Rob Riordan

Historic gift speaks volumes about George Mason’s Forensics Team

Colleen Rich — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 17:34:55 +0000

Historic gift speaks volumes about George Mason’s Forensics Team Colleen Rich Fri, 08/23/2024 - 13:34

Decades of success for the ��AV Forensics Team are being rewarded through a landmark gift from Bruce Manchester and his partner and husband of 46 years, James “Fred” Emory. During Manchester’s tenure as director of forensics at George Mason, students won more than 10,000 individual and team awards in intercollegiate competition.

This historic planned gift from Manchester and Emory is the largest commitment to date pledged by a George Mason faculty member.

Professor Emeritus Bruce Manchester stands next to a photo of himself in the Horizon Hall exhibit: "Past, Present, Future: Mason's Core Remains Constant." Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of University Branding

Their gift will establish endowments to support the nationally recognized team in perpetuity. The pledge, in the form of a future bequest, will create endowed funds to support the positions of program director and assistant director, as well as provide lasting student support to the program through an existing endowed fund. Creating endowed faculty positions helps attract the best professors in the nation to George Mason to teach and lead this prestigious program.

“I could not have asked for a more rewarding career than I had at George Mason. I know how incredibly valuable the forensics program is to students, and I simply want to give back as much as I can to that program,” Manchester said. “As an educator, I want to make sure that George Mason students will always have the opportunity for a strong forensics education.”

Manchester arrived at George Mason in 1975, a time when the young university was eager to find exemplars of success to establish its reputation and credibility. He served as the director of the forensics program from 1975 through 1993, aided by assistant director Sheryl Friedley. The named endowed faculty positions honor Manchester, the George Mason team’s longest serving director, and Friedley, the team’s longest serving assistant director.

“I came here because I was fascinated by the idea of the challenge that George Mason was offering,” recalls Manchester, who is now retired and living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Here was a chance to be on the ground floor in a place that didn’t even have a communication degree, and to be directly involved in developing the degree program.”

Sheryl Friedley and Bruce Manchester, holding the trophy, and the winning Forensics Team members celebrate their national championship victory in 1979. Photo provided

The previous forensics director, Margaret Duffner, who started the program, had been affectionately called “Ma” by her students, Manchester says. “So when I got there, the team decided to call me ‘Doc’ since I had a PhD and was too young to be called ‘Pa’!”

Together, Manchester and Friedley put George Mason forensics in the national spotlight, winning the East Coast Championship an extraordinary 18 consecutive years. George Mason finished in the national top five for 16 of those years, including winning the American Forensic Association national championship in 1979. The pair coached a total of 119 national finalists.

Remarkably, the teams achieved these results even though at least half the team members over the years had no previous forensics experience, Manchester said. “In all the years I was director, we did not have a single student on scholarship for forensics. They were just regular students—they would see our recruiting signs on campus and decide to give it a try.”

“Forensics made them better speakers, better writers. They got better at their academics, their time management,” said Manchester. “If they were willing to put in the work and grow, I was willing to work with them. And I’m very proud of what they did and were able to achieve.”

Professor Emeritus Bruce Manchester (seated) gets a standing ovation at the Forensics Program's 50th anniversary celebration. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of University Branding

“Cocurricular programs such as George Mason’s Forensics Team give students the opportunity to learn and collaborate across disciplines, to uncover insights and gain rich experiences that will contribute to their success after graduation,” said Ann Ardis, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “This extraordinary commitment from Manchester and Emory represents the ideals of how philanthropy can support teaching, students, and programs, to ensure support over generations.”

In the years since, the Forensics Team has continued its outstanding showings and is currently under the direction of Dawn Lowry.

After stepping down as forensics director, Manchester continued as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Communication through 2004, serving as associate chair. He was twice named Faculty Member of the Year by the ��AV Alumni Association and also received George Mason’s David J. King Teaching Award, among other honors. The Communication Department’s student award for outstanding academic achievement is also named in his honor.

For more than 20 years, Manchester was the vice chair of the American Forensic Association’s National Speech Tournament (AFA-NST) Committee. In 2004, the association permanently renamed its annual scholarly research grant as the Dr. Bruce Manchester Scholar Series.

