the traditional realm of academia by partnering with outside sources to create centers or translating their knowledge into useful formats for public consumption.

In 2007, health communications scholar Ed Maibach joined Mason, and this time the Department of Communication acted on its vision. Maibach brought with him a resume that featured a PhD from Stanford, a multitude of journal articles, work with the National Cancer Institute, and a professorship at George Washington University. He came to Mason interested in starting a center that covered the issue of climate change and communication. The college’s support and Mason’s flexibility and interdisciplinary opportunities sold Maibach.

“The notion of interdisciplinary studies is very much embraced at Mason, and that really makes it much easier

An aerial view of Mason’s Fairfax Campus in 1974, taken by Blue Ridge Aerial Surveys. Photo courtesy of George Mason University, Special Collections and Archives, Fenwick Library.

continued CORNERSTONE 7

for me to do cutting-edge work that I feel is going to make the greatest contribution,” Maibach says. “It has been clear to me since the very beginning that the science done at Mason is translated into society, and the college understands the value of news media and public information.”

Similarly, in summer 2008, Andrew Light, a specialist in climate and science policy and environmental ethics, sought to join a university in which he could continue his academic work while also interacting with policy makers in Washington, D.C. Ted Kinnaman, chair of the Department of Philosophy, saw an opportunity. Now, Light is a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy, the director of the Center for Global Ethics, associate director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, and frequently quoted in local, national, and international media.

“It was clear to me that George Mason University would be the perfect fit, because of how much they value not only traditional academic work, but also work that has

more of a public reach,” Light says. “And I think outreach is important because issues such as climate change have clear and obvious moral dimensions to them. Even an extremely influential article in a philosophy journal doesn’t normally reach beyond the world of philosophy professors.” “[Mason presidents] George Johnson, Alan Merten, and Ángel Cabrera all acknowledge that even the most traditional part of the university must position itself to relate to social problems, global problems, regional problems, and familiar problems,” Censer explains. “We couldn’t just be an ivory tower.”

The college prides itself on its interdisciplinary collaborations, not just between departments within CHSS, but with other university colleges and schools. Although the former College of Arts and Sciences has long since split, a great collaborative spirit remains between CHSS and the College of Science.

The College by the Numbers – Fall 2012

32,961 MASON STUDENT BODY

WITHIN THE COLLEGE

WITHIN THE COLLEGE

6,463

WITHIN THE COLLEGE

6,904

2,111

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

GRADUATE STUDENTS

8 SPRING 2013

Full-Time Students

2,552

Part-Time Students

IN

WITHIN THE COLLEGE

OUT

7,132

5,357

Female Students

3,653

Male Students

WITHIN THE COLLEGE

6,987

In-State Students

Returning

1,883

2,028

Out-of-State Students

New

College Professors

8

Robinson Professors Associated with CHSS

20

CHSS University or Distinguished Professors

9

Endowed Faculty

“I truly believe in the importance of a liberal arts education,” says Vikas Chandhoke, dean of the College of Science. “You have to have sciences connected with social sciences and humanities. Very soon after moving into two units, we found there were certain things we couldn’t do on our own. So we worked on a number of collaborative programs, and there are a lot more that we are still exploring.”

Some of these programs include the SmithsonianMason School of Conservation, the Honors College, and New Century College’s joint BA program with Mason’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy. In the case of these and other joint programs, faculty members from both colleges lend their expertise to an interdisciplinary learning track, and students take classes in both the sciences and the humanities and social sciences.

“In the trajectory of the global problems we are facing, these problems cannot be looked at in isolation,” Chandhoke explains. “Even though our disciplines may appear to be different and are built on different strengths, you cannot solve any complex problem right now and go forward without interdisciplinary intersection.”

The college is home to 27 undergraduate degree programs, 56 minors, 11 doctoral degrees, one MFA, 18 master’s degrees, and 10 accelerated master’s programs. The faculty continues to rake in awards on both the teaching and scholarship fronts. Since the inception of CHSS, its faculty has taken home 17 Mason Teaching Excellence Awards, four David J. King Awards, four State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards, and a host of other achievements. In 2011 alone, college faculty procured $24 million in grant funding.

Numerous named professors, University Professors, and Clarence J. Robinson Professors (special recognition for leadership in undergraduate teaching) call the college home.

In fall 2012, 6,904 undergraduate students and 2,111 graduate students, representing 33 percent and 18 percent of all Mason’s undergraduate and graduate students, respectively, called CHSS home. Since 2006, the number of undergraduate and graduate students is up, but the percentages have either stayed the same or decreased slightly at least in part because of a job-conscious student body.

Going forward, funding will also remain an obstacle, much as it is for many students and scholars in today’s higher education climate.

“Traditional funding is going to be more dicey, and partnerships are going to help us do what we want to do and need to do,” Censer says. “We want to continue our mission, which is scholarship, providing solutions, and supplying independent data and analysis. We’re looking to find other sources of funding.”

Finding these funds may not be easy, considering decreasing state support. Rising student tuition will also play a role, as students carefully analyze their employment alternatives following their deep investment into a university education.

But the college maintains many advantages. The faculty are extremely accomplished, and the student interest is reflected in strong enrollment numbers. Moreover, the college has fostered an impressive research trajectory, which has been strong over the past few years and looks to keep moving in an upward direction.

Deborah Boehm-Davis, University Professor in the Department of Psychology and associate dean in the college, will succeed Censer as dean on July 1, 2013. She brings with her a demonstrated scholarly pedigree (more than 100 refereed articles and more than 150 conference, meeting, and symposium presentations) and work and research experience forged at such organizations as

“We have faculty who want to see both the students and the university succeed. They’re interested in doing cutting-edge work and passing that on to the next generation.”

General Electric, the NASA Ames Research Center, Bell Laboratories, and the Food and Drug Administration.

“I think we’re very well-positioned,” Boehm-Davis says.

“We have faculty who want to see both the students and the university succeed. They’re interested in doing cuttingedge work and passing that on to the next generation. So I think we’re well poised, and I think the challenges will come from outside the university.”

Censer extends his congratulations to his successor.

“We are lucky to have Deborah Boehm-Davis appointed dean,” Censer says. “With her experience, good judgment, and total commitment to the welfare and values of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, she will bring new energy and insight to what we are doing.”

In sum, Censer sees the college as benefiting from a very fortunate set of circumstances: “We’ve got great students, a great faculty and staff, and we have the advantage of a terrific environment and the can-do ethos of the university. You can’t ask for more than that.”

CORNERSTONE 9

Philosophy Inc. ALI RE Z A MANO UC HE HR I , BA P H I L O S O PH Y ’ 9 9

By Maria Seniw, BA Government and International Politics ’07

ALUMNI PROFILE

Manouchehri in the lobby of MetroStar headquarters in Reston, Virginia.

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A

li Reza Manouchehri, BA Philosophy ’99, drafted his first business plan when he was 10 years old.

As do most children, he wanted an allowance. As are many parents, Manouchehri’s father was skeptical and proposed an alternative. At the time (in the early 1980s), most office supplies had to be purchased from wholesale catalogs. He suggested that Manouchehri purchase pens and pencils in bulk to sell throughout their apartment complex, and he invested $500 in the project. Manouchehri sold pens in his mother’s make-up case door to door and turned $500 into $1,100. His father was so impressed, he let Manouchehri keep the seed money, which he admitted was better than an allowance.

Years later, when Manouchehri enrolled at George Mason University, he intended to build on his entrepreneurial roots and study economics. Manouchehri came from a family of self-starters. His grandfather, a teenager during the Great Depression, sold socks to earn a living.

He capitalized on the success of each odd job and small venture, until he eventually built a yarn factory employing 1,800 people. This bedtime story, combined with his own experiences, meant Manouchehri already understood the

value of taking risks to succeed and the basic principles of business schooling.

It was a 100-level religious studies class that made him reevaluate his initial plan. He explains, “[I wanted to discover] what I’m passionate about as a human.”

Lauve Steenhuisen began every class of the Human Religious Experience with a testamentary or philosophical quote that questioned such topics as humanity, universality, and higher powers. Manouchehri still keeps his class notebook in his top desk drawer and refers to it often, crediting it as the catalyst that set him on his current path.

He connected with Steenhuisen immediately as she presented some of humankind’s oldest questions. These themes guided Manouchehri on an inward examination that made studying the economy, deltas, and unders and overs seem limited. He majored in philosophy, seeking to understand the definition of democracy, what was meant by “God created man in His own image,” and pre-Socratic thinkers. And though he briefly considered postgraduate work in theology (he was offered a partial scholarship to attend Yale Divinity School), Manouchehri knew that his college education was not directly tied to a career path.

Once again, Manouchehri’s father suggested that he come up with a different business plan. As it turns out, one was already in design.

College campuses in the late 1990s were filled with entrepreneurs in the making who were seeking to join the dot-com revolution. Manouchehri envisioned the migration from desktop computing to webtop, or Internet-based software. With a few friends, he began outlining business models for using the web. One of their first attempts was MetroSearch, a site where users commented about various restaurants in a metro area, similar to Yelp. Ultimately, their inability to hire a team with the necessary technical skills to launch this venture inspired their next idea, automation tools.

Manouchehri and his team built conditional logic libraries that leveraged repeating program habits to save time and allow one programmer to do the work of four. In 1999, Manouchehri, along with classmates and partners Robert Santos, BA International Studies ’99, and Pirooz

Javan, BS Systems Engineering and Operations Research ’02, founded MetroStar.

There was an immediate demand for MetroStar’s automation tools. The World Bank became one of MetroStar’s first clients, helping the company close its inaugural year with enough revenue to return initial investments.

However, the coming months brought unexpected challenges: the dot-com bubble burst and the September 11 attacks slowed the tremendous growth in the technology sector. Despite these obstacles, MetroStar managed to continue its upward progress, becoming debt free in 2006 and maintaining an average of 40 percent annual growth since then.

Manouchehri attributes MetroStar’s success to maintaining focus. He admits that it is easy to get excited and distracted by the many possibilities of a start-up. For instance, in 2009 MetroStar grew at a rate of 200 percent. Manouchehri told his management team to “take it easy” in the next quarter. This is not to say that he discouraged growth, but he wanted to emphasize that business decisions cannot be based on anomalies. MetroStar had a highly profitable year because of hard work, but going forward, smart growth would continue to be the primary target. Manouchehri noted that the technology sector is evolving too quickly and unstable from a larger, global perspective. He challenges his team members to think beyond the mid-Atlantic region and examine the effect of their actions on a global scale.

Manouchehri credits his education in philosophy and religious studies as helping to shape his thinking. His views on leadership, strategic planning, and collaboration are products of his early search for humility and greater understanding. He explains that keeping a larger perspective makes it easier to manage the daily challenges of running an organization. Without a broader and deeper context, Manouchehri admits he would have cared about only the bottom line and squeezing profits. Though MetroStar is a start-up technology company, its achievements and longevity primarily come from building a stable human architecture.

A new idea is always in the design or planning stages, and Manouchehri spends his free time looking for it. He is constantly searching for ways to exercise his mind, examine different scenarios or business models. His immediate and long-term goals are part of that visualization process, and he remains most passionate about building a company “that is admired by America.”

Manouchehri’s parents continue to play a vital role in his personal and professional life. His father, now a retired businessman, advises Manouchehri on strategic management and plans for the future. He also offers honest feedback, stating that no one should surround themselves

with “yes men” and that an idea needs to withstand criticism. Manouchehri’s mother is a music teacher. She ran a school in Iran called Music of Time – Democracy through Music and worked to empower young women living there.

Manouchehri says the contributions she makes to society continue to humble him and views her accomplishments as the true meaning of success.

Building his own family is important to him. He strives to be a good husband and father and give his own children a good team of parents.

Whether the goal is professional or personal, the steps for getting there are the same: keep the course and do not get distracted. Preparation is the difference between reacting and responding. Challenges are expected, but he says with a smile, “Bring it on, we’ll figure it out.”

QandA with Manouchehri What are some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early stages of MetroStar?

Financing and raising capital is very challenging. But what is more challenging is watching companies that only work on paper get funding when you have a legitimately good idea. Timing is important. Securing funding is sometimes 90 percent timing and 10 percent luck.

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

I enjoy the people. I get energized by ideas. I love solving problems on a daily basis, whether it’s good, bad, or ugly. We also have great team chemistry, we work well together and build everything we do around trust. Trust gives you more dividend than tax.

What is on your bookshelf?

Some Persian poetry, some business and idea generation books.

I’m more of a news geek.

Favorite hangouts as a student?

Cross Roads, TT Reynolds, Ned Devine’s, Planet Nova What advice do you have for recent graduates?

Don’t fear the unknown. Don’t fear failure. Focus on doing your best because no one is going to judge you if you did your best. Well, they’ll still judge you, but deep inside you’ll know and that’s what matters. I tell my team, if you did your best, I accept it. If you didn’t, you might want to come back with a better version tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes?

I say thank you regardless. Am I going to yell at someone for not doing it before? No, what matters is the person did it now.

CORNERSTONE 11

Notes from the Field: THE VALUE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES As the university designs its vision for the next decade, we asked Mason professors, administrators, and alumni to tell us their thoughts about the value of a humanities and social sciences education.

Ángel Cabrera, President, George Mason University

Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset argued that the central function of the university is to help people become good citizens.

