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

Announcing the 2022 ARIE Seed Funding Awardees

Natalie Bui — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 20:56:10 +0000

Announcing the 2022 ARIE Seed Funding Awardees Natalie Bui Mon, 02/06/2023 - 15:56

The Office of Research Innovation and Economic Impact and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, is delighted to announce the results of the 2022 ARIE Seed Funding Initiative. The ARIE seed funding emerged as one of the recommendations from the ARIE Task Force’s Research Committee to support research, scholarship and creative activities addressing the myriad issues on the theme of anti-racism and inclusive excellence. Such research, scholarship and creative activities continue to drive our commitment to be a national leader in anti-racism and inclusive excellence.

In April, 2022, Call for Proposals was posted for the ARIE Seed Funding. We received 29 applications which were externally reviewed by over 20 reviewers. A total of 7 applications were selected for funding.

The awarded teams PIs and Co-PIs (in no particular order), and their project titles, are noted below:

Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence: A Proposal to Improving the Hiring Process: Co-PI: Michael Fauntroy, Schar School of Policy and Government; Co-PI: Judith Wilde, Schar School of Policy and Government
Reducing Inequalities in Domestic and Sexual Violence Services in Fairfax County: A Mixed Methods Evaluation to Inform Antiracist Community Engagement through Exploring Unique Barriers to Access and Service Use Among Diverse At-risk Community Members: PI: Michelle D. Hand, College of Public Health; Co-PI: Denise A. Hines, College of Public Health; Co-PI: Jeanne Booth, College of Public Health
IndigenoUs Northern Virginia: Activating Local and Diasporic Native Identities at Mason: Co-PI: Gabrielle Tayac, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Co-PI: T. Mills Kelly, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Co-PI: Alison Landsberg, College of Humanities and Social Sciences;
Building a Diverse Pipeline of Anti-Racist Social Scientists: A Three-Pronged Approach: Co-PI: Meagan Call-Cummings, College of Education and Human Development; Co-PI: Amy L. Best, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Co-PI: Khaseem Davis, Early Identification Program; Co-I: Sharrell Hassell-Goodman, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Integrating Art and Research to Advance Social Equity: Co-PI: Janani Umamaheswar, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Co-PI: Robert Norris, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Anti-Racist Collaborative Arts At Mason: Co-PI: Matthew Dievendorf, College of Visual and Performing Arts; Co-PI: Michael Nickens, College of Visual and Performing Arts; Co-PI: Wendi N. Manuel-Scott, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Co-PI: Cynthia Fuchs, College of Visual and Performing Arts and College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Co-PI: Thomas Stanley, College of Visual and Performing Arts; Co-PI: William Lake, College of Visual and Performing Arts; Co-PI: Adrienne Bryant Godwin, College of Visual and Performing Arts
Collective Organizing En La CASA: Empowering Health Equity And Healing In The Face Of Structural Racism And Illegality: Co-PI: Jhumka Gupta, College of Public Health; Co-PI: Bethany Letiecq, College of Education and Human Development

We want to thank all the teams that participated in the competition and congratulations to the teams selected for funding.

Be on the lookout for the 2023 ARIE Seed Funding Call for Proposals later this Spring. Those who are interested in last year’s Call for Proposal can find it at https://resdev.gmu.edu/funding-opportunities/2022-anti-racism-inclusive-excellence-seed-funding/

Andre Marshall, Vice President, Research Innovation and Economic Impact

Sharnnia Artis, Vice President, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer

Topics

Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion

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

Office of Research Innovation and Economic Impact

Strategic Direction

NAACP Arlington honors Mason’s ARIE Initiative and community partnership

Colleen Rich — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 23:51:43 +0000

NAACP Arlington honors Mason’s ARIE Initiative and community partnership Colleen Rich Wed, 12/07/2022 - 18:51

��ӽ紫ý’s commitment to anti-racism and inclusive excellence is being honored with the 2022 NAACP Arlington Branch President's Award.

President Gregory Washington; Sharnnia Artis, vice president for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and chief diversity officer; the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force; and Toni Andrews, senior associate director, Office of Community and Local Government Relations, were selected to receive the honor on behalf of the university. The NAACP Arlington Branch will present the awards at its 2022 Freedom Fund Virtual Banquet on Wednesday, December 14.

