Recent Posts

• Green Patriots Lead Environmental Sustainability Efforts at Mason

  News1 September 24, 2012 at 3:10 pm Comments are Disabled

  Green is the new black at Mason this year, thanks to a group of student ambassadors for the Office of Sustainability who identify themselves as the Green Patriots. Chris Baumgartner, Mason’s Sustainability Outreach and Communications Coordinator, started the group last spring. According to President Giulia Manno, the team of about 20 members aims to help communicate sustainability initiatives to the greater Mason community. The group’s members cannot be identified as solely interested in environmental affairs; their fields of study range from Communications to Government and International Politics, to Conservation to Elementary Education. Roger LeBlanc Jr., a sophomore studying Environmental Sustainability Studies, joined the Green Patriots in the spring of 2011, shortly after the formation of the group. “I joined Green Patriots because I met many people in it through the Sustainability LLC and my conservation themed alternative break to Florida,” said LeBlanc. “I like the fact that the environmental service Green Patriots does is centered on Mason’s campus. That is what keeps me coming back to it.” The group meets on a weekly basis in September and then on a biweekly basis throughout October, November and December. In its meetings, the group discusses local sustainability issues and participate in campus […]

   

• Rising Admissions Standards Affect Potential Applicants

  News1 September 24, 2012 at 3:07 pm Comments are Disabled

  Innovation begins with enrollment, and Mason  has found prosperity in its growing applicant pool. As a fairly young university, Mason has already made large strides to improve its academic standing. Its spot as number one on the U.S. News and World Report’s list of up-and-coming national universities pays tribute to Mason’s continuously increasing enrollment standards. “The academic profile has increased over the past five years, primarily due to the large increase in applications we’ve seen,” said Sarah Dvorak, Mason Director of Undergraduate Admissions said. “Since we have more students applying than five years ago and still have around the same number of students in the freshman class, it has become more selective in general.” Reported by College Board, in 2011 Mason received around 17,000 applications. Of those applicants, approximately 9,000 were admitted and just fewer than 3,000 enrolled. According to Sarahbeth Morofsky, a Mason  Admissions Representative, the average SAT score of a Mason student (reading and math combined) is between 1150 and 1240. The middle 50 percent range for ACT scores is 25 to 29. The average high school GPA is approximately 3.6 to 3.9. These numbers place Mason in the mix with the country’s most prestigious schools. Along with […]

   
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  Cornerstones Professor Guides Students in the Philippines

  News1 September 24, 2012 at 3:05 pm Comments are Disabled

  A unique study abroad program at Mason has students traveling to the Philippines for a six-week long, nine-credit life-changing trip. Al Fuertes, a New Century College professor, who specializes in community-based trauma, started the program in 2008. Although there are many study abroad programs offered at Mason, the Philippines trip is uniquely different based on three aspects of the trip, according to Fuertes. “The trip is a grass roots peace-building excursion,” Fuertes said. “What makes this trip distinct from others is that we address conflicts from the perspective of the locals in the communities we visit. I wholly believe that the locals understand the reasoning behind the conflicts better than any outside sources.” The trip focuses on both environmental and cultural awareness. These are two aspects that make it unique. “The trip is very community based. Students have the chance to immerse themselves in the lives of the people in communities,” Fuertes said. “They get to experience and live the daily lives of the people in the communities, not only visit and observe. The entire country is the classroom and the people we meet, the places we visit and the stories we hear are texts and credits of experiential learning.” […]

   
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  $400 Million Dining Contract Up for Bids

  News1 September 24, 2012 at 3:02 pm Comments are Disabled

  In anticipation of the expiring contract between the university and Sodexo, Mason Dining has opened bidding for vendors who are interested in providing dining services. Though the contract is supposed to run through 2014, eight companies were sent invitations to bid for the job this fall since the university is considering major renovations to the Johnson Center. The new contract will begin on July 1. According to the Request for Proposals document, the contract vendor will receive a proposed goal guaranteed minimum of 22 percent of gross sales or $4 million each year, whichever is greater. If the contract is extended, the goal for the goal guaranteed minimum will increase to 22 percent of gross sales or $9.5 million whichever is greater. The document also outlines the university’s expectations for each dining service to maintain and improve dining services and campuses, along with instructions for moving along in the bidding process. “I want to make it clear that we are not kicking Sodexo out,” said Mark Kraner, Executive Director of Campus Retail Operations. “This is mandatory. We must go out to bid every once in a while. My job is to work with the contract partners to provide services and […]

   