Many of his Forensics Team members remain in touch with Manchester to this day. “Whether you were new to the team or a four-year veteran, the expectations were the same, and you were valued the same,” Manchester said. “We had a saying: ‘The most important thing is not to win, but to struggle.’ That was a motto we lived by. I wanted my students not necessarily to win, but to struggle—both on the team, and in the classroom. And if you do, I promise you that success will come from that.”

For 50 years, the team members have had as their highest goal a top five team award at the national championship. Manchester added, “As a result, teammates learn to count on each other, to help and support each other. The strength of George Mason’s Forensics Team is definitely its camaraderie.”

The gift from Manchester and Emory was announced at a reunion event marking 50 years of the forensics program at George Mason, which was attended by more than 140 alumni who traveled from 16 states and overseas.

“I feel so incredibly blessed to have experienced a career path and location for my work that was so fulfilling,” Manchester said.

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College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Dewberry School of Music Announces $5 Million Commitment for Scholarships

Pam Muirheid — Wed, 18 May 2022 17:15:16 +0000

Dewberry School of Music Announces $5 Million Commitment for Scholarships Pam Muirheid Wed, 05/18/2022 - 13:15

In This Story

Dr. Linda Apple Monson

Gregory Washington

School of Music students with Sid Dewberry (center) and Dr. Linda Monson (far left).

At this year’s Grand Piano Celebration, the school honored Sid Dewberry for his lifetime spirit of generosity.

The annual Grand Piano Celebration at ��AV, always dedicated to the joy of music, this year celebrated something more: the spirit of generosity embodied by Sidney O. Dewberry, in whose honor the school was recently renamed.

During the virtual event, livestreamed on Sunday afternoon, September 13, Linda Monson, director of the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, announced recent additional gifts from the Dewberrys that bring the total commitment for the Linda Apple Monson Scholars to $5 million.

Fulfilled through both current and pledged support, these gifts add to the Dr. Linda Apple Monson Scholars Endowed Fund, established by the Dewberrys to support scholarships for Mason music students. Additional generous donors to the endowed fund are Nina Toups, the Claude Moore Foundation, and Anne and Ronald Abramson.

“We are thrilled and honored that the school of music is now renamed the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music in honor of the Dewberrys’ lifetime legacy of giving and generous support of our beloved school,” said Monson in the Grand Piano Celebration introduction.

“You’ve expressed that your dream is to put Mason music on top of the heap,” Monson continued. “Well, it’s happening. Your transformational gifts of incredible scholarship endowment support for our Mason music students are indeed helping to make this dream come true.”

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Dewberry School of Music

Donors rally to support students in the Green Machine Ensembles for Mason Vision Day

Colleen Rich — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 21:57:33 +0000

Donors rally to support students in the Green Machine Ensembles for Mason Vision Day Colleen Rich Wed, 04/13/2022 - 17:57

Doc Nix and members of the Green Machine perform during Mason Vision Day. Photo by Evan Cantwell, Creative Services

Thursday, April 7, 2022, was a day for the history books at ��AV.

In addition to recognizing Mason’s 50th anniversary as an independent university—a milestone marked in a rousing celebration at the Johnson Center—it was also Mason Vision Day, a day of giving that aimed to unite the entire university community around their shared passion for a single cause.

This year, that cause was the Green Machine Ensembles, a group made up of hundreds of students, alumni, and community members devoted to celebrating the power of music to inspire spirit and shape lives.

Among the most celebrated college pep bands in the country, the Green Machine spreads Mason spirit at athletic events, campus celebrations, and off-campus performances throughout the region and beyond, with a total of nine groups—including the Drumline, Mason World Winterguard, the Fife and Drum Corps, and the Dirty Gold Brass Band—comprising the Green Machine Ensembles.

“The Green Machine has always been more than just a band,” said Trishana Bowden, vice president of advancement and alumni relations, and president of the ��AV Foundation. “It is a community and a movement, with students from all walks of life that represent Mason at its best. The Green Machine is the ideal cause for our university’s fundraising energies on Mason Vision Day.”

In addition to its online giving component, Mason Vision Day included in-person events on all Mason campuses, and happy hour parties in eight cities across the country. Early returns showed that more than 500 donors had contributed more than $190,000 for the Green Machine through online gifts, with counting still underway. This exceeds the $150,000 goal for the ensemble, making it the highest amount raised for the Green Machine.

