Categories
March 2024

Staff Senate and AKA Co-Sponsored Blood Drive

 

The George Mason University Staff Senate and Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority will host a blood drive on Monday, April 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot near The Hub. Please book your appointment in advance.

Should I use leave while donating?
Attending university sponsored events that are open to employees, there is no requirement for use of leave.  Please work with your supervisor to have coverage.

 

Categories
March 2024

27th Annual Health and Fitness Expo

 

The 27th Annual Health and Fitness Expo
March 20, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
JC Dewberry Hall (Fairfax Campus)

This traditional campus event is free, open to the public, and attended by more than 1,000+ participants each year! Our mission is to promote the importance of health, wellness, well-being, fitness, and disease prevention. Stop by to learn more about resources available on campus, and in our community, that can help you lead a happy, healthy life.

This event features a variety of interactive health education activities, hands-on demonstrations, fitness instruction/challenges, a blood drive, and more! Find more information, here

 

Categories
March 2024

Arts at Mason

Tickets are now on sale for the 2024 season at The Center for the Arts, Hylton Performing Arts Center, and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Read more for details on upcoming performances, workshops, and shows. Mason faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, and students receive a handful of discounts and offers, both for single tickets as well as subscriptions.

March 15 – 17

Mason Exhibitions Arlington
The Innocents Punch Party with Maria Gaspar
Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m.
Mason Exhibitions Arlington

Join us at Mason Exhibitions Arlington to witness and participate in The Innocents Punch Party with Maria Gaspar. Maria Gaspar is an interdisciplinary artist whose work addresses issues of spatial justice in order to amplify, mobilize, or divert structures of power through individual and collective gestures. In collaboration with George Mason University’s data mapping and art history scholars, Gaspar will continue to realize her goals of abolishing carceral spaces by adding prints of current prisons, jails, and immigrant detention facilities in Virginia to the Disappearance Jails project, which will ultimately be obscured through perforations by exhibition visitors. The Innocents is a social justice advocacy performance art piece by musicians and composers Allen Otte and John Lane. Using a variety of found-object and home-made instruments, electronic soundscapes, and spoken texts, the one-hour dramatic soundscape comprised of at least seventeen individual tableaus will explore various aspects of the issues surrounding the American criminal justice system.

Artist-in-Residence
PHILADANCO!
Friday, March 15 at 8 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall

The Philadelphia Dance Company, known as PHILADANCO!, is widely recognized for its artistic integrity, superbly trained dancers, and electrifying performances. Witness one of America’s top dance companies share stories through movement. “If there’s fun to be had, PHILADANCO! will have it. But if there’s deeper purpose, these performers will clarify it, underscore it, and make you pay attention.” (Dance Magazine).

Virginia Opera: Madama Butterfly
Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 17 at 2 p.m.
Center for the Arts

Virginia Opera’s season concludes with one of opera’s most beloved works, Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, a haunting score filled with unforgettable music of unparalleled beauty that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theater. This ever-popular opera will feature an all-female, Asian creative team, bringing a new lens to this tragic tale. Sung in Italian with English surtitles.

Eileen Ivers: Raw Roots Tour
Sunday, March 17 at 4 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall
GRAMMY Award-winning Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers continues to push and transcend the boundaries of folk music with performances that are playful, passionate, and a foot-stomping good time. You won’t want to miss “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin” (The New York Times) performing a fresh mix of Celtic classics and music that celebrates the Celtic roots of Americana music.

March 18 – 24

Working in the Arts: Overcoming Fundraising Challenges with Laura Fredricks
Monday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Center for the Arts, Monson Grand Tier III

George Mason University’s Arts Management Program in partnership with Central Advancement and the College of Visual and Performing Arts presents a conversation and Q&A with fundraising expert and author of “The Ask,” Laura Fredericks. This hybrid event will take place on Monday, March 18th from 6:30-8:00pm ET at the Center for the Arts, Grand Monson Tier and via livestream.

Matinee Idylls
Alma Ensemble: Celebration of Dance
Tuesday, March 19 at 1:30 p.m.
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.

Mason Exhibition and Mason School of Music
Visual Voices with Late Comeback Press
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 and Design. RSVP is required to receive the zoom link. 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.