Universities do that by providing effective professional education (helping individuals to become teachers, nurses, physicians, journalists, scientists, and so on), but, most important, they do that by transmitting culture. Culture is the core set of contemporary ideas about life and the world we live in, ideas that help us make sense of our existence that help us be human in our particular historical context, that give meaning to an otherwise aimless, chaotic life and shape how we interact with the world around us. Culture is the vital system of ideas of our time.

Without culture, even those equipped with the most impressive professional credentials, the most advanced scientific

12 SPRING 2011 2013

knowledge or the most sophisticated communication tools cannot possibly be good citizens. And culture is particularly critical for people in positions of leadership because without understanding the vital ideas of our time, they would lead us astray or take us backward.

Whether you are an engineer or a lawyer, without culture, you cannot be a leader.

The study of the humanities and the social sciences gives us culture: it helps us understand who we are, where we’ve come from, and what makes us, in fact, human.

Michael J. Hoover, MA ’81

The obvious irony in the phrase “six degrees of separation” is that it’s really all about connections. For me, the study of the humanities and social sciences has been all about reducing separations and forging connections.

I don’t like feeling alone in this universe. I prefer to feel as if I play a small role in the social narrative that began many generations ago and has spanned the entire geography of the world and included many billions of fellow humans.

Immersing ourselves in such a massive study means that we will always be engaged in a perpetual search for truth and self-awareness. By definition this search means that we will often be confronted with more questions than answers. That’s what makes the search exciting, because questions don’t always lead to answers, but, better yet, to other questions.

And if we approach our study in a humbling way—as we should—we will also arrive at the maturity to know that not all questions are answerable. If we have given due diligence to our studies, then one day when we are asked Yeats’ question, “How can we know the dancer from the dance?” we can feel confident that not only can we not answer the question, but we can respond, why would anyone want to?

Hazel McFerson, Professor, Public and International Affairs

I have been interested in the humanities and the social sciences since being introduced to these areas as an undergraduate almost half a century ago. I am attracted by the insight offered into the human condition, especially as conflict and deprivation remain so much a part of the daily lives of many around the world. Even now, I realize how much both disciplines infuse and shape my experiences, teaching, and world view.

The nexus of the humanities highlight areas that inform my interest. These fields include political science, anthropology, area studies, history, conflict studies, sociology, ethnocultural studies, African American studies, Latino studies, and Asian studies. These are a cornucopia of intellectual treasures. I regard these links as crucial for the analysis and study of states, power and politics. By making undergraduates aware of the links as they form their intellectual outlook, we hope they will remain with them throughout their lifetime.

Because many contemporary societies are engulfed in conflict, the humanities and social sciences offer a unique and dynamic perspective into what is transpiring, and my strong background in these areas guide my teaching of courses that might appear mundane and dry. It is the introduction of the social sciences and aspects of the humanities that makes courses come alive.

Bassam Haddad, BA International Studies ’92, Director, Middle East Studies Program

“Why should I major in history or anthropology?” Can we blame students who ask this question with an eye toward the job market and their bank account?

The end result of any work of art betrays the process, ingredients, and mundane knowledge that went into it.

Society is a work of art, except we are increasingly focusing on the glittery out-

comes at the expense of the seemingly invisible substance that made it possible.

That substance is, in no small part, the humanities and social science education.

Alas, it’s a tricky loop: you need a public policy that recognizes that and shapes development accordingly. However, the less we, as individuals and institutions, value such an education, the less likely it is for policy makers and the public to push in that direction.

Without that basic foundation, marketization goes unfettered and unchecked, producing preferences that undermine collective interest. So much so that we end up living in a society that compels brilliant and aspiring students increasingly to ask, why should I major in history or anthropology? Without an intervention from spheres outside the market, that loop might keep spiraling us downward as individuals and society.

The university environment is one such last stronghold—so far.

Eric M. Johnson, MA ’05

From teachers and students, the standard response to this question is, you can’t put a monetary value on this kind of education. Salesmen use this same line to sell jewelry or high-end automobiles, and many people may think a humanities or social sciences degree is a luxury since it does not usually lead directly to an obvious occupation. There is some truth in that. It’s certainly possible to waste one’s education on trivialities, or worse, on acquiring a superior attitude toward those who do not share that education.

But “luxury” comes from the Latin word for “light.” If you spend your time illuminating the mysteries of human existence and the universe, then you have gained something that is inestimable. Youth and health eventually pass.

Truth, beauty, and goodness might seem like luxuries, but in the end, they are the only things that will endure to the end of life, and beyond.

Nance Lucas, Executive Director, Center for Consciousness and Transformation

A liberal arts degree always has and always will prepare students for citizenship. It is easier to prepare students for a job, but far more complex and rigorous to educate them to be global citizens capable of addressing societal issues and challenges. More fundamentally, a liberal arts degree teaches students how to think complexly and critically, exposes them to diverse human cultures, and broadens their understanding of the natural sciences.

By tradition, the liberal arts promotes interdisciplinary and integrative learning, pedagogy that is relevant for solving today’s pressing problems. A liberal arts degree can take students anywhere and prepare them for virtually every profession or field. While some jobs become obsolete and new ones emerge, the competencies and habits of mind that result from liberal arts degrees are timeless. On its own merits, the liberal arts has demonstrated staying power and will continue to do so as our world evolves with all its complexities.

CORNERSTONE 13

President Cabrera’s First Year Brings Excitement and Collaboration PRESIDENT CABRERA

By Rashad Mulla, BA Communication ’11

“I’m a very lucky guy, and this is an amazing job.” Ángel Cabrera, president of George Mason University, calmly and sincerely shared this assessment, as if his day did not include an hour-long magazine interview, sandwiched between attending a four-hour research presentation at Mason’s Arlington Campus and an employee of the month ceremony in his office.

Cabrera, whose tenure at Mason started on July 1, 2012, has been hard at work during his first year on the job.

His days feature nonstop meetings with current students, potential students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, community members, Board of Visitors members, business leaders, CEOs, government officials in both Richmond and Washington, D.C., and even more people internationally.

Some of the early numbers depicting his sheer workload are staggering (see sidebar, below).

Within his first year, there was also the not-so-small matter of hosting three presidential campaign visits.

So go his days. As a result, he is extremely busy and pressed for time. A schedule such PRESIDENT CABRERA’S FIRST SIX MONTHS as his is enough to July 2, 2012 to December 31, 2012 leave anyone exhausted, but Cabrera remains Meetings ________________________________ 320 excited. His passion for Calls/Video Sessions ________________________ 41 the university shines Board of Visitors/Board of Trustees/ through, and as he says, Mason Foundation Meetings ________________ 23 it dwarfs any lingering effects of fatigue.

Executive Meetings_________________________ 57 “I f we ma ke t he Academic Units, Vision, Development, right decisions here, we and Alumni Visits __________________________ 69 are positively affecting Speaking Engagements _____________________ 34 the lives of thousands Various Activities ___________________________ 76 of people,” he explains.

Student, Faculty, and Staff Activities _________ 45 “The best part of my job is the sense of purPresidential Campaign Visits _________________ 3 pose, of impact, and the Government Meetings, Sessions _____________ 51 moments I’m exposed International Travel _________________________ 1 to those, such as when I am blown away by a student conversation

14 SPRING 2013

or when I meet a faculty member such as Cynthia Lum and find out about her work in translational criminology.

Those are the best moments.”

One of the first tasks as president is getting to know as much about the university as possible, an endeavor he has immersed himself in through various speaking engagements; student, faculty, and staff events; listening tours; and other means. Equally important, of course, is the work of building relationships with the various constituencies affected by Mason. This effort means meeting with people both within and outside the university to discuss issues such as learning, teaching, scholarship, research, and funding.

Perhaps Cabrera’s most ambitious endeavor is the new Mason Vision process (details available at vision.gmu. edu), which aims to formulate and concisely articulate the Mason idea, along with the university’s mission, values, ideal characteristics of Mason graduates, and commitments. Cabrera has gathered information for this process through town hall meetings, working groups, and a MasonLeads appreciative inquiry event. The Board of Visitors approved the Mason Vision on March 21, 2013.

“I am a big believer in the power of a well-articulated mission and vision, and we need an inspirational and aspirational vision that shows what we want to do together,” Cabrera says. “We are a complex community. We embrace diversity and embody different interests and views, and we need a narrative that binds us together.”

The entire university has been involved in shaping this process.

“As we move forward, we want to embed our growth with strategy and find out what our goals are,” says Alex Williams, student body president. “By collaborating with the university community, we can all better understand for ourselves where we are heading. And once that vision is official, it will help us as students better understand how we can work together and play a role in achieving all our goals.”

Williams, a graduating senior double majoring in history and government and international politics, thought that Cabrera’s open vision process allowed him to remain directly involved in shaping matters crucial to the university’s future.

“The students are the center of what we do,” Cabrera says. “They are not at the bottom of the totem pole, they are at the top, and it is absolutely essential that we all remember that. We exist for the students.”

From her vantage point as chair of the Faculty Senate at Mason, June Tangney, professor in the Department of Psychology, is mindful of this critical period in the university’s history. Along with a new president, Mason has seen some turnover in senior leadership, and she is pleased that the transition is going so smoothly.

“This is a really exciting time for the university, and it is important for the faculty to be at the table for a lot of the decisions that will affect the university, now and into the future,” Tangney says. “Ordinarily, with the pace of change, there would be a lot more anxiety in other organizations, but my sense is that the overarching feeling is one of excitement.”

Cabrera brings with him freshness and intellectual curiosity. In his formidable academic background, he has written papers on psychology, engineering, business, management, and other subjects. He has broad interests and enjoys learning more—embodied by his visit to the fourhour research presentation on Internet censorship.

“He has tremendous energy,” says Peter Pober, professor in the Department of Communication, director of the forensics team, and secretary of the Faculty Senate. “There is a dedication to learn everything he possibly can about Mason and a willingness to admit when he doesn’t have an answer, and he can come up with a whole series of possibilities every time we meet. I think he has got the best interest of this institution at heart, and he really wants us to thrive and succeed.”

And regardless of his packed schedule, Cabrera approaches each meeting with an impressive sense of interest.

Hamza Hawkins, a home-schooled high school student who will attend Mason in the fall, recently visited the university for a tour, which included what he assumed would be a quick in-and-out meeting with the man in charge.

Instead, Hawkins, who is interested in business, technology, and entrepreneurship, experienced much more.

“He was friendly and approachable; and he was active, responsive; and he was smiling when he was talking to me,” Hawkins says. “We talked about our interests in technology, social media, and entrepreneurship. When I told him about my new business, Snikwah Interactive (an app development company), he stood up, ran out of the room, and introduced me to his staff.”

If such tales of interaction seem unexpected, they shouldn’t be.

With President Ángel Cabrera at the helm, all constituencies are at the top of the totem pole.

I N HI S O WN W O R DS On what he would do with an extra 20 minutes per day “I would write. I’m trying to figure out [Provost] Peter Stearns’s secret. If he has 23 minutes, he can turn on the switch, write for 23 minutes, and then turn the switch back off, and go do something else. I use the 23 minutes to remember what it was that I was writing.”

On the importance of a social media presence “If you are in a position of leadership, what do you have to do that is more important than finding out about the people you lead or sharing with them how you look at the world?”

On publicizing aspects of his job, such as meetings with donors and alumni “The world doesn’t end, and people appreciate it. The work of a president becomes less mysterious. If you don’t say something, no one’s going to follow you.

You have to have a real voice.”

On news consumption on Twitter “It’s important to follow people who you vehemently disagree with, too, otherwise you risk finding people who confirm your views of the world. I find it important to follow people who challenge your views of the world.

And sometimes, you realize you are wrong.”

On why his job is worth it “There is something about education that is amazing, because your job is to help people grow. To be a part of that process, where you have influence, that’s what makes everything worthwhile. That’s why I’m saying I’m a lucky guy.”

CORNERSTONE 15

BLOGS by CHSS faculty

ECONOMISTS’ VIEWPOINTS Don Boudreaux and Russ Roberts, Economics

³ cafehayek.com Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen, Economics

³ marginalrevolution.com

DIVERSITY OF INTERESTS Steve Klein, Communication

³ Triplecrankset.com Johanna Bockman, Sociology and Anthropology

³ sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com Carla Fisher, Communication

³ motherdaughterbreastcancer.com

I N N O VAT I V E E D U C AT O R S T. Mills Kelly, History and Art History

³ edwired.org Josh Eyler, English

³ josheyler.wordpress.com

16 SPRING 2013

CORNERSTONE 17

Dueck, CENTEC Win 16th Annual Award for Scholarship

By Rashad Mulla, BA Communication ’11

SCHOLARSHIP

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CENTEC staff (top) and Colin Dueck were on hand to receive the Award for Scholarship.

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or the past 15 years, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences has recognized faculty members for consistent excellence in scholarship. This year, the college honored an individual scholar and an entire center.

Colin Dueck, associate professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs, and the Center of Excellence in Neuroergonomics, Technology, and Cognition (CENTEC) won the 16th annual Award for Scholarship.

Dueck is an expert in U.S. foreign policy, international strategy, diplomacy, and conservative American politics.

His current research examines the role of the national security advisor during the 2006 Iraqi troop surge, in which the president dramatically increased the number of U.S. foot soldiers in Iraq. He is also writing a book on recent U.S. foreign policy strategies. Dueck describes the United States as moving toward an offshore-balance scenario, emphasizing long distance strikes, foreign aid, and diplomatic maneuvering in an effort to lessen a large military presence overseas.

