The Mason Spirit

Women of Color on the Rise Halaevalu F. Ofahengaue Vakalahi, associate professor of social work, with Wilma Peebles Wilkins In Women of Color on the Rise Rise (Columbia University Press, November 2009), Ofahengaue Vakalahi presents essays by African American, Asian American, Latina, Pacific Islander, and Native American women on their experiences working within the field…

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Optimizing Emergency Department Throughput: Operations Management Solutions for Health Care Decision Makers Jay Shiver, assistant professor, Health Administration and Policy, with David Eitel Featuring articles by 20 of the most successful health care reformers in the country, Optimizing Emergency Department Throughput: Operations Management Solutions for Health Care Decision Maker (CRC Press, 2009) focuses on providing…

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Assessing Impairment: From Theory to Practice Jack A. Naglieri, professor of psychology, with Sam Goldstein The first in-depth treatment of the theory, definition, and evaluation of this core concept, Assessing Impairment: From Theory to Practice (Springer, June 2009) cuts through the confusion and cross-talk. Leading scholars and clinicians offer evidence for a much-needed reconceptualization of…

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Brain-Compatible Differentiated Instruction for English Language Learners Marjorie Hall Haley, associate professor, College of Education and Human Development Brain-Compatible Differentiated Instruction for English Language Learners (Allyn & Bacon/Merrill, June 2009) is written for teachers looking for solid instructional practices that work well with mainstream and English language learners. Drawing on current neuroscience research, the book…

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Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World Tyler Cowen, BS Economics ’83, professor of economics In Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World (Dutton, July 2009), Cowen shows that the way we think now is changing more rapidly than it has in a long time….

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Mason education professor Elavie Ndura-Ouédraogo is passionate about peace education and believes it should be introduced in school curricula. She is using her native country of Burundi to show how such programs can be implemented. Widely published on the topic, Ndura-Ouédraogo recently contributed to 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Peace and Reconciliation (Atwood Publishing, July…

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I stood in the back parking lot of a Fairfax bar awaiting my professor, Vassily Aksyonov. He was a famous guy, but I hardly knew him, hardly knew that generations of Russians had made of him something of a hero. All I knew was that he was an affable guy and an enthusiastic teacher. When…

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A recent study completed by Mason researcher Mona Ternus found that a woman’s military deployment affects her health, as well as that of her adolescent children. The research shows that deployment served as a catalyst for health and behavior change of both mothers and their adolescent children—and the longer the deployment, the greater the effect….

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Think of the coldest place on Earth—and then multiply that cold dozens of times. That’s the average temperature of some of the moons orbiting Jupiter. Evidence suggests that oceans may lie beneath the icy surfaces of Jupiter’s moons Titan and Europa. But could living organisms possibly survive in such a place? Mason biochemist Paul Cooper…

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Dinosaurs have been depicted throughout popular culture as the largest animals to have ever walked on Earth. While they still retain this status, a new study suggests that some dinosaurs may actually have weighed as little as half as much as previously thought. Geoffrey Birchard, associate professor of environmental science and policy at Mason, was…

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