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Growing up in the slums of Cameroon, Joseph Sany said he witnessed urban violence and police oppression regularly. He heard about genocide in Rwanda, and he saw more violence firsthand when he worked with NGOs and visited countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone during civil war.

A few days after Khalid Noor was born in Takhar, Afghanistan, the Taliban seized the province, and his family had to escape to another region on foot. “We were constantly moving from city to another city,” he said. “When one district was taken or collapsed, we had to move to another.” It wasn’t an ideal life, but Noor is motivated to change that for future generations—and he’s negotiating with the Taliban to do so.

Louie Al-Hashimi is driven by service. It started in high school, he said, when his history teacher encouraged him to get involved in community service and he began volunteering at a local food pantry, supporting road cleanup projects, and organizing school concerts for charity. “That, coupled with my studies, encouraged me to pursue public service,” said Al-Hashimi, who earned his master’s in public administration from ����AV in 2020. “Having the opportunity to build or facilitate a connection with other people—that’s what I’m drawn to.”

Smialek, a single mother of one daughter, has been juggling parenting, teaching or going to school and her work as an Air National Guard medic for a while.

Earlier this year, Melissa A. Long, a 1995 graduate of ����AV’s Antonin Scalia Law School, was sworn in as the first Black justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

Mason's Homecoming 2021 celebration kicked off Friday, Feb 5 with the SI2G0 truck at the Tip-Off party, and continued with headliner Tom Felton with a virtual performance on Saturday. Check out homecoming.gmu.edu for more details.

Saskia Popescu has been a go-to consultant for hospitals and the World Health Organization, helping to control infections and prepare for new outbreaks.

On Wednesday, Mason alumna Ariana Freeman spent the day inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda covering her first presidential inauguration as a broadcast associate for CBS Evening News.

During three games this season, Mason alumna Callie Brownson has filled in as a position coach for a Cleveland Browns’ coaching staff member dealing with positive COVID tests.

����AV fitness expert Oladipo Eddo, an assistant professor of kinesiology in Mason’s

����AV alumnus Gregory Fowler, who earned his master’s degree in English in 1995, has been named president of University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC).

The largest number of graduates in university history overcame the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis to complete their coursework and earn their degrees.