“To this day, the United States is the world’s leading power,” Dueck says. “The decisions that the U.S. president makes in foreign policy can be very consequential, not only for Americans, but for the rest of the world as well. Overseas, every single utterance of foreign policy is followed very closely.” Throughout his career, Dueck has written articles for many publications, including International Security, Political Science Quarterly, and the Review of International Studies. He has written two books, most recently, Hard Line: The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II. In his work, Dueck examines American foreign policy and international strategy from a variety of angles.

CENTEC is directed by Raja Parasuraman, University Professor in the Department of Psychology. He directs 10 faculty members and several postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

CENTEC launched on July 15, 2010, and is funded by the U.S. Air Force. The center conducts research on neuroergonomics, a field that examines brain function in relation to performance, safety, and efficiency in practical and work environments. The center aims to enhance human effectiveness in air, space, and cyberspace operations.

CENTEC’s three areas of focus are scholarly research, graduate student and postdoctoral fellow training, and collaboration with air force scientists.

CENTEC scholars have been published in a variety of journals, including NeuroImage, Public Library of Science One, and the Journal of Neuroscience. One of the center’s current projects deals with training the brain to accelerate learning of difficult perceptual and cognitive tasks using low-level, noninvasive brain stimulation techniques.

CENTEC is also developing better computer interfaces to control unmanned reconnaissance and patrol vehicles.

The center also explores automation bias, which is the level of trust individuals have in computerized systems.

“We now know quite a lot about brain mechanisms and cognition,” Parasuraman says. “It’s a natural next step to use our understanding of what’s going on in the brains of individuals to inform our decisions on how to make devices and systems more usable.”

Dueck and CENTEC were recognized at the Celebration of Scholarship on November 12, 2012.

PAS T W I NNE R S 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997

Martin De Nys and Rosemarie Zagarri Alan Cheuse Tyler Cowen, BS ’83, and Jagadish Shukla June Tangney and Shobita Satyapal Michael Summers and James Maddux Susanne Denham and Lance Liotta Linda Seligmann Debra Bergoffen Barbara Melosh and Vernon Smith Robert Ehrlich Kevin Avruch Peter Brunette James Pfiffner Lois Horton Carol Mattusch

New Institute Focuses on Immigration Research

By Tara Laskowski, MFA ’06

Research has been home to the Mason Project on Immigration, which centers on the immigrant experience in the United States. Members of the project have been committed to furthering a reasoned, empirically informed discussion and debate about the role of immigrant groups within the contemporary United States. The project has focused on the immigrant experience in Northern Virginia, completing original research on Virginia’s Latino community, sponsorship of intellectual events and speaking engagements, and introduction of new academic programs in the field of immigration studies.

RESEARCH

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hat is the impact of immigrants on the U.S. economy, education system, and business community? A new institute at George Mason University, launched in April 2012, seeks to answer that question and more.

A joint venture between Mason and the Immigrant Learning Center Inc. (ILC) of Massachusetts, the Institute for Immigration Research conducts unbiased research to educate policy makers, media, teachers, students, and the business community about the contributions of immigrants as entrepreneurs, workers, and consumers.

The institute is located within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and works closely with Mason’s Center for Social Science Research, a multidisciplinary research center that examines some of the most pressing social, behavioral, and political problems facing contemporary society.

“With all of the heated rhetoric about immigration these days, academically rigorous research results are needed to cool the discussion with objective information.

The Institute for Immigration Research will fill that void,” says research director James Witte, who is also a professor of sociology and director of the Center for Social Science Research at Mason.

Early research projects include mapping immigrants’ economic activity, as well as examining the impact of immigrants in higher education on the economy.

The ILC was founded in 1992 by Diane Portnoy, president and CEO. The nonprofit organization helps immigrants and refugees become successful workers, parents, and community members through direct service programs and public education. The ILC further supports immigrants through the Public Education Institute, which informs Americans about the economic and social contributions of immigrants.

Portnoy says of the joint venture, “This institute will expand on the work that’s been done by the Public Education Institute. It is time to expand the focus nationwide, and I’m thrilled to have such a competent and wellrespected partner as George Mason University.”

Mason has a strong history of conducting scholarly research on immigration. The Center for Social Science

Percentage Share of All Nobel Prizes by Decade 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

1905

1915

1925

1935

1945

1955

1965

1975

1985

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DECADE

U.S. Born

U.S. Foreign Born

All Other Countries

The Institute for Immigration Research has launched detailed research projects on foreign-born Nobel Prize winners (top) and immigrant entrepreneurship (bottom).

Pictures courtesy of IIR.

CORNERSTONE 19

The Folklore Field School Folklore Studies faculty team with the Library of Congress to provide distinct learning opportunities.

By Debra Lattanzi Shutika, MA ’93

FOLKLORE

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Debra Lattanzi Shutika

Laura Remis snaps a photo during the West Virginia field school.

20 SPRING 2013

tudents at George Mason University are often drawn to folklore studies to explore storytelling, fairy tales, and long-held traditions, not realizing that folklore is part of the contemporary everyday experience. The summer Field School for Cultural Documentation offers students a firsthand opportunity to learn about the work that professional folklorists actually do, such as ethnographic research and cultural documentation, and then provides them an opportunity to replicate a field research project.

Students who enroll in the course receive real-world research experience under the guidance of scholars from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress (LOC). A collaborative effort between the LOC and the Folklore Studies Program at Mason, the field school is entering its third year. Researchers and archivists from the LOC work with Mason Folklore Studies faculty to train students in ethnographic documentation and professional archiving practices that conform to LOC practices. It is the only course of its kind and has attracted students from Mason and other universities.

The field school allows students to apply what they’ve learned in their conventional courses in folklore and related fields. In a typical folklore class, students are asked to complete an oral history interview as the basis of their term project. It is the foundation of ethnographic fieldwork, but it is only part of the ethnographic process, which

includes participation and skilled observations of cultural contexts to gain in-depth knowledge of a community or group. Many academic disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and nursing, employ ethnographic field methods as part of their research agenda.

Working closely with faculty to create an authentic research project, the field school focused on the Columbia Pike neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia, during the summers of 2011 and 2012.

“This field school enabled me to not only practice the basic skills in folklore that I had, but also learn a number of new methods and practices within folklore,” says Hannah Powers, a senior English major. “Through interviews, field notes, and firsthand experience in the community, I learned so much about Columbia Pike, the cultures represented there, and the effects of the new revitalization plans.”

Katie Kerstetter, a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, noted that participating in the field school was a great experience.

“Not only did I get to engage in an applied research project, but I received research training in interviewing techniques, audio-recording, and documentation, which have helped me become a better qualitative researcher,” she says. “The skills I learned in the field school have been incredibly helpful in the research projects I have pursued over the past year, and I will continue to draw on them as I begin my dissertation research this spring.”

After a week of intensive classroom training, students work with Folklore Studies and field school faculty (myself and LOC colleagues Guha Shankar, Stephen Winnick, Todd Harvey, and Maggie Kruesi) to develop a professional documentation project that can be completed within the six-week summer term. Months before the field school begins, I conduct preliminary fieldwork, including a history of local neighborhoods and a list of potential research informants or subjects. This step allows students a lead once they begin their research. From those initial contacts, students work in teams and are expected to develop independent research goals and select informants in consultation with their instructor. Students conduct oral histories using broadcast quality digital recording

PHOTOS BY DEBRA LATTANZI SHUTIKA UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA

equipment and participate and observe the day-to-day activities of the research site.

The final project for the summer course includes a written research report and a public presentation. In summer 2012, this presentation was held in Arlington, where Columbia Pike residents, Arlington County officials, and others were invited to respond to the students’ work. The field school plans to present to a similarly prestigious audience each year, though the exact locations are to be determined by project. At the conclusion of the semester, the materials are collected and archived in a local library and at the Northern Virginia Folklife Archive at Mason.

The field school is a natural outgrowth of the types of learning experiences the Folklore Studies Program has promoted during its 35 years at Mason. The goal of the Folklore Studies curriculum is to create a classroom experience that encourages students to apply the research methodologies and theoretical approaches to fieldwork that are discussed in class. The field school offers an exceptional learning experience. It is a course that mimics realworld expectations of a professional documentation project. Students learn how to plan, implement, and conduct research, but they also learn about the challenges of working in teams and a local community. Students are allowed maximum autonomy when completing fieldwork, which for many is the first time they’ve been asked to make independent research decisions of this magnitude.

Top, revitalization and reconstruction in Columbia Pike has evoked a variety of emotions from both new and longtime Pike residents. Field school students made sure to document them all in their research. Above, folklore student Sarah Andaloro interviews Jeanne Mozier during the West Virginia field school.

continued CORNERSTONE 21

Kim Stryker takes notes during the West Virginia field school.

22 SPRING 2013

In 2011 and 2012, during the summer field school’s documentation of Columbia Pike, the students learned a lot about the area’s culture and traditions. “The Pike” is locally known as Arlington’s International Main Street, and home to one of the nation’s most diverse communities. During the field school, the Pike was in the midst of a planned revitalization; many of the community’s apartments have undergone and will continue to undergo renovation or reconstruction. In July 2012, the Arlington County Board voted to develop a trolley line that will run along Columbia Pike. These changes promise to transform the community, which has caused angst for some local residents.

“The field school opened my eyes to the living—and dying—history in my own neighborhood,” says Ben Norris, a graduate student at Marymount University and Arlington resident. “I found what I learned to be just as fascinating as any popular historical topics because people are just so complex and interesting.”

The field school also created ties between Mason and the Columbia Pike community.

“Mason has always made efforts to support the Northern Virginia communities that have adopted the university, and hosting the field school is a unique way to do so,” says Eric Olson, BA Communication ’09, who is pursuing a graduate certificate in science communication. “It was an opportunity for so many of us, including the students and the project participants, to interact in an exciting and constructive format. In the span of only a few weeks, we learned how to perform and took part in the kind of hands-on research that we only get to read about in most cases. Without the use of a single textbook, we gained insights about useful technology, crucial research skills, and, most important, people and their stories. I am excited to contribute to the project, enthusiastic about our discoveries, and proud to be affiliated with the field school legacy.”

In addition to the Mason field school, I worked with Mason’s Center for Field Studies to organize a one-week residential field school in West Virginia as part of my Appalachian Folklore course in May 2012. After completing the spring term course, 10 students took an optional 1-credit course in Morgan County, where students

explored traditional Appalachian culture and the transformation of Berkeley Springs, a small town known for its mineral springs and spas. The West Virginia field school demonstrated, in a way that I could never show in a conventional classroom, the diversity of experience in the Appalachian region, which is too often viewed as homogeneous and backward. It was powerful in that the students were able to see it for themselves as they worked on their documentation projects. As the Folklore Studies Program grows, my colleagues hope to take the field school to more locations.

While developing a field school course requires more time and energy than a conventional course, I plan to make this a standard part of the curriculum. When I see the results of the field school, what the students learn and their response to the experience, I know I’m offering something vital to the Mason educational experience.

Folklore student Sarah Andaloro conducts an interview as part of the West Virginia field school May 2012.

Mason Launches MA in Middle East and Islamic Studies

By Ezzat Shehadeh, BA Communication ’07

dents a broader understanding of the Muslim experience outside of any particular regional framework. While topics in Islamic studies occasionally intersect with those of the Middle East, the degree’s curriculum incorporates subjects well beyond these borders to reflect the vast intellectual interests that define Islamic studies today. The faculty’s expertise in Islamic history, political Islam, and different religious trends will allow students to pursue a more nuanced study of Islam around the world while attaining the necessary skills to compete in today’s job market after graduation.

“Our program tries to engage Islam as a global tradition,” Mandaville says. “We want to spend as much time teaching and studying the Muslim experience in places like Senegal, Pakistan, and Malaysia as in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.”

NEW MA PROGRAM

T

he Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies and the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University are pleased to launch a new MA in Middle East and Islamic studies.

The program will launch formally in fall 2013; however, a small group of applicants was accepted for earlier admission in spring 2013. Bassam Haddad, BA International Studies ’92, director of the Middle East Studies Program, and Maria Dakake, associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, were the key figures behind the program’s creation and remain closely affiliated with it.

The program aims to reposition the study of the Middle East and Islam within a global context to help students better analyze particular issues in light of current events and shifting historical paradigms. The program’s core classes provide a solid background in both fields of study. Students can choose to focus their course work on either Middle East studies or Islamic studies. A variety of complementary electives allow students to gain a unique understanding of the complex issues prevalent in both fields by examining historical and contemporary subjects across different disciplines.

With the recent popular uprisings in Arab countries, the transformation of social and political dynamics from North Africa to the Arab East and our distinguished faculty’s work in new media, this program is truly timely.

Students will study the region from multiple angles and explore emerging trends that shape current discourse in Middle East studies.

“The Middle East and Muslim world have been very important for the United States in the past decade,” says Peter Mandaville, the director of the Ali Vural Ak Center and director of the MA program. “However, these parts of the world have not always been well understood by the public and by those who find themselves in positions of responsibility in government, nonprofit, and developmental positions. We have the opportunity to shape the understanding of those whose work in turn has significant impact on the Middle East and Islamic world.”

