From the Cover: Undergraduates! How the Schar School Supports Students to Reach Goals and Dreams

How the Schar School Supports Students to Realize Goals—and Dreams

By Buzz McClain

Arriving as an undergraduate at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, Taylor Wilson initially felt a bit intimidated.

“The transition between a small high school to a really big school with thousands of students can be a little overwhelming,” the Baltimore, Md., native said.

Wilson soon gained her footing with help from the vast and highly organized support system dedicated to student success at the Schar School and the university.

“By the end of my freshman year, I learned the pace of college and how to manage time,” she said. When I went into sophomore year, I was like, ‘OK, I got it.’”

Indeed, there are few experiences in life that compare to arriving at college as an undergraduate. For many first-year and transfer students, the changes are thrilling, as everything is new: The campus, the housing, the food, the professors, the classmates, the expectations.

What Wilson and other new students to the Schar School eventually realize is that they are not alone in their journey—there is a vast and highly organized support system dedicated to student success.

And that success goes beyond achieving high GPAs and reaching for a diploma: The administration and professors are committed to helping students realize not just their academic potential, but also their personal goals and dreams.

You Are Not Alone

With some 39,000 students at Mason, it’s easy to make friends, but it’s not always easy to find likeminded students who share your interests, passions, and goals. Which is why in 2021, the Schar School, in partnership with Mason’s Housing and Residence Life created the Schar School’s first-ever, First-Year Academic Community: The single residence hall— Adams Hall, fittingly for government majors, in Presidents Park—where 60 freshmen live and work together. It’s called Democracy Lab.

A second “learning community,” the International Relations Policy Task Force, gives students a chance to become policy experts by researching and ultimately crafting policy recommendations in one of three task force areas, including lessons learned for the next pandemic, LGBTQ+ gender rights and foreign policy, and responding to climate change on a local level. Classes often feature high-profile practitioners as guest speakers.

A third learning community supports student research and another in the works for those interested in law. Others may be added in the future.

The learning communities, said Democracy Lab faculty director Peter Mandaville, allow students “to immediately have a network of peers and friends with common interests that can help them to feel a greater source of community. In some aspects, it makes a large university have the feel of a small liberal arts college.”

Adams Hall, home of Democracy Lab. Photo by Buzz McClain/Schar School of Policy and Government

Students who participate in a Schar School learning community engage in “hands-on experiential learning opportunities that go beyond the classroom,” said Gretchen Curry, undergraduate programs manager. “As learning community faculty directors prepare to engage with students, they create intentional, thoughtful programming that allows for students to form real and meaningful connections with the members of their community, and with Schar School faculty who share similar academic interests.”

Students in a Schar School learning community, she added, “are also afforded the opportunity to earn course credit while completing innovative projects, meet and discuss hot-button issues with subject area experts, and engage in thought-provoking discussions with peers in small group settings.”

The learning community experience is not confined to the campus: As pandemic travel restrictions abate, students will have opportunities to travel domestically and abroad that complement and enhance the learning that takes place on campus.

“Whether you are interested in international relations policy, research, law, or democracy in general, the Schar School has a learning community that is excited and ready to welcome you,” Curry said.

Undergraduate Programs Manager Gretchen Curry

‘We Advise. You Decide.’

New students to the Schar School soon realize there are a multitude of pathways to a degree. Sometimes the route is straightforward, sometimes complex. The Schar School’s dedicated team of academic advisors works with students to create an individualized journey to the destination of their choice. “Choice” is the key. In fact, “We advise. You decide” are words the advising department lives by.

Ann Ludwick, assistant dean for undergraduate academic affairs at the Schar School, spotted those words on a poster at a higher-education conference, and it rang true. “This catchy phrase embodies our approach to undergraduate advising, she said. “We have a team of professional advisors—including Amira Al-Khulaidy and Matt Green—and peer advisors available to our more than 900 students.”

Academic advisors make time to meet with students one-on-one and discuss the details of their careers at the Schar School. “We serve as guides to help students choose classes, navigate academic policies, make short- and long-term plans, and connect to campus resources,” Ludwick said.

The advising resource is not limited to Schar School courses. The university is part of the campus-wide Mason Academic Advising Network (MAAN). The Schar School team is active in MAAN leadership and is a member of the National Academic Advising Association, which helps it stay connected to the professional community.

