MS Profiles

In her new 'memoir in animals,' Creative Writing professor examines her writing life

Colleen Rich — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:46:28 +0000

In her new 'memoir in animals,' Creative Writing professor examines her writing life Colleen Rich Tue, 12/03/2024 - 12:46

George Mason English professor Kyoko Mori writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her latest book, Cat and Bird (Belt Publishing, March 2024), has been called a “memoir in animals” and focuses on the six house cats who defined the major eras of her life as a writer.

Kyoko Mori with her cats. Photo provided

What inspired you to write this book?

I’ve lived my entire adult life with cats and yet my previous books—both fiction and nonfiction—only featured cats in the periphery of the story, as colorful minor characters at best. In truth, getting my first cat at 22 was a life-altering event: that cat saw me through graduate school, my first full-time teaching job, marriage and divorce, and the publication of my first two books. I wouldn’t be the same person I am now if I hadn’t been with him for 18 years. So my first impetus was to finally do justice to him and to his successors.

I wanted to push against the misconception that cats and dogs are opposites—the cliché that cats are selfish and independent while dogs are loving and loyal. For those of us who are devoted to our animal companions, cats and dogs, equally, can be our alter ego or avatar—the core of who we are.

The real contrast is between cats and dogs on one hand and songbirds and other wildlife on the other. Even with birds who come to our window feeder or end up in our care (I worked as a songbird rehabilitator), we can only admire them from a distance or nurse them back to health in order to return them to the wild. We love companion animals by holding on; we love wildlife by letting go. I wanted to explore this contrast.

What surprised you about the process of writing this book?

I knew from the beginning that the book was going to be about the way the two kinds of devotion—to cats and to birds—have sustained my work as a writer and helped me to make a home as a single childless woman who is happy in her solitude and yet fulfilled by her involvement in the community. Having a husband and children is not the only way to engage meaningfully with the world and make a positive impact.

The balance between solitude and community and the joy of making a home alone (with cats) did remain important ideas in the book. But I also realized that a book about living with animal companions and witnessing the dangers that threaten birds, other wildlife, and the whole planet will have to dig deep into grief. The desire to hold on and let go at the same time—as when a beloved animal companion dies or when we watch from the ground as migratory birds navigate the sky full of danger—became the essential aspect of the book’s narrative and investigation.

What are you working on now?

My last nonfiction book before Cat and Bird was a knitting memoir titled Yarn: Remembering the Way Home. Since finishing Cat and Bird, I’ve picked up where Yarn finished and published four personal essays about women and clothes: shopping with my close friends, how we express ourselves with our clothes, etc. At the same time, I continue to be interested in backyard wildlife—birds that were not included in Cat and Bird and squirrels—especially after a squirrel made a nest in the flowerpot on my window ledge, had two babies, and stayed for two weeks before moving her nest to a maple tree in the backyard.

Sei Shōnagon, the 11th-century Japanese writer who appears in Cat and Bird as the embodiment of the book’s spirit, was equally interested in the beauty of nature and of human-made objects. I don’t think clothes and backyard wildlife can fit into the same book for me as they did for her, but for now I’m following the inspiration of her astute observations about both and seeing where my work goes.

Discover more from the English Department at George Mason

George Mason alumna and her furry coworker fight for Fairfax County kids

Colleen Rich — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 14:27:02 +0000

George Mason alumna and her furry coworker fight for Fairfax County kids Colleen Rich Fri, 08/16/2024 - 10:27

When Samantha Carrico, MSW ’15, enters a room, eyes usually lock onto her charismatic coworker Rylynn, a five-year-old Labrador golden retriever mix. But while Fairfax County’s facility dog gets all the attention, Carrico is the key to making it all happen.

George Mason alum Samantha Carrico and her coworker Rylynn. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

As the supervisor of Volunteer and Partner Services within the county’s Department of Family Services (DFS), this ��AV alumna plays a leading role in providing critical services to children and their families through programs that are powered entirely by volunteers.

“I like to call Volunteer and Partner Services the best-kept secret in DFS,” she said. “We’re providing so many resources to families and communities.”

Those resources include their popular holiday assistance program, Adopt-a-Family; the Befriend-a-Child mentoring program; and body safety classes for children offered in the public schools. Last year, the Body Safety Program alone served 15,000 children.

“It’s been really nice to see the impact that we’re making,” Carrico said. “Prevention is definitely where we’re going to move the needle for child welfare.”

When not managing four full-time staff members, almost 100 volunteers, and leading the county’s child welfare mandated reporter training for agencies ranging from county police departments to the CIA, Carrico is also the official handler for county facility dog Rylynn.

