The Mason Spirit

How about some good food, beer, and music? Throw in a round of golf. Add a gorgeous location and your favorite basketball team to cheer for, and what do you get? A trip to Charleston, S.C.! Coach Larranaga and the rest of the men’s basketball team are heading to coastal South Carolina this weekend to…

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Win a Homecoming Weekend Prize Package by Entering Our Sweetheart 16 Contest! Tell us how you and your sweetheart are connected to Mason and you could win tickets and lodging during Homecoming Weekend 2011, February 4–6. We launched the Sweetheart 16 contest a little more than a week ago and the stories have just poured…

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As the caffeinated followers of Starbucks cheer the news that the coffee behemoth may soon add alcohol to its menu, David Gwathmey, MBA ’06, has one thing to say: been there, done that—and rather successfully, we might add. “I’m flattered,” he says of Starbucks’ plans. “It looks like Grape + Bean all the way!” Gwathmey,…

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It’s been five seasons already? To mark the historic occasion when Coach Larranaga took a scrappy yet determined Mason men’s basketball team to the Final Four, Mason will be giving out bobbleheads of the ’05-’06 starters at five games this season. Yes, they’re all represented: At the December 1 game against George Washington, the first…

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You’ve read about the 20 great reasons to go to class from the Fall 2010 issue of the Mason Spirit. As promised, we’ve done a little extra credit: five more amazing classes offered at Mason. 21. The American President Many universities require history and poli sci students to take a course on the American presidents,…

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Hey alum! While sitting in your office cube, wishing Mason had a video game design degree when you were here, hop online and hang 10 over to the new Mason Alumni Association website. Recently launched, the colorful and interactive site is your one-stop-shop for staying connected to your old stomping grounds (remember waking up in the…

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Self-Study Teacher Research: Improving Your Practice through Collaborative Inquiry Anastasia P. Samaras, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education Designed to help teachers plan, implement, and assess a manageable self-study research project, Self-Study Teacher Research: Improving Your Practice through Collaborative Inquiry (Sage Publications, April 2010), this textbook covers the foundation, history, theoretical underpinnings, and methods of…

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Organizational Learning at NASA: The Challenger and Columbia Accidents Julianne G. Mahler, Associate Professor of Government and Politics Organizational Learning at NASA: The Challenger and Columbia Accidents (Georgetown University Press, April 2009) thoroughly examines NASA’s loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. After offering an account of the processes that constitute organizational learning, Mahler…

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Real Stories of Nursing Research: The Quest for Magnet Recognition M. Maureen Kirkpatrick McLaughlin (PhD Nursing ’04), Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing, and Sally A. Bulla (PhD Nursing ’03) Real Stories of Nursing Research: The Quest for Magnet Recognition (Jones and Bartlett, 2010) demonstrates how direct care nurses in clinical settings can conduct nursing research…

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On the Trail of the D.C. Sniper: Fear and the Media Jack Censer, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences In On the Trail of the D.C. Sniper: Fear and the Media (University of Virginia Press, April 2010), Jack Censer uses the October 2002 Washington, D.C., sniper attacks to explore the shifting character of…

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