MASON SPIRIT
W I N T E R 2017
A M AG A Z I N E F O R T H E G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y CO M M U N I T Y
We’re getting a reputation… as a major research university
R E S E AR C H O N T H E E D G E S
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HAPPE N I N G AT H Y LTO N
Calling all Patriots
MAK E SOME NO ISE! Mason men’s basketball kicked off its 50th season at Mason Madness in October. The annual preseason bash featured introductions of the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the coaching staffs, along with performances by Doc Nix and the Green Machine, Mason Cheer, and the Masonettes. To learn more about 50 years of Mason basketball, check out the timeline on pages 10-11. Photos by Ron Aira and Evan Cantwell
On the Cover It has been almost a year since the prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education boosted George Mason to coveted top-tier or “R1” status. In this issue, we take a look at what that means for the university and its on- and off-campus communities.
G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y: A G R E AT U N I V E R S I T Y O F A N E W A N D N E C E S S A R Y K I N D
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Exceeding (Even Our) Expectations It was a sought-after strategic goal, and this year George Mason University achieved it—the coveted “very high research” ranking from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. With this “R1” ranking, Mason joins an elite group of 115 top universities.
Space Between 20 The Since 2015, Provost S. David Wu has funded 31 projects working at the intersections of the disciplines, which could in turn lead to Mason researchers landing larger grants as they continue their research. The funding is part of Mason’s strategic plan to increase the amount of research of consequence initiated at the university.
a Glow 22 Casting In less than a decade, the Hylton Performing Arts Center has become a cultural hearth where Prince William County residents gather, as well a home to the county’s many arts organizations. Now it is time to grow.
D E PA R T M E N T S Follow us on Twitter @MasonSpirit for alumni news, events, and more. Become a fan of the Mason Spirit on Facebook for links to photos, videos, and stories at www.facebook.com/ MasonSpirit. heck our website for a behind-the-scenes C look at the Spirit, more alumni profiles, and breaking news at spirit.gmu.edu.
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FIRST WORDS FROM OUR RE ADERS A D VA N C I N G M A S O N @MASON M E E T T H E M A S O N N AT I O N INQUIRING MINDS SHELF LIFE A LU M N I I N P R I N T PAT R I O T P R O F I L E CL ASS NOTES
MASON SPIRIT
F E AT U R E S
42 From the Alumni Association President MORE ON THE WEB When you see this graphic, follow it to the magazine’s website for more: spirit.gmu.edu.
A L U M N I P R O F I L E S 40 Joe Little, BA Speech Communication ’98
44 Khoi Phan, BFA Art and Visual Technology ’09 46 Sarah Federman, PhD Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’16
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FIRST WORDS
MASON SPIRIT
THE WORLD-CLASS UNIVERSITY IN YOUR BACKYARD
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early 50 years ago, the effort to establish George Mason as an independent institution began with a plan to create a “regional university for Northern Virginia.” For what was then a branch campus of the University of Virginia, the aspiration to “regional university” status was an ambitious, even auda cious, goal. Yet a half-century later here we are— the largest public research university in Virginia, one of the nation’s top 150 national universities according to U.S. News & World Report, and one of only 115 universities in the highest research tier in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. As we have grown, so too has our community. What was once a sleepy suburb of the nation’s capital is now an economic powerhouse. Mason deserves a great deal of the credit for that transformation. Our graduates have become the core of Northern Virginia’s economy and provide key talent in every industry from aerospace to cybersecurity to biomedical to government consulting and a host of others. As we approach our 50th anniversary, we find ourselves at a strategic inflection point. The vibrant and globally connected economic region we helped build demands that we continue to up our game as a national research university. Yet our resources—from state appropriations, to research facilities, to endow ment size—resemble those of the more modest “great regional university” our founders envisioned. Going back of course would be foolish. Our community and the Commonwealth of Virginia desperately need a world-class research university in Northern Virginia. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to attract and retain international businesses, create new start-ups to diversify our economy, or offer the rich intellectual environment necessary to foster and sustain top talent. Without it, Virginia also would jeopardize its most powerful economic engine and its deepest source of revenue. So how do we secure the resources necessary to remain a modern, global research university? This year we introduced a new budget model that gives our academic units greater autonomy and incentive to build and grow new programs while maximizing resource efficiency. We also have spent the last four years bolstering our financial reserves, providing the university with greater security and stability to weather uncertain times. We have forged new partnerships, such as our agreements with INTO to recruit international students, and with Wiley Education Services to enhance our online course technologies and capabilities. Both pro grams will make earning a Mason degree a greater possibility and generate much-needed additional revenue. We also are coming off our fourth consecutive record-setting year for fundraising, and we are running ahead of schedule on our goal to raise $500 million in our Faster Farther campaign. Combined, these initiatives drive the university in a positive direction. But there is much more to do. To truly serve this community and provide the full value of a world-class university, we need to re-double our commitment on the original decision to establish an independent university in Northern Virginia. Now is the time to invest in Mason. As friends, alumni, and supporters of this university, we seek your partnership and support in writing the next chapter of our history. In the meantime, spread the word— we have arrived! Ángel Cabrera President
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A MAGAZINE FOR THE GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY
spirit.gmu.edu MANAG ING EDITOR Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95 A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R S Cathy Cruise, MFA ’93 Rob Riordan C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R Sarah Metcalf Seeberg ART DIRECTOR Elliott de Luca, BA ’04 SE N I O R CO PY WR ITE R Margaret Mandell A S S I S TA N T E D I T O R Melanie Balog E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T Arthur Wesley I L L U S T R AT I O N Marcia Staimer CO NTR IBUTO R S Teresa D. Allen, MFA ’12 Martha Bushong Mary Crowson Kristen Dalton M. Leigh Harrison Brittney Irish Buzz McClain, BA ’77 Michele McDonald Alexa Rogers Jamie Rogers Preston Williams P H O T O G R A P H Y A N D M U LT I M E D I A Evan Cantwell, MA ’10, Senior University Photographer Ron Aira, University Photographer Melissa Cannarozzi, Image Collections Manager PRODUC TION MANAG ER Patrick Fisher EDITORIAL BOARD Janet E. Bingham Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations Christine Clark-Talley Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Mason Spirit is published quarterly by the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations and the Office of Communications and Marketing. Please log in at alumni.gmu.edu to update your records or email spirit@gmu.edu. For the latest news about George Mason University, check out www.gmu.edu. George Mason University is an equal opportunity employer that encourages diversity.
FROM OUR READERS
WHAT KEEPS TEENS UP AT NIGHT? ➤Thank ➤ you for the link to the longer article on Adam Winsler’s teen sleep study (Fall 2016). This will inform our work with adolescents at the City of Alexandria mental health services where I’m employed. I just emailed it to my supervisor. It sure would be interesting to have a follow-up study to find out why students are depriving themselves of sleep. Dr. Winsler alludes to it in the recommendations when he mentions reducing screen time before bed. Many of the students are accessing social media, which is largely negative and bullying. Plus the blue light from the phone or tablet tricks the brain into thinking it’s still daylight. It’s a nearly endless perfect storm. Donald Dickson, MSW, BS Social Work ’79 Youth and Family Team Case Worker City of Alexandria, Virginia
This fall Mason alumnus B. J. Koubaroulis, BA Communication ’04, took his oldest daughter Penelope for a bicycle tour of the Fairfax Campus, where she appeared right at home. The tour included a stop at Cross Cottage on Mason Pond where her dad proposed to her mom, Danielle Morrison Koubaroulis, BA Government and International Politics ’02, MPA ’04.
A LIFELONG FAN OF THE GREEN AND GOLD! ➤This ➤ was such an interesting Mason Spirit (Fall 2016). I read it from cover to cover, especially the Class Notes. I graduated in 1980 with a BS and in 1984 with my MEd. Loved my time at Mason and also worked there part time. I am 91 now and still love learning. Go Mason! Helen Winter, BS Business Administration ’80 MEd Counseling and Development ’84
FROM VARYING PERSPECTIVES ➤I➤ am writing to express my extreme displeasure about a section that was printed in the Fall 2016 Mason Spirit. In the section on recently published works by Mason faculty on page 36, the first work featured is Lawless: The Obama Administration’s Unprecedented Assault on the Constitution and the Rule of Law. The description of this book is extremely partisan and even contains fallacies. I am shocked that something so clearly biased and one-sided was included in an alumni publication, especially con– sidering the extremely vicious and divisive rhetoric of this election season. I do not object to the inclusion of the book as it was written by a Mason faculty member, and all sides of politics deserve to be given a seat at the table. However,
there was absolutely a way to describe the contents of this book in a nonpartisan way, regardless of the editor’s personal views. I work in politics and have 10 years of experience writing communications in a bipartisan manner that does not reveal my own personal views. I am appalled at the inclusion of this extremely partisan passage in a publication by my alma mater. With a diverse student body comes a diverse group of alumni, and Mason Spirit should not be printing anything indicating personal political leanings of its writers. Amanda (Russell) Stratton, BA Government and International Politics’07
EDITOR’S NOTE: We do not review books. Our staff takes book information from the jacket copy and the publisher’s website. The editor who wrote this did include language such as “the book documents” and “[the author] warns that,” but we regret that this wasn’t sufficient.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.
Letters to the editor are welcomed.
Pat Murray @_patmurray
Send correspondence to Colleen Kearney Rich, Managing Editor, Mason Spirit, 4400 University Drive, MS 2F7, Fairfax, Virginia 22030.
Ah yes, finals season: when you hear snoring in the silent section of the library
Or send an email to spirit@gmu.edu.
➤ SEEN ON THE WEB
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A DVA N C I N G MA S O N
A (Not-So-) Secret Success
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here are so many aspects to Mason, so many facets to this amazing university, that often it feels hard to keep up with the latest milestones and accomplishments of our faculty, our students, and our schools—many of them enhanced by philanthropy. Consider what’s happened in recent months alone. In Fairfax, the Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall is rising proudly at the entrance to campus. In Arlington, record charitable gifts have led to the renaming of our school of policy and government and our school of law, with new opportunities for students there. And in Prince William, at our Science and Technology Campus, the spotlight is shining on what is still one of the bestkept secrets in Northern Virginia. More than 4,000 Mason students pursue studies at the SciTech Campus, in fields such as mechanical engineering, biodefense, medical research, and the sciences. Plans are afoot for new engineering labs and other research facilities, which will add to the campus’s stature as a hub for the life sciences. This September, we held the groundbreaking ceremony for construction there of a new wing for the Hylton Performing Arts Center (see page 22). That same week, Governor Terry McAuliffe was on hand for the unveiling of a statue honoring the legendary Mason advocate and benefactor Senator Charles Colgan on his 90th birthday. Sadly, Senator Colgan passed away in early January. What an impressive life and legacy! Driving this progress is Mason’s famedspirit of entrepreneurship and innovation. But there is another ingredient: community engagement and a commitment to partnerships. The campus exists and thrives thanks to a two-decade partnership among the county, the City of Manassas, and Mason that is truly unique in its scope. As Mason’s influence continues to grow, the SciTech Campus will certainly be an epicenter for that development—to everyone’s benefit. In the years to come, perhaps your children will study there. Perhaps you will work at a business spawned from innovations patented there. Perhaps the health or life of you or a loved one will benefit from discoveries made in the labs there. You certainly can attend an arts performance at the Hylton Center, and I encourage you to check the schedule. I also urge you to do more: Find and follow your passion, as the wonderful Mary Postma advises (see page 5). Deepening your involvement with our amazing university, as Mary makes so clear, can be more than personally fulfilling. It will also contribute to Mason’s growing, not-so-secret success. Janet E. Bingham, PhD Vice President, Advancement and Alumni Relations President, George Mason University Foundation
Couple’s Gift Boosts Graduate Science Research Graduate research and graduate teaching in the sciences will receive a big boost through a precedent-setting gift from Richard and Catherine Becker, MS Environmental Science and Policy ’96. A $500,000 commitment from the Alexandria, Virginia, couple will support two graduate research assistant positions in the College of Science for each of the next 10 years. Both Cathy and Dick served as U.S. naval officers after getting their undergraduate degrees in California—Dick aboard ships as a surface warfare officer, and Cathy sta tioned ashore doing data management. Always interested in protecting the environment, Cathy enrolled at Mason to pursue that passion after she retired from the service.
