Welcome to our monthly compilation of good news, gathered from the college's faculty and staff! Would you like to include your own news or a colleague's? Send us your details on the CHSS Brag Points form (which also collects information we can share with George Mason's Office of University Branding).
Talley Bettens, criminology, law and society doctoral student, received a Department of Justice Fellowship for “Schoolhouse interrogations and confessions: Perspectives from principals and students.” Under the mentorship of faculty advisor and Distinguished University Professor Allison Redlich and partnering with the National Association of Secondary School Principals and diverse high schools in Virginia, Bettens will examine the practices and potential consequences of principal-led interrogations of guilty and innocent high school students from multiple diverse perspectives, providing new theoretical and practical knowledge relevant to the school-to-prison pipeline. Congratulations, Talley!
Congratulations to LaNitra M. Berger, associate professor of history and art history and director of African and African American Studies, who has been selected for the 2025 Jack and Anita Hess Faculty Seminar at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The theme is “Urban History and Lived Experiences of the Holocaust in Germany and Beyond, 1933-1949.” Drawing on methods from architecture, visual culture, memory studies, and history, this seminar will focus on approaches and resources for teaching about the Holocaust and post-Holocaust geographies, with an emphasis on primary sources, including photographs, maps, building plans, restitution documentation, diaries, testimonies, and more.
Congratulations to Lisa Breglia, senior associate dean of undergraduate academic affairs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and associate professor of global affairs, who along with co-investigators Xiaomei Cai, associate professor of communication and George Oberle, history librarian and associate professor of history, were awarded a Mellon Foundation grant to support establishing an interdisciplinary, locally rooted Asian American studies and digital humanities initiative. During the 18-month funded project period, faculty, staff, and students will work in partnership with Asian American communities in the Northern Virginia region to draft a plan to 1) strengthen interdisciplinary AAPI studies with an enhanced curriculum that addresses critical societal issues past and present across the diaspora; 2) create a relevant and rewarding experience in our existing degree programs for AAPI heritage students, and 3) establish strong, reciprocal relationships with our AAPI community partners across Northern Virginia and beyond for the public good.
Congratulations to creative writing student Jasmine Haskins, who was awarded the Bill Miller BFA Scholarship in Creative Writing. The scholarship was established to support undergraduate creative writing students who are part of an under-represented group at George Mason or who are involved in a community group, activity, or registered student organization that works on issues or causes related to under-represented groups. Jasmine plans to use the award to further her career pursuits as a writer, describing this award as motivation to keep pushing forward.
A shout out to Jin Lee, assistant professor of criminology, law and society, who received the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Cybercrime Outstanding Peer Reviewed Publication Award for his article “Understanding markers of trust within the online stolen data market: An examination of vendors’ signaling behaviors relative to product price point.” Lee will be honored by the Division of Cybercrime at this year’s ASC conference in San Francisco.
A shout out to Edward Maibach, Distinguished University Professor and director of the Center for Climate Change Communication in CHSS, who received a Commonwealth Fund grant for “Climate Mitigation in US Community Health Centers Project.” The project aims to assess the impact of climate change on community health centers, equip participants with advocacy skills, and foster peer collaboration to implement decarbonization measures.
Congratulations to Leeya Mehta, professor of English, for receiving a community impact grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts for the project titled “Politics of Language, Language of Politics: A Public Reading and Literary Discussion Series with International Writers.” The funding went toward a public reading celebrating Day of Translation on September 30.
Congratulations to Christopher Morris, assistant professor of sociology, on his new book, Biotraffic: Medicines and Environmental Governance in the Afterlives of Apartheid. Morris' book examines how the trade in biological resources intersects with pharmaceutical profits and colonial legacies. It offers a critical examination of how demand for therapeutics intertwines with broader struggles over land and political power in South Africa.
A shout out to Manjusha Sasidharan Nair, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, who has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 George Mason University Libraries Fenwick Fellowship for her proposal “Enduring Pasts, Hopeful Futures: India, Africa, and the Possibilities of a Shared World.” The fellowship begins in January 2025, and Nair will report the results of her research project to the university community at a public Fenwick Fellow Lecture in Spring 2027.
A shout out to Jessica Otis, assistant professor of history, who received an NEH grant for her project “The Digital Humanities 2024 Bursaries.” The funding will go toward providing bursaries to US-based conference attendees with financial need. Digital Humanities 2024 is the annual conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations held in Arlington, VA.
A shout out Mohammad Salama, professor of Arabic and Qurʼanic studies and associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, for the publication of his new book God’s Other Book: The Qurʾān Between History and Ideology (University of California Press). Salama’s book is described as a powerful critique of the ways we study and analyze early Islam and its sacred text, filling a glaring hole in our understanding of this formative environment.
Rick Smith, assistant professor of anthropology, was awarded funding from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for his research “Biological Impacts of Colonial Practices: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction of Health and Demography.” The National Science Foundation is the prime sponsor of this award.
November 13, 2024