That financial support is gratifying, said associate professor of music Michael W. Nickens (aka Green Machine leader Doc Nix), because the Green Machine has always been about supporting students and building community.

“I’d like to think a lot of people see themselves in the Green Machine in some sort of way,” Nickens said. “People have told me that they wouldn’t have finished at Mason, but the Green Machine helped them. They found support just in being together.… The nutshell of it all is, come as you are. We’ll figure out a way to lead you to something that’s better than when you walked in the door.”

Donations are still being counted — to include non-Green Machine donations — and a final tally is expected next week. It’s never too late to give to support the Green Machine. If you’d like to contribute, please visit the Mason Vision Day website.

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Mason Trailblazer: Jagadish Shukla

Colleen Rich — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 18:53:18 +0000

Mason Trailblazer: Jagadish Shukla Colleen Rich Mon, 04/04/2022 - 14:53

Distinguished University Professor Jagadish Shukla speaks about climate change science during the "Climate 3.0: the Science, the Politics, and the Policy Agenda" panel. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

A remarkable journey has brought ��AV Professor Jagadish Shukla from his childhood in rural India to world prominence as a climate researcher.

Shukla, a professor since 1994 and founder of the university’s Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences (AOES), has gained international recognition for Mason in that field. He established the Climate Dynamics PhD program at Mason—first in the country—which has produced 50 PhDs.

In 1979, Shukla joined the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, becoming head of the climate modeling group. There he pioneered an influential insight, an exception to the famed “butterfly effect,” which describes the unpredictable nature of long-term weather conditions.

Using early versions of climate models, Shukla demonstrated that phenomena such as seasonal mean temperature and rainfall, especially in tropical regions, were more predictable than previously understood—what he called “predictability in the midst of chaos.”

In 1984, Shukla co-founded the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA), then at the University of Maryland. Later, he and his colleagues began collaborating with Mason students and researchers. In 2014, COLA officially became a center in Mason's College of Science.

Along the way, Shukla’s reputation grew. The author or coauthor of more than 250 scientific papers, he received the International Meteorological Organization Prize, the field’s highest honor. He modernized India’s weather enterprise by helping the establishment of a center for numerical weather prediction and monsoon forecasting on India’s first supercomputer in New Delhi.

Education has always been a priority for Shukla. Growing up in a village without roads or electricity, Shukla attended a school started by his father, the only person in the village who could read. For the past 40 years, he has returned to India each year, visiting his home village of Mirdha, where he and his wife, Anastasia, fund education and women’s empowerment programs. In 1999, he founded Gandhi College, which has about 800 students, the majority women.

The Shuklas have also created the Jagadish and Anastasia Shukla AOES Fellowship Endowment in the College of Science, which will support graduate students pursuing the PhD in climate dynamics, a degree he helped establish. Theirs is among the largest philanthropic commitments ever from a Mason faculty member.

Topics

Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA)

Jacquemin Family Foundation’s Leadership Gift Supports the Hylton Performing Arts Center

Zoe Harr — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 18:03:13 +0000

Jacquemin Family Foundation’s Leadership Gift Supports the Hylton Performing Arts Center Zoe Harr Tue, 02/15/2022 - 13:03

Former ��AV Board of Visitors member John Jacquemin and his wife, Tracie Jacquemin, have made a generous leadership commitment to support the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.

John and Tracie Jacquemin’s gift for the Hylton Center extends a family commitment to philanthropy. Photo by Christopher Bobo.

The five-year, $1,000,000 pledge from The Jacquemin Family Foundation will support the Hylton Center building fund and the center’s long-term endowment. The Large Rehearsal Hall in the center’s Education and Rehearsal Wing, which opened in 2019, will be named The Jacquemin Family Foundation Rehearsal Hall in their honor. This room is the wing’s signature space, serving as an elegant recital hall and community gathering place in addition to its key role in hosting all types of rehearsals.

“We are so grateful to John and Tracie and their family for their transformational support of the Hylton Performing Arts Center,” said Rick Davis, executive director of the Hylton Center and dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “The Jacquemins have been passionate supporters of the arts in this region, and great friends to ��AV. To see their family’s commitment to the arts through naming the Large Rehearsal Hall is a testament to the power of the arts to build community.”