“When I came to George Mason, I was just so impressed,” she recalls. “I loved spending time in classes and labs, learning from outstanding instructors, and interacting with other students.” Cathy completed a master’s degree that led to a rewarding second career in the private sector in environmental services consulting. Wanting to help other Mason students, as their means grew the Beckers began supporting student scholar ships. A turning point, says Cathy, was hearing from and meeting students they had helped. That inspiration led to their decision to support master’s candidates in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, which has nearly 200 active graduate students. The impact of the couple’s generosity will be widely felt. The Becker Research Assistantship is the largest alumni contribution to science at Mason and also among the largest alumni gifts yet to the university’s comprehensive Faster Farther campaign. —Rob Riordan
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A DVA N C I N G MA S O N The Postmas made a gift of real estate that would allow them to continue living in their home for the rest of their lives. To learn more about this and other giving options, contact our Office of Planned Giving at 703-993-8850, or email campaign@gmu.edu.
Mary Postma:
DIGGING DEEP FOR THE ARTS
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ary Postma’s passion for the arts was nurtured from childhood. “When I was a young woman, a dear friend of mine—70 years my senior—shared her love of the arts with me. It was the greatest gift of my life,” recalls Postma, who lives with husband, Hans, in Haymarket, Virginia. Decades later, the ripples from Postma’s early inspiration are now touching the lives of thousands of children. An organiza tion she founded, Performing Arts for Kids, has helped more than 8,000 students experience the arts at Mason’s Hylton Performing Arts Center. Equally exceptional is Postma’s personal commitment to the Hylton Center. “She has been instrumental in creating and sustaining the center from the beginning,” says Rick Davis, executive director of the center and dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Now the Postmas have taken the extraordinary step of donating their own home to benefit the arts. Proceeds from a future sale will support the campaign for the center’s Education and Rehearsal Wing (see page 25). In recognition of the couple’s generosity, one of the new rehearsal spaces will be named the Ballard Postma Studio (Ballard is Postma’s family name). Postma, who enjoyed a successful career as a Northern Virginia realtor, describes herself as “just a normal, ordinary person” dedicated to her twin passions: the arts and children. “We’re only here for the blink of an eye,” she says. “So do important things with your time. Follow your passion, dig deep, and make a difference.”
MARY POSTMA: Changing lives by giving to Mason Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 5
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PRESSING FORWARD The north entrance to campus looks quite different these days as the Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall takes shape. The 160,000-square-foot building, scheduled to open in fall 2017, will house the College of Health and Human Services and the brand-new Institute of Public Health.
Making Music Is an Experimental Experience Metal pipes, wine bottles, and a stainless steel mixing bowl don’t seem like musical instruments, but they are the very essence of a student-composed piece that was played in front of thousands at a major music conference last fall. Nontraditional instruments are increasingly commonplace in the world of contemporary percussion music, says music performance major Kays Ishaq, the Mason School of Music student who composed the piece “Prime,” which was played at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. The trip was sponsored by a grant from Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR). Ishaq, along with 16 other percussion students of Professor John Kilkenny, director of percussion studies at Mason, traveled to the November conference to perform nine works, including “Prime.” “I just wanted different colors for different sounds,” Ishaq says of the use of varied instrumentation in the piece. PHOTO EVAN CANTWELL TheBYpiece is based on the Collatz Conjecture, an advanced mathematical problem that 6 | FA S T E R FA R T H E R : T H E C A M PA I G N F O R G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y
remains unsolved. Students used whatever items they had available to make sound, he says. The wine bottles were left over from another piece that they’d performed. The repertoire also featured traditional instruments used in different ways. In one piece a violin bow was used on cymbals. In another, a tri angle was dipped in water to produce an altered sound. “We are evolving as musicians, so we want different sounds,” says sophomore Andrew String. When asked about the use of a string bass bow on a vibraphone, a percussion instrument normally struck by mallets to produce sound, String answers “With percussion, you have the freedom to do whatever you want; there are no restrictions.” The Mason group also premiered a song written by Mason professor and worldrenowned steel pan player, alumnus Victor Provost, BM ’12, MM ’14. Elements of the piece are heavily based on the sounds made by a wind chime at Provost’s parents’ home in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. —Jamie Rogers
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Digital Media Takes Trail in a New Direction A new special topics class in Mason’s Depart ment of History and Art History combines the beauty and deep history of the Appalachian Trail with digital media. The History of the Appalachian Trail course was created by Mason history professor Mills Kelly as a special topics course within the proposed digital history concentration that will soon be part of the bachelor’s degree in history. Kelly, who came to Mason in 2001 specifically to work at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, wanted to get his undergraduate students more involved with what digital media had to offer to history majors.
Creating the course also gave Kelly the oppor tunity to combine “avocation with vocation.” Kelly has been hiking the trail since he was 13 and now volunteers with the Potomac Appala chian Trail Club, one of the 31 volunteer clubs that maintain the trail. Students in the course complete readings, write essays, and participate in discussions just like any other class, but they also create their own digital exhibits on Omeka, a web-publishing platform developed at the Rosenzweig Center. According to Kelly, these exhibits cover a wide range of the Appalachian Trail’s “rich and com plicated history,” including issues of race, class, and gender. And some of them hike.
Hikes were encouraged as part of the sylla bus. Earlier in the semester, members of the class hiked to the Manassas Gap Shelter, which is the closest point on the trail to Mason. On a separate trip, they went to a cabin built in 1909 that Kelly co-oversees in Nicholson Hollow in Shenandoah National Park. The hikes are not required for class participa tion, but Kelly believes that physical learning can do something positive for the brain and allow students to think a little differently than they would in a classroom. “I’m a big believer that if you can go to the place where the history happened, it forces you to think in a way that you wouldn’t have other wise,” says Kelly. The students in the class painted a map of the Appalachian Trial on the wall across from Kelly’s office. Their trail map contains QR codes that link directly to their digital exhibits. Kelly says these digital exhibits give students a tan gible product they can use for job applications in the future. The digital exhibits can be found at appala chiantrailhistory.org.
—Alexa Rogers
D I D YO U K N O W… Pro Football Hall of Famer and Washington Redskins legend Darrell Green has joined Mason’s Athletics Department as an associate athletics director, special assistant to the athletic director. In this role, Green will work with the department’s senior leadership to build and enhance internal and external relationships, engage in fundraising initiatives, and collab orate and communicate with constituents across the community. Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 7
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Mind Your Beeswax
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ast May, conceptual artist Elsabé Dixon, MFA Art and Visual Technology ’12, placed sections of a 12-part sculpture proto type made of plaster and a drywall compound inside the hives of the George Mason Honey Bee Initiative to track the activities of the honey bees. Called the Living Hive Project and funded in part by a $5,000 multidisci plinary grant awarded by Mason’s Provost’s Office, the art installation was a collaboration between the School of Integrative Studies and School of Art, and meant to facilitate the difficult
conversations around the bee population in general, says Dixon. “The bees have always been the first builders and makers. Humans are the ones that have emulated them,” says Dixon, a native of South Africa whose work focuses on live organisms, mainly insects and their environments. “It is time to listen again to what they are saying instead of imposing stressful systems that work against their nature.” And these bees were stressed by a particularly rainy spring. “It rained for 22 days straight,” says Dixon. “Bees cannot fly in the rain so
they could not harvest anything during this time.” Dixon lined the sculptures with sheets of commercially produced beeswax to encourage wax building. Eventually the rain stopped and the bees got around to building comb when they could once again forage and collect pollen. “Initially, the bees robbed most of the wax off the sculpture … it was fascinating to watch,” she says. The Mason honey bees’ work was collected in June along with the 11 other parts of the sculpture that were placed at apiaries from Fairfax to Danville, along Virginia’s Route 29 corridor. Route 29 was chosen because it runs past Dadant, a large bee supply company that services Mason’s Honey Bee Initiative, which started in 2012. The Living Hive project was install ed at the Danville Museum of History and Fine Art, where the sculpture was reassembled and put on display from August until early October. “I think [the collaboration] hap pened beautifully with this project,” Dixon says. “We pulled off something quite unique.” —Jamie Rogers
Building Cybersecurity Education Statewide George Mason University is joining forces with other Virginia public universities to train the workforce needed to keep data and systems safe from cyber threats. The Virginia Cyber Range will provide advanced cybersecurity train ing exercises for high-school and college students, and revolutionize cybersecurity education within the commonwealth, positioning Virginia to become a leading source of critical cybersecurity expertise for the nation. “Cybersecurity is a key driver for the New Virginia Economy, and we must ensure that Virginia has a pipeline of industry-ready cyber talent if we are going to be competitive,” says Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe. 8 | FA S T E R FA R T H E R : T H E C A M PA I G N F O R G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y
The Cyber Range will largely operate as a virtual center. Offerings will be crafted and hosted in the “cloud,” where they can be accessed by participating schools and agencies. This approach will allow for easy customization, scalability, and responsiveness, while minimizing costs. The Cyber Range will support a limited number of classes beginning in January 2017. The project brings together faculty from Mason, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, Longwood University, Norfolk State University, and Radford University, as well as faculty from Lord Fairfax Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, and Tidewater Community College. Virginia Tech is leading the effort.
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They Talk a Good Game Senior communication major Becker Alshowk and senior finance major Amro Tashman discovered they could combine their passion for sports and journalism after attending an information session for George Mason University’s student-run radio station during their sophomore year. The two wanted to interview prominent names in the sports industry and debate professional sports. WGMU gave them the platform to do just that—by hosting the popular sports radio show “The Plugs.” Their show features interviews with professional athletes, coaches, and renowned sports journalists from all over the Washington, D.C., metro area. Notable past guests include Charley Casserly, former NFL general manager (and executive-in-residence with Mason’s Sport Management program), and former Redskin Renaldo Wynn. “We get so many renowned guests on the show by using connections with our professors and highlighting that we are looking to pursue careers in sports media,” says Becker. The talk show has gained notable recognition since its first year in 2015 and recently won the spring 2016 RadioStar award for Best Music
Show, presented by RadioFlag. The winners are chosen based on efforts to grow an audience, connect with listeners, broadcast with quality sound, and showcase an innovative format with original content. “I love talking about the financial aspect of professional sports,” says Tashman. “Becker and I disagree on almost everything, but we have great chemistry. It makes for a very entertaining show.” WGMU faculty advisor Rodger Smith says the student-run radio station gives students a unique learning experience. “You have to give listeners a reason why they should be listening,” Smith says. “The hosts of The Plugs learned how to make themselves stand out and attract knowledge experts.” WGMU gave them a microphone and a radio signal, but the two sports informants’ dedication and passion made it the successful show it is today. You can hear The Plugs and much more WGMU-exclusive content at www.wgmuradio.com, Mason Cable Channel 2.6, TunedIn, and RadioFlag. —Kristen Dalton
Becker Alshowk and Amro Tashman Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 9
50 years of Mason 1982
Carlos Yates becomes first Patriot to be named AllAmerica Honorable Mention, his first of four consecutive mentions.
