The Mason Spirit

Two academic units at Mason welcomed new deans over the summer. Edward Rhodes began as dean of the School of Public Policy (SPP) on July 1, and Mark R. Ginsberg started his tenure as dean of the College of Education and Human Development on August 1. Rhodes has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and…

Continue Reading New Leadership for CEHD, SPP

Some little girls dream of being a teacher or a nurse. Some fantasize about becoming president or an astronaut. Jamie (Girolamo) Konstas, BS Integrative Studies ’00, knew she wanted to work for the FBI.

Ten years after graduating from Mason’s New Century College (NCC), Konstas is living her dream. She serves as a critical information link between law enforcement agencies across the country and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where she is detailed by the FBI’s Crimes against Children Unit.

Early in her career as an intelligence analyst, Konstas recognized that child traffickers seemed to have a network, calling each other from other cities to find out where they could work or areas to avoid.

Continue Reading Jamie Konstas: Emotional Rescue

Everyone has heard that you should conserve water by taking short showers and turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth. But did you know that you also conserve energy—electricity—by doing so?

According to Mason engineer Sharon deMonsabert, water usage consumes more energy than all other energy consumers, such as appliances, in the average household. The reason is that the water must first be pumped from the source to a water treatment facility, treated to drinking water standards, and then pumped to a residence or business. Finally, the wastewater must be pumped back to the facility for retreatment. All that pumping and treatment demands a huge amount of electricity.

Continue Reading Working the Kinks Out of Sustainability

From the window of her L’Enfant Plaza office in Washington, D.C., Mason alumna Debbie Hersman, MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’00, can see it all: planes taking off and landing at Reagan National Airport, vehicles on the interstate, boats moving along the Potomac River. It’s American transportation in all its glory, and it all comes…

Continue Reading Debbie Hersman: Safety First

Major: PhD in Economics Hometown: Stafford, Virginia Semper Fi: In 2004, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl volunteered to escort home the remains of PFC Chance Phelps, a Marine killed in the Iraq War. Strobl kept a diary throughout the trip, which took him from Dover, Delaware, to Dubois, Wyoming. Those notes would eventually become the basis…

Continue Reading Patriot Profile: Michael Strobl

The 2006 Final Four was great. I bought tons of Mason stuff celebrating our historic run. I collected magazine articles, newspaper clippings, Internet articles, and such, so that years from now I can relive those glorious moments. Ah, but I also remember the good old days. I entered Mason in fall 1975 as a freshman….

Continue Reading Mason Memory: Basketball Back in the Day

More Grammar Goofs Please do not publish letters like the one from Raoul Drapeau, who took a misguided stand on the who/whom issue. He, and his sixth-grade teacher, represent a shrinking minority who believe those rules recorded by a group of monks in the Middle Ages (at least those who survived the Black [Death]) were…

Continue Reading Letters from Our Readers

It is indeed a privilege to serve as the new president of the George Mason University Alumni Association. Mason was a wonderful place for me as a student, and I smile when I think about its bright future. The great part of being alumni is that our Mason story continues. During my two years as…

Continue Reading Dear Mason Nation

Interdisciplinary work, in the classroom and in the research laboratory, has always been a hallmark of George Mason University. We appreciate interdisciplinary endeavors and believe that breakthroughs most likely will come not from the core of a discipline but at the boundaries between the disciplines. Cutting-edge programs, such as our new degrees in bioengineering, environmental…

Continue Reading Crossing Disciplines

Public policy professor Janine Wedel has been a pioneer in applying anthropological insights to topics that are typically the terrain of political scientists and economists. In her new book, Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market (Basic Books, 2010), she details a new system of power and influence…

Continue Reading Janine Wedel: Who Is Really in Charge?