Alumni

ODKM Master’s Student Maggie Huang Receives Mentoring for Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Award

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:59:28 +0000

ODKM Master’s Student Maggie Huang Receives Mentoring for Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Award Andrew J Schappert Tue, 03/14/2023 - 13:59

In This Story

Gregory Washington

Tojo Thatchenkery

Maggie Huang with her research poster: Receiving this grant ‘makes me feel like our experiences matter.’

Maggie Huang has a knack for being at the right place at the right time.

The decision to quit her job after more than six years at Google in San Francisco during the pandemic and move all the way to Washington, D.C., landed her at one of the universities in the nation that champions diversity and inclusiveness—George Mason University.

The relocation was the result of deciding to pursue her passion for helping people and organizations be their best. To do so, she enrolled in the Organization Development and Knowledge Management (ODKM) program at Schar School of Policy of Government. ODKM, directed by Schar School professor Tojo Thatchenkery, features an internationally renowned faculty that works to connect theory and practice in a student-centered learning experience geared to understanding and developing team-based, knowledge-intensive organizations and professionals.

Her move and her studies have led to this: In early February, Huang became a recipient of the spring 2023 Mentoring for Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (MARIE) Award, a presidential-level honor that includes a substantial monetary award intended to allow recipients to spend concentrated time on their projects under the guidance of a mentor. Mason President Gregory Washington created the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Taskforce in July 2020 to ensure the school develops an inclusive and equitable campus environment in which every member of the community, without exception, is valued, supported, and experiences a sense of belonging.

The award stems from Huang’s independent study course last summer that examines the professional experiences of Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) women in the U.S. “I do not often see people who look like me widely represented in academic curricula, mainstream culture, or at leadership levels in organizations,” she said. The award, she said, verifies what she felt in her “heart of hearts” regarding AANHPI women and will help her continue her work.

Huang’s work will contribute to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at Mason and, by extension, further spotlight AANHPI communities, women of color, and intersectional communities beyond the Mason campuses.

“First, receiving this grant makes me feel like our experiences matter,” she said of the MARIE award. “Second, the grant is literally a financial lifeline that provides the resources and support I need to do my best work. Third, it facilitates an amazing opportunity that is not only personally meaningful but also intellectually stimulating, especially under the mentorship of the amazing Dr. Ann Romosz,” she said.

“Maggie is an exceptional student that represents the best of Mason,” said Romosz, the adjunct professor who guided Huang through the process of creating her study about [AANHPI] female experiences, including helping her use advanced research tools, developing a research poster, and presenting her findings at an ARIE conference. “I agreed to work with her outside of the scope of any course because we worked well together and her dedication and diligence were—and continued to be—infectious,” she said.

Eventually student and mentor submitted a grant proposal to Mason, “a first for Maggie,” Romosz said, “so we worked together, meeting regularly to discuss questions and best practices in research grant procurement.”

The result? “I was overwhelmed to find out that she received the full grant amount that she requested,” she said. “The support that we have received for this important work has been extraordinary. I am humbled and honored to work alongside Maggie and with the Mason community. It really has been a joy and a pleasure.”

As for working with Huang, Romosz added, “She is dedicated to being an ally and researching ways to improve the life experiences of minorities. She is diligent and kind and an absolute pleasure to work with.”

Topics

Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Taskforce

Organization Development and Knowledge Management

Schar School News March 2023

Mason Lighting the Way: Deion Maith

Colleen Rich — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 19:46:58 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Deion Maith Colleen Rich Wed, 01/12/2022 - 14:46

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

More than 130 faculty, staff and students are working on George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force, which is taking a hard look at the current state of diversity and inclusivity efforts at the university and making recommendations for the future.

These individuals come from across our campuses and bring their different skill sets and expertise to this work. In this series, we will spotlight members of the task force and find out what drives them.

Mason graduate student Deion Maith. Photo provided

Deion Maith

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

Committee: Student Voice

George Mason University graduate student Deion Maith said he will never forget July 13, 2013, when he heard on the radio that George Zimmerman had been acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin.

“That sparked my fire,” said Maith, a native of Heathsville (in Virginia’s Northern Neck), “knowing that Trayvon could have been me or my younger brother.”

He began researching scholars like James Baldwin, Jane Elliott, and others who have contributed so much to the academic body of work on social justice and human rights.

When he had the opportunity to meet Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, at the 2018 Sojourner Truth Lecture at Mason, Maith recounted his reaction to her son’s murder. She shook his hand firmly and told him: “Don’t ever lose that fire. You are our future and don’t let anyone ever tell you different.”

Maith joined Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force because he thinks it’s important to share lived experiences with other students and faculty/staff.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to voice the concerns of students who look like me,” he said. “I’ve always been eager to have a seat at the table where conversation turns into action, and I’m hopeful that the task force can accomplish just that.”

Maith, who graduated from Mason with a bachelor’s in integrative studies in 2020, is former president and student advisor of Collegiate Black Men; former undersecretary for Contemporary Student Services, Student Government; and former secretary and student advisor for Mason’s Chapter of NAACP. He’s also been involved with the Black Student Alliance, the Black Male Success Initiative, and the School of Integrative Studies Peer Ambassadors.

“The main goal of the Student Voice Committee is to make sure we’re effectively receiving feedback from students and figuring out the best way to reach them,” said Maith. Committee members are meeting with registered student organizations and their members, and working with student-focused offices.

Maith said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the feedback the task force has received from the university community. “Although there has been some backlash, I believe there has been more positivity than anything,” Maith said.

Maith’s work with the task force motivated him to pursue a graduate assistant position in Mason’s Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment (formally ODIME), where T. Garey Davis, assistant director of coalition building and diversity education, has served as a mentor.

Maith said Davis is passionate about optimizing the student experience for everyone, but especially students who belong to historically marginalized groups, and together they have built a team to improve Black male success at Mason.

“Promoting social justice and human rights doesn’t exclude anyone,” he said. “It includes everyone no matter your race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. But we must self-reflect and take accountability for the ways in which we benefit and contribute to systematic and institutional racism to move forward.”

Maith has accepted a role at Cooley LLP in Washington, D.C., a Fortune 500 global law firm. After he graduates this fall, he plans to pursue a law degree at Howard University.

Topics

Students

Alumni

President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

School of Integrative Studies

Center for Culture Equity and Empowerment

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

College of Visual and Performing Arts