ARIE

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

School of Art Faculty Chawky Frenn presented 'We The People' series at the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference

Pam Muirheid — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 20:29:49 +0000

School of Art Faculty Chawky Frenn presented 'We The People' series at the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference Pam Muirheid Thu, 01/26/2023 - 15:29

In This Story

Chawky Frenn

Gregory Washington

School of Art Faculty Chawky Frenn participated in and presented a poster from his We The People series at the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Conference at George Mason University.

On such an important day, where we encourage our Mason School of Art community to get out and VOTE we are proud to highlight Mason School of Art Faculty Chawky Frenn who participated and presented a poster from his WE THE PEOPLE series at the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Conference at George Mason University.

Chawky Frenn, is a Lebanese-American painter, educator, author, and recipient of the 2017 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award inNew Delhi, India. Frenn fled his war-torn country and emigrated to the United States, a beacon for democracy and the pinnacle of human rights, in 1981.

According to Frenn, “Through years of living and observing American ideals and politics, I’ve learned that even in the Land of the Free human rights were always fought for, never given by the ruling powers.”

In a decade-long research and creative practice, Frenn produced We the People,a series of 107 mixed-media paintings on posters of the Constitution. Inspired by our times, this seriesis a platform to reflect on issues affecting all of us: national identity, the influence of money on policy and politics, perpetual wars, struggles of Native Americans, African Americans, women, veterans, LGBTQIA+ communities, prisoners, immigrants, and refugees for human rights.

We the People does not encompass a simple political motive but extends a social, civic, humanist, and even ethical agenda. The impact of money on democracy, liberty, and social justice and the struggles for human rights are at once timely and timeless, local and universal.

Frenn believes art is a powerful catalyst for change by presenting repressed perspectives on critical issues of our time. Social justice and human rights inspire his work, a voice for peace, hope, and tolerance.

View the full post here!

Topics

School of Art

ARIE

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research

Shayla Brown — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 19:24:51 +0000

Supporting underserved graduate students focused on health equity research Shayla Brown Tue, 12/06/2022 - 14:24

Photo by Getty Images

The Communicating Health Equity and Healing Justice Research Lab (CEHJ) came to life on George Mason University’s campus in October 2021.

“It started out an all-Black women endeavor, but now it has expanded to Black and Brown men as well as alternative gender identity individuals,” said Akila Ka Ma’at, the director of the lab and core faculty member with Women and Gender Studies Program and the Communication Department.

The lab allows students to engage in the production of research projects and contribute to data collection efforts through an immersive experiential learning and training experience. Its members focus on the mental and reproductive health of Black women as well as identify factors related to internalized racism.

Ashley Dawson, who joined the lab as an undergraduate student, is getting her master’s in public health with a concentration in health promotion. She hopes to become a public health consultant as well as a program developer so she can provide health intervention for underserved communities.

“Currently, we’re working on the impact of the “Strong Black Woman” stigma on the birth outcomes in Black women,” said Dawson. “This allows us to address the intersectionality and social determinants that are either negatively or positively impacting prenatal health.”

Sahana Natarajan, who recently graduated from Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, is currently working as Mason affiliate faculty in collaboration with the CEHJ research lab.

“Health communication was something I had never really done before. Despite that, Dr. Ma’at believed in my potential and went to great lengths to mentor me,” said Natarajan. “I’m still in the process of learning how to lead. I’m starting to lead my own projects.”

Natarajan is currently working on a pilot testing a survey to access racial stress and related factors among prenatal Black Women.

“This lab is really about team collaboration. Along with that, addressing health disparities. If that’s something that’s important to you, I think the lab will really benefit you in terms of increasing your abilities and your impact in the world,” she said.

Mason sociology student J Orisha is also a part of CEHJ and working on this project. “I think it’s important that there be more spaces like this for students. [My research interests have] honestly been changing the more involved I get on campus and meet more professors, but it’s centrally around African American/Black studies and anti-racist, decolonized research,” said Orisha.

“It’s an open environment where you mess up, great, you learn and keep moving. I never experienced that in the other schools,” Orisha said. “They’re actually trying to listen to their students. They really do care, and I really, really appreciate it.”