John Jacquemin is a current member of the ��AV Foundation Board of Trustees and served on the university’s Board of Visitors from 2012 to 2017. He is president and CEO of Mooring Financial Corp., a private investment firm based in Tysons, Va. that he founded in 1982. The couple’s oldest daughter, Juliana, is a 2014 graduate of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Jacquemin Family Foundation, established in 1997, supports charitable causes across Northern Virginia and the Greater Washington region, especially in the fields of education, the arts, environmental conservation, housing, hunger, and early childhood education.

Both John and Tracie deeply appreciate the role of the Hylton Center as a vital gathering place for the region’s arts community. “The Hylton Center is a real jewel for this part of Virginia,” said John Jacquemin. “Making our support for it visible in this way represents the commitment I feel to Mason after all my involvement with the university.”

“How many students might not even be in college were it not for George Mason?” Jacquemin added. “Look at how many first-generation students we have—the first in their families to attend college. That’s something to be very proud of.”

The impact of the Jacquemins’ philanthropy at Mason extends well beyond the Hylton Center. The Education Abroad Scholarship, established by the family in 2016, provides support to study abroad for at least a dozen deserving Mason students each year. Jacquemin previously established a similar scholarship at his alma mater, Penn State. Born in France before emigrating to the U.S. as a child, he returned there as an undergraduate for his own year of study abroad. “I saw in my classmates who went how it could be a life-changing experience for so many people,” he said.

The Mason undergraduates are a group the Jacquemins enjoy meeting each semester when the students give presentations about their experience. “It may be only a $1,000 grant, but that money might have paid for their air fare, or given them spending money, so that they could enter the program,” said Tracie. Jacquemin. “Many of the recipients are from low-income families, so even a relatively small amount can make a big difference for them.”

The Jacquemins are also significantly involved with the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) in Front Royal, where they established a research fellowship to fund PhD candidates in 2018. The couple’s youngest daughter, Marissa, who studies sustainable agriculture at the University of California, Davis, attended the SMSC summer program while in high school. In an ongoing effort with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI), the Jacquemins installed an antenna/receiver on their farm in Rappahannock County to track grassland birds that have been radio-tagged by SCBI researchers—one of only three such locations in Virginia. It’s a fruitful collaboration that combines John Jacquemin’s evident enthusiasm for wildlife and the outdoors with the family’s long-standing dedication to philanthropy, and to Mason.

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Hylton

Mason alumni gather to celebrate President Washington

Colleen Rich — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 20:39:37 +0000

Mason alumni gather to celebrate President Washington Colleen Rich Fri, 12/17/2021 - 15:39

Alumni Association past presidents and current board members with President Washington at the alumni reception. Photo by Cable Risdon/Risdon Photography

��AV alumni and friends gathered at the Fairfax Campus on Tuesday evening, Oct. 19, to celebrate the impending Investiture of Mason’s eight president, Dr. Gregory Washington.

A reception held under a festive tent on the Merten Hall lawn was a chance for many alumni to return to group gatherings, after months away from friends and colleagues due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Jenn Robinson, JM '02, associate vice president for alumni relations, welcomed guests back to campus.

The event was one of several held during a weeklong celebration of the university’s new era, which culminates in the formal presidential investiture ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 21. Washington’s tenure began on July 1, 2020, but celebrations were delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

President Washington tries on a Mason baseball camp, part of the Mason-themed gift package given to him and wife, Nicole Washington, at the alumni reception. Photo by Cable Risdon/Risdon Photograpy

“As we prepare for our 50th year as an independent university, one thing is clear. You all play a central role in Mason’s history, in Mason’s story, and in Mason’s future,” said Trishana Bowden, vice president of advancement and alumni relations and president of the ��AV Foundation. “This is a time for us to celebrate our university, its history, and its importance to us. It’s a time to renew our commitment to Mason, its values and its goals.”

President Washington pointed out that not only is Mason the largest and most diverse university in the state of Virginia, it has also been recognized as the number one university in the nation under 50 years old.