1968
Athletic teams officially change name to the Patriots.
1978
Program obtains NCAA Division I status (ECAC South).
1960
1989
Patriots claim first CAA Championship with 78-70 win against UNC Wilmington and earn first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
1980
1970 1985
1966
The Patriot Center becomes home for Mason basketball.
Formation of the men’s basketball team, the Marauders, coached by Arnold Siegfried. W. T. Woodson High School serves as Marauders’ home court.
Founding member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA)
First game is a 71-68 win against Bethesda Naval Hospital on December 6, 1966.
1986
Ric Wilson ’86 is first Mason player selected in the NBA draft, a thirdround pick by the Chicago Bulls.
The Coaches ARNOLD SIEGFRIED 1966–1967
HAP SPUHLER 1967–1970
JOHN LINN 1970–1980
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JOE HARRINGTON 1980–1987
RICK BARNES 1987–1988
Men’s Basketball 2006
Patriots ranked in Top 25 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time.
2013
George Mason becomes member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Patriots receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and record first NCAA tournament win, defeating Michigan State. Patriots shock the nation by advancing to the NCAA Final Four.
1999
Patriots defeat Old Dominion University 63-58 in CAA Championship and receive automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
1990
ERNIE NESTOR 1988–1993
2000 2001
George Evans ’01 becomes first Patriot to receive three consecutive CAA Player of the Year awards and is named AP All-America Honorable Mention.
PAUL WESTHEAD 1993–1997
2008
Patriots defeat William & Mary 68-59 in the CAA championship to advance to the NCAA tournament.
JIM LARRAÑAGA 1997–2011
2012
Ryan Pearson ’12 earns AP AllAmerican Honorable Mention.
2011
2010
Patriots earn an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament where they defeat Villanova 61-57 in the second round.
PAUL HEWITT 2011–2015
2016
Patriots celebrate 50 years of men’s basketball. Celebrate 10th anniversary of Final Four.
DAVE PAULSEN 2015–present Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 11
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A Home for Hoops
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n a sport where home court advantage means so much, Mason’s basketball programs are missing a home. While home games are played at EagleBank Arena, only a small percentage of practices, training, weight lifting, film study, and team meetings actually take place there. For example, in December 2015, the men’s team practiced inside the arena only twice. As one of the most successful arenas in the country, EagleBank Arena is booked for more than 100 dates per year, relegating Mason’s basketball teams to practice at the Recreation and Athletic Complex (RAC). While the RAC is a wonderful facility, it lacks dedicated space for lockers, offices, academic tutoring, training, and sports medicine. To remedy this, an addition to the RAC is planned and will consolidate in one place all of the essential functions for the teams. A two-phase approach will provide an interim solution for the teams while the full facility is under construction. Phase 1 includes improvements to the existing upstairs gym at the RAC (the “Cage Gym”), including new hardwood courts, six basketball goals, new lighting, and team branding. During this phase, renovations to other parts of the RAC are needed to accommodate student recreational needs due to the loss of access to the Cage Gym. The cost of Phase 1 is estimated at $1 million. Phase 2 consists of the complete design and construction of the entire addition to the RAC. All of the improvements made in Phase 1 will be incorporated into the addition so that no investment will be lost or used only temporarily. Major improvements are also planned for the men’s basketball locker room. This new facility will offer student-athletes new lockers and benches, a team lounge, a film room, and an updated design to the decades-old facility. —Rob Riordan
To learn more about the project, contact Jennifer Montgomery, director of development for Intercollegiate Athletics, at 703-993-3217 or jmontgo2@gmu.edu.
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PHOTO BY RON AIRA
M E E T T H E M A S O N N AT I O N
Josh Cantor
Job: Director, Parking and Transportation
Josh Cantor didn’t aspire to a career in parking. With degrees in government and political science, he worked for a California con gressman until the guy lost an election. When Cantor looked for other work, being the son of a university professor, he naturally gravitated toward higher ed and took a job in parking administration at California State University, Fullerton. In 2005, he came to Mason to serve as the university’s first director of Parking and Transportation. NO AVOIDING IT: Cantor sees parking as “one of those necessary evils. We are part of virtually everything that happens on campus and deal with more people than any other operation at the university. A big part of the job is knowing what’s going on on campus and what the impact is going to be—and what our role is in supporting it.” THAT’S THE TICKET: Contrary to what most people believe, there isn’t a quota on tickets, and they don’t write them to make money. “Writing tickets is a tool. The role of tickets isn’t to be punitive. They account for about 3.5 percent of our revenue stream, and there is no quota. It is a small part of the job.” IRATE CUSTOMERS: Cantor answers many of the complaint emails and nasty tweets himself, and encourages his staff not to take the
outbursts personally. “We are looking out for everyone’s best interests. The goal with customers is getting them to a place where we can find a solution. If you do it respectfully, you can get through to people. Our front-line staff deals with more customers than I do, and I want them to know that what they do makes a big difference.” ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: Cantor likes to joke that he had a full head of hair when he started working at Mason. “To do this job, you need to have a good sense of humor and you have to like people.” And after 11 years of zany parking excuses, he says he has collected some good material for a sitcom. “The job’s not boring.” THE HOURS: “I’m not going to be here 24 hours, although sometimes it feels like it.” In fact he credits the university’s commitment to work/ life balance and the opportunity to telework when he can as a large part of why he enjoys working at Mason. DOUBLE DUTY: As the father of three boys, Cantor doesn’t have a lot of downtime as it is. All three sons are involved in scouting with the older two working toward their Eagle. And they all play ice hockey. —Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95
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@
MASON
Serving Up Knowledge
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nterested in the latest scientific advances and breakthroughs? Intrigued by cybersecurity, space exploration, or new medical approaches and therapies? Then take a seat at the new Galileo’s Science Café, where hot topics like these, and many more, are discussed by Mason experts. Once a month, on Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m., a different speaker takes the stage at the Hylton Performing Arts Center on Mason’s Science and Technology Campus. Presenters talk about the latest findings in science and medicine that affect our everyday lives, and hold personal discussions with audience members afterward. On February 9, electrical and computer engineering professor Jim Jones will discuss “Cybersecurity: Sifting through Digital Trash for Fun, Profit, and to Catch the Bad Guys.” Jones will explain how the digital traces humans leave behind on computers, thumb drives, and smart phones, and even devices we’re unaware of such as networks and surveillance cameras, can help scientists nab criminals.
And on March 2, Professor Mike Summers, a leading planetary scientist who’s part of NASA’s New Horizons team, will talk about the spacecraft that made an amazingly close flyby of Pluto last July while the whole world watched. New Horizons successfully returned aston ishing observations and images of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. These included an enormous glacier at Pluto’s equator, and mysterious “halo craters” on its icy surface. Other events include “A Geographic Analysis: Individual Decisions to Vaccinate Impact the Entire Community” by Paul Delamater on April 6, and “Nanotechnology: A New Approach to Conquering Lyme Disease” by Alessandra Luchini on May 4. Sponsored by the College of Science’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, the Science Café is free and open to all, but an RSVP is required. For more information, visit the center’s website at capmm.gmu.edu. —Cathy Cruise, MFA ’93
MIXing It Up
S
ince its founding a year ago, the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX) in Innovation Hall has provided students with access to cutting-edge technology for inventive explora tion without the pressures of a classroom setting. At the MIX Lab, students have the opportunity to make what ever they can think up using 3-D printers,
programmable microcontroller boards, credit card-sized microcomputers, virtual reality headsets, DIY electronic wearables, and so much more. “We are a completely free and open resource to students who are interested in making things,” says Jade Garrett, BS Applied Information Technology ’15, director of the MIX Lab and a current graduate student. “You don’t have to be in a class, and we appreciate students from all departments and backgrounds to come in and share what they are doing.” By providing George Mason students with all these tech nological resources in a low-stress environment, Garrett helps students create prototypes of inventions that have the potential to change the world around them. Throughout the year, the MIX Lab hosts Maker Challenges to support friendly competition among students and to foster the development of team communications in research and discovery. Delving into 3-D printing or programming may seem daunt ing at first, but student staffers are available in the lab to assist newcomers every step of the way. This holistic approach to learning allows students to learn through hands-on discovery rather than books or lectures. You can view many of these projects in person by stopping by the MIX Lab in Innovation Hall, Room 318. Introductory workshops are also available. For more information, check out the lab’s Facebook page at facebook.com/GMUMIX. —Arthur Wesley
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Exceeding (even our) Expectations 16 | FA S T E R FA R T H E R : T H E C A M PA I G N F O R G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y
R1
It was a goal. Now it is a reality.
This year George Mason University achieved the coveted “very high research” Carnegie ranking and joined an elite group of 115 top universities.
BY MICHELE MCDONALD
G
oals help us aspire, reach further, and do more. But don’t just say them to yourself—write them down, like George Mason University officials did in 2014. That’s when they listed joining the elite group of U.S. universities doing research at the highest level as a prime goal in the university’s 10-year strategic plan. Crossing that goal off the list happened so quickly it almost took the university by surprise in February 2016 when the prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education boosted George Mason to the coveted top-tier “R1” status.
But, really, there’s been lots of time to prepare. About 20 years ago, Mason thoughtfully began building a research portfolio that ranged from public policy to the physical sciences. Mason’s total research expenditures were nearly $27 million in 1995, increasing to about $65 million in 2005, and jumping to $101 million in 2016. The university is setting its sights high and aiming for $250 million by 2022. Mason research is changing lives. Faculty and students are developing innovative precision medicine approaches to pinpoint effective treatments for breast cancer patients, creating a fuller understanding of how the mind works, developing new algorithms to secure cyberspace, improving the efficacy of climate models, identifying strategies to thwart and disrupt transnational criminal organizations, and exploring new approaches to diplomacy and foreign policy. They’ve landed a few awards along the way, notably two Nobel Prizes in Economic Sciences—James M. Buchanan in 1986, and Vernon L. Smith in 2002. Associate professor Frank Krueger is chief of the Social Cognition and Interaction: Functional Imaging (SCI:FI) Lab and co-director of the Center for the Study of Neuro economics at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study.
