CHSS Digest

May 4, 2021

CHSS Digest May 4, 2021

Welcome to the final newsletter of the 2020-21 academic year! We hope that this publication has been useful to you and we appreciate you sharing your news with us as we have moved together through this very unusual academic season. 

As you know, graduation activities kick into gear next week, and opportunities are available for faculty and staff to participate in the university's and the college's activities: learn more below.

Thank you for all you have done for our students and for each other this year. We hope that you are able to enjoy a productive and relaxing summer and we look forward to sharing your news once again in the fall.

Announcements & Resources
CHSS Faculty Recognized with 2020 Presidential Medals

CHSS Faculty Recognized with 2020 Presidential Medals

CHSS is proud to announce that faculty members Christy Pichichero and Melissa Broeckelman-Post have been selected to receive 2021 Presidential Faculty Excellence Awards.

Read More
Melissa Broeckelman-Post Elected Faculty Senate Chair

Melissa Broeckelman-Post Elected Faculty Senate Chair

Melissa Broeckelman-Post, associate professor of communication, has been elected to serve as the chair of Mason's Faculty Senate, stepping into the position previously held by Shannon Davis, who begins a new post as associate dean for faculty and academic affairs at Mason’s Korea campus.

Read More
2021 Teaching Excellence Awards Announced

2021 Teaching Excellence Awards Announced

The Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning has announced its 2021 Teaching Excellence Awards. Please celebrate with the college's awardees at a virtual ceremony on May 7, 12-1 pm.

Read More
Faculty Readers Needed for Patriot Processions

Faculty Readers Needed for Patriot Processions

Faculty members are needed to read graduates' names as they cross the stage during Mason's Patriot Processions the week of May 10-14. Learn more about how you can help celebrate our graduates.

Read More
Recent Faculty Publication - May 2021

Recent Faculty Publication - May 2021

A regularly-updated selection of publications by CHSS faculty. Please let the communications team know if you have a book released - we would love to feature it!

Read More

Apply Now to be a Faculty Fellow for Faculty Affairs and Development

The Office of the Provost invites full-time tenured faculty members to apply to serve as a Faculty Fellow for Faculty Affairs and Development (pending funding). Learn more, and apply by May 6.

Read More
Are You Teaching in Horizon's Classrooms?

Are You Teaching in Horizon's Classrooms?

We are working with the university to learn about faculty's teaching experiences in Horizon Hall's classrooms. Will you share your experiences with us?

Read More
Research News

The May 12th CHSS Research Virtual Coffee will feature a FRDA Seed Funding info session

The featured topic for the May 12th CHSS Research virtual coffee will be the FRDA Seed Funding program. Faculty Research and Development Awards (FRDA), funded by CHSS, are short-term awards that are designed to help tenured and tenure-track faculty initiate new programs of research and scholarship or enhance existing ones.

Read More

Kudos to CHSS faculty - 100% compliance with proposal submission policy

Last fall Mason's Office of Sponsored Programs updated their deadline policy, and CHSS faculty have done a wonderful job answering the call!

Read More

Mason Safe Return to Campus: Update on travel

Effective May 1, 2021, University Travel Advisory Committee (UTAC) approval will no longer be required for university domestic travel. Requests to travel domestically shall revert back to the pre-Covid process. Mason is maintaining its prohibition on all university international travel (with the exception of travel to South Korea) until further notice.

Read More

CHSS Reconciliation Procedures for Grants

The CHSS Dean’s Office created some helpful documents to assist principal investigators and grant administrators with their reconciliation reviews and processes.

Read More
Research Brief: Examining Error and Behavior Modification in the Brain

Research Brief: Examining Error and Behavior Modification in the Brain

Doctoral candidate Paul Beatty's research uses electroencephalography to measure the brain's corrective tendencies following an error.

Read More
CHSS in the Media

Virginian-Pilot shares Tyler Cowen's Bloomberg opinion article on vaccines and tribalism

In a Bloomberg opinion piece picked up by the Virginian-Pilot, Tyler Cowen considers the "cultural vaccine landscape" of the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Read More

In Fairfax Times, Robyn Mehlenbeck offers tips on helping children cope with pandemic stress

Robyn Mehlenbeck, director of Mason's Center for Psychological Services, shares information on helping children process the anxiety and anger they may feel during the months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read More

Big Think notes study co-authored by James Thompson, psychology associate professor

Big Think describes an article co-authored by associate professor James Thompson, Department of Psychology, that describes genetic drivers of facial structure and brain development.

Read More

In Inside Higher Ed, Jamie Clark discusses respectful handling of human remains

Jamie Clark, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, contributes to an Inside Higher Ed article about the questionable treatment of human remains of victims of a 1985 bombing in Philadelphia.

Read More
Well-Being Resources
Events & Deadlines

Justice You Can See: Representations of the Muslim Body in the Films of Sembene

AVACGIS Guest Lecture Series with Danielle Widmann Abraham (Ursinus College)

Clock Icon for Friday, May  7, 2021 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDTFriday, May 7, 2021 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT

Map Icon for Zoom Virtual EventZoom Virtual Event

GLOA Colloquium: The Coloniality of Race and Majoritarian Islamism in Malaysia

Clock Icon for Wednesday, May 12, 2021  3:00 PM to  4:30 PM EDTWednesday, May 12, 2021 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM EDT

Dr. Mohan Ambikaipaker, associate professor, Department of Communication, Tulane University, presents "The Coloniality of Race and Majoritarian Islamism in Malaysia" as part of the Global Affairs program's spring colloquium: Race and Globalization.

Details »

NSF CAREER Program Webinar

NSF

Clock Icon for Friday, May 14, 2021  1:00 PM to  3:00 PM EDTFriday, May 14, 2021 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT

NSF is providing information on the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program solicitation NSF 20-525 at webinars on Friday, May 14, and Thursday, May 20, 2021, starting at 1:00 pm Eastern time each day. The NSF-wide CAREER program supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

Details »

George Mason University Spring Commencement 2022

Clock Icon for Friday, May 20, 2022 10:00 AM EDTFriday, May 20, 2022 10:00 AM EDT

George Mason University will conduct Spring Commencement in-person in accordance with public health recommendations.

Details »

Mass-producing the cosmos: visuality and divination from manuscript to lithograph in 19th-century South Asia

AVACGIS Guest Lecture Series with Nur Sobers-Khan

Clock Icon for Wednesday, May 19, 2021 12:00 PM to  1:00 PM EDTWednesday, May 19, 2021 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT

Map Icon for Zoom Virtual EventZoom Virtual Event

Nur Sobers-Khan's paper explores the genealogy of Tilsimat-i Aja’ib (Talismans of Wonder) texts, a genre that features elements of cosmology and divination, in Urdu lithographs of the 19th and early 20th century in the British Library’s collections, examining the illustrative programs in these texts and positing a continuity with the Persian Aja’ib al-Makhluqat (Wonders of Creation) manuscript tradition.

Details »

2022 NEH Summer Stipends Workshop

CHSS Research

Clock Icon for Monday, June 21, 2021  9:00 AM to 11:30 AM EDTMonday, June 21, 2021 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM EDT

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences Research team will host a Zoom event for faculty to learn more about the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipends program.

Details »

FRDA Seed Funding Application Deadline

Clock Icon for Friday, September 24, 2021  5:00 PM EDTFriday, September 24, 2021 5:00 PM EDT

The CHSS Faculty Research and Development Awards (FRDA) seed funding applications are due September 24, 2021. A central purpose of FRDA Seed Funding Leading to External Funding (“FRDA Seed Funding”) is to provide seed funding that will lead to an application for external funding.

Details »