Dear Colleagues:
With virtual teaching now well underway and new policies in place, weare focusingon celebrating our students in the Class of 2020.While commencement has been postponed for now, CHSS will join the university in holding a virtual celebration of our graduates on May 22.We need your help in identifying the MANY exceptional CHSS students to profile. Please read below for the details.
The other planning effort is related to summer courses, which will also be online. We thank you again for all your efforts in moving to the online course environment for the spring semester and now into the summer. The Stearns Center continues to develop more resources to support faculty with attention to resources to foster student engagement. Please continue to visit their virtual instructional continuity guide.
To add a little humor to my days of WebEx or Blackboard Collaborate meetings and class meetings, I’ve started to play BINGO. Take a look at the bingo card that I use. Winners get to take a walk outside!
Finally, to make it easier to find resources from this series of digests, we began placing the content online.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to colleagues, chairs/directors, or the Dean’s Office. Remember that we are all in this together and you are not alone!
Thanks!
Jaime
Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Strategic Initiatives
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Announcements & Resources
Faculty Assembly Meeting
CHSS Faculty Assembly’s next meeting is this Wednesday from 2:30-4:00pm virtually. The Assembly will be discussing revisions to the CHSS Bylaws and P & T Guidelines. We encourage each of you to attend to discuss these critically important faculty governance documents.
2020 Catalog Published and Imported
We are pleased to share that many of our regular “behind the scenes” activities have continued well while we all telework. The 2020 catalog has been released. All programs and courses in CHSSWeb now reflect the new catalog's content. Read more here > > https://chssweb.gmu.edu/articles/14288
Associate Dean of Graduate Academic Affairs Virtual Interviews Scheduled
Please mark your calendars and take part in the upcoming interviews for the Associate Dean of Graduate Academic Affairs position. The search committee has identified three candidates for interviews after narrowing the field of applicants and conducting first-round audio interviews. Normally these second-round interviews would take place in person and on campus, but since this is not possible,the college will conduct these interviews using a virtual platform. Each candidate will do a presentation and be available for Q&A afterwards. Presentations will be recorded and made available for those who cannot attend in real time. Invitations with the WebEx login information, along with candidate CVs, will be emailed a day or two prior to each scheduled presentation.
Your participation is important. Please mark your calendars and plan to participate in this process by attending candidate public presentations on these dates and at these times:
Monday, April 20, 2020: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Monday, April 27, 2020: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, April 30, 2020: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Please contact search committee chair Michele Schwietz at mschwiet@gmu.edu if you have any questions.
Graduating Student Profiles
Each semester, we recognize outstanding students who are graduating from across the college and feature them in a series of student profiles. We hope to continue that tradition this semester by celebrating the outstanding students of the Class of 2020. We need your help to create a robust list of amazing graduates from every CHSS department or program. If you know of a graduating student (bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD are all welcome) who you believe is an exceptional representative of your program, please send namesand contact information to Marking Specialist Sarah Holland (sholla4@gmu.edu).
Mason Town Hall This Friday
Interim President Holton is holding a Mason a virtual town hall this Friday from 10:30-11:30. For information on connecting andsubmitting questions prior to the event, please go to: https://www2.gmu.edu/news/584766
Instructional Guidelines & Support
Graduate Education Policies and Student Grades
In partnership with academic units, the Office of the University Registrar, Office of Graduate Life, Faculty Senate, and GAPSA, the Graduate Council has approved changes for graduate students for the spring 2020 semester.
CHSS Instructional Designer
CHSS has an assigned Blackboard instructional designer, Larisa A. Olesova. Instructional designers are available to help consult and implement online tools and/or resources, identify alternative assessment ideas, address specific instructional challenges, and - most importantly - make recommendations for learning experiences that meet course needs. If you would like a consultation, please use the ID intake form.
The Stearns Center Expands Virtual Instructional Resources
The Stearns Center continues to update their resources to support online course development with attention to stage 2, developing more student interaction. If you have not visited the page recently, please do so at: https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/knowledge-center/instructional-continuity/
Well-Being Resources
Counseling and Psychological Resources
Mason’s Center for Psychological Services has a new webpage with resources on stress management, talking with children, resources for undocumented communities, and resources for children.Learn More > > https://psyclinic.gmu.edu/covid-19-resources
April 15, 2020