From the cover: Things are looking up for the Democracy Lab. From left, back row: Undergraduate Recruiter Kali Woods, Nico Vacca, Charles Negash, Ikram Fathi. Middle row: Stacy Maravi, Christine Peretik, Miranda Céspedes. Front row: Sara Salameh, Nardine Mosaad, Ethan Thomas. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

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“Our students benefit from these important networks,” Ludwick said. “Interested in double majoring? We know that advisor! Need counseling assistance? We’ve personally walked with advisees to the Student Support and Advocacy Center. Looking for specialized career recommendations? Our industry advisor in Career Services is a phone call away!” The exclamation marks can be forgiven. “Advisors are connectors, guides, and cheerleaders,” Ludwick said. “We advise while we encourage our students to decide their journey at Mason.”

Welcome Week: Orientation

That academic journey at the Schar School begins early, weeks before classes start with a week-long series of events called Quill Camp: Republic. Incoming freshmen spend a once-in-a-lifetime week visiting nearby Washington, D.C.’s landmarks while engaging with government officials, professors, and student leaders.

But Schar School freshmen and incoming transfer students truly realize what it means to be a Patriot at Mason Orientation.

“Orientation is the first step in successfully navigating life as a Schar School student,” said Undergraduate Recruiter Kali Woods.

Each semester, Mason hosts a series of virtual and/or in-person orientation sessions designed to welcome admitted students to the university and introduce them to resources available to them as new Patriots. While many workshops provide a broad overview of various student services, they also allow students to connect one-on-one with an advisor who carefully guides them through the process of class registration.

“Selection of first-semester courses can be make or break for an incoming student,” Woods said. “Having that extra guidance can help ease anxieties that many first-years experience when entering this new, exciting environment.” In addition to registration, students are also encouraged to ask any questions they may have about specific courses, concentrations, minors, and other aspects of life at Mason. “Orientation ensures each undergraduate student has the proper foundation to kickstart their academic journey,” she said.

Taylor Wilson revived the university’s student organization, the Intelligence Community Network. Photo courtesy of ODNI StatComm

Orientation is the first step in successfully navigating life as a Schar School student.

–Undergraduate Recruiter Kali Woods

Mastering Student Research

“URAP dispels the myth that research is reserved only for graduate students,” said Assistant Professor Heba F. El-Shazli, referring to the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP) she leads. “The program is important for the Schar School because it encourages, supports, and develops research skills, and increases knowledge and abilities among our undergraduate students.”

Students with viable ideas for research are matched with a professor whose own work aligns with theirs. The students become research assistants; the professors become mentors. At the end of the semester, students participate in a research fair where they present their work and findings to an audience of peers and faculty. In addition to one-onone mentoring from faculty, students gain hands-on experience with social science research.

“URAP is an important program because it promotes increased faculty-student interaction over stimulating research projects,” El-Shazli said. “The program gives students the opportunity to improve in their research and writing skills, which contribute greatly to their careers after Mason.”

Sometimes the work leads to something pleasantly unexpected, as in the case of Josephine Neulen, whose senior year in 2018 culminated with a contract from a major publisher to turn her study about the rise of populism in Europe into a book.

Valuable Internships

Schar School students have countless opportunities to build important relationships and intern at key agencies and firms, ranging from the federal government to Fortune 500 companies. Proximity to institutions in nearby Washington, D.C., as well as think tanks, nonprofits, and technology firms in Northern Virginia, provide a myriad of options.

Fyzah Islam is one student who has spent her undergraduate experience building life-long connections and gaining meaningful experiences. With the help of Mason’s University Career Services office and the Schar School’s counseling, the government and international politics major enjoyed three internships in three years at three different agencies.

“Internships are so worth it,” she said of the effort to secure them and then stay in them. “If there is a company that interests you, check their website and apply. Never feel that you, especially if you are a person of color or as a woman, are underqualified for the job. You are qualified.”

Fyzah Islam on applying for internships: ‘Never feel that you, especially if you are a person of color or as a woman, are underqualified for the job. You are qualified.’ Heba El-Shazli: ‘URAP dispels the myth that research is reserved only for graduate students.’

The Bottom Line

Taylor Wilson, the undergraduate from Baltimore, overcame her initial sense of intimidation and thrived during her time at the Schar School and Mason. Not only did she flourish in the classroom, but as a current senior, she revived a campus student organization—the Intelligence Community Network (ICN). The student organization focuses on national security topics and gave her a deeper background in a possible career pursuit. In fact, she was celebrated by her employer, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as the youngest civilian employee.

All of that as a Schar School undergraduate.