“We are celebrating our partnership with the faculty, students, and stakeholders that have significantly impacted student success and, most importantly, societal change,” said Julius “JD” Spain Jr., branch president, NAACP Arlington.

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.

The NAACP President’s Award, granted at the discretion of the branch president, is a distinguished honor given to an individual or group/organization that is “actively challenging others to embrace diversity and ensure greater opportunity for all people.”

"We are grateful for this honor," said Artis. "This recognition is confirmation that the research, teaching, creative activities, and service our students, faculty, and staff are leading and engaged in are having a positive impact at Mason and in the community."

In October, Mason hosted the first ARIE Conference at Mason Square (formerly Arlington Campus), celebrating the impact of research and the shared goal of shaping a more equitable future. More than 400 faculty, staff, students and community members attended in-person or virtually.

“I’m so proud of the work we do at Mason to engage the community,” Andrews said. “We have a very special relationship with our community partners. Initiatives, like the ARIE Conference, allow us the opportunity to showcase Mason’s talented students and faculty and share our knowledge with the community.”

Topics

Campus News

Mason Square

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

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

Strategic Direction

Learn more about the ARIE initiative

Podcast - EP44: The absurd fallacy of a hierarchy of human value

Damian Cristodero — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 17:45:45 +0000

Podcast - EP44: The absurd fallacy of a hierarchy of human value Damian Cristodero Wed, 11/16/2022 - 12:45

In This Story

Gregory Washington

When Gail Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity and a senior scholar in ��ӽ紫ý’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, talks about “ensuring a future,” she’s really talking about creating a system of equity that produces opportunities for everyone to “actualize their potential.” In her second podcast with Mason President Gregory Washington, Christopher expands on the idea that academic institutions are essential for shifting the cultural ethos to one that is not racist, and discusses the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference recently held at Mason.

Topics

Access to Excellence podcast

Podcast Episode

podcast

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

Sociology: Higher education; inequality and mobility; culture; race

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

��ӽ紫ý’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 ��ӽ紫ý Memorial as an example. The memorial, dedicated earlier this year, came about after five students set out to learn more about the people ��ӽ紫ý 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 BOV approves tuition credit, gets updates on strategic plan, upcoming events

Colleen Rich — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 18:47:51 +0000

Mason BOV approves tuition credit, gets updates on strategic plan, upcoming events Colleen Rich Mon, 10/10/2022 - 14:47

In This Story

Gregory Washington

��ӽ紫ý’s Board of Visitors voted on September 29 to issue credits to in-state undergraduate students in an amount equal to the 3% increase that was approved for the 2022-23 academic year, in effect returning Fiscal Year 2023 tuition levels to 2022 levels.

The total impact on Mason’s budget will be about $5.8 million for this fiscal year. But discussions with state officials during the process led to greater state awareness of the state funding challenges Mason faces compared with its commonwealth peer universities.

When state and tuition funding are combined, Mason is funded nearly $5,000 per in-state student FTE below the mean of five doctoral peer institutions.

“We’ve been told that they’re going to continue to look at the systemic issues that are affecting the campus and are going to look at ways in which they can address them over the coming months,” Mason President Gregory Washington said at the meeting. “I take that as a big win.”

Mason Rector Horace Blackman, a 1993 Mason alum and six-year BOV member, concurred.

“I think the level of engagement we had with the administration has been second to none,” Blackman said. “And I think we are in an appreciably better place today.”

Ken Walsh, Mason vice president for strategic initiatives, provided an update for the BOV on the university’s strategic plan process and said a formal presentation of the plan is scheduled for the December 1 board meeting.

Walsh shared the five priority areas of the plan at the July BOV meeting. Since then, the planning committee has conducted “road-mapping” exercises for each area, identified a series of initiatives and worked with various units across Mason campuses to “lay out a resource-loaded schedule that we’ll be able to follow over the next five years,” Walsh said.

Walsh noted that the roadmap is intended to be “a living document” that will be reviewed on an annual basis.

