February 2013
OPINION: The importance of confirming Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense
|Chuck Hagel has a good history. Because of his fairly clean, relatively moderate and free-thinking background, it’s not particularly surprising that he was chosen by President Obama to be the next Secretary of Defense. As a Republican senator from Nevada, Hagel voted largely along Republican Party lines, receiving a lifetime rating of 84 percent from the American Conservative Union. After retiring from the Senate, he entered the realm of academia as a professor at Georgetown University.
OPINION: The many colors of discrimination
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My education began at a Lutheran elementary school in Richmond, Virginia. The school was small with only two hundred students, twelve classrooms and a staff of twenty teachers.
New aviation minor to be offered by engineering school
|Beginning in fall 2013, the Volgenau School of Engineering will introduce a new minor in “aviation, flight training, and management."
“The demand for pilots is growing as the number of airline pilots is decreasing, so we want to bring this minor to GMU to allow students to gain the necessary skills to fill this growing need,” said Lance Sherry, director of the Center for Air Transportation Systems Research.
Mason professor wins highest honor for Virginia university faculty
|Another George Mason University professor has been professionally recognized for excellence in her field.
On Feb. 12, Dr. Rita Chi-Ying Chung received the 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia along with Dominion Resources.
According to the SCHEV website, the Outstanding Faculty Award is Virginia’s highest honor for faculty at in-state universities. The awards recognize faculty for exceptional teaching, research and public service. One of 12 recipients this year, Chung was selected from over 100 statewide applicants.
Asteroid 2012 DA14
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| (Photo courtesy of Andrew Fitzpatrick) |
Hold on tight, George Mason University. On Feb. 15, the day after Valentine’s Day, asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass extremely close to Earth. With a size of about 150 feet (45 meters), this asteroid is relatively small. Traveling at a speed of 12,500 mph, asteroid 2012 DA14 is flying eight times faster than a rifle bullet.
If it were to crash in to Earth, it would be the equivalent of a 2.4 megaton bomb. The impact wouldn’t be a global catastrophe, but it would destroy a large area. Asteroid 2012 DA14 will come as close as 17,000 miles to Earth, which is really not that far away in space.
The story behind Mason's founding: the college's uneasy beginning
|The following piece is the third of a four-part series on the history of George Mason University. The information and research in this article is based off of “George Mason University: A History,” a project created by University Libraries’ Special Collections & Archives department. The first part of the series is available here.
Valentine's Day DIY
|Valentine’s Day arrives each February, imposing sentiments of love and romance mixed with obligation and dread on even the most stalwart-minded individual.
Mercatus Center receives $1 million donation
|George Mason University’s Mercatus Center has received a generous donation in the spirit of capitalism and the American Dream.
The donation of $ 1 million, made in December 2012 by former Virginia resident Nelson Getchell, will support the center’s research on free markets and capitalism
A native of Massachusetts, Getchell has lived a rich and varied life.
New survey reveals differences between seniors and freshman
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| 61 percent of seniors did not participate in extracurricular activities in 2012 (Image by Frank Muraca). |
New results from the National Survey of Student Engagement revealed both progress and continuing challenges faced by George Mason University students.