The program takes a global approach to the study of Islam’s diverse communities, rich history, and rapidly changing political realities. This perspective offers stu-

Peter Mandaville

CORNERSTONE 23

Honoring Our Students

By Anne Reynolds

T

STUDENT HONORS

he College of Humanities and Social Sciences values and celebrates each of its students and is always looking for new ways to celebrate their achievements. Highlighting students’ academic successes was obviously on the mind of Provost Peter Stearns when he commemorated the induction of George Mason University’s first Phi Kappa Phi members on the Provost’s blog: Mason is legitimately proud of its students and their achievements. Certainly categories of activities—in sports, in performance, in forensics—bring their own distinctions, and rewarding academic success deserves attention of its own. It’s good to be able to encourage bright, diligent students to feel good about their accomplishments, beyond what quiet satisfaction the semester cycle of receiving grades may bring. [Provost’s blog, April 18, 2011] Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest honor society for all academic disciplines. Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, it now boasts chapters at more than 300 colleges and universities in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The George Mason chapter was chartered after a two-year review process from the national Phi Kappa Phi organization, and its first induction ceremony welcomed more than 200 students. The invitation-only membership was offered to only the top 7.5 percent of second-term juniors and the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students.

The new Phi Kappa Phi members were easy to spot at their schools’ convocations and university commencement: each member was entitled to wear a medallion bestowed at his or her induction into the society, an outward symbol of achievement.

This spring, Mason students will have another academic distinction available to them: after many years of effort on the part of Mason faculty, Phi Beta Kappa has chartered a chapter at the university.

Phi Beta Kappa holds the distinction of being the first academic honor society. Its emphasis is on the liberal arts and sciences, the very disciplines that are at the heart of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is as old as our nation, having started in 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. As with Phi 24 SPRING 2013

Kappa Phi, membership in Phi Beta Kappa is by invitation only. To join, a student must have completed 90 credits of liberal arts courses, have an intermediate-level language ability in a language other than English, and fulfill a mathematics requirement. While GPA is not the single determining factor in an invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa, on average, membership is only offered to the top 10 percent of students in a class.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society, which administers the honor society nationally, is equally discerning in its process for choosing the colleges and universities at which it charters new chapters. Marion Deshmukh, Robert T. Hawkes Professor of History, was instrumental in bringing the society to Mason.

“We tried to get a chapter for many, many years, beginning in 2000,” she says. “It takes a very long time to get a chapter; it’s almost like doing a college accreditation. They want to know [details about the] library, faculty-student ratios, retention rates of students, the honors college, GPAs of entering students, and all kinds of information, so that the final report that we had to submit was more than 300 pages. And then they come for a campus visit, so it’s a very long and arduous process and a lot of schools just give up after a while.”

In fact, the university made two previous attempts to invite Phi Beta Kappa to campus. Colleges and universities apply for chapters on a three-year cycle. Mason applied for a chapter during the 2000-03 cycle and again during the 2003-06 cycle. Each of these efforts was derailed, with the society citing concerns such as Mason’s rapid growth plans and whether the university’s faculty was able to operate with an appropriate degree of independence from the Board of Visitors or the Virginia General Assembly.

As the saying goes, though, the third time was the charm. When the university reapplied in 2009, it was one of 25 schools that submitted a preliminary report to seek membership. This year, it became one of only three universities to boast new Phi Beta Kappa chapters. The first induction of new members was held on April 17, 2013, attended by the more than 100 Mason faculty members who are Phi Beta Kappa members and by delegates from the chapter at the College of William and Mary.

Each of these honor societies (along with a third honor society, Phi Beta Delta, which is geared toward the academic achievements of students who have studied

abroad) is administered from the Office of the Provost.

The largest share of responsibility for their successful operation falls on the desk of Marcy Glover, BS ’94, MS ’03, program coordinator for undergraduate education. Glover serves as the chapter secretary for both Phi Kappa Phi and for Phi Beta Kappa. In that role, she ensures that the appropriate students are offered membership, checking grades and qualifications, and ironing out the many details of the ceremonies themselves.

She enjoys being a part of what the societies mean to the university. “I was an undergrad in ’94,” she explains.

“And it’s so fascinating to watch how Mason has changed since then. All the traditions that are coming in, and this is part of that. One of the reasons that Provost Stearns and Mason pushed so hard to get Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa is because we have these exceptional students, and the more ways we can recognize their excellence beyond just cum laude on their transcript is awesome.”

Aside from the national honor societies, students have many other opportunities to be recognized for their motivation to learn and accept responsibility.

The Golden Key International Honour Society, for instance, has more than 400 chapters worldwide. Founded in 1977, Golden Key stresses not only academic success, but leadership opportunities and a strong service component. Membership is open to students in all disciplines, undergraduate and graduate alike. Undergraduate members must be in the top 15 percent of their classes and are invited to join in their second, third, or fourth year of postsecondary education.

The college also offers its own vehicles for celebrating students’ success. The Dean’s Challenge is awarded each fall at the college’s Celebration of Scholarship. As part of this event, the college also awards the Freshman Academic Achievement Scholarship, the First-Sweitzer Scholarship, and the Robert R. Thomas Jr. Scholarship. The latter two scholarships are made possible through the generosity

of Douglas First and Sandra First, BIS ’85, and Robert Thomas, BS Economics ’84, respectively.

At the departmental level as well, students can gain recognition for their work. Many departments throughout the college have unique honors programs and participate in national honor societies that were created distinctly for a particular field of study. For example, graduate and undergraduate students in the Department of Psychology may join Psi Chi, the International Honors Society in Psychology, and undergraduate students who meet a series of qualifications may apply to participate in the threesemester honors program. In this program, the students work closely with a faculty mentor on a research project, culminating in a thesis.

Working closely with faculty on independent research projects is one of the enriching opportunities available to motivated students, but students with a desire to take their studies further can find many avenues to do so.

Mason’s Center for Global Education offers a semesterlong study-abroad program at the University of Oxford for high-achieving graduate and undergraduate students.

The Oxford Honors Semester Program gives students the experience of learning through the tutorial system, which functions much like a graduate-level independent studies course. Instead of taking a traditional class, the students undertake substantial independent research and meet weekly with an Oxford scholar who guides their work. At the end of the semester, the students produce a portfolio of their work.

For students who are highly motivated but do not wish to travel abroad, the Department of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Global Affairs have recently developed a special internship-based program: the Global Policy Fellows. This program invites students to study for a semester at Mason’s Arlington Campus, where they work in a small cohort arranged around significant individual internship experiences.

In the first semester of the program this spring, a group of 21 students, all of whom share an interest in the role of government in society, spent three days each week at an internship, with employers ranging from the Strategic Systems Program Office in the Department of the Navy to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to congressional offices. While not working at their internships, the students took classes designed to enhance their work-study experience and participated in a speaker series with government and business leaders from around the region.

All these opportunities are geared toward one goal: making sure that students who succeed in academics and leadership are celebrated and recognized.

CORNERSTONE 25

Distinguished Practitioner Professors Bring the Real World into the Classroom

By Anne Reynolds

PR ACTITIONERS

I Laurie Robinson

26 SPRING 2013

t is the real estate cliché about what really matters: “location, location, location!” One of the undeniable benefits of George Mason University is the excellent physical placement of its campuses. Close to Washington, D.C., and seated in some of the most populous and diverse counties in Virginia, the Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Campuses are greatly rewarded by their surroundings.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences has capitalized on being in the heart of the action by introducing its students to the real-world expertise of many successful local and national players. These practitioners in residence enrich the educational experience of the college’s students by bringing a wealth of real-world knowledge directly into the classroom, inspiring their classes to look forward to see the differences that they, too, will make in the world.

Laurie Robinson is an excellent example. One of Mason’s Clarence J. Robinson Professors, Robinson has a wealth of national criminal justice policy experience. She has served twice as the assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, the arm of the department that works with federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems to identify and implement effective crime-fighting strategies. She describes the office’s mission as the “connection of research with practice at the crossroads of the federal government with the state and local side.”

Robinson headed the Office of Justice Programs for seven years during the Clinton administration and three more years during the Obama administration. While at the agency, Robinson oversaw a significant expansion in support for crime-related research and the value of innovation in fighting crime. In between her tours at the Department of Justice, Robinson launched and directed the University of Pennsylvania’s MS program in criminology and served as a distinguished scholar at the university’s Jerry Lee Center of Criminology.

At Mason, she not only taught three classes this spring, but was the senior fellow for Mason’s Center for EvidenceBased Crime Policy and the senior academic advisor for the center’s criminal justice policy efforts. Asked what

drew her to Mason, she said it was the focus on evidencebased research, or translational criminology, in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and the nature of the Robinson Professor position, which brings with it the opportunity to teach undergraduates with an emphasis on innovation and a multidisciplinary approach.

The true benefit of Robinson’s experience is that she shares her perspective of what policy makers actually need and how to distill that information for them. “I’ve learned an enormous amount from the ‘traditional faculty,’” she says, “not just substantively, but in terms of perspective.”

Students have the opportunity to benefit from a completely different kind of expertise with the inclusion of Anthony Griffin, parent BA ’08 and MPA ’12, in Mason’s faculty. Griffin is a practitioner in residence in the Department of Public and International Affairs.

He comes to Mason with a background of unparalleled experience in local government affairs. Prior to his work at Mason, he served for 20 years in the Fairfax County government; for 12 of those years, he was the Anthony Griffin county executive. Before his work in Fairfax, he served as Arlington County’s deputy county manager and city manager for the city of Falls Church.

This past spring, Griffin taught PUAD 759: Issues in Local Government Administration. The course is designed to give students an understanding of the workings of local government and teach students how to identify alternatives for resolving issues that localities face.

These issues are many, and this ambitious course touched on all these concerns: • Fiscal matters • Land use questions • Public works • Transportation

• • • • • • •

Human services Public safety Administration Nonmandated services such as libraries and parks Economic development Education Regional governance and intergovernmental relations

Griffin wanted to bring to the students the complexity of the role of local government. “What I want to convey is that local government is very involved in your life, hopefully in a very positive way . . . the basic services that people enjoy are usually provided by the local sector, not the state and not the federal government. People tend to know the most about the federal government, but not who their local leaders are.”

Students in the class focused on the real challenges facing local government, presenting summaries of current events at the outset of most class meetings and working on a semester-long case study featuring an issue with which a locality is either contending or will likely be dealing with.

Griffin explains that anticipating these issues is a large part of the job: “One reason why I enjoyed [public service] as much as I did was that no two days were the same. Every day, a certain amount of my day was fixed and I knew what was going to happen, but some time during the day, something would come up that I didn’t anticipate, sort of a crisis du jour, and I had to figure out how to deal with it.”

At Mason, Griffin not only will be teaching classes and serving as a resource to students and the Mason community, but will contribute to Mason’s three Centers on the Public Service: the Center for Federal Management Leadership, the State and Local Government Leadership Center, and the Center on Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, and Policy. These centers are designed to join teaching and research with real-world practice. Their academic content and theory are informed or delivered by practitioners with experience in their particular fields, and the scholarly work performed at the centers is done with the specific goal of serving and informing leaders and developing future leaders in these areas.

The college houses a number of these diverse centers, where practitioners may further their work to bring knowledge and positive change to the world at large. For instance, in July 2012, the university announced the formation of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative (E&EI), which operates from Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication (4C), which, in turn, is housed under the Department of Communication.

E&EI’s executive director is former Congressman Bob Inglis, a Republican from South Carolina who served in

the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999, and from 2005 to 2011. The initiative’s mission is to explore and promote solutions to America’s energy and climate challenges from the standpoint of conservative, marketbased theories. It emphasizes assigning the true costs to competing fuel sources, rather than attacking energy challenges with expanded government, regulation, and taxes.

Inglis explains that he was intrigued by the work of Ed Maibach, a University Professor at Mason and director of 4C. Inglis had met Maibach at a conference, where Maibach had presented an analysis of American public attitudes toward global warming. Inglis found the analysis compelling and eventually agreed to operate the E&EI from the center.

Working from a university setting is a good fit, Inglis explains. The initiative is geared toward trying to reach those who identify themselves as politically conservative.

He recognizes that its message is not necessarily a typical conservative viewpoint on climate change. Students, according to Inglis, understand the approach.

“They are taking economics 101, physics 101, and chemistry 101,” Inglis says. “They get it. Young conservatives don’t want to just hear the tune on the radio.”

The E&EI and 4C are only two examples of the range of centers housed in the college. Each of these centers represents ways in which the college is using research to reach out and change the world.

CORNERSTONE 27

C OLLE GE OF HUMANIT IES AND S O CI AL S CI E NCE S

Alumni Honor Roll J A NUARY 1, 2012–JAN UARY 1, 2013 Alumni are listed according to their first degree awarded at Mason. Gifts, pledges, payments, and matching gifts to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences are credited toward Honor Roll Recognition.

CLASS OF 1968 Ted B. McCord Jr. Theodore C. Remington Sr.

