Faculty/Staff Announcements
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Campus Updates
Board of Visitors Public Comment Session Scheduled for April 2
The Board of Visitors will conduct a meeting with an associated public comment session on Tuesday, April 2. This meeting will include a presentation by Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Deb Dickenson on Mason’s FY 2025 financial plan, including proposals for tuition and mandatory fees. Additional details on the meeting and the public comment process will be available on the Board of Visitors website by the evening of Monday, March 18.
Mason’s 27th Annual Health and Fitness Expo
Join Mason’s 27th annual Health and Fitness Expo on Wednesday, March 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Fairfax Campus, Johnson Center, Dewberry Hall. This popular event is free and open to the Mason community. Participate in interactive health education activities, hands-on demonstrations, free health screenings, and fitness instruction and challenges. Register today to win door prizes and giveaways.
A Red Cross blood drive will also be underway during the expo. Register at RedCrossBlood.org and enter "GMUBLOODDRIVE."
Seeking Nominations for the Jack Wood Award for Town-Gown Relations
The Jack Wood Award highlights the outstanding contributions of faculty, staff, students, businesses/not-for-profits, community members, and elected officials/staff who demonstrate leadership in fostering mutually beneficial relationships between the university and the community. This distinction honors former Mayor Jack Wood, who played an instrumental role in establishing Mason in Fairfax and town-gown relations between the university and the community.
Nominations are due March 15. Self-nominations are welcome. Community relations/outreach professionals are not eligible. Awardees will be notified by March 29. The Board of Visitors will honor awardees on May 2. Questions? Contact Traci Kendall, Government and Community Relations.
Information Technology Security Standard Updated
The ITS Information Technology Security Standard has been updated and is available online. Personnel in information technology and administrative department roles should review this standard for applicability to their areas. Contact IT Risk and Compliance at itrc@gmu.edu with any questions.
Mason Square: Plaza Grand Reopening and Upcoming Event Season
Mason Square will host a "ribbon-tying" ceremony for the refreshed and renovated plaza at Mason Square on Thursday, March 28, from 3–5 p.m. This outdoor community event will include live music, games, and light refreshments. Remarks will take place at 4 p.m. RSVP. Learn about more upcoming plaza events and programs.
Registration Open: Bike to Mason Days
Spring will be here before we know it! Join Parking and Transportation at Bike to Mason Days:
- SciTech: Tuesday, April 23, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Colgan Hall patio
- Fairfax: Wednesday, April 24, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Merten Lawn
- Arlington: Thursday, April 25, 3–7 p.m., Plaza
There will be food, biking resources, and fun giveaways. RSVP. Contact transpo@gmu.edu with questions.
Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) Community Choice Award Nomination
George Mason University has been nominated for the Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) Community Choice Award. This award recognizes universities that go above and beyond for their students with food allergies. Help Mason win by submitting a vote online. You can also share the link with your network. Contact Brooke Tresch, Mason Dining, with questions.
Dining Updates at Mason Square: Old Blue BBQ and Boba Tea
The Mason Square Café is thrilled to announce an exciting new pilot in its culinary journey with the introduction of a "shared kitchen" retail model. This innovative concept supports small businesses while offering greater culinary variety to the campus community.
Old Blue BBQ will operate within the premises of Mason Square Café, offering a variety of sandwiches and sides every other week, Monday–Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through April 25.
Additionally, boba tea is now available at Mason Square Café. Soups, salads, sandwiches, and other grab and go items are also still available.
Training and Professional Development
Supervising a Hybrid Workforce: A Guide for Mason Faculty and Staff
Register for an upcoming session of Supervising a Hybrid Workforce on Thursday, March 14 (virtual). The session is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This workshop equips participants with the knowledge and skills essential for thriving in a modern, flexible work environment. Supervisors will discuss the benefits of flexible work, develop essential knowledge and skills for engaging a hybrid workforce, and learn how to effectively manage employee performance, development, and engagement in a hybrid environment. Participants will be provided with actionable strategies to leverage the opportunities presented by hybrid work.
Cultivate Faculty and Staff Success through Performance Engagement
Join Human Resources for a dynamic session: Cultivate Faculty and Staff Success through Performance Engagement. This session will explore ways to create a workplace culture that attracts and retains top talent through performance engagement. It will also touch on employee engagement, performance mindset, and practical insights on providing effective feedback and coaching to bolster faculty and staff success.
Cultivate Faculty and Staff Success through Performance Engagement
Friday, March 15, from 10 a.m. to noon
Fairfax Campus, Merten Hall, Room 1204
Register
For questions or assistance with registration, email Andrew Lane.
University Life Supervision Collective: Supervising Introverts and Extroverts in the Workplace
Hosted by the University Life Supervision Collective, the Manager Meetups series connects managers and aspiring managers on topics related to supervision. All faculty and staff are welcome.
