CHSS Digest

August 21, 2025

CHSS Digest August 21, 2025

Welcome to the 2025-26 academic year and the CHSS Digest, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences' bi-weekly newsletter! 

For the most up-to-date information, visit the CHSS website.

Have news to share? Send us your news via the submission form.

The next issue of CHSS Digest will be published on September 4. View the full CHSS Digest schedule

Announcements & Resources
Welcome back coffee September 23

Welcome back coffee September 23

Join your colleagues for a coffee hour in the Horizon Hall 6th floor kitchen for refreshments and socializing to welcome in the new academic year!

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Now is the time to update your bio!

Now is the time to update your bio!

Welcome to the start of a new academic year! This is a great time to make sure your bio pages are accurate and up to date. Don't know where to start? Check out this resource from the CHSSWeb team.

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Start strong social

Start strong social

Kick off the semester strong at the CHSS social, presented by the CHSS Staff and A/P Faculty Advisory Council, on Thursday, September 4 in the 6th floor kitchen of Horizon Hall.

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Marketing and Communications Lunch and Learn

Marketing and Communications Lunch and Learn

Please join us virtually on September 17 to learn more about CHSS marketing resources. You'll meet the CHSS Marketing and Communications team and learn where to find templates and logos, how to share content in the CHSS Digest and on CHSS social media channels, how to update your website bio, and more!

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Save the date for the CHSS Staff and A/P Faculty October Town Hall meeting

Save the date for the CHSS Staff and A/P Faculty October Town Hall meeting

Save the date for the October Town Hall meeting on Thursday, October 23 at 1 p.m.

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Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity
AY26–27 study leave for tenured instructional faculty

AY26–27 study leave for tenured instructional faculty

Study leaves for tenured instructional faculty, funded by the provost, provide paid leave during one semester or academic year to support scholarly research, teaching, and/or creative activity. Applications for study leave for the 2026–2027 academic year must be submitted by October 10 at 5 p.m.

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ACLS 2025–26 fellowship and grant competitions

ACLS 2025–26 fellowship and grant competitions

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has recently announced its 2025–26 fellowship and grant competitions. ACLS offers programs that promote research across all fields of the humanities and social sciences. 

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2026–2027 Cullman Center Fellowship

2026–2027 Cullman Center Fellowship

The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers is an international fellowship program open to academics, independent scholars, journalists, creative writers, translators, and visual artists whose work will benefit directly from access to the collections at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

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Fall 2025 Cultural Studies Colloquium to evoke intellectual thought, encourage ‘contemporary debate’

Fall 2025 Cultural Studies Colloquium to evoke intellectual thought, encourage ‘contemporary debate’

Hosted by the college’s Cultural Studies Program, the fall colloquium welcomes renowned political economist Branko Milanovic, award-winning evolutionary anthropologist Agustin Fuentes, Pulitzer Prize winning author Greg Grandin, and groundbreaking cultural studies scholar Nick Dyer-Witheford.

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Nate Sleeter receives funding for Revolutionary War teaching guides

Nate Sleeter receives funding for Revolutionary War teaching guides

The $25,000 grant is funded through the American Historical Association as part of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program.

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George Mason partners with DoD agency to bring closure to the families of lost U.S. service members 

George Mason partners with DoD agency to bring closure to the families of lost U.S. service members 

Through an ongoing collaboration with the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), postdoctoral research fellow and alum John C. Winters is exploring new ways of locating the missing remains of American service members.

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Jack Smith to deliver the 2025 Wilkins Lecture

Jack Smith to deliver the 2025 Wilkins Lecture

Jack Smith, former Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, will address the challenges of maintaining the rule of law in today’s political and legal environment, at the 2025 Wilkins Lecture on Tuesday, September 16.

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Fall for the Book Festival announces 2025 schedule

Fall for the Book Festival announces 2025 schedule

Check out Fall for the Book this October 7–11! Northern Virginia's oldest and largest festival of literature and the arts, the event features in-person and virtual events, and welcomes more than 70 authors, poets, essayists, memoirists, editors, and many enthusiastic readers. Click through for the complete lineup of authors and events.