Film at Mason
Visiting Filmmakers Series: KENYATTA: DO NOT WAIT YOUR TURN with director/editor Timothy Harris
Thursday, March 21 at 5 p.m.
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, “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn” 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, 22*, 23 at 8 p.m.
March 23, 24** at 2 p.m.
*ASL Interpreted (ASL) and Talkback
**Audio Described 
Harris Theatre, Fairfax Campus

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
2024 Mason School of Dance Gala Concert 
March 22 and 23 at 8 p.m. 
Center for the Arts

The Gala Concert is Mason Dance Company’s crowing season event featuring a program of works by contemporary professional choreographers.

Trinity Irish Dance Company
Sunday, March 24 at 7 p.m.
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” (The New York Times). With 16 dancers and a live musical ensemble, Trinity Irish Dance Company performs a captivating program that blends sheer percussive power with aerial grace. Celebrate Irish traditions with Trinity Irish Dance Company’s take on the globally loved traditional Celtic form.

March 25 – 31

Dewberry School of Music
Big Band Showdown Spring 2024
Monday, March 25 at 8 p.m.
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!

Mason Exhibitions and Mason School of Art
Visual Voices with Mendi+Keith Obadike
Thursday, March 28 at 4:45 p.m.
Johnson Center Cinema; Optional virtual event via Zoom

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.

April 1 – 7

Artists in Conversation: Small Island Big Song
Our Shared Seafaring Heritage, Alive in Rhythm and Song
Co-presented by the City of Fairfax and the Center for the Arts at George Mason University
Saturday, April 2 at 7 p.m.
Off-campus location: Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center,
3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax, VA 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 ocean. This complimentary event is also an open-to-the-public presentation of the Friends of the Center for the Arts Artists in Conversation Series, and is offered in conjunction with Mason Artist-in-Residence Small Island Big Song’s April 20 performance at the Center for the Arts at George Mason University. The Pacific & Indian Oceans share a little-known common heritage. During the first segment of this lecture-demonstration, Small Island Big Song will set the stage with some geographical and historical background about these great oceanic migrations. The second segment will consist of conversation and musical demonstrations by Small Island Big Song artists to showcase some of the cultural similarities their communities share across these vast ocean expanses. Event concludes with a Q&A with the audience.

Empowered Legacy: Preserving Military Stories Workshops
Wednesdays, April 3–17 from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Classroom 2, Hylton Performing Arts Center

Discover the transformative journey of creative expression through mixed media art. Embark on a meaningful exploration of crafting personal stories or honoring the legacies of those who are military-connected. Family members may create based on their own experience or that of any military-connected member of their choice. In this three-part workshop, create a mixed media timeline using paints, paper, photographs, and other objects encompassing a conceptual layering of ideas, emotions, and narratives. Tina Claflin, a retired Coast Guard Veteran, owner of Halcyon Reflections LLC, and a story organizer will guide military Veterans, Servicemembers, or their family members in documenting and preserving these stories. This workshop series is open and FREE to military Veterans, Servicemembers, and military family members; children ages 14 and up may participate alongside their parents. Space is limited.

Dewberry School of Music
Jazz Workshop Concert Spring 2024
Wednesday, April 3 at 8 p.m.
Harris Theatre, Fairfax Campus

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

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. More details can be found at theater.gmu.edu.

Family Series
Mutts Gone Nuts
Saturday, April 6 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Center for the Arts

Canines and comedy collide in Mutts Gone Nuts in 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! (Recommended for all ages)

Dewberry School of Music
Chorale Broadway Showcase: Broadway at the Movies
Saturday, April 6 at 8 p.m.
Hylton Performing Arts Center, Gregory Family Theater

“Broadway at the Movies” combines the best of Broadway musicals with the magic of the movie screen. 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.
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.

Mutts Gone Nuts
Sunday, April 7 at 1 and 4 p.m.
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 dances, magic, and jump rope routines! The 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! (Recommended for all ages)

Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel: Three Great Romantics
Sunday, April 7 at 7 p.m.
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. “Jeffrey Siegel has everything: massive technique, musical sensitivity and character, wide tonal resources, immense reserves of power, and the ability to communicate” (Los Angeles Times).