Ma’at hopes to collaborate with more disciplines and more community stakeholders. She wants the lab’s research to extend into the African diaspora and include immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

The CEHJ Research Lab meets on Tuesdays from 2-3 p.m. and Thursdays from 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Robeson Room 240A in the Johnson Center.

Topics

African and African American Studies

Women and Gender Studies

ARIE

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Research

Communication Department

Conference draws faculty, students to Mason Square to share a vision for an inclusive, anti-racist future

Colleen Rich — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 21:02:42 +0000

Conference draws faculty, students to Mason Square to share a vision for an inclusive, anti-racist future Colleen Rich Wed, 10/26/2022 - 17:02

George Mason University’s first Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Conference celebrated both the impact of research and the shared goal of shaping a more equitable future.

The Research Panel: Conducting Research through and Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Lens. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“There’s so much research happening today—and this is the beauty of this conference,” said keynote speaker Gail Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity and a senior scholar in Mason’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. “We can do the research to change the narrative to drive new stories, to amplify those new stories, to demystify and refute the fallacies. Research is an important part of getting rid of antiquated beliefs.”

More than 400 people attended the Monday conference either at Mason Square or virtually. Sharnnia Artis, Mason’s vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, marked the event as a milestone for one of Mason President Gregory Washington’s signature objectives. Artis, who facilitated the Mason groups that planned the conference, also served as emcee.

Washington launched ARIE within weeks of arriving at Mason in July 2020 to root out any biases in Mason practices and policies with the ambition that Mason would become a national exemplar for inclusive excellence. Mason is the seventh most diverse public university in the country—and the most diverse public university in Virginia— according to U.S. News & World Report.

Anne M. Kress, president of Northern Virginia Community College (left) with Mason's Sharnnia Artis. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“There is a generation coming behind us—68 million people of the most diverse group of individuals that this country has ever had,” Washington said in opening the afternoon session of the conference. “They’re going to inherit the country, and they’re going to have to know how to deal with an environment that’s diverse. They need to be prepared to deal with one another.”

Washington later welcomed Northern Virginia Community College President Anne M. Kress and Virginia State University President Makola Abdullah for a presidential panel on advancing anti-racism and inclusive excellence in higher education.

The morning panel focused on conducting research through that lens. It featured three Mason professors and panelists from Harvard and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Charles Chavis, director of Mason’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice and Race, noted that he had returned the previous day from a research trip with students to the Maryland Eastern Shore to work with descendants of racial violence. He talked about treating research subjects as collaborators and partners and empowering them to tell their own story.

Mason students shared their research during the poster session. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“I see what we do as service first,” Chavis said. “And in that service our research needs and our research focus really is birthed out of the expressed needs of those we’re serving.”

During that morning panel, Jerome Offord Jr., Harvard associate university librarian for anti-racism, said he isn’t looking for allies in the cause. He’s looking for “co-conspirators.” That term caught on in the room came up throughout the day.

“This is not just a BIPOC issue,” Offord said. “This is an us issue. I need people who are going to take the risk professionally, personally, academically. People have to be willing to be in the front of the center conversation with me, not in a break room supporting me, not sending me emails saying ‘great job.’”

On an afternoon panel about translating research into action, Mason professor of integrative studies and history Wendi Manuel-Scott used the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial as an example. The memorial, dedicated earlier this year, came about after five students set out to learn more about the people George Mason IV enslaved at Gunston Hall.

Manuel-Scott said that early in her teaching career she used to get “blank eyes” from students when she talked to them about civil rights actions.

Mason President Gregory Washington chats with students during the poster session. Photo by Stephanie Aaronson/Office of University Branding

“Today, I don’t get blank eyes,” she said. “Students are incredibly engaged and passionate and fearless. That is everything. Don’t lose that audacity, don’t lose that courageous spirit. Continue to ask those questions. Because the memorial that you see today would not exist if our students hadn’t been willing to ask the questions that they asked and challenge us as faculty members to step up.”

Student and faculty researchers across disciplines displayed about 40 posters highlighting research related to anti-racism and inclusive excellence.