“Mason is taking on the next set of research challenges facing society,” says Mason Provost S. David Wu. “Our depth and breadth of research expertise creates opportunities for multidisciplinary research to find fresh answers to pressing problems ranging from precision medicine to cybersecurity.” Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 17
The university brought Deborah Crawford and Sean Mallon on board in spring 2016 to help Mason reach its new goals for research and innovation. As Mason’s vice president for research, Crawford brings extensive experience from the federal, university, and non profit sectors, notably the National Science Foundation and the International Computer Science Institute, an inde pendent research institution affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley. She has led the development of numerous multidisciplinary research initiatives with signi ficant ties to corporate, nonprofit, and public service partners who help make research outcomes truly impactful. A noted venture capitalist with more than 20 years of invest ment and startup experience, Mallon is the university’s first associate vice president of entrepreneurship and innovation. Mallon will draw upon his experience as senior investment director for the CIT GAP Fund, a seed- and early-stage technology venture fund within the Center for Innovative Technology, to guide Mason’s work to move research from the lab into products and services that benefit society. Crawford and Mallon are working with a strong portfolio. Mason’s accomplishments are a tribute to leaders and faculty from across the university who worked together to create the momentum we see today, says University Professor Peter Stearns, Mason provost from 2000 to 2014 and an esteemed historian. Founded in 1990, the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study has been a standard bearer for research into the inner workings of the brain and served as one of the academy’s forerunners for the White House Brain Initiative. Krasnow brings together faculty from multiple disciplines—including bioengineering, chemistry, neuroscience, and psychology— and houses wet labs and state-of-the-art research instru ments that allow Mason researchers to work on cracking the code to how our minds work. Mason’s Science and Technology Campus (formerly the Prince William Campus) opened in 1997 in Manassas, Virginia, and helped kick-start the university’s rapid rise in research productivity. The campus anchors Innovation Park, a 1,600-acre research and development public-private ven ture, and is a place of boundless innovation. 18 | FA S T E R FA R T H E R : T H E C A M PA I G N F O R G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y
Mason’s Biomedical Research Lab is one of only 13 regional bio containment laboratories nationwide funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a unit of the National Institutes of Health, and it offers state-ofthe-art laboratory capabilities to study infectious disease. The Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medi cine, also located on the Science and Technology Campus, uses creative new precision medicine strategies to identify new treatments and develop novel diagnostic tests. Mason researchers also are studying the human microbiome, spe cialized ecosystems of microbes that influence and deter mine the health and well-being of all individuals.
Campus, at the Krasnow Institute, in the brand-new Peter son Family Health Sciences Hall on the Fairfax Campus, at Inova sites throughout the region, and at clinical partner sites around the country. While basic research is essential to establishing new direc tions in science, engineering, and public policy, moving discoveries from the university environment and into the hands of clinical, corporate, and not-for-profit practitioners as quickly as possible is also a priority, Crawford says. That’s where Mason’s deep commitment to translational research and innovation truly comes into play.
“The IBI is unique because an eye toward entrepreneurship The university’s ongoing partnership with the Inova Health and creating companies is part of the plan from the start,” System became stronger still in December 2015 when the Mallon says. “We’ll be able to see commercial potential un two announced plans to collaborate on personalized medi fold as research progresses in the lab.” cine. This new partnership lies at the heart of Mason’s newest research initiative, the Institute for Biomedical Innovation Mason research can give hope to patients and their families, (IBI), which will advance basic and translational research says President Ángel Cabrera. and innovation in biomedical and health sciences, engineer “Mason researchers are tackling some of the most daunting ing, and public policy disciplines. problems today while teaching the next generation of scien IBI allows Mason to play a much more significant role in driv tists and leaders,” Cabrera says. “Sharing what we discover ing growth in Virginia’s bio- and health sciences economies. is an essential part of our mission to change lives through edu IBI research will take place in numerous places: in several cation, economic opportunities, and research of consequence.” new wet lab facilities on the Science and Technology A worthy goal.
Deborah Crawford
Sean Mallon
Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 19
The Space Between Innovation often happens at the intersection of disciplines—where different ideas, perspectives, and fields come together to create approaches that are missed by a narrow disciplinary lens. B Y CO L L E E N K E A R N E Y R I C H , M FA ’ 95, A N D M I C H E L E M C D O N A L D
The answers to new treatments for debilitating diseases,
More than 60 research proposals were submitted the
ways to outsmart cyber terrorists, or support endangered
first year with almost every school and college at the
species could be found on the fringes of disciplines from
university represented. Groups of the deans co-chaired
engineering and neuroscience to geoinformation sciences
the symposia and reviewed the proposals. Wu’s call for
and health care policy.
research proposals has yielded cross-unit teams working
The next wave of innovative research from George Mason University was kick-started in 2015 with the help of $500,000 in seed grants from the Provost’s Office. Since then, the office has funded 31 projects working at the intersections of the disciplines, which could in turn lead to Mason researchers landing larger grants as they continue their research. It’s part of Mason’s strategic plan to support research of consequence.
on the human organ trade, genetics and chronic pain, obesity in Latino children, and market and human security. “Investigators from different disciplines approach research in various ways and have distinctive perspectives. When these researchers collaborate to solve the important and complex multifaceted problems facing society, such as in the broad area of security, innovative solutions are often found that would not be possible with traditional disciplinary approaches,” says Ken Ball, dean of the
To spur research that reaches across fields, Provost S.
Volgenau School of Engineering, who co-chaired the
David Wu organized two symposia where he challenged
2016 symposium.
Mason researchers to develop multidisciplinary projects and apply for seed grant funding. The 2015 symposium focused on health care; 2016’s concentrated on the broad field of security. A third is planned for 2017. “Provost Wu’s commitment to multidisciplinary research is very deep and is a value he holds dearly,” says Kim Eby, associate provost for faculty development. “Even in these challenging budget times, he has carved out funding so we can move this project forward. The commitment is there.”
S. David Wu
Creating new avenues for problem-solving should be a priority of universities, says 2016 co-chair Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government. “These symposia are a showcase for an emerging ethic of encouraging and supporting cross-disciplinary collaboration at Mason.” For more information about the multidisciplinary grants awarded, visit provost.gmu.edu.
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PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
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glow
CASTING A From student to artist, from patron to Patriot, the Hylton Performing Arts Center serves the entire breadth of our diverse region. BY ROB RIORDAN
I
nside the Hylton Performing Arts Center on a hot summer morning, friendly ushers prepare for a familiar onslaught. Soon several schoolbuses arrive, disgorging summer campers in colorcoordinated T-shirts who swarm like improbably cute june bugs into the lobby. Laughing and pointing, abuzz in their neon pinks and purples, their electric blues and greens, the little ones gape at the bright space. Today they’ll hear the Rootstone Jug Band, purveyors of American roots music.
Tomorrow others—children, adults, families—might be here to see a puppet show or play; to hear an orchestra, symphony, or mariachi band; or to marvel at an illusionist, the Shanghai Acrobats, or the Russian National Ballet. From morning well into evening, throughout the year, the Hylton Performing Arts Center glows as the cultural hearth for its region: a place that celebrates the arts, creates com munity, and enriches lives across Northern Virginia.
A COMMUNITY VISION The Hylton Center story began in the early 1990s. It was then that Prince William area leaders formed a vision for how a once-rural county could direct its rapid growth to
bring residents improved quality of life and new cultural and recreational opportunities. Mason played—and continues to play—a lead role in that story. The university formed a partnership with Prince Wil liam County and the City of Manassas, developing Inno vation Park, a research center that attracted biotech and information technology companies. The Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center, one of the first facilities at Mason’s Science and Technology Campus, opened in 1999; academic and research buildings soon followed. By then, the area badly needed a quality performing arts facility. “There were many local arts organizations by that time, many of them very good,” says Rick Davis, dean of Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 23
“We create art to civilize ourselves, to form that sense of community— that sense of family—without which
”
the darkness begins to encroach.
—Rick Davis, dean College of Visual and Performing Arts
the College of Visual and Performing Arts and executive director of the Hylton Center since 2011. “Those groups really needed a place to shine.” The community rallied, eager to show it was ready to sup port top-quality cultural offerings. With a $5 million gift from the Cecil and Irene Hylton Foundation, the Hylton Performing Arts Center opened in 2010. Just as Mason’s Center for the Arts was the cultural anchor for Fairfax County, the Hylton Center would serve that role for Prince William—both “symbol and agent” of the county’s progress.
CREATIVE COMMONS FOR THE COMMONWEALTH The value of the Hylton Center as “creative commons of a vibrant region” is a brilliant illustration of why the arts
Exterior view of the Education and Rehearsal Wing upon completion.
Rendering of the large Rehearsal Hall upon completion.
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matter, observes Davis, whose resume includes roles as play wright, dramaturg, and opera director. To explain, he paints a vivid picture. “Imagine early humans at night, facing the darkness. What did they have but each other, and their imaginations?” asks Davis. “To keep back the darkness, they gathered around their fire, around the hearth, and began telling stories.” “We still need that hearth—a place to tell stories,” Davis says. Our modern hearth is the arts center itself, he posits: “Now we gather around a stage, gazing at the glow of the light on the performers’ faces. The reason we build theaters, and why we built the Hylton Center, is to create community.” Today the Hylton Center creates community through a breadth of performances, exhibits, and educational programs.
They are housed in a building that impresses, an architectural jewel clad in an arresting mix of copper, glass, and masonry that soars more than nine stories. The center is home to 1,123-seat Merchant Hall along with the smaller Gregory Family Theater. Inside the light-flooded Didlake Grand Foyer, visitors find floor-to-ceiling glass walls, fluted cement columns, and a sea of the venue’s signature color, purple.
ARTS, AND PEOPLE, AT HOME The acoustical quality of Merchant Hall draws top-notch touring artists who are eager to return. The center is also home to five “resident arts partners”: the Manassas Ballet Theatre, Manassas Chorale, Manassas Symphony Orchestra, Prince William Little Theatre, and Youth Orchestras of Prince William.
ROOM FOR MORE Enthusiastic community support is making a long-held vision come true at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas. With a September 2016 groundbreaking ceremony, the center launched a campaign to add an Education and Rehearsal Wing to the already-iconic building. Slated to open in 2018, the 14,000-square-foot addition will allow the center to serve community arts partners, Mason students, and the regional community with expanded programs in new spaces. “This much-needed new space will allow creativity and collaboration to flourish at the Hylton Center,” said Rick Davis, executive director of the center and dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “This will be huge for us!” says Claudia Morales, BIS ’07, MA Arts Management ’13, executive director of Youth Orchestras of Prince William. “[The wing] will give us enough space to have real rehearsals for all our groups prior to their stage time. We can’t wait.” Significant funding for the addition is already in hand. The Cecil and Irene Hylton Foundation has provided a $2.5 million gift, supplementing $6 million in public funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia. And supporters Hans and Mary Postma have committed a major planned gift (see page 5). The fundraising effort also aims to establish a $15 million endowment, support that will ensure the Hylton Center can thrive and serve the community for decades to come. —Rob Riordan Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 25
Since 1997, Becky Verner has been the artistic director of the acclaimed Manassas Chorale. She also leads the Greater Manassas Children’s Choir and delights in the awe-struck reactions of her youngest singers as they enter Merchant Hall for the first time. “The Hylton is a place that sparks connections,” Verner says. “People meet each other here and become friends.” For Youth Orchestras of Prince William, performing at the Hylton lets them reach far more people than concerts at local schools. “The Hylton performance opportunity is crucial for us,” says executive director Claudia Morales, BIS ’07, MA Arts Management ’13. “It’s the only venue in our county that provides a professional setting like this.”
The Hylton Performing Arts Center offers a rich variety of programming. Below, left to right, resident arts partner the Manassas Ballet Theatre, inter national performance group the National Circus and Acro bats of the People’s Republic of China, Mason’s own School of Theater and School of Music performance of the Three Penny Opera, and community performance group the Manassas Symphony Orchestra.