Paul C. Gibert Jr. Christine F. Hughes Joan D. Lawson

CLASS OF 1969 Barbara J. Bramble Thomas C. Foster Helen M. Foster Susan H. Godson Joseph C. Howard Keith A. Kenny William R. Marcey

CLASS OF 1972 Karen M. Collins-Fleming Barbara A. Leahy Marcella S. Marcey Duane E. Nystrom Hildegard B. Owens Gloria G. Pantazis Thelma L. Spencer

CLASS OF 1970 Gail A. Bohan Christopher G. Dancy Kathryn H. Draper Inez S. Graetzer Enver Bill Hoff Jr. William G. Iliffe Maria M. Ingham Ramon E. Planas Jr. Robert C. Sorgen Durette M. Upton

CLASS OF 1973 Earl J. Anspach Kathleen C. Buschow Norbert E. Erickson Kathy J. Homan Maureen L. Hunter Rosario Juliano Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda Ann G. Monday Veronica A. Ray Cristina L. Roberson

CLASS OF 1971 Carole Beeghly Bencich Sylvia Cole Robert L. Cushing Jr. C. Dean Foster Jr. Virginia O. Gavaghen

CLASS OF 1974 Walter J. Bottiny Charlene F. Carey Beverly S. Ellis Janice L. Gygi Robert A. James

Catherine M. Kelly Sally A. Sieracki Mary D. Soles Daniel J. Turner Sarah M. Uribe Marjorie-Ann Warren Sandra L. Whittington N. Lilise Will William A. Williams Kathleen M. Zaccardi CLASS OF 1975 Richard T. Bealer Martha D. Boerner Michael R. Bull Robert W. Denig Gary E. Guy Sr. Bac Hoa Hoang Ricky M. Holman Alfred A. Martin Dennis P. McGann Patricia Milford Elizabeth O. Orman Katherine E. Rowan Edgar W. Tullar CLASS OF 1976 Hagos H. Alemayehu David P. Bourne Amy Lynn Breedlove Barbara L. Coleman

Suzanne M. Dalch Samuel C. Dawson III AnnMarie DeArment Michelle DeCou-Landberg Jean R. DiPalo Julie G. Earthman Cynthia J. Gordon Anne G. Greenglass Sheila J. Hartzell Anne H. L’Heureux Janet A. Long Deborah A. McCormick Carol V. Rubin James J. Shine Judith E. Simonson Maria-Theresia Steeg Amanda M. Sturgeon Gregory E. Wells

Thomas H. Cope Christine M. Doner Nancy Goodwin Griffin Janis G. Harless John E. Henneberger Janet H. Hutchefon Lois M. Jacob Barbara A. Judge Demaris H. Miller Joan G. Patterson Janet J. L. Quinn Gwendolyn D. Sadler Lisa C. Siegrist Thomas D. Snyder Jr. Thomas Q. Sullivan Jr. Nancy C. Vernon Stephen B. Walley Joyce E. Yordy

CLASS OF 1977 Donna C. Bestebreurtje Casey M. B. Cain Nancy M. Croft Carol T. Fitzpatrick Robert P. Fitzpatrick Jr. Myrna Frantz Bernadette L. Grigonis Elizabeth G. Grogan Mary I. Harrison Patricia J. Horgan Kit C. Hudson Douglas J. Morris Lynn M. Y. Owan Jacquelyn J. Rivas Jane M. Seeberg Christine C. Thompson Eleanor H. Weingartt

CLASS OF 1980 Luisa R. Bayly Lorraine A. Bivins M. Virginia Bruner Roland E. Burdett Jr. E. Judith Finney Robert S. Gregorits Maryvonne M. Haynie Merry Giugni Henley Kathleen R. Jones James T. Judge Kathleen E. Kevlin Denise M. Kfoury David Martinez Ronald A. Panaggio Constance E. Ray W. C. Vogt Jr. Stuart C. Wood

CLASS OF 1978 Robert L. Brown Susan S. Burry Cande L. Fudge Doris H. Gearing Arlette M. Gillis Elaine Petosa Kelly Kevin R. Limbach Ronald L. Martin Larey W. McCorkle Gretchen B. McLellan Lynne J. Minkel

CLASS OF 1981 Suzanne M. Carlton Robert G. Carpenter Nancy J. Cooke Dennis L. Cordell Sr. Lucile D. Fleming Stephen P. Garrity Michael J. Hoover Robert B. Kaiman Annemarie E. Kline-Edens Richard S. Lofgren Rebecca K. Masters Karole P. McKalip David R. Oates Lisa M. Pellegrin Linda L. Privette Marion D. Reed

CLASS OF 1979 Georgene M. Assur Joseph W. Bear III Brenda S. Butler

28 SPRING 2013

For online giving, visit

give.gmu.edu.

Michael M. Reinemer Margaretta S. Smith Carol E. Tsou CLASS OF 1982 John F. Bishop Gloria L. Denig Diana J. Disney-Coker Roberta B. Dunn Barbara S. Falcone Joshua R. Jahangir David A. Komisarcik Cynthia B. Kozakewich Allen C. Lomax Douglas A. Mairena Mary L. McGillen Mark G. Morse Evelyn J. Perez Steven A. Riley Martha F. Rohr Andrew L. Schaaf Marilyn J. Schoon Sylvia B. Sellers Donna C. Singh Barbara M. Smith Stephen E. Stark Ruth E. Urich Sharon Tabor Warren Judith S. West Kathryn L. Wilson CLASS OF 1983 Francis G. Brooks Marilyn B. Buchan David B. Caldwell Sara E. Cody Betty Jane R. Davis Audrey A. Fleming Walter R. Lawson Sr. Zayda L. McCorkle Donna R. McDaniel Kathleen D. O’Connor Elizabeth C. Osborn Sheila Prom Pelaez Cathy Sabol Derek C. Saldanha David P. Shaw Pamela Sutter Deirdre J. Turnage Janet R. Watson Deborah W. Weinberg Charlotte A. Wilson CLASS OF 1984 Sheila M. Barrows Herald G. Beale Cynthia F. Ehinger Sandra K. Eichorn Jennifer S. Eule Gregory L. Evans Lisa A. Faust Stephen D. Gladis Ellen S. Hill Kim B. Holien

Anthony C. Homan Alvin E. Kitchen Victor H. Kryston Myron F. Laible S. LaBossier Joyce Johnson Lanzer Rhonda F. Leavitt Melissa U. Maas Mark E. Madigan Barbara R. Miller Edward J. Newberry Kenneth J. Sabol Barbara M. Smith Robert R. Thomas Jr. Dale R. Van Dyke CLASS OF 1985 Hannelore B. Brunner Alicia H. Farrell Sandra First Karen T. Fulkerson Evan B. Gilman Rosa V. Harper Geraldine K. Havran Paula R. Kidwell Francoise C. Kieschnick Wilfrieda K. Kulish Graeme B. Littler Antonette M. Maltagliati James E. McConville Gregory C. Nelson David A. Register Patricia L. Smith-Solan Frank J. Sprague Susan K. Sullivan Tina S. Tisinger Karin L. Zimmermann CLASS OF 1986 Lynn B. Abbot Victoria F. Alley Doris S. Cook Ana M. Darder Louis C. DiCenzo Margaret M. Earnest Nicole A. Geller Irene V. Glaeser Rachel A. Kovel Marlene J. Lass Melinda M. McAllister Charles A. McGrath Gail P. Meighan Virginia M. Montecino Robert G. Olson Elizabeth M. Stewart Philip M. Stinson Kent W. C. Wayson G. Louise Coo Willis Thomas Edward Zinn II CLASS OF 1987 Debra J. Abrams Jim R. Ball Michael J. Bucierka

Edmund H. Burke Betsy Rose Carr James E. Dorion Richard A. Eyerly Jean A. Feyerherm Randall W. Gibson George G. Gill Yukiko M. Henninger David A. Huff Kerry D. Ickrath Muge F. Kivanc Mabel B. Kyser Patrick H. MacAuley William B. Miller Judith V. Nordin Jean M. Prater Randall H. Revercomb Paula A. Rogers Carolyn A. Samaha Thomas P. Sotelo Patricia L. Sposito Clementine Whelan Martha R. Williams MaryAnn Wollerton Joan K. Ziemba* CLASS OF 1988 V. Leticia Barnes Kathi Ann Brown Drew J. Calhoun Sandra G. Cooper Susan M. Ferguson Marianne D. Fiorio Nancy Anne B. Graham Joyce L. Gray Tracy E. Jones Peter F. Kropp Michael A. Lear Beissner Bradley S. McCormick Alice K. Mergler Paul E. Murphy Margaret C. Navin Huan V. Nguyen Rebecca L. Penick Eileen F. Richard John B. Rowlett Tracey A. Salas Barbara M. Schumacher Ellen H. Smith Leisa C. Snodgrass Donna M. Southworth Bonnie S. Tarsia Susan E. Turner Patricia A. Whitham Kathleen M. Wiese CLASS OF 1989 Margarita N. Astorino Kevin M. Baker Clifford V. Bishop Sylvia L. Cook Dana E. Doten Mark A. Farrington Catherine DeCastro Ferrick Mary E. Gallion Norma J. Geiger Susan L. Gilmour-Sage Vendon Hays Sonya M. Hazelwood Fred J. Holder

Caleen N. Johnson Lisa B. Lander Annette C. Lewis Kathlyn H. Loudin Tracey C. Marcelo Harold C. Messenheimer Bernard A. Nassaux John A. Passaro Susan M. Reiss Lia C. Riri Peggy J. Rowland William D. Simo Chandler J. Stalvey Susan E. Vink-Lainas Paul F. Walker Peter B. Walker Beverly Hudson Wirtz CLASS OF 1990 Kelly O. Affeld Hannelore Averna Mary L. Bauer Christine M. Black Valerie Bryant John G. Corso John A. Delbridge Noel T. Dickover Mary Sulesky Donovan Robert E. Jester Kathleen Q. Johnson Jeanie B. Kahnke Jennifer S. Lafley Robert C. Lankford Nicole Livas Suzanne E. McCann Allen J. Montecino Jr. Karen G. Rehm Robin A. Rojas Claudine D. Saunders David M. Shaheen Dorothy S. Shawhan Enid S. Sheafer Catherine N. Skaggs Alison J. Steier Patricia A. Stephens Kelly B. Thomas Lynda H. Vincent Daniel W. Webb Michael E. Whitham CLASS OF 1991 Karen L. Amendola Annalisa M. Assaadi Maria K. Bachman Judith A. Berube Gary J. Braswell Stephanie A. Brodersen Moira A. Connelly Todd M. Cook David P. Costanza Renay E. Galati Renate H. Guilford

Kurt M. Hallex Robert E. Herr Holly Kays Hukill John E. Kelley Daniel L. Lazenby Edward G. Lengel Eric H. Lindenberg Katheryn R. Mickey Ursula M. Moreau Melissa D. Moshang Kevin R. Murphy Jr. Karen M. Sharkey Edgar D. Sniffin Charles L. Stith Elaine A. Therianos Denise D. Wamaling CLASS OF 1992 Frances A. Bernhardt Kimberly W. Blythe Gregory D. Brodersen Joyce D. Brotton Courtney M. Bulger Kristin R. deVos Dennis R. Di Mauro Jason C. Figley Alexandra S. Gutekunst Bassam S. Haddad David T. Hawkins Christine M. Heaton Aileen D. Helm Patricia Hilton-Johnson Lynn E. Huggins-Kohler Christopher Koomey Kathleen S. Long Jennifer McCoy John E. Mincer Jr. Melissa L. Nives Brian F. O’Neil Thomas C. Purnell Paul C. Reber Gwendolyn L. Rucker Anne W. Sandlund Patricia G. Santiago Robyn H. Snyder Gerard M. Stegmaier Suzanne E. Stegmaier Barbara M. Stough J. Kenneth Townsend Marie B. Travesky Carter R. Tyler CLASS OF 1993 Richard L. Bennett Margaret F. Brinig Timothy J. Contrucci Michelle V. Covert David A. Domino Ellen Randall Dunn Franklin D. Edmondson Brian D. Ehret Teresa L. Fries

Bold—Denotes President’s Circle giving *Deceased For a complete list of the George Mason University Honor Roll of Donors, please visit supportingmason.gmu.edu/honor_roll/index.php.

CORNERSTONE 29

What’s New? We want to know… ³Where are you now? ³Have you moved? ³Gotten married? ³Had a baby? ³Landed a new job? ³Seen former classmates recently?

Submit your class notes to Mason Spirit, the university’s magazine, at spirit@gmu.edu.

Please be sure to include your graduation year and degree.

For more information, please visit chss.gmu.edu/alumni.

Save the Date for Alumni Weekend!

October 4-7 with a special event for CHSS alumni on October 5 Please visit chss.gmu.edu for updates on all our events.