Christopher noted that it takes more than passion to eradicate racism. It requires realistic strategy and creativity to assess the challenges, particularly in the age of disinformation.

“It’s a matter of grace and it’s a matter of love and understanding that we’re all on this journey, and we’re each at different places,” Christopher said. “There are extremes, and some people will stay at their extreme no matter what. But there is a wide swath in the middle, and our job is to mobilize that middle and to do so with great intention.”

Topics

Campus News

ARIE

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

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Student Research

Strategic Direction

Mason community invited to review, discuss task force recommendations

Colleen Rich — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 19:41:39 +0000

Mason community invited to review, discuss task force recommendations Colleen Rich Thu, 02/18/2021 - 14:41

Editor's note: The link for the draft recommendations has been updated. We apologize for the inconvenience.

George Mason University President Gregory Washington and members of Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force invite the university community to the first of two virtual town hall meetings, which will be held 2-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Registrations to participate in the town hall via Zoom have reached capacity, and the university community is encouraged to tune in to the event live through GMU-TV at gmutv.gmu.edu/live.

The task force’s six committees—University Policies and Practices, Training and Development, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Student Voice, Research, and Campus and Community Engagement—have worked hard over the past five months and are ready to share their initial recommendations for the Mason community's feedback and consideration. The draft recommendations are available for review, and there is a form for you to provide feedback.

More information about the task force is available at arie.gmu.edu, including additional information about the committees.

Topics

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

Campus News

Faculty and Staff News

ARIE

Mason Lighting the Way: Josh Kinchen

Colleen Rich — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 21:07:11 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Josh Kinchen Colleen Rich Thu, 02/11/2021 - 16:07

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

More than 100 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.

Josh Kinchen
Associate Director, LGBTQ+ Resources

Task Force Committee: University Policies and Practices

Josh Kinchen

Josh Kinchen uses the pronouns he/him, and he wants you to know that. He was co-chair of the team that revamped George Mason University’s Chosen Name and Pronouns Policy and worked to add “gender expression” to the nondiscrimination policy.

As associate director of the LGBTQ+ Resources in the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment (CCEE), formerly ODIME, Kinchen advises student groups, sits on many committees and does a lot of consulting and training with schools, colleges, and departments across the university that want to learn more about working with LGBTQ+ students.

“Some of that work looks like training; some looks like conversation,” said Kinchen who serves in leadership roles in the national association ACPA-College Student Educators International. “It's more helping people connect the dots.”

It is work that Kinchen feels called to do.

Kinchen enlisted in U.S. Marine Corps after high school and was at boot camp when 9/11 happened. After his service, he worked some hospitality jobs before ending up at a community college in North Carolina where he was working while taking classes. He found he really loved higher education.

“I had an advisor who said, ‘You should think about working with students for a living.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that!’” he said.

In the years between that “aha” moment and Mason, he earned a BA in communication studies and an MEd in higher education administration from University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where he also held a graduate assistant position working with LGBTQ+ students. Before coming to Mason in February 2018, he was working at Florida State as the program coordinator for student governance and advocacy.

Kinchen said he was excited to be working on the Policies and Practices committee because this work directly impacts the students and communities he and his CCEE colleagues interact with on a daily basis.

“This is the ecosystem that I work in,” he said. “There are some places that you when say ‘diversity and inclusion,’ the only aspect that comes out is race and ethnicity, which of course is incredibly important. [LGBTQ+ work] is intersectional with every other identity. So having someone who brings LGBTQ+ work into that conversation elevates the whole process.”

For Kinchen, the task force is about coalition building and helping his colleagues understand the nuances of identity and how things might affect people in different ways.

“I think the folks that do diversity inclusion work, none of us would consider ourselves experts because there's always more to know,” he said. “Having more people at the table with different perspectives and understandings makes the work richer, more dynamic and just better in general.”

“It behooves all of us to understand who our students are, to know what they need. We have to understand the complexity of the world for us to be able to do our work. Every social movement in the past 50 years has started on a college campus. Students can lead the way because they are intuitively understanding what the next thing is—and we get to be a part of that process.”