Mason students use the venue as well. Dance, theater, art, and music students have regular opportunities to perform and exhibit; many give their graduation recitals at Merchant Hall.
In fact, between performances and multiple daily events, the Hylton is in such demand that it has literally run out of space. A new Education and Rehearsal Wing, slated to open in 2018 (see sidebar), will add full-size rehearsal halls, private studios, ensemble rooms, and educational spaces. For resident arts partners, the wing will allow them to truly call the center home. That feeling is natural, explains Rick Davis, because art is how people have always established a sense of home. “We create art to civilize ourselves, to form that sense of com munity—that sense of family—without which the dark ness begins to encroach.” The Hylton Performing Arts Center exemplifies Mason’s service to the region it calls home—a cultural hearth that glows, and grows, brighter each year.
“The Hylton is a place that sparks connections. People meet each other here and become friends.”
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—Becky Verner Artistic Director, Manassas Chorale
Each year Mason’s Jazz Ensemble plays in Jazz 4 Justice, an annual benefit concert presented with the Fairfax Law Foundation and the Prince William County Bar Association.
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REMIX
Alumni Artists Push Creative Boundaries Lush photographs of African American hairstyles, a tiny handmade book of maps, and an old-school pay phone embedded with a video loop are just a few of the works Mason alumni displayed at the REMIX Mason Alumni Exhibit. The show, one of the many events of Alumni Weekend, was displayed in four galleries across three campuses. This is the first time Mason’s School of Art has held an alumni exhibit. Forty-three School of Art alumni partici pated in the show, featuring recent graduates to as far back as 1978. “Being part of the alumni show is an important way to stay connected with the School of Art,” says Suzanne DeSaix, BA Sociology ’78, MFA Art and Visual Technology ’12. “I appreciate being part of this community and find inspiration in the thoughtful, wellcrafted work and spirit of the Mason artists.” —Cathy Cruise, MFA ’93 PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
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INQUIRING MINDS
Nursing Grant Supports Community Health Care
A
dvances in health care and implementation of new policies are changing the role of nurses. New efforts are shifting health care toward health promotion and providing primary health care in community-based settings rather than a hospital setting. Along these lines, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting a 19 per cent growth in public health nursing during the next decade. George Mason University’s School of Nursing has already seen an increase in demand from community-based employers and is expanding curriculum so students interested in public health nursing are prepared with the skills they need to care for patients in the community. Recently, the School of Nursing received a two-year, $927,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration.
With this grant, the School of Nursing will develop a BSN AcademicPractice Community Health preceptorship. The preceptorship will pair BSN students with community preceptors, or instructors, who work in public and primary care health areas to encourage students to work with vulnerable populations. “Part of our role in the greater community is to work with our partners so that we can anticipate their changing needs and prepare our students to succeed in the workplace,” says Carol Q. Urban, director of the School of Nursing and project director for the grant. “This shift to providing care in community-based settings has changed how registered nurses practice, and in turn, we need to continuously tailor our curriculum so our nursing students are prepared to provide care for our community members in these settings.” —Brittany Irish
Helping Nature Protect Against Hurricanes
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urricane Sandy, which caused at least 185 casualties and $65 billion in economic losses internationally, revealed how vulnerable traditional hurricane protection methods are when it smashed New York Harbor with 32-foot-high waves in 2012. “The traditional approach was to rely solely on hard engineering structures, which are expensive and sometimes ineffective,” says Celso Ferreira of the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering. “After Hurricane Sandy, there was a big move to look at a hybrid approach that uses nature to enhance flood defenses.” Marshes provide natural protection from the flooding that hurricanes bring. Considering this, a team of Mason civil engineers asked questions such as which plants work best, how many, and how far they should stretch from the shore. Ferreira and his student team pulled on waders and hip boots last summer to begin installing instruments that measure wave action, storm surges, tides, and other details in the marshes of the Chesapeake Bay. The team investigated how to “effectively use naturebased defenses for engineering coastal defenses so we can maximize protection when a hurricane hits,” says Ferreira. “Plants need to be in the right place at the right time.” Ferreira was working on his doctorate in 2008 at Texas A&M University when Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast, prompting him to study hurricanes. His team will be working on this project for at least the next two hurricane seasons. —Michele McDonald
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RESEARCH
Securing Internet-Connected Devices George Mason University researchers are now exploring how the monitoring of analog signals could be a low-cost way to assess the cybersecurity safety of devices connected to the Internet. With more and more everyday objects, such as thermostats and cars, being connected to the Internet in a trend referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), the need for protection against cyberattacks is at an all-time high. The Center for Assurance Research and Engineering (CARE) in Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering will develop a technology that deciphers changes in analog signals to reveal whether IoT devices have been compromised by cyber attackers, thanks to a $1.5 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
“At a time when everything from power plants to wearable fitness bands is being connected to the Internet, we need to develop cybersecurity products to keep society safe,” says CARE associate director J. P. Auffret. “The idea of using traditional analog signals as a cybersecurity alert system shows great promise as a reliable, low-cost innovation.” The project’s lead researchers, Auffret and Angelos Stavrou, are partnering with PFP Cybersecurity to create the Leveraging the Analog Domain for Security Program, with DARPA’s funding. The immediate goal of the program is to establish monitors that can detect unusual behavior in power consumption, electromagnetic fields, thermal variations, acoustic emanations, and other physical parameters. The long-range goal is to bring the cost of the PFP-monitoring technology down to pennies per device. “CARE has a history of forming highly productive, strategic research partnerships with industry, and we’re looking forward to working with PFP to generate new cybersecurity products of great societal consequence,” says Stavrou. —Mary Crowson
Student-Built Device Could Help Athletes ‘Stay in the Game’ According to NCAA statistics, 1 in 13 female athletes experience a torn anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in the knee joint. It’s an epidemic few are talking about. Few, that is, except for an enterprising team of students in the Volgenau School of Engineering’s Systems Engineering Program. Team members Amr Attyah, Maribeth Burns, Sam Miller, and Andrew Tesnow, all systems engineering majors, started their research by building a simulation model of the knee. They then introduced failure mechanisms, five noncontact and three contact ones, to test the model. Based on the failure mechanisms, the students started to experiment with ways to prevent ACL tears. The whole idea was to reduce the force placed on the ACL from the shank, or shinbone. They found that form and position of the body while landing, stopping short, and cutting are key factors. The team proposed coupling angle and acceleration sensors in a knee sleeve with pressure sensors in the shoe. Based on data from the sensors, a tiny microcomputer calculates an estimate of the tibial shear force. When the force exceeds a certain threshold, it beeps to alert the user of the danger approaching. The goal is to provide athletes with real-time feedback of their body position and form while landing, stopping, and cutting in a game so they can adjust their play. “This was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life,” says Burns, the team leader. “I have so much more confi dence in myself as an engineer and as a person. And hopefully we can help some athletes stay in the game.” The students are rapidly developing a prototype and have started testing it. —Martha Bushong Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 31
INQUIRING MINDS
D I D YO U K N O W…
School of Nursing professor Katherine Scafide is known as the “paintball lady” for her unusual method of creating bruises in her research to measure bruise visibility, how alternate light sources can help identify bruises, and how skin color, fat, and gender impact changes in bruise color.
$101 million
Mason’s research expenditure in 2016
Facebook Politics Lean Social for Students
F
acebook is taking some heat for its possible political biases, but college students may not be noticing, according to George Mason University research. Traditionally political issues including gay marriage, abortion, and legalization of marijuana simply aren’t seen as part of politics by many college students, says Emily Vraga, a professor in the Department of Communication who studies social media. Instead, college students view many political topics as social issues. “Young people are really active in social issues, but they don’t want to be involved in ‘Big P’ politics,” Vraga says. “Politics is horrible. Politics is people fighting. Politics is intolerant. But social issues don’t fit that rubric.” In her study, “Blurred Lines: Defining Social, News, and Political Posts on Facebook,” Vraga and her team looked at how young adults define Facebook posts by creating a simulated Facebook feed and asking students to mark the posts as political, news, or social. The results found the student’s distinction between the categories to be fuzzy. A road closure might seem to be straightforward, hard news, but when the post was combined with a photo and link, the student participants were more likely to label the post as social sharing. Participants also listed hot-button political topics as news or social posts, not political ones, unless they were tied to a candidate. In previous research, Vraga found that while many young adults may shy away from explicitly political topics, they are more willing than ever to be engaged with social causes. “This social activism helps them figure out who they are, and that they are, in fact, political,” Vraga says.
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—Michele McDonald
RESEARCH
Pioneering Next-Gen Classroom Technologies
W
hen demand for game design courses at George Mason University exceeded the limits of physical classroom space, Scott Martin, founding director of Mason’s Computer Game Design Program, was faced with a serious dilemma. He knew Mason would have to expand into virtual classrooms, but he felt the current online education systems lacked the real-time interactions of physical classroom settings. To remedy the situation, Martin and colleague James Casey came together to form Scriyb LLC, a cutting-edge education platform that allows students and teachers to interact virtually with each other in real time and uses algorithms to maintain an ideal classroom balance. In September, Martin and colleagues, including their new Scriyb CEO Chris Etesse, were recognized by the Wash ington Business Journal with a 2016 Innovator Award for their efforts.
Scriyb’s machine-learning algorithms monitor the students’ achievements and sort the students into groups based on their academic performances, virtual communication personalities, and social tendencies. This maintains a balance between high achievers, middle achievers, and low achievers, so that there are enough middle and high achievers to assist classmates who are struggling to keep up. Chatting among students, and com munication between groups of students, is expected during class, says Martin. While live testing of Scriyb began last summer at Mason, interest from other educators has grown quickly. More than 80 prospective clients are expected to begin using the software platform soon. About half of Scriyb’s prospective clients are in higher education, with a quarter in K-12 education, and the remaining quarter in business education. —Arthur Wesley
D I D YO U K N O W… Environmental Science and Policy professor Lee Talbot received two lifetime achievement awards in 2016—the Harold Jefferson Coolidge Medal from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the Legacy Award from the Defenders of Wildlife. One of the original authors of the Endangered Species Act, Talbot has advised on environmental issues in 134 countries. He was chief scientist and foreign affairs director of the President’s Council on Environmental Quality under Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 33
PHOTO BY RON AIRA
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Congratulations
to the Winter 2016 Graduates
Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 35
SHELF LIFE
Recently published works by Mason faculty
Smile. Breathe. Listen: The 3 Mindful Acts for Leaders Steve Gladis, MA English ’84, PhD Education ’95, Communication adjunct professor This book (Steve Gladdis Leadership Partners, Feb ruary 2016) is for leaders at any level of an organization who care about being the best leaders they can be. Written to be read in a one-hour, single sitting, the book focuses on the science around three mindful acts—smiling, breathing, and listening— that make leaders more fully present, aware, and thoughtful.
Play/Write: Digital Rhetoric, Writing, Games Douglas Eyman, Director, PhD in Writing and Rhetoric Play/Write (Parlor Press, March 2016) presents a wide range of approaches to digital video games as sites of composition and rhetorical performance.
Co-edited with Andréa Davis, chapters examine writing—both textual and multimodal—and rhetorical activity that takes place within games as playergame and player-player interactions, as well as external sites of writing, such as player communities, corporate-supported transmedia storytelling, walkthroughs, cheats, and documentation.
analysis of two enlighten ment projects: one Arab, still under construction, with possible progression toward modernity or regression toward neoauthoritarianism, and one European, shaped by the past two centuries.
