Outstanding Graduate Student Honorees - Spring 2025

MA, Higher Education and Student Development

Victoria is an Army veteran and former special education teacher who relocated to northern Virginia from Colorado Springs to attend graduate school at George Mason University full-time.

MA, Higher Education and Student Development

Originally from the U.K., Cris moved to Virginia in 2017 as a military spouse and began a career in higher education. Working closely with military-connected students sparked a true passion for student support and development, which now shapes and drives Cris’s research as a doctoral student.

MA, Global Affairs

Jenna earned an MA in Global Affairs, building on work as an analyst on international emergency aid programs in the Middle East, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.

PhD, Communication

As a PhD graduate student, Briana studied a variety of topics in communication, with a particular interest in how social structures shape identity and interaction.

MPS, Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Jessica developed knowledge and skills gained through her MPS in Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology that she plans to apply to her current career in Talent Development at DoorDash.

PhD, Criminology, Law and Society

Clayton taught multiple courses in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and has co-authored multiple academic publications. He was awarded the Department's Service Award as a part of its student association's leadership team, and he received two university-level fellowships to fund his dissertation research.

MA, Criminology, Law and Society

Kristen plans to continue her education at George Mason, entering the PhD program in Criminology, Law and Society this fall.

PhD, Higher Education

Wai Ling is a first-generation college graduate from Malaysia and a former Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant.

PhD, History

Laura will be an assistant professor of digital and public history at Florida Atlantic University starting in the fall of 2025.

PhD, Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Zihao joined George Mason in 2019 as a doctoral student in the I/O program.

MFA, Creative Writing

Shellie is a creative nonfiction student who dabbles in fiction and poetry.

PhD, Economics

Gareth completed a PhD in economics, researching topics at the intersection of genomic methods, healthcare, and econometric methods.

MA, Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Social Justice and Human Rights

Elham began her journey at George Mason as an undergraduate studying government and international politics before continuing into the MAIS program in social justice and human rights through the bachelor's to accelerated master's pathway.

PhD, Sociology

Kevin Nazar Pastor earned his PhD in Sociology from George Mason University in 2025. While at George Mason he was adjunct professor for the Honors College, graduate lecturer for the Department of Sociology, GRA for the Institute for Immigration Research and the Center for Social Science Research, president of the Public Sociology Association and member of the Global South Hub at CSSR.

MA, Strategic Communications

Scott came in as a Communications graduate student with a background in education who plans to participate in the PhD program at George Mason to become a college professor.

MS, Criminal Justice

Joe is a retired Marine who served 32 years in law enforcement.

PhD, Criminology, Law and Society

Arden received both an MA and a PhD from George Mason. She is currently in the process of accepting a position as an Assistant Professor of Sociology.

MA, English

Jillian is completing a 5th year teaching English at North Stafford High School and finished an MA in English in 2.5 years.

MA, Human Factors and Applied Cognition

Hendeke worked on research involving virtual reality as well as explainable AI and transparency in human-AI interaction and plans to continue with the PhD program.

MA, Anthropology

Jae-lynn earned her MA in Anthropology and was awarded the Outstanding Anthropology Master's Thesis Award, the Black Scholar of the Year Award, and a presentation award at the Peace and Conflict Resolution Graduate Research Symposium.

MA, Foreign Languages

Claudia earned her master's in foreign languages and will continue at George Mason as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.

MA, Economics

John applies econometric and computational methods to understand complex patterns in the economy and worked at research organizations such as the Mercatus Center, Progressive Policy Institute, and PolicyEngine.