30 SPRING 2013

Patricia R. Grimes Linda C. Habenstreit Gayl B. Han Michael A. Iovino Margaret B. Jackman Kristine L. Kaske-Martin William E. Linden III Brent S. Maas Michelle A. Marks Michael J. McGurk Denise E. McKinley Anne M. Menotti Patricia A. Millar Amy M. Pepe Barry L. Reed Elizabeth C. Rowe Jennifer R. Seager Vincent G. Stine Deana M. Sweeney Jennifer M. Tegan Mary-Blair T. Valentine Alexia D. Vikis CLASS OF 1994 Marguerite B. Anderson Lila R. Baltman Mary W. Bonwich Eleni N. Boosalis Edward B. Brooks James N. Burroughs William S. Carnell Isabela I. Cocoli Kenneth R. Craddock Jr. Christopher L. Daub Lisa J. Ferens Dione M. Fields Virginia Fissmer Joy R. Fulton James C. Girard Christina L. Greathouse Naushin Hamid Catharina J. Jacknow Michael D. Karpicus Donna L. Kidd Robert N. Kilcullen Matthew T. Lammers Anh-Dao Light Andrew S. McElwaine Tooley L. Milstead Carol Lee Mournighan Jeffrey R. B. Notz Jennifer L. Ochsenfeld Vincent T. Panigot Brian H. Philips Rachel A. Reavy Mary Jo Ricci Maja I. Roberts Kenneth G. Robison Carolyn Beth Roth Cristian A. Sabo Sylvia L. Shenk Thomasetta C. Solak Christina J. Storm Van Leeuwen Joanne A. Yakaitis CLASS OF 1995 Krystyna Arlet Katherine A. Barnoski Linda H. Bell Carol T. Caruso

Roger B. Clapp Patricia C. Coray Clair G. Cosby Sargio Desdunes Ann W. Durden Elizabeth M. Geddes Michael J. Good Burton C. Gray Jr. Barbara Halberstam Donald B. Headley Amy C. Kramer Jennifer E. S. Lee Ann M. Ludwick Ernestine B. Magher Michelle A. Maher John J. Myers Lisa K. Oakley-Bogdewic Sarah S. Pacheco Crystal K. Philcox Deborah Rashkin Sylvia D. Rast Elizabeth P. Roach Norma J. Scott Dawn M. Sexton Jon D. Silverman Carolyn A. Van Newkirk Robbin S. Velayedam Isolde U. Wasley

Carmen Danies Susan M. DaSilva Mary Ann T. Donovan Glenore F. Forbes Ruth M. Garza Justin Gilbert Susan J. Graham Leslie R. Hall Melissa V. Hunniford Serena E. Ingre Eric D. Johnson Karen F. LeCuyer Nicholas J. Maneno Carla R. Mangone Jeremy S. McPike Christopher T. Moore Roberta T. Morse Martin Novak Mark R. Palim Daniel E. Ryan Robert W. Schilpp Kammi Sharpe Iris Speed Stallworth Richard M. Sullivan III Melissa Gutierrez Traxler Douglas F. Trout Peter G. Uncles Michelle A. Weltens

CLASS OF 1996 Stephen C. Anderson Erin L. Bautz Brien M. Brizendine Dale R. Davidson Tammy L. Davis Kilinda M. Franklin Patricia A. Grant Philip H. Gratwick Jean E. Hughes Christina M. Jeffery Teresa N. Kang John A. Lambremont Todd M. LaMontagne Thomas S. Logan Nancy S. Lu Ashli G. Matus-George Maziar Momeni Shirley N. Nuhn Mark P. O’Malley George D. Oberle III Heather C. Oberle Betty J. Patterson Penelope S. Roberts James P. Ryan Jr. Gilda N. Squire Andrea C. Todd Edgar M. Valenzuela Dedra L. Vignola Richard J. Walker Michael L. Whitlock Douglas D. Wiesen Edward A. Wynn

CLASS OF 1998 Miriam M. Brown-Lam Bernard T. Cabral Doreen M. Cadigan William C. Carpenter Grace E. Chae Krysta L. Coyle Richard S. Dickerson William R. Gil Erika L. Glass Eben G. Halberstam Cynthia C. Hamill Candace R. Hammond-Hopkins Kim Swett Havenner Dean T. Ho Patricia J. Hupalo Nancy A. Kawtoski Anne Kenison Thomas P. LeGro Audrey W. Lipps Kenneth M. O’Malley Amy E. Padgett Koch Leonardo R. Pineda II Percy W. Richardson Anne Ruark John C. Salamone Constance H. Sprague Gillian D. Stubblefield Emily Tuszynska Stephanie L. Williams

CLASS OF 1997 Joanne T. Bernhard Sheryl L. Brancaleoni James L. Butler Joan A. Cameron David P. Coyle Maria Cussianovich

CLASS OF 1999 Ana M. Alonso Lance Alston Eric J. Barger Kimberly A. Barton Ameet M. Dhokai Haval M. Dosky Rosena Duryee Kathleen L. Flood Evelyn R. Fox

Allison B. Hadley Zenebech Haile Conaway B. Haskins III James L. Hunniford Reisa J. Kall Judith C. Kordahl Kimberly A. Matthews Sean D. McAlister Rebecca M. Morgan Anne M. Muir Justin L. Muir Tanh M. Nguyen Gabrielle A. Scandone Michael T. Short Richard C. Smart Damian A. Smith Barbara C. Stone Sherly Antony Thomas Tuyen K. Tran CLASS OF 2000 Alexis E. Berthelsen Kenneth J. Bombara Angela O. Bryce Shawn S. Bullard Rachel E. Carlton Rosemary Carpenter Michiko C. Casey Justin B. Combs Rachel A. Decker David E. Denizot Jessica A. Finnefrock Myra L. Frye Diane K. Gordon Simoh Mohamed Habibi Roberta T. Hartounian William R. Harvey Jay I. Igiel Robert A. Kenyon Rachel L. Kirkland Jennifer F. Komnenous Natalie Martirossian Britt L. Massei Kathryn A. McNulty Jeanne M. Nickles Myrna M. Oliver Georgia Paxos Stephanie C. Payne Bradley M. Pfaff Sarah D. Pope Sangeeta M. Rao Marsha L. Rhea Susan L. Rossell Kirsten M. Ruth Eric A. Sas Halleh F. Seyson Jacqueline R. Shapo Virgil H. Storr Erica L. Swope Sylvia V. Wendel Gwendolyn K. White Bambi L. Wright June M. Youmans CLASS OF 2001 Scott T. Bacon Heather L. Boyce Carol D. Cadby Linda W. Carpenter Daniel C. Clark

For online giving, visit

give.gmu.edu.

Linda M. Daniels Robin Ericson Alfred A. Flowers Sr. Marianne E. Floyd Jessica C. Gammon-Langdorf Adam S. Grynberg Lisa Hamar Jacob P. Hutchinson Michael J. Ingerick James H. Joy Jennifer H. Lansbury Beatty G. Lumer Linda Stone Masullo Sherean E. Miller Dena A. Papazoglou Karen A. Park Annemarie C. Scimonelli Kathryn A. Sieh Stephen J. Smith Steven A. Spitzer Lisa M. Strimple Becky L. Thane Jackie C. Thompson Wilfredo C. Velasquez Jr. Michael R. Wichowski Janice Z. Zucker

Alyson E. Fickenscher Sarah E. Gerstein Stephen J. Gurdak Heather L. Heckel Thomas D. Jagusch Carl H. Jeanty Elvear B. Johnson Jack D. Mallam Patricia W. McCarry Ginger D. McClellan Elaine M. McMackin Susan F. McMunn Andrea D. Moore Terri A. Mundis Alison E. Pardi Walter B. Porr Maureen C. Reynolds Donald L. Schupp Jason P. Smith Monica C. Sugaray Betty L. Sutter Kevin C. Turner Bruce N. Wahl Bryan K. Weaver James J. Welsh Peter C. Yanzsa

CLASS OF 2002 Catherine M. Adams Khwaja S. Ahmad Erin L. Blondes Stephen W. Brown Jr. Kathleen H. Cannon Paul P. Caron Adam M. Dennis Kristina C. Fattu Lee A. Ghajar Elizabeth A. Grisham Crystal M. Harold Michael L. Moravitz Malcohm F. Randolph Ismail M. Saeed James M. Safley Cynthia J. Shea Brenda M. Sinko Diane E. Smith Patricia G. Street Joseph J. Urban Ivana Veselinovic-Smucker Cheryl L. Weaver Rachel F. Zuckerman

CLASS OF 2004 Michael N. Allard Peter D. Beeman Elizabeth H. Boastfield Charles H. Byrd II Nicholas F. Calamito Mary T. Chappell Courtney N. Chiaparas Christopher W. Edmunds Jason A. Flanary Sarah C. Francis Alison M. Gavin Amina L. Ghannam Stacey K. Guenther Heather M. Hare Richard Harless Mariam Hutchinson Antione D. Johnson Soung E. Kim John J. Lane Maria H. Leguizamon Robert C. Lightburn Deeptha N. Mathavan Constance Yeonas Muir Colleen A. Mullaney Priscilla C. Muntemba-Taylor Judith L. Norris Nicholas W. Pardi Pouya Rasson Elena Razlogova Susan L. Roltsch Michael P. Sanders S. Debora Shannon Kevin M. Storey Sammy D. Suleiman Stephen M. Ten Eyck Ana C. Tolentino

CLASS OF 2003 Anita Ackermann Lucinda F. Aikens Brian P. Anderson Carrie L. Bennett Amy L. Bolling Brenda K. Callaghan Jennifer A. Caugh Annissa B. Cosentino Charles D. Daly Philip M. Denino Memella Drake

Sofia L. Totten Jairo G. Vargas Netanya R. Watts CLASS OF 2005 Umber M. Ahmad Faye Anson Bruce E. Baldwin II Chiquita K. Baylor Michael K. Camburn Merilee E. Despain Joseph R. Di Fulgo Jonathan A. Ellis Kevin W. Graham Ruth E. Hansen Helen R. Harris Vanessa E. Herrera Andrew B. Hushour Jennifer H. Jo Sherrie R. Link Amy Madigan Patrick M. McCann Claudine G. Monayong Katherine E. Multop Chinh P. Ngo Nesha E. Oates Kimberly C. Peele M. Catalina Peterson Enrique A. Sozzi Kimberly D. Stryker Melissa M. Thorpe-Hill Sundeep K. Toor Brigitta E. White Jennifer H. Wiese Pieter V. Wyckoff CLASS OF 2006 Kalkidan Ambachew Amy E. Amoroso David W. Bartee Adrienne C. Blaylock Sharon Bloomquist Clayton J. Bourges Meredyth L. Byrd Richard D. Callahan Katherin R. Camden Michele M. Cantrell Ellen N. Carpenter Douglas J. Corazza Lori L. Dickson Justin Drerup Rathild T. Friedrich Eric N. Goff Katherine E. Golden Christina Gonzalez-Fernandez William D. Harrison William V. Hodge Kate Jamison Kathy M. Katcham Dionne L. Kelso Tara A. Laskowski John A. Marks Jr. Paul M. Martha Rebekah L. McGuire Jacob C. McKenzie Meghan E. McKenzie William V. Mitchell Whitney B. Morgan Michael J. Morse Susan F. Nassaux

Kristen J. Rafalko Simran Rahi Adolph Ramirez Jr. Francisco J. Rodriguez Olivia J. Ryan Jeffrey P. Schonacher Jill S. Stryker Jennifer M. Sullivan Carol A. Swigart Eugene A. Taylor III Julie Y. Weber CLASS OF 2007 Martha G. Amas Cicely N. Ballengee Adrianna M. Berk Kim M. Bloomquist Stacy M. Bromley Anthony Budny Alan P. Capps Chela T. Clark Kirsten S. Clodfelter Jessica L. Dalrymple Kristan J. Dent Richard D. Dietz

Mark A. Eye Caitlin R. Fraedrich Cheryl A. Gannaway Leilani R. Hamilton Virgie Hammans Gail L. Hodges Brianne G. LaPointe Heidi Y. Lawrence Stephen T. Lawrence Kristin B. Libby Luz V. Manzano Dale K. Mast Marc H. Mitchell Gibbs B. Moore Marjorie N. Moreno Candace W. Neumann Scarlett L. Osvalds William A. Pierce Mark R. Plourde Anthony J. Quain Matthew G. Reynal Christopher C. Rosado Kevin S. Ruh Maria Seniw Betty H. Weatherley Melissa Lynn Welshans

Bold—Denotes President’s Circle giving *Deceased The George Mason University Honor Roll of Donors is available at supportingmason.gmu.edu/honor_roll/ index.php. This listing may include gifts and pledges made to other areas of George Mason University.

CORNERSTONE 31

Daniel R. Marushka Laura M. Meany Alfredo G. Molina Ayaan S. Moussa Bledar Puli Leroy J. Sandoval David B. Sharp III Daniel Snowdall Eric A. Sutphin Gail E. Warner Catherine V. Welch Cristina F. Wilcox James M. Willis Jr. Kathleen F. Wright Bradley M. Yager

Rochelle L. Westmoreland Sarah A. White Alyssa N. Wilson CLASS OF 2008 Katheryn M. Ahner Heather R. Beckmann Geoffrey N. Brand B. Rhett Butler Kathleen A. Callahan Paula E. Carazo Gina Choi Joel C. Christenson Michael H. Darpino Richard P. Davis Jr. Mark L. DeVoll Ahmed E. Eldak Craig T. Fifer Mandi J. Fisher Gwendolyn J. Fobare Zinaida Gontscharow Melissa A. Halsey Sarah Hoptman Raul A. Jordan-Smith Marta Y. Kanashiro Patricia L. Kelly Chiraag S. Khemlani Anthony B. Lizan Ferechta McElroy Kirk B. Moberley Alan C. More Parker M. Normann Ryan C. Pettit Bianca A. Prado-Perez Verna B. Robinson

32 SPRING 2013

Eric Saba Rosemary L. Shepherd Jesse P. Tillack Abigail K. Waldron Samuel B. Wechsler CLASS OF 2009 Morgan R. Allen Claude M. Archambault Charles I. Bauland Bethany L. Bennett William E. Breen Alison M. Bryan Dawn V. Cannaday Kira M. Cherrix Joanne Clarke Dillman Chauncia H. Collins George A. Dadzie Carol J. Dockham Courtney E. Erland Kevin C. Foley Allison C. Henry Katharina Hering Johanna A. Hild R. Christopher C. Hild Ashley N. Jackson Magdalena A. Kreczko James E. Lantzy Jacquelynn R. Leggett Katherine B. Libby Shawn S. Luehrsen Bambi B. Lumumba George P. Manson III Valerie Y. Manuel Stephanie W. McElwee