What Is Enlightenment? Continuity or Rupture in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings
Michael Perini, reference, research, and instruction specialist, Fenwick Library Using a model drawn from higher education that allows librarians and managers to conceptualize the librarian’s role in a way that will help mitigate obstacles to pro fessional development, this book (Chandos Pub lishing, April 2016) presents the tactics and obstacles involved in the reconcep tualization of the librarian’s role in an institution. Its use of higher education theory examines the professional identity of
Mohammed D. Cherkaoui, PhD ’16, adjunct faculty, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution This volume (Lexington Books, April 2016) examines whether the 2011 Arab Uprisings would introduce a replica of the European Enlightenment or rather stimulate an Arab/Islamic awakening with its own cultural specificity and political philosophy. The book adopts a comparative
The Academic Librarian as Blended Professional: Reassessing and Redefining the Role
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academic librarians and issues impacting librarian professional development.
The Origin and Nature of Life on Earth: The Emergence of the Fourth Geosphere Harold J. Morowitz, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy, with Eric Smith, Tokyo Institute of Technology Uniting the conceptual foundations of the physical sciences and biology, this multidisciplinary book (Cambridge University Press, May 2016) explores the origin of life as a plane tary process. Combining geology, geochemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, evolution, and statistical physics to create an inclu sive picture of the living state, the authors argue that the emergence of life was a necessary cascade of nonequilibrium phase transitions that opened new channels for chemical energy flow on Earth. Morowitz died in April
2016. He was founding director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at Mason, and the author or co-author of 19 books.
The Economics and Political Economy of Transportation Security Kenneth Button, University Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government In this book (Edward Elgar Publishing, June 2016), Button provides an over view of the economics and political economy of transport security, consid ering its policy from an economic perspective. His analysis applies microeconomic theory to trans port issues, supporting
White and Working Class In his new book, The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2016), Schar School of Policy and Government profes sor Justin Gest analyzes alienation in white working-class people in the United States and the United Kingdom. and enhancing the larger framework of our know ledge about personal, industrial, and national security.
light on policymaking by private groups, which are unaccountable to the general public and often even to governments.
Public Policymaking by Private Organizations: Challenges to Democratic Governance
ISIS Defectors: Inside the Terrorist Caliphate
Catherine E. Rudder, professor emerita, and A. Lee Fritschler, professor emeritus, Schar School of Policy and Government, with PhD candidate Yon Jung Choi, MPP, ’10 From accrediting doctors and lawyers to setting industry and professional standards, private groups establish many of the public policies in today’s advanced societies. Yet this important role of nongovernmental groups is largely ignored by those who study, teach, or report on public policy issues. Public Policymaking by Private Organizations (Brookings Institution Press, July 2016) sheds
Ahmet S. Yayla, deputy director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism and adjunct professor in the Depart ment of Criminology, Law and Society Written with Anne Speckhard, ISIS Defectors (Advances Press, July 2016) relies on interviews with 32 defectors to offer up the gritty details of life inside the most brutal terrorist group in recent history. As counterter rorism experts with specialties in research psychology and law enforcement, the authors intend to break the ISIS brand by using the disillu sioned defectors’ own words as a tool for coun tering ISIS propaganda.
What inspired you to write this book? In 2010, I published my first book, Apart: Alienated and Engaged Muslims in the West. It was a study of the dynamics of Western Muslims’ political behavior and their sense of marginality. However, I grew interested in the white working-class people [I encountered]—many of whom were Muslim antagonists condemning Islam as a religion and demanding innocent Muslims’ deportation. White working-class people’s claims of heritage and authenticity in diverse societies appeared as a competing fundamentalism from a group that also felt marginalized in Western societies subject to increasing inequality and demo graphic change. And in different ways, their politics were almost as radical as that of Muslim extremists. The curiosity was too much to turn away. Was there anything that surprised you while doing research for this book? At first, I was surprised by how quickly I would feel a sense of empathy for my subjects. They are so vilified in the field of migration studies, but their reality is nowhere near as simple as racism or economic outmoding. Then, as my research progressed, I was surprised by how quickly outlets for their frustration grew in the form of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy in the United States and the Brexit campaign in Britain. Could you talk about your research methods? I spent six months conducting full-immersion ethnographies in Youngstown, Ohio, and East London, England. I spent a lot of time in pubs, working-man’s clubs, factor ies, churches, storefronts, family living rooms, and porches. In total, I interviewed 120 people. I then followed up this work with two surveys of white people in the United States and U.K. just before national elections began in each country. What are you working on now? I am finishing my next book, Crossroads, which examines immigration policy outcomes across 50 countries worldwide. It will be out with Cambridge University Press next year. I am also undertaking a number of experiments—on refugee integration in the United States, the preferences of prospective immigrants from the Middle East, and the effect of U.S. citizenship on green cardholders’ lives. It’s an exciting time to study immigration and demographic change. —Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95
Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 37
ALUMNI IN PRINT Recently published works by Mason alumni
Introduction to the Recording Arts Shannon Gunn, MM Jazz Studies ’11 Amazon Digital Services LLC, September 2015 This high-school-level textbook on recording and music technology is designed for anyone who wishes to learn the art of audio recording. Designed for self-study or the class room, it includes a full curriculum, as well as review worksheets, activi ties, pictures, and tutorials. Content covers everything from the history of recording to physics of sound to signal processing. Gunn plans to graduate from Mason in spring 2017 with an MEd and graduate certificate in E-Learning.
Make Money Writing Books: Proven Profit Making Strategies for Authors Robert W. Lucas, MAIS ’92 Success Skills Press, September 2015 To help writers make more money from their endeavors, Lucas shares 10 lessons he’s learned as an author, including becoming a known entity, promoting yourself, producing effec tive marketing materials, creating an online presence, and developing products.
Lucas is a learning and performance expert who specializes in workplace performance-based train ing and consulting.
Darkest Hour Tony Russo, BA ’88 Divertir Publishing, December 2015 The first in a series, Darkest Hour takes place during the Battle of Britain in 1940, as young Briley Bannatyne takes her brother’s place in the air militia. The book was a semifinalist in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest for Young Adult Fiction. Russo took second place in the 2003 New Century Writer Awards for Novels and was a finalist in the 2008 Zoetrope Screenplay Writing Contest. He was born in Queens, New York.
Awakening to Awareness: Aligning Your Life With What Really Matters Eric Tonningsen, EMBA ‘93 Rock Star Publishing House, December 2015 What is it that sets some people apart? Tonningsen says staying true to our values, such as integrity and simple human decency, are key. This book blends everyday perspectives, wisdom, and simple con
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siderations, each worthy of reflection and conscious action.
In Search of the Wild Dulcimer Lana Austin, MFA ’08 Finishing Line Press, January 2016 This poetry chapbook celebrates physical and invisible grace—all that gives life to art and to us. Austin recognizes the importance of the familial, the personal, and the ways in which sound, particularly Southern music, informs our lives in ways deeply sensual and resonant. Austin’s poems, inter views, and fiction pieces have recently been fea tured in Mid-American Review, The New Guard, The Writer’s Chronicle, and Visions International. Also a journalist, she has written for numerous newspapers and magazines.
Ashland, Oregon, Day Trips Barbara Tricarico, BA ’75 Schiffer Publishing, January 2016 This photographic essay of natural, historic, and iconic sites within a three-hour drive of Ashland, Oregon, features notable landmarks, such as Crater Lake National Park, Klamath Wildlife
Refuge, and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Tricarico has been an avid photographer for many years. She has a master’s degree in deaf education from Gallaudet University and lived and worked in Northern Vir ginia before moving to Ashland in 2010.
Coxey’s Crusade for Jobs: Unemployment in the Gilded Age Jerry Prout, PhD History ’12 Northern Illinois University Press, May 2016 In the depths of a depres sion in 1894, a business man named Jacob Coxey conceived a plan to put millions back to work building a nationwide system of roads. He drew attention to his idea by leading a group of jobless men on a march from Ohio to the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Prout recounts this event through the reporters on the march, and how their depictions turned the spectacle into a serialized drama that humanized the idea of unemployment in America. Prout is a visiting profes sor of political science at Marquette University.
PAT R I O T P R O F I L E
Taking the lead: Catherine Rochon took over as president of Mason’s Ballroom Dance Club a year ago. As president, she handles the behind-thescenes stuff required to keep the club a registered student organization, makes sure the roster is updated, and ensures practice space is reserved for use. Occasionally she even steps in as a dance instructor. Why ballroom dance? “I did something called Summer in the Arts in eighth grade,” Rochon says. “One of the classes they offered was ballroom. I found it interesting and fun, but didn’t do it again until I found we had a club here on campus three years ago. I’ve been going ever since.” Dancing around: What Rochon likes about danc ing is that it allows you to “focus on something that’s not academically oriented. You’re not graded. There are no papers. You’re just there to have fun, relax, and meet people.” Best advice for a successful lesson? “Wear comfortable shoes.” Dance club vs. nightclub: Rochon prefers dancing at Mason rather than out in a club, because it’s more structured. “You learn a certain set of moves, and the creativity of the lead you’re working with is interesting,” she says. “Also I like the music more. It can range from 1940s or 1960s Sinatra to pop music. You’ll find you can dance ballroom to a lot of modern music. You’re also working on floor craft, trying not to run into other couples, so it’s a lot more skill-oriented.”
Catherine Rochon PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
YEAR: Junior
MAJOR: Criminology, Law and Society HOMETOWN: Ashburn, Virginia
Stepping forward: Rochon and her board mem bers have been exploring the idea of creating a competitive dance team ever since they attended a competition at the University of Maryland last spring. “We really enjoyed ourselves,” she says. “We want to give people the opportunity, if they’re already at a higher skill level, to go out and compete for Mason.” Until then, dancers can attend one of the club’s holiday balls. “Halloween, winter holiday, Valentine’s day,” Rochon says. “We’ll take any excuse to dance!” —Cathy Cruise, MFA ’93 Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 39
CLASS NOTES
Live on the
Scene T
o natives of San Diego, Chopper the Biker Dog is a wellknown figure, in large measure due to the investigative videojournalism of Joe Little, BA Speech Communica tion ’98. Chopper, a Boston terrier that rides a motorized trike to visit seniors, sick kids, and wounded veterans, was facing revocation of his therapy dog license. Little’s reporting on the issue earned him first place in the Video Journalist General Assignment category in the 2016 National Press Photographers Association (NPAA) Best of Photojournalism contest. Little is a television reporter with KGTV 10News, an ABC affiliate in San Diego, and is on the faculty of the NPAA News Video Workshop in Norman, Oklahoma. He has won seven Emmy Awards for his news coverage. He mentions he loves working by himself because he con trols nearly the entire presentation. “If I do it right, I get all the glory,” he says. “If I mess up, I can’t point the finger at anyone but myself.”