• University Budget Forecasts Minimal Economic Growth

  News1 September 24, 2012 at 2:58 pm Comments are Disabled

  Despite the variety of increases projected from Mason’s Office of Budget and Planning, one very important increase is missing: state funding. In the budget forum held earlier this month, Mason representatives discussed the current state of the university’s budget. The general word used to describe most changes was increase, including room and board, that has seen a 19 percent increase since 2001, and in-state undergraduate tuition which has increased by 104 percent since 2001. Accompanying these increases is an overall university budget increase from $826.6 million last year to $888 million this year. David Moore, the Director of Budget and Planning Analysis at Mason said this $61.4 million increase can be attributed to private funding, Educational and General (E&G) operating budgets, Auxiliary Enterprise operating budgets, research sponsored program activities, capital support and state financial aid. Of the $61.4 million increase to the budget this year, state funding only makes up $0.8 million. Herein lies one very obvious decrease in Mason’s current budget. Since 2001, state funding has seen a 51 percent decrease. “Similar to the rest of the nation, the Commonwealth of Virginia was affected by the economic downturn in 2008,” said Moore. ”During this downturn, the state reduced agency […]

   

• Forever Up and Coming Is Not Such a Bad Thing

  Editorials September 24, 2012 at 2:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  Being “there” implies complacency. It implies that students, staff, faculty and administration are content with what this institution has become. And it suggests that Mason, a university based solely upon the principal of innovation, has nothing left to innovate. On Monday, The U.S. News and World Report compiled its data and released to the public its fifth annual list of the best universities. The criteria focused on universities that are making the most promising changes in the area of academics, faculty and student life and, after claiming the No. 1 spot in 2011, Mason was pinned as the No. 1 up-and-coming university in the nation. It may seem off-base and out-of-touch to consistently refer to any institution as up-and-coming. It seems natural that, at some point, the university would finally arrive at its intended destination and graduate to a list of more stagnant universities. Not a chance. An old Hindu proverb states, “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is being superior to your previous self.” It would be an incredible honor for Mason to frequently top the list of up-and-coming universities for the rest of the institution’s existence. Such an honor denotes […]

   
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  Book Review: No Easy Day

  9/11 Commemorative Issue, Lifestyle, Special Issues September 16, 2012 at 2:38 pm Comments are Disabled

  Everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001. But what were you doing on May 2, 2011? Former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, under the pen name Mark Owen, describes how he spent his day in detail in his new book, “No Easy Day”, the firsthand account of the mission that killed Osama bin Laden. Despite my reservations about being lost in a book that detailed the military, a topic I don’t usually find myself interested in, I downloaded “No Easy Day” on Kindle. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. Bissonnette is a brilliant writer and vividly captures his emotions and memories of his training as a SEAL and the missions that led to the capture and killing of bin Laden. In between chapters, I frequently stopped to remind myself that the story I was reading was a true first-person account and not a fictional account of the throes of war. But as I continued to read, I became concerned about the content of the book and its nature. In the preface, Bissonnette stresses that he went to great lengths to avoid disclosing sensitive material and military secrets. Though it […]

   
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  Cabrera’s Road to Mason Filled with Aspirations of Success

  News1 September 16, 2012 at 2:36 pm Comments are Disabled

  Angel Cabrera paced through a small town in western Spain. He was a small boy and didn’t care that the town was impoverished and faltering in many ways. As he walked through the streets, people stopped him to ask who he was related to in the town. Cabrera spent many summers in the town, talking to people about his grandfather, and always received stories of great admiration for one of the men who had a great impact on his life. “Listening to all these people talk about the admiration they had for my grandfather, I always thought there was no better job than being a teacher,” Cabrera said. “I always thought that being a teacher was the most magical thing anyone could do.” After years of schooling, Cabrera, a holder of four degrees, became the dean of the IE Business School in Madrid, ranked one of the top business schools in the world, and was later named the president of Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. “I wanted to be in education early one,” Cabrera said. “From there to becoming a university president is a series of accidents.” Named the sixth president of the university and taking office in […]

   
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  Here, You Are Family

  Sports September 16, 2012 at 2:31 pm Comments are Disabled

  Emily Harvey, a sophomore majoring in anthropology, is breaking out this season on George Mason’s women’s soccer team. She was recently recognized as the CAA Women’s Soccer player of the week.  The award came after recording her first goal against George Washington University, and a last minute game winning assist against American University. “I didn’t expect the award at all, it really was a surprise,” Harvey said. “I really just try to go out and do whatever it is the team needs me to do. If that means scoring a goal I go out there and work for a goal, if that means picking up team moral and getting us pumped up then that’s what I do.” Emily has had a longer road to Mason’s Soccer program than one would guess. “I grew up an army brat and we moved a lot,” Harvey said. Both of her parents worked for the military and their jobs took them along the Atlantic coast from Maryland to New Jersey, Rhode Island to Pennsylvania, and even Florida. “I still think of Maryland as my home though; we always went back in-between moves,” Harvey said. Everywhere their family went her and her siblings played soccer. […]

   
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  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 […]