Rylynn is certified to accompany children to the witness stand when they must testify in court. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Carrico was working with Manassas City when she heard of a colleague who worked with a certified service dog and broached the idea with her supervisor. When she learned they could have one only if the dog were free, Carrico didn’t give up. After much research, her perseverance paid off. She found Canine Companions, an organization that offers trained service dogs to organizations and individuals free of charge, and Rylynn entered her life.

“Rylynn is actually the only facility dog at a family services or social services agency in the whole country,” Carrico said. Rylynn attends events and is certified to accompany children to the witness stand when they must testify in court. “She doesn’t have a vest, a badge, a gun. She’s not intimidating, and it’s very rewarding for a family or for a child to know that Rylynn is here for them, with no other agenda.”

Carrico hopes her experience with Rylynn—and her determination to find a way to make it happen—will help pave the way for more agencies nationwide to acquire their own facility dogs.

“Children will disclose when they’re ready, but also when they’re comfortable. And sometimes it’s on us as the professionals to help make sure the environment is comfortable for them.”

A licensed social worker, Carrico has been with Fairfax County in a full-time role since 2020, but her entry into the world of child welfare started long before that—and included a pivotal stop at ��AV.

Born and raised in Northern Virginia, Carrico’s first memories of the university came at an early age, when she attended Camp Mason at the Fairfax Campus. When it came time to think about getting her master’s in social work, the choice was easy.

“Mason felt like a second home,” she says. Encouraged by the Department of Social Work faculty in the College of Public Health, Carrico decided to additionally pursue her licensure.

Carrico cites Valerie Cuffee, a former long-time social work faculty member who also had child welfare experience, as a particular influence. “Having a professor who was sharing her real cases and what she learned from them, and the mistakes she made—that was invaluable.”

Equally invaluable were the many internship opportunities the university offered her, including at a homeless shelter and with Loudoun County’s Department of Family Services. “What really resonated with me from being a student into being a professional is…how enriching my internships were.” She’s since paid the opportunities forward by frequently hiring George Mason students as interns.

It all comes back to her desire to make a difference, whether she’s offering in-person training or sitting quietly while Rylynn comforts a child in distress. “My heart really lies in wanting to do more.”

George Mason College of Public Health Master of Social Work graduate program climbs among top programs in the nation

Learn more

Learn more about the College of Public Health's Masters of Social Work

Graduating Carter School student is trailblazing a new path to peace

Sarah Holland — Tue, 07 May 2024 19:31:22 +0000

Graduating Carter School student is trailblazing a new path to peace Sarah Holland Tue, 05/07/2024 - 15:31

Keil Eggers is the first to admit that his research methods are unique to the world of conflict analysis and resolution. But as he is hooded at the 2024 Commencement ceremony at George Mason, his unorthodox approach is becoming the standard for George Mason Peace Engineering Lab in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Photo provided

Eggers, who is graduating from Mason with his PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, has been a champion of complexity-informed conflict transformation, futures, and SenseMaker: a technology that applies a quantitative framework to narrative data submitted and interpreted by the subjects themselves.

“My professors have always been willing to let me experiment and have supported me in trying new things,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest strengths of the Carter School, how it allows people to explore unique combinations of scholarship, ideas, and disciplines.”

As a Kansas native with an interest in international politics, Eggers knew he wanted to be in the center of the action in the Washington, D.C., region when applying as an undergraduate. George Mason was the perfect fit. After a year in the international politics degree program, however, he took a course in the Carter School, and “it sealed the deal,” he said.

“I found it to be a much more helpful approach to problem-solving. It’s less about protecting one country’s interests and more about building international relationships based on dialogue, mutual learning, and mutual respect. It creates much more fulfilling relationships.”

After graduating with his BA in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Carter School and the Honors College in 2015, Eggers received his MA in International Peace Studies from the UN-Mandated University for Peace before returning to George Mason for his PhD.

Eggers’ approach to research using sensemaking technology is unique, particularly in academia, and very few programs could accommodate it. The Carter School, however, was interested in Eggers’ methodology and had a fellowship with that topic in mind. He was the first to receive the Peace Engineering Fellowship, one of the Provost PhD Awards designed to support the creation of the Peace Engineering Lab, where conflict analysis and resolution experts would work with engineers to create innovative technologies for peace building.

“More and more often, engineers are put on the front lines to solve social conflict through designing infrastructure or new technologies,” Eggers explained. “But their solutions also have social impact, which needs to be accounted for and considered during the design process. They need more tools to understand that impact and how it will affect peace, which we can provide. And, on the other side, we need support in developing and implementing new analytical technologies.”

Part of Eggers’ work with the lab included setting up internal and external partnerships, including with the Cynefin Centre for Applied Complexity: the creators behind the SenseMaker tool. The lab has used SenseMaker in local, national, and international research projects.