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Little also effects change as a teacher. As an active journalist in the industry, his teaching is topical, relevant, and fresh. “Our industry is evolving so fast,” he says, “we can’t have [students] coming in to our business with dated skills.” He is constantly working on new curriculum, including partnering with the E. W. Scripps Company, which owns KGTV, on a training program for younger solo videojournalists. All of this forward momentum stems from his degree at Mason. “The people in the old Student Video Center in Thompson Hall and GMU-TV were integral to preparing me for my career as a solo videojournalist,” he says. “I went to Syracuse for graduate school to learn how to be a reporter. However, I was able to distance myself from my classmates because I had a strong foundation in the technical side of video production.” “[Mason] propelled me to where I am today,” Little says. “It’s a dream come true to be able to do what I love and teach it to others.” —Teresa D. Allen, MFA ’12
class notes 1970s
Bart Kramer, BA Math ’70, BA Physics ’70, MEd Secondary Education ’74, established his own travel business, Bart’s Time for Travel, after his retirement from Fairfax County Public Schools. His travel company specializes in river cruises and escorted tours. He is currently featuring an un forgettable Irish Adven ture in spring 2017. Bonnie Atwood, BA Psychology ’74, has been named the runner-up for the 2016 Communicator of Achievement Award given by the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). The award is the highest honor bestowed upon NFPW members who have distinguished themselves within and beyond their field. Atwood was recog nized during the NFPW annual conference in Wichita, Kansas, this year. She owns Tall Poppies
Freelance Writing LLC, and writes mainly on family, health, and human rights. Richard A. Gray, MA Psychology ’75, began his one-year term as president of the Fairfax Bar Associa tion on July 1. He is a family law and divorce attorney at Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP. He has been a member of the Fairfax Bar Association since 2000 and began serving as a board member in 2008. Gray has also been listed as a Super Lawyer from 2006 to 2015. Robert Deuell, BS Biology ’78, retired from the Texas Senate after 12 years of representing Dallas and surrounding counties and has resumed work at his family medicine practice in Greenville, Texas. Deuell is continuing his musical career playing the drums with the iconic Texas swing band, The Light Crust Doughboys.
Thomas Gordon Morris, BA Geography ’79, JD ’82, was recently named one of 32 finalists for the 2016 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals pro gram. The program is run through the Partnership for Public Service, a non profit, nonpartisan organi zation based in Washing ton, D.C. Morris serves as director of the Office of Liquidation at the Small Business Administration and was recognized for overhauling an SBA program that now gener ates $6 billion in private investments annually. He has also been featured in the Washington Post.
1980s
Dianne Guensberg, BS Accounting ’82, has joined Grant Thornton LLP as a managing director in its Public Sector Assurance practice after more than
30 years with the Govern ment Accountability Office (GAO). She has served as a professional staff member for committees and sub committees in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. She is a CPA in Virginia and a chartered global management accountant. Guy Terrell, MBA ’87, recently published a book called The Fourth Branch of Government: We the People with Jack Trammell, faculty member at RandolphMacon College. The book tackles the issues of the explosion of the internet and social media providing society with instant access to the news, poor methods of coping with the on slaught of information, and the use of an outdated framework for our gover nances. Terrell is semiretired and living in Richmond, Virginia.
2016-17 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT
Brian Jones, MA International Commerce and Policy ’06 IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT
Christopher Preston, BS Management ’96 PRESIDENT-ELECT
Jennifer Shelton, BS Public Administration ’94 VICE PRESIDENT—ADVOCACY
Kate McSweeny, JD ’04 TREASURER
Scott Hine, BS Decision Science ’85 SECRETARY
Andy Gibson, BA History ’92 AT-LARGE DIRECTORS
Walter McLeod, MS Chemistry ‘94 Shayan Farazmand, BA Communication ‘04 Ty Carlson, BS Social Work '96 Jeff Fissel, BS Information Technology ’06
(continued next page)
What’s New with You? We are interested in what you’ve been doing since you graduated. Have you moved? Gotten married? Had a baby? Landed a hot new job? Received an award? Met up with some Mason friends? Submit your class notes to alumni.gmu.edu/whatsnew. In your note, be sure to include your graduation year and degree. Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 41
Homecoming:
Creating Opportunities to Enhance and Grow
PHOTO BY JOHN BOAL
I
do an exercise with many of my clients where I ask them when they feel they’re at their best, what makes them feel focused and truly fulfilled. I recently did the exercise on myself to refocus and found that my inspiration resides in accelerating change and growth within people and organizations. I’m happiest when I’m creating opportunities for others, developing strategies, empowering communities, and even simply learning something new with my son.
During Homecoming, you have the opportunity to stroll around the campus, cheer on our teams, and see your old friends. Most importantly, I hope you will get a sense of the remarkable momentum Mason has built. The momentum the university is currently experiencing is due in large part to many of our alumni who have come home. Whether you have guided students as alumni mentors, given your time and financial support, or been an ambassador for Mason, alumni are key to the growth of this institution that is home to so many. Since Mason’s founding in 1957, the spirit of achievement has been a part of the university. Mason’s values of innovation, diversity, entrepreneurship, and accessibility are characteristics embedded in what makes us who we are today. Your gifts, especially those dedicated to scholarships, demonstrate your confidence in our education and ensure a legacy of excellence that allows the next generation of Mason students to enhance and grow their prospects for the future. With All My Patriot Pride, Brian Jones, MA International Commerce and Policy ’06 President, George Mason University Alumni Association
Stay in Touch Update your contact information in the alumni directory to stay connected and get the latest news from Mason. Visit alumni.gmu.edu or call 703-993-8696 to learn more.
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Murvat Musleh, BS Finance ’89, was recently appointed executive direc tor of the Reese Technology Center.
1990s
Gerard M. Stegmaier, BA History ’92, JD ’00, recently joined Reed Smith as a partner working in privacy, data security, and internet strategy. He has also joined the Antonin Scalia Law School as a practitionerin-residence and a senior research fellow where he will lead a number of pro jects directed at re-thinking how legal services are delivered to enterprises and how business prob lems with legal implica tions are solved. Michelle Katz, BS Public Administration ’94, was recently named executive director of the YMCA’s Preventative Health Programs in the L.A. area. This is the first position of its kind. Edward W. Karppi, MBA ’94, began working as the deputy chief investment officer at Mangham Associates in Charlottesville, Virginia, in January 2016. Mangham Associates provides investment management services for foundations, endowments, and families. Karppi, his wife Patricia, and their two
children split their time between their two homes in Washington, D.C., and Howardsville, Virginia. Michael Gryboski, BA History ’09, MA History ’15, had his third novel pub lished this past June. A Matter of Conscience is a modern retelling of the life of Sir Thomas More, set in the United States. Gryboski’s book can be purchased on Amazon. Christopher E. Mandel, MBA ’94, was recently appointed director of the newly established Sedgwick Institute. He was also awarded the RIMS Fellow designation by the Risk Management Society. Craig Ashbrook, DIPL Education (Community College) ’96, DA Education (Community College) ’02, was selected as a fellow of the National Speleological Society in March 2016. The fellows are chosen for their efforts to advance the goals of the society through their dedication to cave exploration, cave science, and cave conservation. David S. Turk, MA History ’97, recently published his book Forging the Star: The Official Modern History of the United States Marshals Service. The book provides a comprehensive history of the U.S. Marshals Service, answering many questions (continued on page 42) surrounding the agency’s
CLASS NOTES
complex modern period. Jamie VanValkenburg, BM ’97, MA Music ’00, serves as the director of the Oakton High School Symphonic Band. The band has been selected as a “Featured Band” for the 2017 Music for All National Concert Band Festival. Kerri Chapman, BA History ’98, was recently appointed director of Enterprise Systems and Integration Services at Washington and Lee Uni versity. She and her family have relocated to just outside Lexington, Virginia. Vanetta M. Pledger, BS Management ’99, will serve as the chief infor mation officer and director of information technology services for the City of Alexandria, Virginia, effec tive September 12, 2016.
2000s
William Preston McLaughlin, MA History ’01, is now the chief oper ating officer of Aquilae Consulting Services LLC of Thurmont, Maryland. He served as a deputy program manager at DARPA for four years prior to his recent appointment. He is also an adjunct pro fessor of military strategy at the Daniel Morgan Academy, a new graduate
school serving the national security community in Washington, D.C. Judy Pryor-Ramirez, BA Communication ’03, was appointed the executive director of the Elma Lewis Center for Civic Engage ment, Learning, and Research at Emerson College in Boston. Prior to this she served as the director of the Office of Civic Engagement and Social Justice at the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School in New York City. Machiel van der Stelt, MA International Com merce and Policy ’04, has written a series of fictional short stories that address critical social issues. The stories are available to download for free at self. gutenberg.org/Members/ mvdstelt. In addition to his recent publications, van der Stelt was appointed to help the Telstra Western Australia State Board to improve employee engage ment through research and policy recommenda tions. He was also recently elected as a committee member of the Branch Committee of the Commu nications Workers Union– Western Australian Branch. Thomas Block, BA Com munication ’04, relocated to Richmond, Virginia, with his family this past July.
After spending his entire life in the Washington, D.C., area, he accepted a role at a Richmond-based financial services company and made the move down. He and his family love the area. Diarra J. Clemons, BA Communication ’05, graduated with a JD from New York Law School in Tribeca, New York. She is currently working as an associate at Christopher & Banks, a conglomerate retail chain for women’s high-end boutique apparel. Clemons also competed in a Swimsuit USA pageant in San Antonio, Texas, in August. She competed in the international finals in Nassau, Bahamas, and hopes to reach the finals again this year. Frances J. Metcalf, BIS ’05, received her master of divinity degree from Trinity School for Ministry, an evangelical seminary of the Anglican tradition in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, in May. She is slated to become the co-youth minister at Christ Church with her husband, Charles, BIS ’16, in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. She will begin a clinical pastoral experience in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh this fall. Mark Flanigan, MS New Professional Studies ’06,
began serving as a World Teach volunteer at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong, Bangladesh, in August 2016. He is work ing with young women from South Asia in an intensive, yearlong pro gram to prepare them for collegiate success. He has served as a program direc tor with the Japan ICU Foundation in New York City for the past four years.
Keith Reeves, MEd Curric ulum and Instruction ’06, was recently elected chair of the board of directors for the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, the state affiliate for the International Society for Technology in Education. He has written two books on education and currently serves as an educational technology administrator with Arlington Public Schools. (continued next page)
Elementary School Named for Fallen Firefighter On the first day of school in September, Prince William County firefighters greeted students as they entered the new Kyle R. Wilson Elementary School in Woodbridge, Virginia. The school was named after Mason alumnus Kyle Wilson, BS Athletic Training ’05, a firefighter who died on April 16, 2007, while battling a house fire in Woodbridge. He was 24 years old. The Kyle Wilson Memorial Scholarship, established by the Wilson family and the Prince William Professional Fire Fighters local chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters, is awarded annually to an outstanding undergraduate student in Mason’s School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. A number of athletic events take place throughout the year to raise money for the scholarship including softball and golf tournaments. For more information, visit cehd.gmu.edu. PHOTO PRINCE WILLIAM FIRE DEPARTMENT
Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 43
CLASS NOTES
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GIVING SPIRIT
A CAREER MADE BET TER BY DESIGN
T
hey say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. And on first try, Khoi Phan, BFA Art and Visual Technology ’09, didn’t quite make it.
Having just graduated from Mason, where he had a concentration in graphic design and a minor in photography, Phan tried to find work as a professional designer in the Big Apple. But, he says, “There was very little opportunity. Even with a Mason degree and ambition, you also need luck.” It wasn’t long after he returned to Virginia that he found work at design agency HZDG in Washington, D.C., and not long after that, he says, before “the NFL came knocking.”
