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MASON Finding the Silver Lining in a Different Kind of Semester
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Honors College students Shayn Kilpatrick and Alexis Massenburg listen during a session of HNRS 240 Reading the Past.
12 | SPI RIT.GMU.EDU
PHOTO BY LATHAN GOUMAS
s the unusual fall semester ended, we took the opportunity to talk to several George Mason University professors who taught in-person or hybrid classes. Here are their thoughts on what worked well for them. The new requirement of regularly sanitizing classrooms kept Kathleen Mulcahy, director of woodwinds in the Dewberry Family School of Music, on her feet—literally. Because Mulcahy does a significant amount of one-on-one teaching and the rooms need to be sanitized, Mulcahy must change venues after each student. “It’s been an adjustment getting used to carrying my instruments between several different locations on campus, but it has been worth it.” Mulcahy says she did not hesitate to return to campus to teach this fall. “I felt like our school did so much more research on safe options for teaching music,” she says. “My colleagues at other schools were very impressed with the information I was receiving from our leadership. None had received anywhere near the level of support available to me.” When the weather was nice, Mulcahy moved her classes outside. “The students are so appreciative of the opportunity to play live and together,” she says. That student affirmation is echoed by Robinson Professor of Public Affairs Steven Pearlstein. “The students really appreciate it,” he says. “They see that the professor is working hard to make the class possible.” One student even told Pearlstein that his class was the highlight of his week.
It was important to Pearlstein to maintain the same Socratic method format for this class that he has honed over the years. He credits the classroom he uses for the ability to deliver his lectures as he always has. The room was equipped with microphones to allow students and Pearlstein to be heard clearly through their masks. During a career spanning almost six decades, Mason history professor and former provost Peter Stearns has been through it all. Teaching during a pandemic provided new challenges, and Stearns jumped in when the call went out for faculty interested in teaching face-to-face for fall 2020. “I saw this as a legit opportunity to pitch in,” he says. Any concerns Stearns harbored regarding teaching faceto-face evaporated when he arrived at his classroom in Robinson Hall B. “It’s a very well-organized arrangement, all done by Facilities,” Stearns says. “The other chairs are completely gone; wipes and hand sanitizer are provided.” Stearns says both history courses he taught this semester—one hybrid, one online—went well. He also noted an interesting phenomenon. “Some students are actually doing things better this semester,” Stearns says. “More students are turning in work early and the quality of work for the freshman students is especially better than I’ve previously seen.” That, according to Stearns, is a silver lining in this unprecedented semester. —Elizabeth Gillooly