Join in on an interactive conversation to learn skills and strategies on how to supervise introverts and extroverts in the workplace. Through these conversations, create community and belonging for all personality types to ensure efficiency as a team. Excerpts from the book Supervision Matters: 100 Bite Size Ideas to Transform You and Your Team (pages 218-224) will be discussed.
Supervising Introverts and Extroverts in the Workplace
Thursday, March 14, at 2 p.m.
Register
Writing Center Workshop: Writing Clearly
In this workshop, writers learn to identify features of writing that make texts murky and difficult to understand. Learn and practice five strategies for revising murky writing to make it clearer.
Writing Clearly
Wednesday, March 13, 4:30–5:45 p.m.
Hosted on Zoom
Visit the website for more workshop dates, times, and registration. Contact the Writing Center with questions.
Resources for You
Working Moms Support Group: Panel Discussion with The Chick Mission
The Support Group for Working Mothers welcomes The Chick Mission to Mason on Tuesday, March 19, at noon for a hybrid “lunch and learn” discussion about being the CEO of your own body and health. Join in person on the Fairfax Campus in Merten Hall, Room 3300, or via Zoom.
The Chick Mission is a nonprofit organization fiercely dedicated to funding fertility preservation for women battling cancer, while changing the women's healthcare status quo for the better, for good. This discussion will tackle the topics of fertility, family planning, and health care advocacy. Be sure to stop by their booth at the Health and Fitness Expo on Wednesday, March 20.
Transit Driver Appreciation Day: March 18
Mason Shuttles will celebrate Transit Driver Appreciation Day on Monday, March 18. This is a wonderful time to celebrate our dedicated Mason Shuttle drivers. Help us say “thank you” by sending us your kind words about your experiences on Mason Shuttles. Your email compliment will enter you into a drawing for a $20 Starbuck’s gift card. For details, visit the Mason Transportation website.
Save the Date: Bicycle Commuting 101
Bicycling to campus can be fun and great for your well-being. Join Delia Johnson, a League of American Bicyclists certified instructor, for Bicycle Commuting 101. During this session on Monday, April 22, at noon via Zoom, Delia will share information to help you feel more confident about getting to campus on two wheels. This session is open to faculty, staff and students. Register today.
The Lavinia Scott Papers Collection Opening
Mason’s Special Collections Research Center presents the Lavinia Scott Papers Collection Opening on Wednesday, March 13, from 4–6 p.m. on the Fairfax Campus, Fenwick Library, Main Reading Room 2001. The Lavinia Scott papers consist of materials created and collected by missionary educator Lavinia Scott, circa 1900 to 1997. This includes materials created by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the United Church Board for World Ministries, the United Church of Christ, and South Africa’s Inanda Seminary. The collection covers Scott’s personal and professional life working and living as a missionary educator in South Africa.
Kritikos Anti-Racist Reading Group
The Kritikos Anti-Racist Reading Group will meet on Friday afternoons this spring. Kritikos engages in discussions on writing about the arts, critical studies, translation, the artist in society, and art as speech. Learn more.
Join them for the topic “Land Justice, Land Back” on Friday, March 15, from 1–2:30 p.m. on Zoom.
Upcoming Performances and Arts Events at Mason
Visiting Filmmakers Series: Nanny with Nikyatu Jusu
Wednesday, March 13, from 5–7:45 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Johnson Center Cinema
The Visiting Filmmakers Series is pleased to welcome award-winning filmmaker and Film at Mason Professor Nikyatu Jusu to campus for a free public screening of her psychological horror film, Nanny, followed by a post-screening discussion with Mason film student James Bah, president of the Black Filmmakers Association. Nanny tells the story of immigrant nanny Aisha (Anna Diop), who is forced to confront a concealed truth that threatens to shatter her precarious American Dream while caring for the child of a New York City upper east side family. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Alma Ensemble: Celebration of Dance
Tuesday, March 19, at 1:30 p.m.
SciTech Campus, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Gregory Family Theater
Named after the often-overlooked composer Alma Mahler, Alma Ensemble champions women in music through thoughtful female-centric chamber music concerts that are enriched with multimedia, giving insight into the lives of these female composers and musicians. In Celebration of Dance, flutist Sarah Wardle Jones, clarinetist Michelle Smith Johnson, and pianist Erica Sipes perform a program inspired by the art of dance.
Visual Voices with Late Comeback Press
Mason School of Art and Mason Exhibitions
Thursday, March 21, at 4:45 p.m.
Virtual event via Zoom
Visual Voices is a lecture series hosted by Mason Exhibitions and the School of Art. Late Comeback Press is a Northern Virginia micropress run by Rachna Soun and Caroline Kim, specializing in avant-garde zines. Communication and existentialism are the center of their art, flourishing in the space before choices are made, when the possibilities can seem paralyzingly endless or distinctively finite. RSVP is required to receive the Zoom link.
