Colleen Kearney Rich

In the most recent episode of the Access to Excellence podcast, President Gregory Washington joined Wendi Manuel-Scott, a history professor in the School of Integrative Studies, and Shernita Parker, an assistant vice president for Human Resources at Mason, via Zoom to discuss the work being done by the university.

George Mason University has made significant gains in research funding over the past year, buoyed by programs in social sciences and computer and information sciences that are ranked in the top 10 among public universities.

As associate director of the LGBTQ+ Resources in the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment (CCEE), formerly ODIME, Kinchen advises student groups, sits on many committees and does a lot of consulting and training with schools, colleges, and departments across the university that want to learn more about working with LGBTQ+ students.

Junior Dominique Dowling has been working to enact social change since high school. She joined the GMU NAACP chapter in her second year at Mason, and now she is the group’s vice president. Through the chapter, she has been involved in numerous panels and committees, which inspired her to do more anti-racism work on campus.“Being part of the NAACP has exposed me to different initiatives and people who have been doing this work for years,” said the integrative studies major. “It made me realize that anti-racism work requires an ongoing dedication because there is always work to be done.”

George Mason University’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE) has named its first cohort of ISE Faculty Fellows.

Clare Yordy is a December 2020 graduate of George Mason University

Kevin P. Wallace is a December 2020 graduate of George Mason University

More than 140 students are enrolled in the online anthropology class that “looks at the cultures where zombies and related folklore about the undead come from, and examines zombies from an ethnohistorical, medical anthropology, and anthropology of religion perspectives,” according to the syllabus.

Faculty members Holly Matto, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Stephanie Carmack, and Nathalia Peixoto, and graduate student Matthew Scherbel, are working with Brightline Interactive to examine the effects of recovery cues, using virtual reality simulations, on neurophysiological regulation to prevent drug relapse.

George Mason University anticipates reporting more than $200 million in sponsored research expenditures for fiscal year 2020, which would be an all-time high for the university and shows significant progress toward the university’s strategic goal of $225 million by 2024.