Danielle K. McTyre Walter J. Mircea-Pines Neil P. Oates Trevor Owens Joshua D. Oxley Daniel Pino Ashley Agerter Raitor Bette P. Ries Daniel Saenz Michelle R. Santayana Ellyn M. Seestedt Kelly B. Stazi Karin C. Tooze Robert B. Townsend Diona M. Vakili Meghan M. Wasinger Crystal J. Yauch CLASS OF 2010 Julie E. Baldwin Darren J. Blue Greg A. Bouchillon Alissa S. Bourbonnais Sheila A. Brennan Jennifer H. Brock Maria I. Caisa Monica Camazon-Mediavilla Sharon M. Deane Heidi Dech Christina K. Forsberg Tiffany N. Griffith Mary S. Guirguis Brian M. Keenan Jonathan R. Kelly Juliet L. Komisarcik

Christopher S. Leach Cashna O. McGlone Betelhem G. Mekonnen Abigail L. Mudd Christina M. Nickerson Christopher M. Prior David S. Reid Kellen M. Rosenfelder Ethan Rumrill Susan M. Shaheen Christopher Shrieves Bonnie Shum Kristen A. Slawter Virginia P. Titterton Mary K. Tuohy Jeanine Wavelet Michael J. Webert Taryn A. Wilkinson Jalila Zaaboul Alexander V. Zinicola CLASS OF 2011 Ana M. Cabrera-Cook Najiba H. Choudhury Maria A. Devlin Eric M. Fill Louis G. Frates Tammy E. Hassett Kyle D. Hunt Justin W. Hurwitz C. Michael Johnson Karin Jorge Peggy A. Juarez Danielle K. Lidke Elizabeth Martin

CLASS OF 2012 Teresa D. Allen Beatriz Del Carpio Douglas A. Diaz Rossemery Duran Rebecca J. Ericson Beth Fogarty Ashlynn M. Foster Jordan J. Frasier Alexis L. Gray Saddam Hossain Justin D. Howell Elizabeth C. Johnson Tiffany R. Kajer Wright David M. Kennedy Samuel T. Leake Elizabeth Anne Lewis Emily Macklem MacDougall Jennifer A. Maloney Nona P. Martin Jilka R. Paz Ellen M. Pittman Stanley Polit Thomas A. Potts Gerald R. Prout Hayley A. Roder Cathia R. Soughe Yogo Nickole M. Sparks Kaitlyn J. Spink Abduljabar I. Totonji STUDENTS Alice O. Adoga William E. Baum Jeremy K. Boggs Aimee C. Calvin James T. Chadwell Susan L. Douglass Jordan C. Foster Donald I. Garrett Katharine Griffith Y’Landa M. Hathorne-Byrd Eric H. Kidder Priya Mylavarapu Chelsea A. Norman Storm A. Paglia Mario T. Perez Jr. Rachel V. Pooley Tatiana R. Queenan Courtney E. Sarik Tyler A. Watkins

The Impact of a Remarkable Gift

Donors J AN UARY 1 , 2 0 1 2 – J A N U A RY 1 , 2 0 1 3

By Anne Reynolds

T

he Department of Psychology’s doctoral program in clinical psychology received a generous donation this year to honor a remarkable alumna.

Jane Haddad One of the first graduates of the clinical psychology doctoral program, Jane Haddad, BS ’82, MA ’84, PsyD ’86, has used her degrees to the extraordinary benefit of the community through her work in the field of mental health in correctional services. The National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice, cites a Bureau of Justice Statistics report that found that in 2006, more than 700,000 mentally ill adults were incarcerated in state prisons, nearly 80,000 were in federal prisons, and almost 500,000 in local jails. Haddad’s professional career has been largely devoted to serving these people.

Haddad is the vice president of clinical operations with MHM Services Inc., which provides community-based and correctional mental health services to a number of institutions throughout the United States. MHM meets the needs of inmates and their communities. With scarce public mental health resources, the number of incarcerated people with serious mental illnesses has grown and presents a serious challenge. Improved mental health within prisons lowers rates of recidivism and its associated costs, as well as increases safety within prisons for inmates and correction officers.

Perhaps the most meaningful impact of Haddad’s work is that inmates with access to mental health care are more likely to become productive members of society following their incarceration. In honor of the work she has done in an area of compelling—and largely underserved—need, MHM pledged $25,000 to serve graduate students and faculty working in this critical area.

June Tangney, director of the clinical psychology program, is enthusiastic about the donation. “We are enormously grateful for the MHM Services gift in honor of Dr. Haddad,” she says. “This annual support provides much needed funding for students and junior faculty conducting research on offender rehabilitation. Specifically, it will help them to obtain specialized training, to investigate novel points of intervention, and to share new findings at conferences.”

The gift will assist Mason faculty and graduate students in producing research on effective solutions for inmate rehabilitation and health, and share their findings with government agencies and private providers of health services.

FRIENDS, PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS Paul J. Abbondante Bryan Ackermann Susan Adamczewski Arthur W. Adler Laura J. Adler Ali Vural Ak Jamal M. al-Barzinji Abdulrahman Al-Hemaidi Louis Alloro Bernice C. Anderson John F. Anderson Le-Ha M. Anderson Terrance C. Anderson Tracy Anderson Wayson Dhananjay A. Andurkar Monica Arce Jennifer Ashburn Anders Backman Katharine E. Bacon John E. Baldino Mary Jo Baldino Jane Barr Katz Diane Barstein F. Sachiko Barstein Frankie C. Bartee Suzanne F. Barzinji Paul Battaglia Geoff Bauer Nora E. Bauland M. B. Baumeister Ruth S. Bealer Jon D. Beasley John Beatty David C. Beck Nathan A. Bedrossian Michael Bell Judy Berlfein Jim Betz Ian Bird Chanel Bishop Elizabeth F. Bishop Chad Black Bryan Blythe Dan Bogdewic David Bohan Kathy Boileau Stephen M. Bonwich Eileen C. Boris William H. Bradley

Richard Brannin Steven L. Brecher Alan Brinkley Teresa Brown Florence H. Bucierka Amanda Budny Hung Bui Thu-Hien T. Bui Marcia C. Bull William H. Bunn III Molly McLaughlin Burke David Bush Fred M. Butler Karen Sue Butler Patsy W. Byrd John D. Byrum Jr. Christopher E. Cahill Kristina K. Caldwell Rebecca L. Callahan Hal Canary Kathryn Canary Sarah Canzoneri Charles A. Carlton Susanne H. Carnell Mark H. Carpenter Elizabeth Carton Vic Caruso Charles E. Cascio Pavel Cenkl John F. Cerasuolo Fu-Kiong K. Chan Nak Jin Choi Sung Ho Choi Janet M. Christensen Jon Christensen Walter Clark Anne Cockerham Kenneth G. Cockerham II Alfred M. Cohen Constance H. Cohen Anthony W. Collins Timothy J. Conlan Kathlyn Conway B. J. Cook D. Mark Cooper Jeffrey T. Coster Gabe Covert Trammell S. Crow Rebecca J. Crowder Brian Croxall Colleen Cunningham

Bold—Denotes President’s Circle giving *Deceased The George Mason University Honor Roll of Donors is available at supportingmason.gmu.edu/honor_roll/ index.php. This listing may include gifts and pledges made to other areas of George Mason University.

CORNERSTONE 33

Charles E. Daniels Timm Danker Patricia L. Darby Alexander Davis Jr. Frank A. Davis Karen F. Davis Sarah Davis Stuart R. Davis Susan M. Davis Michelle Davison J. Michael Deal Cindy Degroot Donald de Laski* Ashok Deshmukh Donna H. Devier Leonard G. Devier Mary Louise Devlin Alan L. Dickerson Linda Dickerson Stephen M. Dickerson Kathleen T. Dickson Robert B. Dickson Bradford Dillman Andrea Dimino Amy Dodson Michael C. Donahue Julie Donaldson John J. Donovan Sandra J. Dorion Carole A. Duff Dave Duggal William A. Dunn Alejandro DurAin Gordana Earp Samuel L. Earp Melanie Edmunds Phillip Edwards Kenneth Ehinger Paul Eich Robin L. Einhorn Geoff Eley Charles A. Ellis Rodney G. Ensley Sr.

34 SPRING 2013

S. J. Ensley Nina L. Eppley Haleh Esfandiari Anna Everett Sandy Eyerly Bret Eynon Douglas Fagen Zohreh Farzad Tom Faust Charlene M. Fink Charles N. Finney Kathleen Fitzpatrick Frederick Folson Janet C. Ford Louis L. Ford Neil Fraistat Mary Frederickson Glenn Friedman Carol Fujimoto Bruce A. Fulkerson Rob Fulton Michele Futrell Ann Gallagher Michael Galope Alejandro Gamas Heelay Gardizi William E. Gavaghen Daniel V. Gearing Harry Geller Gary Gerstle Pam M. Gibert Lore Gibson Kelly Gil Jeremy Gilmore Wendy E. Giordano Martha C. Girard Donna S. Gladis Al Glaeser Joel S. Golden Allison Goldfarb David Goldfarb Patricio J. Gomez-Foronda Lynn Good

Susan E. Gordon William A. Gordon Jr. William F. Gordon Boone Gorges William T. Gormley Jr. Nathan Graham Robert Graham Marguerite R. Gras* Yardly C. Gray Angela Gregorits Timothy C. Griffin James M. Guilford Julie Haidemenos David J. Haile Viki Halabuk Mike B. Hamar Harlan E. Harber Orlander B. Harrison Deanna Harvey W. Craig Havenner Kenneth J. Havran Howard O. Haynie Charles W. Hazelwood Jr. Timothy D. Heaton Henri Hein Eugenie Helitzer Jack B. Helitzer Daniel Helm William C. Henley Judith N. Henneberger Richard G. Henninger Catherine M. Hickman Robert D. Hild Christopher Hilton-Johnson Lucy E. Hochstein Lee D. Hoffman Mary B. Hollingshead Theresa Hood Margaret Hoover Patricia Houser Alex Huang Patricia A. Huber Stewart Hughes

For online giving, visit

give.gmu.edu.

Anne Humphries John E. Humphries Chilsung Im Mary Anne Inglis Edmond Inomoto Alan Jacobs David Jaffee Harold D. Jenkins Jr. Daniel J. Jennings Stephanie Jester Eric Johnson Fred Johnson Tracy J. Johnson Arnita A. Jones Kenneth E. Jones Erika Jones-Haskins Paul A. Jordan Yevette R. Jordan Finn Arne Jorgensen George E. Juliano Frantisek Kalvas Eugene Kaufman Kevin G. Kay Elizabeth Kelley Robin Blackwelder Kelley Dennis V. Kelly Richard E. Kelly Susan Kelly William W. Kelly Lauren Kennedy Linda K. Kerber Martha Kestermeier Steven G. Kevlin Andrea N. Kirsch David A. Kirsch Adeline Koh Michael W. Komnenous Christopher Koper Gary J. Kornblith Stephen M. Kozik Kari Kraus Sheila K. Kryston Marie S. Lambremont Erik W. Landberg Kevin Lander Mary B. Lane Jennifer Langdon William W. Lannon James M. Lapeyre Jr. Sally H. Lapeyre John W. Larkin Chad Lash Carol S. Lasser Stephen Lawler Zoran Lazarevic Chang Hee Lee Jae Kon Lee Philip Lee Sang Ho Lee Donald R. Lehman Edward F. Lehman Linda E. Lehman Nicole Lehman Kristin Lehner

Frayda Levin Kenneth Levy Russell C. Libby Nelson N. Lichtenstein Joseph A. Liemandt Geri Lightburn Carol C. Limbach Nora A. Lindenberg Robert A. Loeb Marjorie L. Lomax Richard O. Lowe Eugene Lubarsky Robert W. Ludwick Jr. Mark J. Lumer Elizabeth A. Lunbeck Simon Lvov Peter B. Lyons Ellen N. Lytton Matthew MacArthur Michael W. Mace Sheri L. A. Maeda Paola Magnani Nancy D. Manning Walter S. Manning Jr. Colleen Marano Cheryl Martin Daisy A. Martin Steven W. Martineau Christine E. Mason Richard E. Mason Chris Massei Lisa Mast Jennifer A. Mastrofski Pietro Masullo Liliana Mathy Paul Matzko Kathy Mauro Wendy Mayo Martin Mazorra Steven W. McAllister Denise M. McCarthy James K. McCarthy Duncan McCaskill Melinda McClimans Jeffery W. McClurken Monica McCormick Judith A. McGhee Michael A. McGhee Ellen McGrath Matthew McGuire H. Diehl McKalip Richard D. McKinley Jordan McKittrick Larry W. McLellan Marjorie L. McLellan Marshall E. McMahon David J. McMunn Jim McNinch Daniel McNulty Julie Meloni David E. Menotti Philip E. Merritt Sarah L. Merten E. Ryan Miller

Gloria J. Miller Kevin C. Miller Robert L. Miller Linda Milligan Lawrence Milliken M. Yaqub Mirza Tanveer A. Mirza George Mitchell Mary Ann Monk Thomas J. Moore Craig H. Morgan Ryan N. Morgan Clifford G. Morgenegg Marina Morgenegg Constance Morris Wayne D. Mugge Robert C. Muir Sirak Mulatu Robert Mundie John D. Nell Molly S. Newberry Thomas Nichta Rob Nicoski Katherine H. Nix Bethany Nowviskie Natalie Nudell James P. O’Brien Laura M. Olson Lawrence H. Oppenheimer Jennifer Orr Robert H. Osborn John F. Owen Johnnie J. Owens Marjee Owens Vivian A. Panaggio Panayotis G. Pantazis Mike Paxos Gay Payne Diana Pelath