Visiting Filmmakers Series: Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn with director/editor Timothy Harris
Film at Mason
Thursday, March 21 at 5 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Johnson Center Cinema
Join the Visiting Filmmakers Series for a free screening of the new film, Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn, followed by a live Q&A with the film's director and editor, Timothy Harris. Executive produced by Al Roker, this film is an inspiring love story about Malcolm Kenyatta, a self-described "poor, gay, Black man from North Philly," on his historic run for the United States Senate. But this race is about more than taking on the political competition. It's about taking on an entire system.
Mason School of Theater: Antigone, Presented by the Girls of St. Catherine’s
March 21–24, multiple performances
Fairfax Campus, Harris Theatre
The St. Catherine's drama club is struggling to put up its first school play—Sophocles' Antigone. As if staging this tragedy in an all-girls’ Catholic school isn’t challenging enough, the cast’s beloved director ends up betraying them in an unforgivable way. And it’s almost opening night! The actors must figure out the right course of action, all while rehearsing the classic play about impossibly difficult choices. What is the right thing to do? And must the show go on?
Mason School of Dance Gala Concert
Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23, at 8 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Center for the Arts
The Gala Concert is Mason Dance Company’s crowning season event, featuring a program of works by contemporary professional choreographers.
Trinity Irish Dance Company
Sunday, March 24, at 7 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Center for the Arts
The internationally praised Trinity Irish Dance Company fuses traditional Irish step dance with contemporary movement for a high octane, syncopated experience that is “impossibly complex” (New York Times). With 16 dancers and a live musical ensemble, the company performs a captivating program that blends sheer percussive power with aerial grace.
Dewberry School of Music: Big Band Showdown
Monday, March 25, at 8 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Center for the Arts
Join the Mason Jazz Ensemble (director Jim Carroll) and special guest bands for an evening that celebrates the hot sounds and swinging beats of the Big Band era!
Visual Voices with Mendi+Keith Obadike
Mason Exhibitions and Mason School of Art
Thursday, March 28, at 4:45 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Johnson Center Cinema (Zoom also available)
Mendi + Keith Obadike are artists, composers, and writers. Their works sit at the intersection of art, music, and language and draw upon histories of experimental media art and performance. Their early collaborative works were pioneering pieces for the Internet.
Artists in Conversation: Small Island Big Song
Co-presented by the City of Fairfax and the Center for the Arts
Saturday, April 2, at 7 p.m.
Off-campus: Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center, 3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Leading up to Earth Day, join the indigenous artists of Small Island Big Song for a powerful lecture-demonstration and musical performance, shining a light on the devastating effects of climate crisis on our world’s oceans.
Dewberry School of Music: Jazz Workshop Concert
Wednesday, April 3, at 8 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Harris Theatre
The Jazz Workshop explores the intersection of improvisation and composition in the tradition of the great dance and studio jazz bands. Enjoy rare and beautiful arrangements by jazz legends from many eras of jazz history. New original compositions by Mason students and faculty will be featured as well.
Mason School of Theater: 1,001 Plays
Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m.
Virtual event
1,001 Plays is an annual 10-minute play festival presented by Global Partners worldwide—the first international new play exchange of its kind. Students write, perform, direct, and dramaturg original works for the stage, exploring multiple perspectives on a single idea. These short student works are performed live online and followed by a talkback, allowing both students and audiences the opportunity to share, reflect and respond.
Mutts Gone Nuts
Saturday, April 6, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Fairfax Campus, Center for the Arts)
Sunday, April 7, at 1 and 4 p.m. (SciTech Campus, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall)
Canines and comedy collide in Mutts Gone Nuts, a show that includes some of the most talented dogs in the world doing barrel tricks, dancing, magic, and jump rope routines! The talented lineup even includes a Guinness World Record holder for the highest jump by a dog, a world champion frisbee dog, comedian Jonathan Burns, and more.
Chorale Broadway Showcase: Broadway at the Movies
Dewberry School of Music
Saturday, April 6, at 8 p.m.
SciTech Campus, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Gregory Family Theater
This annual showcase event brings together talented University Chorale members who sing and dance to create an entertaining experience for the audience. The concert celebrates the rich history of Broadway and its influence on the world of cinema. It features iconic songs from beloved musicals that have been adapted into movies, as well as original songs created specifically for the big screen. Join us for a sing-along finale to conclude the event.
American Festival Pops Orchestra: American Icons
Saturday, April 6, at 8 p.m.
SciTech Campus, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall
Presenting the soundtrack of our great nation, the American Festival Pops Orchestra performs a concert of iconic works by some of America’s greatest composers including Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, John Philip Sousa, and John Williams. The program features Artistic Director and Maestro Peter Wilson, as well as special guests throughout the evening.
Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel: Three Great Romantics
Sunday, April 7, at 7 p.m.
Fairfax Campus, Center for the Arts
Experience musical gems from three popular Romantic-era composers: Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms, with storyteller and pianist Jeffrey Siegel’s unique “concerts with commentary” performance. Siegel details the evening when the three musicians met for the first and only time at an 1888 New Year’s Day party.