October 2013
Governor Bob McDonnell announces new Virginia Center for Excellence in Teaching at Fairfax campus
|Governor Bob McDonnell announced on Oct. 21 that the new Virginia Center for Excellence in Teaching will be located on Mason’s Fairfax campus.
The center and its future programs will focus primarily on providing resources to experienced K-12 teachers looking to take a leadership role in their local education community. Doors will open in June 2014 for an initial program involving 100 outstanding teachers from across the state.
Study abroad program features National Geographic explorers
|Mason’s school for Conflict Analysis and Resolution recently announced a new study abroad program in collaboration with National Geographic Explorers.
For the first time ever, the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution will include National Geographic Explorers on their yearly trip to Israel and Palestine in Jan. 2014.
CRDC Executive Director Aziz Abu Sarah helped establish this collaboration between National Geographic and Mason.
A night of folk music supports Invisible Children efforts
|On Oct. 17, 2013, George Mason University’s chapter of the non-profit Invisible Children (ICGMU) hosted their fourth annual Folk Festival. The event was $5 to non-Mason students and free to Mason students with a valid student ID.
Crisis app prepares students for the worst
|Mason has helped develop a new mobile app designed to teach students about what to do in an emergency.
The app “In Case of Crisis” provides detailed instructions for what to do in events ranging from severe weather and power outages to on-campus violence or bomb threats. It also lists emergency contacts and offers more general, basic information, like how to receive notifications of an emergency and how people with mobility impairments or disabilities should respond.
Mason plans to boost research credentials through investment, undergrad involvement
|As part of its strategic plan, Mason will try to attain a “very high research activity” ranking from the Carnegie Foundation, a research center that measures the research activity of hundreds of universities. The move is part of an attempt to increase Mason’s reputation as a high-class research institution. To reach the goal, officials hope to invest heavily in research projects and to restructure academic programs to make research a more prominent component of Mason’s academic experience.
Strategic plan outlines university ten-year goals
|Mason’s new strategic plan lays out the university’s goals for the next ten years, showcasing the priorities of the university and where resources, including funding, should be allocated.
“It’s a structured approach to anticipating our future,” said Michelle Marks, chair of the strategic planning committee. “It will help us concentrate our resources in areas in highest priority to key stakeholders which include students, number one, also faculty, staff, also our community, our region and also the world.”
Adjunct faculty pay, benefits not on par with comparable universities
|While adjunct professors are an essential facet of the instructional faculty at Mason, they are hired per-class, meaning they do not receive all of the benefits nor the pay of full-time faculty.
Changes to Ultimate Meal Plan cause confusion among students
|Mason students with the “Ultimate” meal plan may be in for a shock the next time they try to swipe in their friends at Southside.
Students still have unlimited access to Southside; however, they will only be able to swipe their ID card once every 30 minutes. The change was made after the Mason Card office noticed that students were sharing their meal swipes at Southside with their friends.
What do student leaders do?
|Letter from the Editor
Last week, Fourth Estate published an article entitled “Five things you need to know about student leaders.” Before we jump into the complaints that many of our readers raised in the article’s comments, let me first explain the original intent of the article.