Phan headed back to New York, this time for a job with the National Football League, where he conceptualized and designed global campaigns such as NFL Salute to Service, the Super Bowl, and NFL Honors. His work can still be seen each NFL season. Now an art director at AKQA, a top global agency that creates digital services and products, Phan is immersed in campaigns for A-listers like Nike, Verizon, Jordan, Maserati, and Chanel. Seeing his work on these and other immense projects, such as the Nike+ app and the My Verizon app, he admits is still “kind of mind-blowing.” His choice to attend Mason rather than a design school empowered him to be more boldly assertive with his talents, Phan says, and introduced him to “classmates who pushed me to challenge myself. When people around you value you, and teachers take note of you, it gives you that extra edge to compete against the best.” A soccer fanatic, he even founded Mason’s club soccer team. Phan is on the path to become a creative director and oversee large-scale projects at AKQA, then maybe transfer to one of its offices in Europe. While the way forward may not be obvious yet, that’s fine with him. “There’s no clear path,” he says. “And there should never be a clear path. If you want to see yourself grow, you have to take risks and assume the risks will eventually pay off.” —Cathy Cruise, MFA ’93 44 | FA S T E R FA R T H E R : T H E C A M PA I G N F O R G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y
Erika Spalding, BS Marketing ’07, was recent ly promoted to assistant vice president of Corpo rate Communications and Marketing at Didlake Inc. after seven years with the company. Nathaniel Stickley, MS Applied and Engineering Physics ’08, received his PhD in physics at the Uni versity of California River side in 2013 and recently became an associate software engineer at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology. Rich Mehrenberg, PhD Education ’09, was pro moted to the rank of associate professor of the Department of Early, Middle, and Exceptional Education at Millersville University. Juan Rodriguez, BS Biology ’09, was recently named a supervisory biol ogist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at Front Royal, Virginia. He works closely with and oversees the daily care of clouded leopards, red pandas, and maned wolves in the Carnivore Conservation Project. Prior to his work with the Smithsonian, he was one of the three primary panda keepers
at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
2010s
Jenni VanCuren, MA English ’10, was awarded Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award in May 2016 from Lord Fairfax Community College and the Paragon Award for Phi Theta Kappa advisors. She also published a book in September titled When Shadows Fade. Christine Belotti, BA Communication ’11, and Ron Belotti, BA Criminol ogy, Law and Society ’11, got married in April 2016. Melanie Holmes, BS Criminology, Law and Society ’13, got engaged to her fiancé Howard Johnson in February 2016. The couple welcomed their daughter Brielle to the world on March 8, 2016. Emily Shevlin, BS Crimi nology, Law and Society ’14, recently got engaged to Thomas Cooper (ODU ’10). The couple met while Shevlin was a student at Mason and are planning to be married in April 2017 in Clifton, Virginia. Anne Smith, MFA Art and Visual Technology ’15, Sarah Irvin, MFA Art and Visual Technology ’16, and
CLASS NOTES
Sarah Zuckerman Dolan, MFA Art and Visual Tech nology ’16, had works on display in a joint exhibit called “Pathways” at the Carroll Square Gallery in Washington, D.C. Smith’s artwork offered a 27-footlong scroll with a thin stripe of inked impressions. Irvin’s contribution was two prints that relate her paternal grandfather’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Dolan’s work featured a hand-woven copper wire structure that begins as a labyrinth, spinning off into intestine-like kinks, and finally pushing straight up a wall toward light from an exterior window. Abigail (Lash) Ballew, BSW ’15, and Joshua Bal lew, BA Conflict Analysis
and Resolution ’15, met in the Global Studies Living Learning Community on their first day of freshman year and tied the knot in June 2015. The couple began dating at the end of their freshman year and served as resident advisors in rival neighborhoods, Rappahannock and Aquia. Joshua is now working as a dispute resolution spe cialist for the Common wealth of Virginia, and Abigail is working on a graduate degree.
Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Upon completion he hopes to teach at the college level.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Class Notes are submitted by alumni and are not verified by the editors. While we welcome alumni news, Mason Spirit is not responsible for information contained in Class Notes.
Make Your Mark at
Charles Metcalf, BIS ’16, will be joining his wife, Frances, BIS ’05, as co-youth minister at Christ Church in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. Metcalf recently began working on a PhD in rhetoric at
Mason… Thursday April 6, 2017 givingday.gmu.edu
ALUMNI CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVES BLACK ALUMNI
LAMBDA
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
Chantee Christian, BA Communication ’05
Aléjandro Asin, BA ’11 Conor O’Malley, BA History ’12
Tiffany Ha, BS Chemistry ’10, MS ’13
ANTONIN SCALIA LAW SCHOOL
Gleason Rowe, BA Global Affairs ’11
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Jugnu Agrawal, MEd Special Education ’07, PhD ’13
Ben Owen, JD ’13
Anthony DeGregorio, BS Physical Education ’84, MS Physical Education ’89
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Kushboo Bhatia, BA ’16
Sumeet Shrivastava, MBA ’94
Chloe Kingsley-Burt, BA Communication ’13, BS Marketing ’13
COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
SCHAR SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT AND POLICY
Shannon Baccaglini, MM Music ’06, MA Arts Management ’09
Kyle Green, MA International Commerce and Policy ’13 and MPA ’14
VOLGENAU SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
Mariana X. Cruz, BS Civil and Infrastructure Engineering ’11
GOLDEN QUILL
Rachel Bruns, BA Global Affairs ’13
LATINO
Cristian Pineda, BA Communication ’12 Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 45
CLASS NOTES
TRAIN OF THOUGHT
O
n a summer Sunday in 2007, Sarah Federman, PhD Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’16, visited the Mémorial de la Shoah, the Holocaust museum and memorial in Paris. As she passed through the vast list of names of French deportees etched into courtyard walls, she gasped when she spotted her own name.
“I ran my fingers across the engraved letters,” she says. “The gravity of the thought collapsed time. I realized it would have been me; it would have been my family.” The idea that “the France I loved would have crammed me into a deportation train headed toward a death camp” set Federman on a journey to investigate the role corporations play in large-scale conflicts—significantly France’s national train system, SNCF. Now she is turning her PhD dissertation at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution into a book, and it’s only fitting that she will be writing it on a train. Federman is among the group of 24 writers selected for the Amtrak Residency program and as such will have a free pass and a workspace on Amtrak trains for a year.
46 | FA S T E R FA R T H E R : T H E C A M PA I G N F O R G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y
More than 600 applicants competed for the 24 fellow ships. Among Federman’s 2016 cohorts are a Washington Post columnist, a New York City playwright, a film director, a novelist, and several poets. Federman’s dissertation focuses on the involvement of SNCF in the deportation of Jews to concentration camps during World War II. She asks if the modern SNCF has owned up to its responsibility and wonders why so many other companies have been exonerated. Federman, originally from Westchester, New York, and a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, says her mother’s ancestry on both sides goes back to the Mayflower, but her paternal grand father escaped from Poland before Hitler rose to power. For her residency, she’s looking forward to traveling along the Oregon Trail, from Chicago to San Francisco, starting this spring. “The grant gives me time to work on the book,” she says, “but it also lets me really put myself inside trains to see what the mystique is all about.” —Buzz McClain, BA ’77
CLASS NOTES
Obituaries
ALUMNI AND STUDENTS Ilana Wolfe (student), BS Marketing, May 22, 2016
William Carrigg, BS Business Administration ’79, August 31, 2016
James Suttle Jr., BIS ’96, April 4, 2016 Kay Wood, MA English ’96, September 1, 2016
Lesley Randall (student), BS Psychology, June 8, 2016
Otto Gutenson, MS Biology ’79, September 20, 2016
Carl Hudson, BA Government and Politics ’97, May 17, 2016
Linda Kelly, BA English ’71, June 22, 2016
Michael G. Keenan, JD ’80, May 30, 2016
Carlos Bacon-Butler, BS Elementary Education ’75, September 18, 2016
Ralph Talley, BS Business Administration ’80, June 11, 2016
Nancy Flemming-Robertshaw, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’98, September 4, 2016
Douglas Hyde, BA Government and Politics ’75, August 22, 2016
Robert Hidgon, MA Economics ’84, December 25, 2014
Kelly Watts, MA Psychology ’01, September 7, 2016
Ruth Marum, MEd Elementary Education ’75, July 17, 2016
Georgia Johnson, BS Psychology ’84, July 16, 2016
Michael Gribko, BIS ’04, June 22, 2016
James Statum, BA Government and Politics ’75, August 24, 2016
Richard Anderson, JD ’89, September 1, 2016
June Jacoby, MEd Counseling and Development ’76, March 10, 2016
Richard White, BSN ’91, September 15, 2016
Jacqueline Somers, BSN ’78, July 14, 2016
Daniel Vaughan, MBA ’90, September 4, 2016
Thomas Wells, BA Economics ’06, June 30, 2016 Janis Thompson, MAIS Zoo and Aquarium Leadership ’10, May 27, 2016
Norman Mines, MS Operations Research and Management Sciences ’94, June 21, 2016
FAC U LT Y A N D S TA F F Mark Spikell, Professor Emeritus, College of Education and Human Development, died on August 12, 2016, at the age of 75. Spikell was a faculty member in the Graduate School of Education for 25 years prior to his retirement in 2004. He joined Mason in 1979 as chair of the Department of Education. While at Mason, Spikell created numerous innovative academic programs, including programs in mathematics education leadership at both the master’s and doctoral levels. He was instrumental in the development of a computer education specialty at Mason and in the creation of a program in Special Education Technology, now one of the oldest in the United States. Spikell was co-founder of the Mason Entrepreneurship Center and served as president of Annographics Inc., an R&D technology company in the field of dynamic character recognition. Spikell is survived by his two children, Eli and Emily Spikell, and by two siblings, Stefanie and Bruce Spikell. The family has established an online memorial at www. ilasting.com/markspikell.php.
Alice L. Watts, BA English and Philosophy ’91, MA English ’97, academic coordinator in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, passed away on Friday, September 23, 2016, of pancreatic cancer. She was 65. Watts worked at Mason for more than 25 years in a variety of capacities in the arts. She started out as a student volunteer working for Mason’s Theater of the First Amendment. When she graduated she took an administrative job in what was then the Department of Dance and Theater. As the academic coordinator, Watts assisted with student recruitment and advising and helped plan the college’s convocation each spring. For her efforts she was recognized as an Employee of the Month in 2005. She is survived by a sister, two brothers, six nieces and nephews, and her beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Ariel. The college has created a scholarship in her memory. Donations to the scholarship can made to the George Mason University Foundation Inc. and sent to the College of Visual and Performing Arts, 4400 University Drive, MS 4C1, Fairfax, VA 22030. Winter 2017 M A S O N S P I R I T | 47
4400 University Drive, MS 3B3 Fairfax, VA 22030
RIDING IN ST YLE—This fall student-athletes are hitting the road to away games in a fully wrapped Mason Athletics bus thanks to Academy Bus, the official charter transportation partner of George Mason Athletics. Mason student-athletes now have flat screens, wifi, and power outlets at every seat to help them stay on top of their studies while traveling with their teams.
PHOTOS BY ALEXIS GLENN PHOTOS COURTESY OF ATHLETICS