“Great universities start and end with great alumni, with great supporters,” said President Washington, who was joined at the reception by his wife, Nicole Washington. “What you see here is a proud, passionate cohort of graduates who have led the institution to become incredibly successful. They support that institution, and they proclaim that institution’s worth and impact on their individual lives. That’s what we’re asking from all of you. Just keep doing the great things that you’re doing, and then make sure people don’t forget where it came from.”

Bowden struck an equally inspirational note. “As we look to the future and continue our tradition of access, diversity, and innovation, it will be our alumni who will lead the way,” she said. “You are not part of our past. You help to shape our present and our future. It is you all that carry our message and carry on our legacy.”

Topics

Alumni

Campus News

Investiture

At Arts Emerging, the Arts Return In-Person to George Mason

Pam Muirheid — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 15:31:57 +0000

At Arts Emerging, the Arts Return In-Person to George Mason Pam Muirheid Thu, 09/30/2021 - 11:31

In This Story

Shaun Boyle D'Arcy

Gregory Washington

Dr. Michael Nickens

Arts Emerging raised more than $155,000 to support the arts at Mason.

School of Dance students performing Pause: Reset on Holton Plaza. Photo ©Sean Hickey.

A welcome return to live, in-person arts performances and exhibitions was celebrated September 25 at the ��AV Center for the Arts.

Arts Emerging: A Celebration of Renewal brought more than 300 people to the Fairfax Campus on a Saturday evening for a festive event that pulsed with artistic energy and the spirit of community.

Combining outdoor and indoor performances by students, faculty, and alumni, art exhibits, film screenings, hands-on activities, and more, Arts Emerging launched the 2021-22 Center for the Arts season, while also marking the 20^th anniversary of the university’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

“The arts have become one of Mason’s signature tools for the university to engage with its community,” said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “Arts Emerging is a powerful example of that in action.”

A highlight of the outdoor performances presented on Holton Plaza was a performance of Pause: Reset, delivered by School of Dance students and choreographed by faculty member Shaun Boyle D’Arcy. One performer, senior dance major Hadiya Matthews, reflected afterward on the challenges of the past year and how students have rallied. “During Covid and everything that was happening in the world, it was pretty heavy and kind of sad,” Matthews said. “I think that when we had discussions and ‘collabbed’ and really talked about how we felt, a big thing that kept us strong was community, and how—no matter what we’re going through—we’re all related to one another. That’s something that we can come back to, so building this piece of community was really special.”

Meanwhile, in the adjacent Buchanan Hall Atrium Gallery, viewers enjoyed a major exhibition, Women of the Same Blood, combining photography and family history by Zia Palmer, BFA Photography ’19, with the opportunity to meet and talk with the artist. Buchanan Hall also hosted screenings by Film and Video Studies alumni, and an interactive virtual reality experience by the Computer Game Design program.

Later, inside the Center for the Arts, Mason President Gregory Washington welcomed a mix of students, supporters, and Mason faculty and staff. “The arts are the front door to the university,” Washington said. “Many of you found that great big front door and you came through it to become involved with our College of Visual and Performing Arts. And then that introduced you to the larger university.”

Guest appearances on the Concert Hall stage included a duet by Green Machine alumni Chelsea Mohindroo, BS Mathematics ’16, MS Operations Research ’20, and Brandon Showell, BA Music and English ’14, both of whom have been contestants on NBC’s The Voice. They were followed by School of Theater alumni Garvey Dobbins, BFA Theater ’20, and Lauren Fraites, BA Theater ’20, and a finale performance by current Dewberry School of Music opera students. Members of the Green Machine, led by associate professor of music and director of the Green Machine Ensembles Michael W. Nickens (Doc Nix), also played throughout the event.

Finally, School of Dance alumna Sasha (Hollinger) Henninger, BFA Dance ’09, who made her Broadway debut in Hamilton as #thebullet, spoke about her career and her time at Mason. “I was blessed to spend 11 years in New York making a living doing what I love. I toured the country, I toured the world, and I spent my last few years there performing in two incredible shows on Broadway—easily one of my biggest dreams come true,” Henninger said. “My time, my teachers, my peers here at George Mason prepared me for that. My time at George Mason prepared me well.”