“I saw my role as creating a strong intellectual foundation for the lab, trying to figure out what our unique approach as the only conflict analysis and resolution school in the broader peace engineering field could be,” Eggers said. “We were building the plane as we were flying it, so to speak. We had a strong belief that this is an emerging field and a gap that needed to be filled. We keep showing up, putting in the work, and we’re cementing our role in the field as being at the forefront of this.”

Through the largest grant ever given to Carter School, the lab recieved funding to expand into one of the university's research centers. It plans to relaunch in fall 2024.

Meanwhile, Eggers simultaneously completed his dissertation, utilizing the same sensemaking technology he worked to implement in the lab. With the support of partnering organizations Horizon Project and Common Ground USA, “Us Against When: Futures and Complexity-Informed Conflict Transformation in the United States” looked at five states with higher risk of political violence, collecting data from 800 subjects. He presented his work at the Alliance for Peacebuilding’s PeaceCon2023, and used his research to build the syllabus for and teach Honors 360: "Us Against When: Exploring Peaceful Futures for the United States."

After graduation, Eggers hopes he can continue his work to develop complexity-informed approaches to research, sensemaking, and futures methodologies through a postdoc position. He also has a dream of putting together a music festival for peace at the Carter School's Point of View facility.

“Your destiny is in your hands when you enter a PhD program,” Eggers said, when asked what advice he would give to a first year PhD. “Explore what you like, craft the experience you want. Believe in your own power to be persistent and pave the path you want to see.”

Spring Commencement 2024

Build peace in the Carter School

Recognizing George Mason's graduates

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December 11, 2024
Commencement student speaker Caroline Little found her family while at George Mason
December 10, 2024
“When one door closes, open another”: This Costello student is making his way in music industry
December 10, 2024
Graduating systems engineering student is flying high
December 4, 2024
Graduating senior’s compass pointed her to an English degree with a side trip to Ireland
December 2, 2024

This content appears in the Fall 2024 print edition of the Mason Spirit Magazine with the title "Trailblazing a New Path to Peace."

Meet the Mason Nation: Kevin Brim

Lauren Reuscher — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:06:43 +0000

Meet the Mason Nation: Kevin Brim Lauren Reuscher Wed, 04/24/2024 - 10:06

Kevin Brim

Job: Recycle/Waste Management Supervisor, Facilities Management

Can I recycle this? At some point, anyone who has approached a recycling bin (or set of bins) with good intentions has asked this question, either aloud or in their mind.

Helping the community understand the parameters of recycling and composting is one of the biggest challenges in recycling and waste management, according to Kevin Brim, supervisor in Facilities Management at ��AV. “It can be confusing trying to decide what is recycling, trash, or compostable,” said Brim.

His team is working hard to change that.

Keeping it clean. Putting the wrong items in a recycle or compost bin can lead to contamination of waste streams. Brim and his colleagues in Facilities Management are making it easier for the George Mason community to recycle, compost, and properly dispose of items.

Waste no time. Brim knows he is part of something impactful, and interacting with the George Mason community is what he likes best about his job. “I’ve been at Mason for 18 years, and I learn something new every day,” Brim said.

Protecting the Earth isn’t a one-person job. Waste diversion efforts stretch across the university and rely on the involvement of many units—and the actions of individuals. Mason Facilities, University Sustainability, Mason Dining, and others are working to help George Mason reach its Zero Waste goal: diverting 90% or more of all waste items away from the trash through reuse, recycling, and composting.

Learning the ins and outs. Brim’s first job in George Mason Facilities was as a quality assurance inspector for the university’s housekeeping contract. Brim moved to the waste/recycle team in 2011, learning every aspect of the operation from the ground up. That knowledge and experience led him to his current role as the supervisor of that team.

Spreading the word. Brim takes pride in his team and how they help foster a culture of sustainability at Mason. “I ensure my team knows just as much as I do about waste and recycling here at Mason,” Brim said. His team’s interactions with others on campus help inform the community about the proper disposal of different items, protecting Mason’s recycling and composting streams.

It all comes back to serving George Mason students, according to Brim. “Students are the reason we are here, so they’re our target audience,” said Brim. “I’m always interested in hearing their input on what we can do better, or what they would like to see.”

Harnessing the sun. Expanded composting access is part of a long-term strategy to improve George Mason’s waste diversion rate. Brim’s team recently installed new Bigbelly zero waste stations on the Fairfax and Mason Square campuses, some of which include solar-powered, waste compacting compost bins. Brim’s team plans to install more Bigbelly stations, expanding their availability across all of Mason’s Virginia campuses.

Saving the scraps. Composting efforts will also increase in campus dining locations. “Mason Facilities is looking to expand our composting programs with all food vendors on campus, with a main focus on behind-the-scenes food waste,” Brim said. These composting streams are often easier to control, ensuring a clean composting product.