“We’re developing a series of key performance indicators that we’ll be dashboarding so we’ll be able to provide frequent updates on our overall progress,” Walsh said.

Other items from the BOV meeting:

BOV members saw the recent PBS NewsHour report that highlighted Mason’s ADVANCE partnership with Northern Virginia Community College.
Matt Smith, Mason’s director of accreditation, reiterated to the BOV that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges board will vote on reaffirming Mason’s accreditation in December. In April, SACSCOC found the university in compliance with all 72 standards of accreditation.
Two of the major events coming up at Mason Square: the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference: Vision and Action for a New Era on October 24 with keynote speakers President Washington and Gail Christopher, and the Accelerate Investor Conference on November 2-3, which includes a student start-up competition.

Topics

Campus News

Board of Visitors

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

ADVANCE

Accreditation

Mason now a top 10 public university for diversity, innovation, and cybersecurity education, U.S. News rankings show

Colleen Rich — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 19:48:02 +0000

Mason now a top 10 public university for diversity, innovation, and cybersecurity education, U.S. News rankings show Colleen Rich Mon, 09/12/2022 - 15:48

Photo by Sierra Guard/Creative Services

��ӽ紫ý is among the top 10 most diverse and innovative public universities in the country, as well as top 10 in undergraduate cybersecurity, according to U.S. News & World Report’s “2023 Best Colleges List” rankings released Monday.

Mason jumped five spots to seventh nationally for diversity, and moved up one place to eighth nationally and first in Virginia for innovation. Mason remains first in Virginia for both categories. The undergraduate cybersecurity program jumped to 10th nationally among public universities, up from 15th.

In addition, Mason moved up three spots in the overall rankings to 64th among public universities.

��ӽ紫ý President Gregory Washington said the three top 10 rankings and other U.S. News recognition acknowledge that Mason, with an enrollment nearing 40,000, is an institution that equally values providing opportunities, through the Mason Virginia Promise and other programs, and offering world-class academics and research that drive innovation in the dynamic Washington, D.C., region.

“It’s great to see that the country is recognizing what we already know—��ӽ紫ý is continuing its ascent among the nation’s best universities,” Washington said.

The rankings highlighted several other Mason programs (see a complete list at bottom), including:

Undergraduate computer science climbed five spots to 40th among public universities.
Undergraduate business, engineering and nursing programs also fared particularly well.

Mason has long been known for innovation, an ingrained experiential and entrepreneurial focus developed as a young university. Andre Marshall, vice president for research, innovation and economic development and president of the ��ӽ紫ý Research Foundation, said those strengths continue to grow through multidisciplinary research and external partnerships that bring together different thought leaders, from science and technological experts to the humanities and social sciences, to fuel innovation.

“Mason’s ability to discover and translate new ideas and technology is one of its signature strengths developed over 50 years of taking novel approaches to needs and opportunities,” Marshall said. “Mason is a large-scale university with large-scale impact.”

Mason’s jump in the U.S. News diversity rankings reflects the university’s increasingly diverse freshman classes and Mason’s ability to attract, retain and graduate students from all backgrounds with no marked disparities in outcomes.

Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence efforts underscore that commitment, as does a recent National Science Foundation grant dedicated to building and maintaining more diverse faculty and staff. Mason was also recently ranked by College Factual as No. 1 in the nation for serving veterans and No. 2 among public universities for serving nontraditional students.

“Diversity in its many forms is among our greatest assets at Mason and is in fact one of the many reasons students choose Mason,” said Sharnnia Artis, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion. “Students feel welcome and supported in our university community. These interpersonal experiences on our campuses is another way in which we prepare our students to be successful.”

The cyber and computer science rankings emphasize Mason’s leading role in the Tech Talent Investment Program, a statewide initiative to fill critical job vacancies in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition to the cyber and computer science rankings, undergraduate engineering was 57th among public universities, another indication that Mason is educating and graduating the digital innovators of the future.

“Mason is holding up its end of the bargain in delivering career-ready tech talent in high-demand fields,” said Ken Ball, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. “These accolades also shine a light on Fuse at Mason Square, which will soon be a hub of innovation in support of Amazon HQ2 and the tech industry throughout the region.”