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

Mason Lighting the Way spotlights

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

Campus News

ARIE

Mason Lighting the Way: Dominique Dowling

Colleen Rich — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:36:10 +0000

Mason Lighting the Way: Dominique Dowling Colleen Rich Wed, 02/03/2021 - 13:36

Mason Lighting the Way

Spotlights from the Task Force

A few weeks ago the United States was captivated by poet Amanda Gorman and the words she spoke at President Biden’s inauguration. Among them were: “For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

President Gregory Washington wants Mason to be a national exemplar in anti-racism and inclusive excellence, and these task force members are helping to light the way for this important work.

Dominique Dowling
Junior, Integrative Studies Major
Committees: Student Voice and University Policies and Practices

Junior Dominique Dowling has been working to enact social change since high school. She joined the GMU NAACP chapter in her second year at Mason, and now she is the group’s vice president.

Through the chapter, she has been involved in numerous panels and committees, which inspired her to do more anti-racism work on campus.

“Being part of the NAACP has exposed me to different initiatives and people who have been doing this work for years,” said the integrative studies major. “It made me realize that anti-racism work requires an ongoing dedication because there is always work to be done.”

Dowling has been involved with a number of organizations including Student Government. She said she was excited to be involved with the task force because she believes students are often left out of the conversation.

“Many times our voices are not heard due to the lack of representation or the simple fact that one student can't express the concerns of more than 30,000 students,” said Dowling. “I felt like this was my opportunity to elevate the voices and grievances that many students have.”

When asked about her career goals, Dowling is clear about her aspirations: She wants to one day be the U.S. secretary of education. Toward that goal, she plans on continuing on at Mason to complete her MEd and then become an elementary school teacher and eventually work in school administration. And she said her task force work has influenced her trajectory.

“I want to implement anti-racist and social justice components into my teaching,” she said. “Through administrative roles, I want to help other teachers to also implement those principles so that young people don't have to wait until they get the opportunity to take a college course on identity to become aware of inequities.”

Topics

Mason Lighting the Way spotlights

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

Campus News

Students

ARIE

Fighting the fires of social and racial unrest

Mariam Aburdeineh — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 20:16:18 +0000

Fighting the fires of social and racial unrest Mariam Aburdeineh Thu, 01/21/2021 - 15:16

In This Story

Gregory Washington

To honor the memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and recognize those on campus who actively live out his vision, George Mason University will host the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Evening of Reflection and awards ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m. via Zoom.

“This year, it is particularly important to continue on with the Evening of Reflection, as we consider the state of our nation,” said Hamal Strayhorn, director of the Office of Coalition Building and Diversity Education at Mason. “Our nation has experienced the loss of 400,000 lives to COVID-19, social and economic disparity in full view, the continuation of black bodies being murdered by police without accountability and racial unrest. On Jan. 6 we all witnessed a failed insurrection in our nation’s capital, which was rooted in divisiveness and racism.”

“Our hope is that students and attendees will understand that in our nation and world there is still a lot of work to do around issues of social justice, equity and inclusion and that ‘the time is always right to do what is right,’” Strayhorn said, quoting Dr. King.

Mason President Gregory Washington will be the event’s keynote speaker and will address this year’s theme of “The Burning House,” which comes from another Dr. King quote:

“I’ve come upon something that disturbs me deeply. We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know we will win, but I have come to believe that we are integrating into a burning house…”

“How will our commitment to anti-racism work be like the ‘firefighters’ preventing the ‘house’ from burning completely down?” Strayhorn said. “[President Washington] will also look at how the work of anti-racism touches and affects our students, professional members, the local community, the commonwealth and eventually our nation.”

Following the keynote address, representatives from the student body will have the opportunity to ask questions relating to the theme, the work the university is doing around anti-racism, or how they can play a part in keeping Dr. King’s vision at the forefront of social change, Strayhorn said.

Students, faculty and staff who are doing influential work centered on Dr. King’s vision will also be honored with the Spirit of King Awards.

“The MLK Evening of Reflection shows that George Mason University is committed to diversity, excellence, and inclusion and to addressing the hard questions of where we are as a people and nation,” Strayhorn said.