Human Resources invites faculty and staff to submit engaging, practical, and forward-thinking workshop proposals for the upcoming Faculty-Staff Enrichment Day (FSED), taking place on Wednesday, October 21.
This in-person event is designed to foster personal and professional growth, collaboration, innovation, and learning across our university community. The theme, “People First, Future Ready,” reflects George Mason University’s commitment to building a workforce equipped with the skills, mindsets, and adaptability needed to thrive in a changing environment. As higher education and the world of work continue to evolve, preparing for the future requires more than adapting to change; it requires investing in the human skills needed to thrive alongside transformative technology.
The future of work is being shaped by changing technologies, evolving expectations, and new ways of collaborating. This year’s theme invites us to explore how we can remain people-centered while embracing innovation – creating practical solutions that strengthen leadership, improve the employee experience, and help our university work smarter, adapt more quickly, and make a greater impact.
They invite proposals that align with one or more of the focus areas below and equip participants with actionable ideas, tools, or strategies that can be applied in their work.
Focus Areas
Future-Ready Workforce
Building the skills, mindset, and learning agility needed to thrive in an evolving workplace. This theme focuses on continuous learning, career development, upskilling and reskilling, adaptability, and creating clear pathways for growth and advancement across the institution. It explores how individuals build the capabilities required to succeed as work, technology, and organizational needs continue to evolve.
Leading Through Complexity & Change
The future requires leaders at every level who can navigate uncertainty, hold competing priorities, and move forward when answers are not always clear. This theme explores leadership in complex environments including strategic decision-making, resilience, change leadership, managing paradoxes, influencing across differences, and helping teams remain focused and effective amid ambiguity and disruption.
Technology, Innovation & Humanity: Working Smarter Together
Thriving in the future workplace requires individuals and teams to navigate change, embrace new ways of working, and make the most of the tools and resources available to them. This theme explores how technology, evolving work practices, and innovative approaches can create greater capacity, improve productivity and collaboration, and help employees focus on the work that matters most. It examines how digital tools, AI, workflow improvement, and process redesign can be leveraged to simplify work, strengthen human connection, and enable people to work smarter together.
Trust, Accountability & Culture in Action
Creating workplace environments where trust, transparency, and accountability drive collaboration, engagement, and service excellence. This theme explores the behaviors, relationships, and practices that strengthen organizational culture and support high-performing teams.
Strategic Alignment & Personal Agency
Aligning individual work to institutional priorities while empowering employees to take initiative, influence outcomes, and contribute meaningfully to Mason’s mission. This theme explores creating ownership, driving purpose, and exploring the role each person plays in advancing shared goals.
Proposal Guidelines
- Title: Provide a descriptive and engaging title for your session.
- Presenter(s) Information: Include presenter name, title, department/unit, and brief biography.
- Description: Provide a concise summary (150–200 words) outlining the session topic, objectives, key takeaways, and interactive elements. This description will be used in promotional materials.
- Session Objectives: Describe what participants will be able to do, apply, implement, reflect on, or take away from the session.
- Target Audience: Specify the intended audience and any prerequisites or requirements.
- Session Format: Indicate the format (e.g., Workshop, Panel, Facilitated Discussion, Open House, etc.) and describe how participants will engage with the content.
- Duration: Sessions should be 30–60 minutes.
- Audio-Visual Requirements: Specify any technical needs.
Where To Submit
Submit your proposal via this online form. The deadline for proposal submissions is Friday, August 14, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Selected presenters will be notified by Friday, August 28, 2026.
Proposals will be Evaluated Based On:
- Alignment with the theme and focus areas
- Clarity of learning outcomes
- Practical application and participant takeaways
- Level of participant engagement
- Relevance to the George Mason community
- Overall quality and feasibility
They look forward to your ideas and to creating a Faculty-Staff Enrichment Day that helps our community become Future Ready while keeping People at the center of what we do.
Questions? Contact them at [email protected].