Henninger presented a special merit scholarship to current Film and Video Studies senior Taj Kokayi, whose film Woken From a Dream won the Best Student Film Award at the London Web Fest. Kokayi was a producer on the short film The Vine, which premiered during Saturday’s event. The Vine featured current Masters in Arts Management student Bobby Lacy, BA Music ’16, in a stirring spoken word performance inspired by the question of what it means to be an arts manager.

Sandy Spring Bank returned as the event’s presenting sponsor for the fourth consecutive year. “By sponsoring events like this we’re literally helping the students you saw tonight on stage realize their hopes and dreams, or give them an opportunity to,” said Jay O’Brien, executive vice president for commercial and retail banking at Sandy Spring. O’Brien has three daughters currently attending Mason—two graduate students and one undergraduate.

Arts Emerging raised more than $155,000, with proceeds supporting CVPA student scholarships, the Mason Community Arts Academy, Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performances at Mason season at the Center for the Arts. The event was co-chaired by Arts at Mason Board members Steven Golsch, a vice president at NowSecure, and Annie Bolger, a bank officer at Sandy Spring Bank.

Topics

arts emerging

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

CFA

forward together

giving to Mason

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Dance

College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Theater

Computer Game Design

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans, has committed $175,000 to advance ��AV’s community health initiatives.

mthomp7 — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 19:31:58 +0000

Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans, has committed $175,000 to advance ��AV’s community health initiatives. mthomp7 Wed, 06/02/2021 - 15:31

Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans, has committed $175,000 to advance ��AV’s community health initiatives.

The grant, jointly supporting the Mason and Partners Clinics (MAP Clinics) and the Business for a Better World Center, will enable Mason to serve as the lead anchor partner in a collaborative initiative to remove barriers to health and expand access for residents in the Bailey’s Crossroads/Culmore neighborhood of Fairfax County.

The grant extends Kaiser Permanente’s partnership with Mason, which began in 2019 with a $500,000 investment to establish the Kaiser Permanente Community Wellness Hub in partnership with Mason’s College of Health and Human Services Population Health Center.

“Kaiser Permanente is honored to expand our partnership with ��AV, an organization that shares our mission for improving the health of the communities we serve,” said Tonga Turner, interim executive director of Community Health at Kaiser Permanente. “Collaboration with organizations like Mason is critical to transform Northern Virginia communities such as Bailey’s Crossroads and Culmore into places where residents have equitable access to high-quality health care, nutritious food, good jobs and thriving schools.”

MAP clinics serve the uninsured and refugee community in Prince William and Fairfax counties. Located in Manassas, Springfield, and Culmore, these bridge-care model clinics provide free health care, school physicals, screenings, and mental health services for people living in low-income and medically underserved areas.

“We are excited about our continued collaboration with Kaiser Permanente in the delivery of care with attention to the social determinants of health on behalf of vulnerable populations to ensure health equity,” added Dr. Germaine Louis, dean of the College of Health and Human Services.

The grant establishes Mason as the lead partner organization in Northern Virginia for Kaiser Permanente’s Mid-Atlantic Community Network (MACN), launched in partnership with Unite Us, a shared technology platform available to community organizations to serve social health needs ranging from food access and housing assistance to workforce development and healthcare services. The MACN has launched in D.C., suburban Maryland and Greater Baltimore, and is scheduled to launch in Northern Virginia this June.

Since 2018, Kaiser Permanente has led a community-based initiative to address health disparities in the Bailey’s/Culmore community and create access to the resources people need to thrive. Local community organizations involved in the initiative include Columbia Baptist Church, the Medical Care for Children Partnership Foundation, Culmore Clinic, St. Anthony’s Parish, Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center and Just Neighbors, along with county leadership, local businesses and philanthropic organizations. Accomplishments have included partnering with local food pantries to deliver hundreds of pounds of food to those in-need and connecting more than 200 Bailey’s/Culmore residents with low or no-cost medical care.

Those community-based efforts will also benefit from a partnership with Mason’s Business for a Better World Center, which focuses on preparing tomorrow’s business leaders to further the common good.

“Even more than other businesses, the business of health needs to focus on the well-being of our community,” said Maury Peiperl, dean of Mason’s School of Business. “This is an opportunity to activate our substantial industry network to fuel economic development and entrepreneurship in the region. Kaiser Permanente is known as a leader for moving health forward, and partnering on this initiative is another way we are using business as a force for good.”