 

Categories
March 2024

Nominate a Colleague for Employee of the Month

Do you work with an extraordinary Mason administrative/professional faculty, classified staff member, or wage employee who goes the extra mile to support and uplift the university and its community? Nominate them for Mason’s Employee of the Month award! A digital form is available to complete and submit. The form requires three statements of support.

Once submitted, nominations are sent to the Employee of the Month Selection Committee for voting. Nominations are accepted year-round.

Below is additional information about the program:

George Mason University’s Employee of the Month highlights the hard work and achievements of a Mason faculty or staff member who embodies the values of the university. Since 1991, each Employee of the Month has been honored by the university president during a special ceremony. In addition to a personalized, framed certificate, photos taken at the ceremony, and an article written in The George newsletter, each Employee of the Month receives an array of items generously donated by various university departments.

Over the past 33 years, numerous Employee of the Month recipients have been recognized for their character and work contributions as inspiring members of the Mason community! Nominate today!

Contact awards@gmu.edu with questions.

Categories
March 2024

2024 University Life (UL) Student Success Symposium Accepting Program Proposals

It is with great excitement that the University Life Symposium Planning Team invites all Mason faculty, staff, and graduate students to submit program proposals for the 2024 University Life (UL) Student Success Symposium. The UL Symposium Pre-Conference will take place on Wednesday May 22, 2024, and the UL Symposium will be held on Thursday May 23, 2024.

The University Life Student Success Symposium is the division’s annual signature professional development experience. The symposium provides an opportunity to connect with colleagues and engage in topics important to our work, evolving our professional practices. The 2024 UL Symposium invites us to center ourselves in process and preparation to face the challenges and successes of the academic year ahead. The Symposium will provide you/us with interactive and engaging experiences, grounded in the UL Core Values and connected to the ACPA/NASPA Competencies.  The UL Student Success Symposium will focus on the new and continued work of student affairs professionals in the ever-changing and evolutionary nature of higher education.

The 2024 UL Student Success Symposium program overview and learning outcomes can be found here.

Program proposals are due no later than Wednesday April 3, 2024, by 11:59pm.

Submit a UL Symposium Program Proposal
Program submission guidelines and criteria are attached and can also be found on the UL Symposium website. Submit a program proposal for either a Pre-Symposium workshop or an educational session, by using the QR code below:

 

 

 

 

 

Registration for the 2024 UL Student Success Symposium will be live in mid-April 2024.

Categories
March 2024

Facilities Seeking Patriot Packout Support Specialists

Mason Facilities is seeking to hire two candidates for the Patriot Packout Support Specialist position! Accepting applications from undergraduate students, graduate students, Mason graduates, and non-Mason affiliated folks.

This position will work to provide initiative planning support as a member the Patriot Packout (PPO) Planning Committee as well as donation collection, transportation, and redistribution support during the initiative’s implementation during the spring semester. Gain hands-on experience planning a community-based initiative, hosting large volunteer events, and advancing sustainability goals of a university-wide initiative.

Patriot Packout (PPO) is Mason’s annual sustainable move-out initiative. PPO is held each spring to collect thousands of pounds of donated items from our campus community, decreasing waste sent to Covanta Fairfax’s waste-to-energy incineration facility while providing access to goods and supplies to address basic needs insecurity.

Position Details

  • Part-Time: April 1 – July 5, 2024
  • Hybrid
  • Fairfax Campus Based
  • Some work may be required at Science and Technology Campus and Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (travel provided)
  • 15-20 hours per week
  • $15-18 per hour

Main Requirements

  • Demonstrate social and communication skills
  • Ability to work collaboratively and independently on tasks and projects
  • Experience using Microsoft 365 software programs (Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.)
  • Must possess a current, valid driver’s license and the ability to complete required trainings to operate a university vehicle

Apply by March 15 on Handshake!
Handshake Job #8689724

Learn more about Patriot Packout by reviewing this article highlighting PPO 2023 and visiting the Patriot Packout website. Please direct questions to Colleen Regan, Zero Waste Specialist at cregan2@gmu.edu.

Categories
March 2024

Updates from Parking and Transportation

Spring 2024 Parking Permits to be Pro-Rated

If you haven’t purchased a permit yet, beginning March 4, there is pro-rated pricing on our permit pages for Spring 2024:

If you have questions about pro-rated permits, please contact Parking Services at 3-2710 or via email at parking@gmu.edu.

