Featured

• 

  Former Mason Basketball Player Teams Up with Joe Jonas on Reality Singing Competition “The Next”

  Featured, Lifestyle, Multimedia September 24, 2012 at 3:20 pm Comments are Disabled

  A crowd of several thousand of his newest fans roared with excitement as Jordan Baird was called to the stage. It was early August and Baird had just been announced the winning contestant on the Baltimore show of “The Next”. He glowed with excitement as he paced across the stage to thank his mentor, Joe Jonas, and acknowledged the crowd for allowing him to move forward in the competition. The moment was surreal. “I was pumped,” Baird said. “The whole place was going crazy. But then I got backstage and they told me they were not actually disclosing the winner.” Not knowing his standing within the competition, Baird was forced to watch the show on television to find out if he would be advancing. As senior co-pastors of The Life Church in Manassas, Baird’s parents hosted a viewing party at the church where many members of the community gathered, awaiting the results. For a second time on the show, Baird sat with his family and anxiously anticipated the announcement. Finally, after enduring the hour-long show, Baird heard the news he had been waiting for: he would be moving on to compete in the semifinals at Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. […]

   
• 

  Professors Promote Diplomacy Through Sport

  9/11 Commemorative Issue, Featured, Special Issues, Sports September 16, 2012 at 2:25 pm Comments are Disabled

  The power and the impact of sport is undeniable. Serving many functions in our lives, sport works to develop communication skills and promote teamwork, all the while bringing communities together as one. Perhaps lesser known, sport can also promote a world of peace and cross-cultural understanding that is stronger than any barrier languages and cultures may build. “You don’t need to speak the same language because you are out there just playing and competing in sports,” said Craig Esherick, Associate Director of the Center for Sport Management. In many ways, the language of sport is the only universal language in the world. Through a grant awarded by SportsUnited, a division of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Mason professors Esherick, Dr. Bob Baker and Dr. Pam Baker have been working in a diplomatic effort to promote peace and shape the world view on America and its citizens. “More than anything, we overcome linguistic challenges by having strong interests in the American culture,” said Marlon Moreno, a Mexican coach who visited the United States as part of the program in mid-August. Esherick and Bob Baker began working with the State Department on a new sport initiative […]

   
• 

  Kevin Lingerman Overcomes Adversity, Aspires to Become Professional Baseball Player

  Featured, News1 April 23, 2012 at 3:03 pm 2 comments

  He threw the pitch and watched it sail toward home. His team was down, and he had been brought in as a relief pitcher. The first batter had struck out. The second got a hit. Now what? Where was the ball? What was going on? He stumbled back, then caught himself. “My first baseman was at my side and asking if I was okay. I said, ‘I don’t know what happened.’ I was still looking for the ball,” said Kevin Lingerman, senior pitcher for the George Mason University baseball team.   The next time he looked up there was blood everywhere. Lingerman sank to his knees, then to all fours as he tried to piece together what was going on. Lingerman was still looking for the ball. Trouble was, the ball had found him first. The batter had hit Lingerman’s pitch and returned it at 100 mph into his face. His face was broken in five places, completely smashing his nose, orbital bone and the top of his jaw. “The day it happened we were getting beat pretty good,” said Mick Foley, the sophomore first baseman who was first to Lingerman’s side. “It was already silent in the park because […]

   
• 

  Students Develop Model Wetland

  Featured, News1 April 23, 2012 at 3:00 pm Comments are Disabled

  Students are helping to develop a model wetland to research the effects of wetland erosion and the benefits of expanding wetland to the Earth’s soil. Changwoo Ahn, a wetlands ecologist and associate professor with the department of Environmental Science and Policy, developed the Wetland Mesocosm Compound in 2007 with the intent of bringing outdoor environmental study to George Mason University. “Four years ago, I built [the Wetland Mesocosm Compound] purely with my experience and my idea that the school would need an outdoor teaching and research facility,” Ahn said. “Many big research-oriented schools have this kind of facility, [like] schools that I used to work at before I came to George Mason University, so I had a vision to build this kind of facility before.” Ahn’s vision for an outdoor research center came to fruition in 2007 with the support of a Sustainability Office grant, the Office of the Provost, ESP, and Long Fence, an area fencing company that donated $20,000 worth of chain link fencing to enclose the compound. The site is located behind Intramural Field I near the West Campus parking lot. Inside the compound, Ahn and his students are working on developing mesocosms, or medium-sized, contained wetland […]