Other Mason undergraduate programs U.S. News rated particularly highly were undergraduate business (53rd among publics) and nursing (70th).

The business school ranking highlights a host of strengths in serving students, including the school’s national and international focus, said School of Business Dean Ajay Vinzé, whose ambitious goals include building a new business school.

“This ranking affirms our ability to produce career-ready graduates, stay atop of technology and innovation, conduct impactful research, and collaborate with the business community,” Vinzé said.

The undergraduate nursing category was a ranking that U.S. News added last year. Mason’s ranking, up from last year, comes at a time when the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) is vying to become the state’s first College of Public Health.

CHHS Dean Melissa J. Perry noted that health care careers are expected to increase by more than 2 million jobs in the next decade. Mason has been supplying the region with nurses for almost five decades.

“There is a nursing crisis, and there is a health care provider crisis,” Perry said. “The U.S. News recognition signals to the country that Mason is rising to this challenge by providing top-notch educational opportunities to ensure a future with expertly prepared health care providers.”

Overall ranking
Publics: 64 (up from 67)
Nationally: 137 (up from 148)

Diversity
Publics: 7 (up from 12) Best in Virginia
Nationally: 13(up from 21)

Innovation
Publics: 8 (up from 9) Best in Virginia
Nationally: 20

Undergraduate Cybersecurity
Publics: 10 (up from 15)
Nationally: 19 (up from 28)

Undergraduate Computer Science
Publics: 40 (up from 45)
Nationally: 72 (up from 82)

Undergraduate Business
Publics: 53
Nationally: 86

Undergraduate Engineering
Publics: 57
Nationally: 94

Undergraduate Nursing
Publics: 70 (up from 71)
Nationally: 93 (up from 96)

Best for Veterans
Publics: 58 (up from 62)
Nationally: 89

A+ School for B Students

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More About How Mason Stacks Up in the Rankings

��ӽ紫ý’s vital role in advancing Virginia as America’s top state in business
July 15, 2024
��ӽ紫ý in the Rankings
June 18, 2024
Student Health Services’ designation for LGBTQ+ health care practices is the latest recognition of ��ӽ紫ý’s inclusive campus environment
May 31, 2024
Mason has 14 graduate programs in the top 50 in U.S. News rankings
April 10, 2024
Mason’s research is best in Virginia in multiple EduRank rankings
April 3, 2024

In This Story

Gregory Washington

Kenneth Ball

Melissa J. Perry, Sc.D., MHS

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Campus News

Rankings

Costello College of Business

College of Engineering and Computing

College of Health and Human Services

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

Costello College of Business News

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Team of Mason researchers win NSF ADVANCE Catalyst grant for STEM programs

Colleen Rich — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 19:07:48 +0000

Team of Mason researchers win NSF ADVANCE Catalyst grant for STEM programs Colleen Rich Mon, 08/29/2022 - 15:07

A team of ��ӽ紫ý employees dedicated to building and maintaining more diverse faculty and staff has secured a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Catalyst grant for just under $300,000 to help them with the process.

From left, Mason faculty Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, Jaime Lester, Girum Urgessa, Milagros Rivera, and Leigh McCue Weil. Photo by Anthony Bahizi

Team members for this project include Milagros Rivera, director of faculty diversity, inclusion and well-being, Office of the Provost; Jaime R. Lester, associate dean of faculty affairs, strategic initiatives, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Kim Eby, vice provost for faculty affairs and development, Office of the Provost; Girum Urgessa, associate professor of civil, environmental and infrastructure engineering, College of Engineering and Computing (CEC); Leigh McCue-Weil, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, CEC; and Tehama M. López Bunyasi, associate professor in the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

“I called for a group of people from science, engineering, and social sciences to have discussions about how we could frame the potential grant,” said Rivera.

This diverse group of scholars conducts multidisciplinary research that helped secure the grant, which was submitted in June 2021. In February 2022, they were asked to respond to technical questions from reviewers before the official notification of award was received in May.

Illustration by Getty Images

The grant marks the first step of a long-term project. “This is try number three and five years in the making, so we’re pretty excited that we were finally able to secure the grant,” said Lester.