Deadline Extended, Fairfax/SciTech Shuttle Survey:  Those Who Ride and Those Who Don’t

Parking and Transportation, in partnership with the Shuttle Advisory Committee, invites faculty, staff, and students to complete a short survey on the Fairfax/SciTech Shuttle.  We are interested in hearing from both those who currently use the shuttle as well as those who live in Prince William County or points further west and do not currently use the shuttle.  It should take less than 5 minutes to complete.  This is purely informational, no changes to the route are currently in development.  We will keep the survey open through April 2024.  Complete the survey.

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 at noon on Monday, April 22 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 now.

Transit Driver Appreciation Day: March 18

Mason Shuttles is celebrating Transit Driver Appreciation Day on March 18!  It’s a wonderful time to celebrate our dedicated shuttle drivers.  Help Parking and Transportation say thank you to these folks with whom you share part of your work or school day by sending 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.  Find more details, here.

Save the Dates: Celebrate Biking at Mason

Spring will be here before we know it!  Parking and Transportation hopes you’ll save the dates for three upcoming events:

  • Bike to Mason Day, SciTech: Tuesday, April 23, 10am-1pm, Colgan Hall Front Patio
  • Bike to Mason Day, Fairfax: Wednesday, April 24, 7:30am-3pm, Merten Lawn
  • Bike to Mason Day, Arlington: Thursday, April 25, 3-7pm, Van Metre Plaza

Find more information and register, here.

Categories
March 2024

Faculty and Staff Experience Survey Opens April 3

Mason has partnered with Gallup, a leading third-party survey administrator, to administer The Faculty and Staff Experience (FSE) Survey. All faculty and staff at Mason are invited and encouraged to participate in this survey. More information regarding the survey can be found in this slide deck

New for the 2024 survey administration is a partnership between Human Resources, Gallup, and Faculty Senate. The Faculty Evaluation of Administrators (FEA) will be launched with the Faculty and Staff Experience survey. After completing the FSE questions, I/R faculty will advance to the FEA portion of the assessment. 

The survey will open on April 3 and close April 23. This survey is separate and different from the COACHE survey. Each survey’s data complements one another and paints a comprehensive picture of support resources and opportunities for Instructional and Research faculty.

When we obtain the most accurate and complete picture of our employees, we can:

  • Understand, create space for, and engage in better inclusion and belonging practices.
  • Create sustainably high performance.
  • Drive innovation.
  • Identify areas to celebrate.

After the survey, leaders throughout the university will have access to aggregated team data and can consult with Human Resources for planning. In addition, leaders will be granted access to Gallup’s robust library of action planning resources to address any areas of growth and enact meaningful changes based on feedback. The survey results will play a crucial role in decision-making and metrics for success as we work on Strategic Direction initiatives, including investments in faculty and staff success.

A Town Hall will be held Wednesday, September 18 at 3 p.m. in the HUB Ballroom. President Washington and Mary Lucal, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, will share the results with Mason faculty and staff, discuss related planning, and encourage individual colleges and units to devise action plans based on supervisor results.

 

Categories
March 2024

Manager Meetup: Supervising Introverts and Extroverts in the Workplace

Join in on an interactive conversation with the Supervision Collective team to learn skills and strategies from one another on how to supervise introverts and extroverts in the workplace. Through these conversations, we hope to create community and belonging for all personality types to ensure efficiency as a team. We will be using excerpts from the book “Supervision Matters: 100 Bite Size Ideas to Transform You and Your Team” (pages 218-224) as a guide. Register now.

 

Categories
March 2024

The Support Group for Working Moms Hosting The Chick Mission Panel

The Mason Working Moms Support Group is hosting a panel discussion with The Chick Mission on Tuesday, March 19 at 12:00.  This will be a hybrid, brown bag lunch in Merten Hall 3300 or via Zoom.

This candid conversation will focus on fertility in various facets, from the basics and ways it relates to a career in medicine to the challenges of navigating it in the context of a cancer diagnosis and more.  All are welcome to join this session to learn more about The Chick Mission and the work they are doing to ensure every young woman newly diagnosed with cancer has the option to preserve fertility through direct financial support, educational programs, and advocacy efforts.

Contact Heather Aleknavage if you have any questions or need additional information.