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Visiting Writers • Fall 2025

Visiting Writers • Fall 2025

George Mason University’s Creative Writing Program joins Watershed Lit and George Mason’s University Libraries in presenting the Fall 2025 Visiting Writers Series.

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Faculty, Staff, Student & Alumni Recognition
Economics professor Tyler Cowen named to TIMEPhilanthropy 100 list

Economics professor Tyler Cowen named to TIMEPhilanthropy 100 list

Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University, has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in philanthropy.

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Shout outs, August 2025

Shout outs, August 2025

Welcome to our monthly compilation of good news, gathered from CHSS faculty and staff!

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Congratulations to the CHSS 2025 Celebration of Distinction awardees

Congratulations to the CHSS 2025 Celebration of Distinction awardees

Congratulations to the 2025 Celebration of Distinction awardees from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS). These outstanding CHSS alumni will be recognized on Thursday, September 18 at the 2025 Celebration of Distinction.

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Summer internship lets CLS student help kids discover the joys of STEM

Summer internship lets CLS student help kids discover the joys of STEM

The humanities and STEM go hand in hand for Ryanne Mardini, advisor and scholar support for Pathways to STEM with Envision by Worldstrides.

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These George Mason alumni were driven to succeed with a premier NASCAR race team

These George Mason alumni were driven to succeed with a premier NASCAR race team

Alumni Dave Alpern and Chris Helein, BA Speech Communication '91, featured in new Netflix series for their work with Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Events

CHSS Back on The Block Party!

Join us for the fifth annual Back on the Block Party, the official welcome to campus for CHSS students!

Clock Icon for Thursday, August 28, 2025  2:30 PM to  4:30 PM EDTThursday, August 28, 2025 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM EDT

Map Icon for Student Union I, The Quad/Student BenchesStudent Union I, The Quad/Student Benches

Fall Colloquium: Branko Milanović

Inequality, Globalization, Transformation

Clock Icon for Thursday, August 28, 2025  4:30 PM to  6:00 PM EDTThursday, August 28, 2025 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM EDT

Map Icon for The event will be livestreamed by GMU-TVThe event will be livestreamed by GMU-TV

Branko Milanović of the CUNY Graduate Center and London School of Economics, a renowned political economist and author, will talk about recent trends in globalization and inequality. Co-sponsored by Economics and Global Affairs.

Details

Gradstravaganza Picnic

Clock Icon for Saturday, September  6, 2025 12:00 PM to  3:00 PM EDTSaturday, September 6, 2025 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT

Map Icon for Wilkins PlazaWilkins Plaza

The annual graduate student welcome event is for all new and continuing George Mason University graduate students.

Details

CHR Book Launch- "Sleeping in the Courtyard: Contemporary Kurdish Writers in Diaspora"

Clock Icon for Friday, September 12, 2025 12:00 PM to  1:00 PM EDTFriday, September 12, 2025 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT

Map Icon for Horizon Hall 6325 and zoomHorizon Hall 6325 and zoom

CHSS in the Media

Welcome to CHSS in the Media! Some articles may be behind a paywall. University Libraries provides direct access to current news sources. For more information, go to InfoGuides: Current News: Direct Subscriptions

Pete Boettke writes op-ed in the Wall Street Journal

Boettke, Department of Economics, explains why AI can't compute the complexity of free markets.

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Essay by Oksana Maksymchuk featured in U.S. News & World Report

In op-ed, Maksymchuk, a Ukrainian-American poet and scholar-in-residence at Alan Cheuse International Writers Center, discusses the perception America is safer than war-torn countries.

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Larrie Ferreiro appears on NPR’s “The World” to discuss the global context for the American Revolutionary War

Larrie Ferreiro, Department of History and Art History, explains how war of American independence was important to "balance of power contests" among Britain, France, and Spain.

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History alum featured as one of Washingtonian's 500 most influential people in D.C.

Gerry Stegmaier, BA History '92, is recognized for his work on prelitigation and advisory services related to business strategy for privacy-by-design, data-protection, and intellectual-property challenges.

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Stillhouse Press featured in Washington Independent Review

Stillhouse Press Publicist and Marketing Manager Taylor Schaefer, MFA '25, discusses Stillhouse Press's work as a teaching press and publisher that focuses on projects off-the beaten path.

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