NSF has three types of grants: Catalyst, Adaptation, and Institutional Transformation. Catalyst, the smallest of the grants, funds university research that will lead to innovative ideas and bigger grants to implement the ideas.

The goal of this grant program is to advance representation of women in higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs and careers. For more than two decades, the NSF has invested millions of dollars to support these catalyst-funded projects at more than 100 institutions of higher education and STEM-related nonprofit organizations.

“Winning this coveted grant signals to the nation that ��ӽ紫ý is an R1 institution that is serious about dismantling barriers to greatness,” said López Bunyasi. “It’s committed to preparing its diverse student body for the immense challenges that lie ahead.”

The team's research will focus on increasing diversity among faculty within Mason’s STEM programs. This research will also contribute to work begun with President Gregory Washington’s Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence initiative.

Currently, the faculty/staff demographics of Mason lag behind the diversity of the student body.

“Our numbers are low. Black faculty is not quite 6%, and Latinx faculty is not even 4%,” said Rivera. Approaching the lack of diversity among STEM faculty at a systemic level is how the catalyst-funded project plans to implement new equitable policies.

Although the grant is exclusively focused on faculty diversity, students will benefit in the long run. “Our students cannot be what they cannot see, and having more STEM faculty diversity will certainly be a motivating factor for them to pursue STEM fields, as well as for pursuing academic careers,” Urgessa said.

The team will focus on three general areas during their research: institutional culture, recruitment and hiring, and equity.

“Universities are ecosystems, you have different things supporting one another,” Rivera said. “When we improve institutional barriers that impede the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty, there are outcomes at the student level.”

The grant will reside in the Office of the Provost.

“Even though the grant is for STEM, the best practices really apply to the entire university. The result of having an ADVANCE grant is that it has a broader impact,” said Rivera.

Topics

Office of the Provost

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

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Research

The Inclusive Teaching and Curriculum Initiative seeks to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for all students to increase learning

John Hollis — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 15:09:04 +0000

The Inclusive Teaching and Curriculum Initiative seeks to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for all students to increase learning John Hollis Fri, 08/26/2022 - 11:09

The Inclusive Teaching and Curriculum Initiative seeks to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for all students. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

Christopher A. Carr, chief diversity office in ��ӽ紫ý’s College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), sees the new Inclusive Teaching and Curriculum Initiative as a natural response to President Gregory Washington’s call for exemplars in combating systemic racism and the marginalization of underserved groups in academia.

The two-workshop program, which was developed by the college’s Office of Diversity, Outreach, and Inclusive Learning (DOIL), is an acknowledgement that the increase in diverse student populations entering higher education has not been met by a corresponding increase in resources for faculty to teach those visible and often invisible entities, Carr said.

The team piloted a short course for CEC and College of Science faculty, offering them tools and techniques for fostering inclusion and making them aware of university resources available to them.

Three faculty enrolled in a longer five-module course on “in-depth inclusive curriculum practices that are designed around identity, power, positionality and privilege and their system effects in higher education,” Carr said.

The initiative is part of efforts to heed the call of President Washington’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force (ARIE), which joined the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning and the Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning in funding curriculum design, teaching strategies and pedagogical resources supporting anti-racist and inclusive teaching. Supporting the integration of ARIE throughout the Mason curriculum was one of the three areas recommended for funding by the task force’s Curriculum and Pedagogy Committee.

Short-course topics covered introduction to tools/techniques needed to foster inclusion, and introduction to inclusive assessment tools and course resources. Long-course workshop modules included topics surrounding the current state of inclusive pedagogy in engineering education, student-centered course design, and course activities and appropriate space needed for more inclusive classrooms.

Inclusive classrooms are settings in which the instructors/faculty and students work together to create and sustain an environment where all feel safe, supported and encouraged to express their views and concerns.

“We hope that, in these classrooms, content is deliberately viewed from multiple perspectives and the varied experiences of a range of groups,” said Carr, who noted the critical assistance of Christi Wilcox, his diversity associate, in putting things together.