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, about 240,000 people in Northern Virginia were underinsured or lacked health insurance, and 160,000 lived in poverty. The pandemic has increased levels of unemployment, as well as housing and food insecurity across the region. Unemployment spiked in Fairfax County by more than 5% over the past year, and the number of county residents seeking emergency food assistance doubled.

Topics

MAP Clinic

Mason and Partners Clinic

Campus News

Business for a Better World Center

Business for a Better World Center News

Business for a Better World Work in the News

CHHS News

The Weilenmann Family Shares a Generous Gift of Music

Pam Muirheid — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 17:39:57 +0000

The Weilenmann Family Shares a Generous Gift of Music Pam Muirheid Tue, 02/23/2021 - 12:39

As a music instructor and a renowned conductor of symphony and opera, Richard Weilenmann dedicated his life to music and to developing young artists—building an enduring legacy over half a century of professional life.

When he passed away in 2017, Mr. Weilenmann left another exceptional legacy: a personal collection of more than 1,600 published pieces of music—including sheet music, conductors scores, and orchestral scores—spanning opera, classical, and other genres from the late 1800s to the present.

Now, thanks to Mr. Weilenmann’s vision and the generosity of his wife Elisabeth and son Peter Weilenmann, MEd ’07, that notable collection will reside with the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music at ��AV. The Richard and Elisabeth Weilenmann Performance Music Library will be a resource for music research as well as for live performances at Mason.

“We are enormously grateful and rightfully proud to house this extraordinary music library collection at ��AV,” said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “This library will serve as a rich resource for our students and faculty alike and is a lasting tribute to Elisabeth and the late Richard Weilenmann’s dedication to making music accessible.”

Elisabeth and Richard Weilenmann

A well-known figure in the region’s music community, Richard Weilenmann was at various times the artistic director of the highly regarded Washington Civic Opera, the Arlington Opera Theatre, and the Beethoven Society. He worked for 43 years at the Landon School in Bethesda, Md., where he directed the music program and founded the Landon Symphonette. Earlier, during his time in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Weilenmann was an original member of the Navy Sea Chanters, a vocal chorus, and one of the piano accompanists for the Navy Band. Always intent on making opera accessible to all, he translated lyrics so they could be performed in English, and provided free tickets to Washington Civic Opera performances via the D.C. parks and recreation department.

The collection—which filled about 18 file cabinets in the Weilenmann family’s home, plus assorted boxes—includes ballet, Broadway musicals, classical symphonies, complete operas, and film music. It is valuable not only for its historical breadth and as a trove for music research, but as an aid for student and professional performances. “My dad would spend hours adding violin bowings in his own hand to many of the pieces,” said Peter Weilenmann, an assessment specialist for Arlington Public Schools. Those bowings—marks that instruct musicians on the stringed instruments how to play the piece—“are like the punctuation for the orchestra.”

When it came time to decide where to place the collection, George Mason stood out to the Weilenmanns both for the quality of its School of Music, and for its commitment to keeping the entire library together.

“We are excited that the collection is going to be part of Mason’s music program, which is growing by leaps and bounds,” said Peter Weilenmann.

“Toward the end of my seven years commanding and conducting the United States Air Force Band, Washington D.C., I enjoyed the distinct privilege of personally meeting Richard Weilenmann at the Landon School, where we were to perform thanks to his invitation and assistance,” said Dr. Dennis Layendecker, Heritage Chair in Music and Director of Orchestral Studies for the Dewberry School of Music. “… Richard’s long and precious investment in his extraordinary orchestral library will prove a genuine game changer for our instrumental and opera programs at Mason. Bravo et grazie al cielo, Maestro Weilenmann!”

Fittingly, the love of music was responsible for how Richard Weilenmann and his wife, Elisabeth, a fellow music lover, first met. Originally from central Europe, Elisabeth had moved to the United States and come to the Washington, D.C. area to improve her translator skills. According to their son, the pair got to know each other when Richard needed some scores translated. “For their first date, he took her to the symphony. Their second date was the opera,” their son said.

Rob Riordan / February 15, 2021