Marc A. Pelath John Pellegrin Tony Peng Alisa Perren Hugh D. Perrine Nils D. Petermann Neal Phenes Anthony J. Philippsen Jr. Suzanne S. Planas Lawrence Plotkin Dadia Ponizil Tina Porcelli Heather Prescott Wade H. Privette Jr. Jean M. Pugh George Quadrino Margaret G. Quadrino John M. Queenan Vaishali S. Raje Todd R. Ramsey Gary F. Rast Carole M. Rayner Stanley H. Rayner Jr. Shannon Reber Barbara T. Reed Candace Reeder Margaret H. Remington Susan Reverby Stephen H. Ries P. Michael Riffert Michele H. Riley Frank C. Ripley Daniel Rohde Carol Roller Nicholas Ronalds Paul L. Roney Jr. David K. Rosner Abby S. Rumsey David M. Rumsey

James K. Russell Josh Sacks Afra T. Saeed Nicholas Salvatore Evelyn S. Sanford Anne Scheinfeldt Neal Schiff Margaret Schilpp Greg K. Schmidt Gregory Schmidt Mary E. Schmidt Peggy Schmidt John Schneeloch Maureen Schneider Weston Schreiber Jay M. Schulman Mary Schulman Paul J. Sebastian John R. Sellers Sr. David Selove L. Stan Severance Virginia L. Severance Julie Shafiki Min Shaheen Benjamin M. Shapo Crandall Shifflett Linda Shopes Gary G. Short Genie Short Amanda Shuman Matthias Simon Kathryn Sklar Craig S. Smith Daniel Smith Kathryn Smith Mary L. Smith Robert K. Smith Sammy R. Smith Janneken Smucker Ann Powell Sniffin Margaret Snyder Ann Sockett Thomas J. Solak Howie Southworth Leslie Speidel Robert Speidel Andrew Spencer Keith Stanger Kristin Stapleton Karen J. Stark Hild Andrew Stazi George F. Steeg Alan R. Stewart Jan J. Stith Karen B. Strassburg Otto A. Strassburg Lonny D. Sturgeon David Suisman Ann H. Sullivan Martin J. Sullivan Steven A. Sultan Susan E. Sultan Eric V. Swanson Thomas Swigart Carol R. Szwed Kathie Tabatabai Phyllis Talley Samuel H. Talley Nancy J. Taniguchi Sean Tanner John A. Tea

Mary K. Tedrow John M. Thane Gerald Thomas III Henry A. Thomas Rose M. Thomas Mary Ann Thompson Brenda M. Thomson Lee Thomson Thomas J. Thurston James H. Todd Georgi Tonia Timothy Townsend Paul D. Travesky Kelly Trout Joan F. Troyano H. C. Turnage Adam Turner Jane S. Turner Daniel J. Tyson Terry J. Tyson Cary G. Van Haaren Robert Varenr Arvind Venkataramani Erwin VerBruggen Elisabeth Vermilye Jerome A. Vinecourt Bhupander Virk Amanda Visconti Rachel Vistein Laura Vogl Marian M. Walker Eileen Walsh John C. Wasley III Thelma O. Weaver Laura Webber Laurence M. Weinberg Felipe Weingartt Karin Weiss Wol K. Welsh Greg Wendel A. Wesley Carr Jr. Verna White Tony L. Whitehead Eileen M. Wiegert Margaret L. Wieners Stephen N. Wiley Jennifer S. Willis Melissa S. Willis Jacqueline Wilson Susan S. Wilson Laurie F. Wishner Mark J. Wishner Alicia Fox Wynn Michael Wynn Tsutomu Yagi David Yakaitis Mary Yakush In-Seng Yeo Karl D. Yordy Erica Yozell Vika Zafrin

FACULTY, STAFF, FORMER AND RETIRED FACULTY AND STAFF HONOR ROLL Kenneth Albers Teresa D. Allen, MFA ’12 Ana M. Alonso, MA ’99 Karen L. Amendola, MA ’91, PhD ’96 Jan L. Arminio Shaul Bakhash Peter John Balint Marjorie M. Battaglia David B. Bauer Johannes D. Bergmann Joanne T. Bernhard, ’97, MEd ’01 Rei Berroa Sharon Bloomquist, ’06 Deborah A. Boehm-Davis Jeremy K. Boggs Don M. Boileau Michael Bottoms Sheila A. Brennan, PhD ’10 Margaret F. Brinig, MA ’93, PhD ’94 Courtney M. Bulger, MPA ’92 James N. Burroughs, MPA ’94 Bernard T. Cabral, ’98, MFA ’01 Carol D. Cadby, MAIS ’01 Paul P. Caron, DA ’02 Rosemary Carpenter, MA ’00 William C. Carpenter, MA ’98, PhD ’10 Benedict Carton Jack R. Censer Jane T. Censer Michael G. Chang Julie A. Christensen Kirsten S. Clodfelter, ’07, MFA ’10 Rachel Chazan-Cohen Daniel J. Cohen Timothy J. Conlan Dina M. Copelman Michelle V. Covert, ’93, MA ’01, PhD ’04 Reeshad S. Dalal Susanne A. Denham Rutledge M. Dennis Marion F. Deshmukh Sharon M. Devlin Leon Leslie Dyre Margaret M. Earnest, ’86, JD ’89 Christopher W. Edmunds, ’04 Rebecca J. Ericson, DA ’12 Robin J. Ericson, MBA ’01, PhD ’08 Alicia H. Farrell, ’85, PhD ’99 Mark A. Farrington, MFA ’89 R. Douglas First

Bold—Denotes President’s Circle giving *Deceased The George Mason University Honor Roll of Donors is available at supportingmason.gmu.edu/honor_roll/ index.php. This listing may include gifts and pledges made to other areas of George Mason University.

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Sandra First, ’85 Jane M. Flinn John Burt Foster Jr. Joy Fraser Myra L. Frye, ’00 Donald R. Gallehr Karen M. Gentemann Lee A. Ghajar, MA ’02 Frederick W. Gibbs Stephen D. Gladis, MA ’84, PhD ’95 Mark G. Goldin Patricia A. Grant, MA ’96, PhD ’01 Vernon W. Gras Christina L. Greathouse, MA ’94, PhD ’01 Roger P. Green Michele M. Greet Clyde W. Grotophorst Stacey K. Guenther, MS ’04 Renate H. Guilford, ’91, MPA ’96 Bassam S. Haddad, ’92 Christopher H. Hamner Linda H. Harber Heather M. Hare, MS ’04 Roberta T. Hartounian, ’00, MSN ’06 Angela J. Hattery Katharina Hering, PhD ’09 Devon L. Hodges Gail L. Hodges, ’07 Dee Ann Holisky Emmett L. Holman Daniel E. Houser Joy R. Hughes Patricia J. Hupalo, ’98 Michael E. Hurley Justin W. Hurwitz, MA ’11 Robert D. Inglis Sr. C. Michael Johnson, MAIS ’11 Devon V. Johnson Elizabeth C. Johnson, MA ’12 Kathleen Q. Johnson, ’90, MBA ’96 Steven R. Johnson Deborah E. Kaplan Michael R. Kelley Theodore Mills Kelly Donna L. Kidd, MPA ’94 Cynthia A. Kierner Theodore J. Kinnaman Rachel L. Kirkland, ‘00 Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, MEd ‘73, MA ‘79, PhD ‘95 Victor H. Kryston, MA ‘84 Meredith Lair Jennifer H. Lansbury, MA ‘01, PhD ‘08 Tara A. Laskowski, MFA ‘06 Heidi Y. Lawrence, MA ‘07 Walter R. Lawson Sr., MS ‘83 Kenneth Lee Elyse J. B. Lehman

36 SPRING 2013

Jeannie B. Leonard Nance J. Lucas Ann M. Ludwick, MPA ’95, DA ’11 Cynthia M. Lum Randolph H. Lytton Jennifer A. Maloney, MAIS ’12 Bruce B. Manchester Marcella S. Marcey, ’72, MA ’74, PhD ’96 Michelle A. Marks, MA ’93, PhD ’98 Stephen D. Mastrofski Robert I. Matz Kelly W. McCaskill Ted B. McCord Jr., ’68, MA ’76 Karole P. McKalip, Med ’81 Alan G. Merten James C. Miller III William B. Miller, MFA ’87 Marilyn Sanders Mobley Ross Mohan Maziar Momeni, MA ’96 Ann G. Monday, ’73, Med ’81 Virginia M. Montecino, MA ’86 Alan C. More, ’08 (graduate certificate) Janette K. Muir Star A. Muir Lisa Newmark Christina M. Nickerson, ’10 Karen K. Oates George D. Oberle III, ’96, MA ’99 Robert G. Olson, MPA ’86 Trevor Owens, MA ’09 Roger K. Paden Robert Pasnak Ramon E. Planas Jr., ’70, MA ’77 Brian W. Platt Christopher R. Preperato Ralph A. Privee Robert E. Pugh Elena Razlogova, PhD ’04 William F. Reeder Priscilla M. Regan Janine M. Ricouart Jennifer L. Ritterhouse Laurie O. Robinson Katherine E. Rowan, ’75 Elizabeth C. Rowe, ’93 Olivia J. Ryan, MA ’06 James M. Safley, ’02 James F. Sanford III Claudine D. Saunders, ’90, MPA ’97 Joseph T. Scheinfeldt Anne L. Schiller William Schneider Kelly R. Schrum Maria Seniw, ’07 Enid S. Sheafer, MAIS ’90 Martin J. Sherwin Barbara M. Smith, ’82, MA ’90 Suzanne E. Smith

Patricia L. Smith-Solan, ’85, PhD ’05 Hugh T. Sockett Chandler J. Stalvey, ’89 Miruna Stanica Peter N. Stearns Gerard M. Stegmaier, ’92, JD ’00 Roger R. Stough Hyuk Suh Carol A. Swigart, ’06 E. Art Taylor III, MFA ’06 Lois E. Tetrick Kenneth C. Thompson Ellen Wiley Todd Shirley S. Travis Heather Velez Alexia D. Vikis, ’93, MA ’96, DA ’02 Abigail K. Waldron, MFA ’08 James J. Willis David B. Wilson Margaret R. Yocom Rosemarie Zagarri Karl K. Zhang Joan K. Ziemba, ’87* Matthew Zingraff CORPORATIONS, FOUNDATIONS, TRUSTS HONOR ROLL Academy for Government Accountability Aetna Foundation Inc. Alvin E. Kitchen Revocable Trust American Psychological Association Bank of America Foundation Barnes and Noble College Booksellers Inc. The Beach Foundation Capital LLC Charles Koch Foundation Colin A. and Catherine V. Welch Trust

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Popsicle Junkie

By Kimberly Ruff, BIS ’11

My daughter is a Popsicle junkie.

Year-round, if you offer her a choice of ice cream, chocolate candy, or a Popsicle, she will choose a Popsicle every time. She loves the red, white, and blue rocket pop, but her favorite flavor is classic cherry. Through trial and error, I have found a few varieties that she refuses to eat, including any healthy types that interfere with the standard sugary make-up of a Popsicle (reduced sugar, sugar-free, and sweetened with Splenda), the slow-melting brands, and the miniature ones on a regular stick, which she has decided are “messed up.” From the moment she wraps her toddler-size fingers around the wooden stick, she can’t be bothered, not even to help Scooby-Doo solve a mystery. Sometimes she’ll lick the frost from each side, and other times she’ll chomp down on the frozen treat with her front teeth. When I hear the sound of her front teeth slice through the flavored ice, it sends a chill up my spine and makes my sensitive teeth throb.

Over the summer, we came across a type that I remember eating as a kid. There’s nothing special about the packaging or the flavor, but the sticks have jokes imprinted on them.

My daughter is also an up-and-coming comedian, so purchasing popsicles with jokes on the stick was a no-brainer. She picked a red Popsicle from the box, selected a purple one for me, and decided we should sit outside. That August day was part of a nine-day stretch of temperatures over 100 degrees. It had been a long summer filled with weekends to the beach, family visits with all-day tours to D.C., multiple trips to the National Zoo, and most every other day spent at our apartment pool. The cloudless, sunny days reddened her fair skin and bleached her strawberry-blond hair, leaving her with white hair that resembled mine when I was her age.

We barely sat down before the frosted sides of our frozen treats were glossed over and melting onto our fingertips. I ate mine quickly. For once, so did she.

“Mommy,” she said, handing me her red-stained Popsicle stick. “Can you read my joke?”

“Sure, hun,” I said. “What’s everyone doing at the same time, but at different rates?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

I hesitated reading the answer, choking back a lump in my throat and the urge to squeeze my daughter as hard as my grandmom hugged me the night my grandpop died.

“Mommy,” she persisted.

“Growing older,” I said.

Kim Ruff will graduate with an MFA in creative writing with a concentration in nonfiction in 2014. After serving eight years in the U.S. Air Force, Ruff has published numerous editorials, columns, and press releases for the Wetumpka Herald, Elmore County, Alabama’s leading newspaper, and Philadelphia’s premiere science museum, the Franklin Institute. Her interpretation of a short story by Ambrose Bierce was accepted for inclusion in the Literacy Reference Center produced by EBSCO Publishing. She was awarded an apprenticeship as a writing fellow for research that focused on student writing and the revision process. Her personal essays have earned her two scholarships and publication in the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. She is an instructor of composition in Mason’s English Department; the driver coordinator for the largest literary event in the region, Mason’s Fall for the Book; and performs as a storyteller in the Washington, D.C., area.

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