Faculty members who took part in the summer’s long-course workshop were Mihai Boicu, an associate professor and associate director at the Learning Agents Center Information Sciences and Technology School of Computing within the CEC; Eugene Kim, an assistant professor of bioengineering in the CEC; and Katherine (Raven) Russell, an assistant professor of computer science within the College of Engineering and Computing.

“We want to ensure that faculty are able to present content in a style that reduces all students’ experiences of marginalization and, whenever possible, helps students and faculty understand that their individual experience, values and perspectives influence how they construct and evaluate knowledge in any field or discipline,” Carr said.

Topics

Campus News

Faculty and Staff News

College of Engineering and Computing

College of Science

Inclusion

diversity

Center of Community Engagement and Civic Learning CECiL

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

Dominique Dowling is Mason’s 2022 Senior of the Year

Colleen Rich — Wed, 18 May 2022 16:00:30 +0000

Dominique Dowling is Mason’s 2022 Senior of the Year Colleen Rich Wed, 05/18/2022 - 12:00

Topics

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

School of Integrative Studies

Trent leads new White House Initiative on HBCUs

Colleen Rich — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 18:39:33 +0000

Trent leads new White House Initiative on HBCUs Colleen Rich Wed, 03/09/2022 - 13:39

Dietra Trent. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

Dietra Trent, special advisor to ��ӽ紫ý President Gregory Washington, has been named executive director of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). She started Feb. 28.

Trent, who also served as chief of staff for Interim President Anne Holton during the 2019-20 academic year and was a key driver of Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force, was previously Virginia Secretary of Education.

“I’m truly honored to have been selected to work in this capacity in the Biden-Harris Administration and for Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona,” said Trent, a graduate of Hampton University, a Virginia HBCU. “I look forward to promoting HBCUs across the country and sharing the history and excellence that come from these colleges and universities. It’s a great opportunity.”

Trent also served as Mason’s interim vice president for Compliance, Diversity and Ethics, and was pivotal in establishing ARIE, one of Washington’s signature initiatives. ARIE, with a university-wide task force of more than 100 members, harnessed and expanded Mason’s existing equity and inclusion efforts to root out systemic discrimination and racism at the largest and most diverse public university in Virginia and establish Mason as a national exemplar in anti-racism and inclusion.

“Dietra was given a number of challenging initiatives to successfully launch and manage, and she did a tremendous job,” Washington said. “In a relatively short time as a Patriot, she made a profound positive impact at Mason with work that is now embedded in the fabric of our university.”

Trent’s new role likely will intersect with Mason on occasion. Under Washington, Mason launched the Hire-Excellence and Diversity Institute (Hire-ED), a partnership with Virginia HBCUs Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, and Virginia Union University. Hire-ED connects graduates to career opportunities in high-demand industries.

Trent served as Virginia secretary of education under Gov. Terry McAuliffe, deputy secretary of education under Gov. Tim Kaine, and director of constituent services under Gov. Mark Warner. Her charge now is to work with the Executive Office of the President and Secretary Cardona to eliminate barriers faced by HBCUs. She will lead priorities focusing on government policies, projects, and programs that serve HBCUs.

“The one thing HBCUs do better than any other university in the world is teach leadership,” Trent said. “Not only do they have incredible leadership programs, but they embed leadership, excellence, and service in every course. I often say that I earned my master’s and PhD from VCU. But I got my education from Hampton University.”

Topics

Faculty and Staff News

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

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

Announcing the 2022 ARIE Seed Funding Awardees

Topics

NAACP Arlington honors Mason’s ARIE Initiative and community partnership

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Podcast - EP44: The absurd fallacy of a hierarchy of human value

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

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Mason BOV approves tuition credit, gets updates on strategic plan, upcoming events

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Mason now a top 10 public university for diversity, innovation, and cybersecurity education, U.S. News rankings show

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More About How Mason Stacks Up in the Rankings

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Team of Mason researchers win NSF ADVANCE Catalyst grant for STEM programs

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The Inclusive Teaching and Curriculum Initiative seeks to foster a more welcoming atmosphere for all students to increase learning

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Dominique Dowling is Mason’s 2022 Senior of the Year

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Trent leads new White House Initiative on HBCUs

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