The glass is half full. This spring, George Mason launched a glass recycling program, with purple recycling trailers parked on the Fairfax Campus. Brim says the glass recycling program has expanded to collect glass bottles at catered events on campus.

“We will continue to divert as much away from landfill and incinerator as we can,” Brim said.

Reduce, reuse . . . relax. Outside work, Brim spends time with his wife of 33 years (his high school sweetheart), three adult children, five grandkids, and two dogs. “They all keep me pretty busy,” he said. Relaxing in the backyard tops the list, too. “It’s the little things in life,” Brim said.

Can I recycle this? Check out this guide to the university-wide waste streams at Mason.

Find out more ways to make a sustainable impact at Mason.

Learn more about Mason's Zero Waste goals

More about Sustainability at Mason

Patriot Profile: Valeria Fernandez

Rebecca Kobayashi — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 18:21:51 +0000

Patriot Profile: Valeria Fernandez Rebecca Kobayashi Tue, 04/09/2024 - 14:21

Valeria Fernandez
Year: Senior
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Woodbridge, Virginia

Valeria Fernandez’s journey as a fellow with Generation Hope’s FamilyU* began even before she arrived on campus. The mother of a three-year-old, Fernandez realized when applying to Mason that the housing application did not account for the needs of student-parents, so she raised the issue and potential solutions in a FamilyU interview. Fernandez, who had just finished an associate’s degree in psychology at Northern Virginia Community College, was selected as Mason’s FamilyU fellow for the 2022–23 cohort.

Valeria Fernandez and her daughter in the child-friendly Contemporary Student Lounge on the Fairfax Campus. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Growing into Leadership: Each FamilyU fellow develops an advocacy project during the year. To help address the gap in student-parent mental health care at Mason, Fernandez created a child-friendly support group that focused on mindfulness activities. “Even when I encountered people who would admit to having zero concept of what it’s like to be a student-parent, [Mason] was still a safe, welcoming environment.” She now has greater pride and confidence as a student-parent because of the peers and others she met at Mason who were willing to listen. For Fernandez, it was also encouraging to meet other parents who were pursuing personal dreams alongside raising children.

Advocating for a New Normal: Fernandez says some problems, like how difficult it is for student-parents to meet each other, have simple remedies, like highlighting child-friendly campus activities; but others require long-term solutions, such as changing assumptions about the typical college student. For example, inflexible online tests or assignments present challenges to student-parents with limited child care who may need to schedule an alternate time. Faculty members should recognize that students, whether parenting or working, “have lives outside of being students,” explains Fernandez. “And that doesn't mean that they have less respect for your course.”

Building Momentum: Fernandez currently works as a student-parent ambassador with Mason’s Contemporary Student Services. The mindfulness group she created grew into Student Parent Community Spaces, where student-parents can connect with each other and learn about university services. She is also working to increase student-parent visibility at Mason for potential transfer students. Sometimes her daughter even accompanies her to campus, which Fernandez says she feels comfortable doing because of relationships she is building with colleagues. She has applied to graduate programs at Mason and elsewhere with the goal of someday working in forensic psychology or perhaps pursuing teaching.

* Mason alum Nicole Lynn Lewis, MPP ’06, founded the nonprofit Generation Hope to support young parents and their children as parents pursue further education. Read more about her.

Learn about FamilyU Cohorts

Mason student Ilia Malinin is the world’s most dominant figure skater

Colleen Rich — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 18:48:00 +0000

Mason student Ilia Malinin is the world’s most dominant figure skater Colleen Rich Mon, 04/08/2024 - 14:48

An injury had slowed him down in the lead-up to the recent 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, but ��AV’s Ilia Malinin wasn’t to be deterred.

Ilia Malinin won gold at the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal with a record setting score in the free program. Photo provided

The 19-year-old part-time student left no doubt about who will be the likely favorite in the men’s singles competition at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy, with a dominant world championship performance that included a world record-setting score of 227.79 in the free program.

In doing so, Malinin cemented himself as the man to beat in the figure skating field.

“I was surprised at how well I skated,” said Malinin, a Vienna, Virginia, resident and 2023 graduate of George C. Marshall High School. “I wasn’t sure if I could skate to my best because I’d been fighting through an injury. It was a lot of pressure because I knew it could be the best skate of my life or it could go terribly wrong.”

Considered a rising star in the sport in past years, Malinin successfully executed a record six quad jumps, including his signature quadruple axel jump that ranks as the sport’s most difficult in competition.

All quad jumps have four revolutions, except for the quad axel, which has four and a half revolutions. Malinin is the only person to have ever successfully performed a quad axel in competition, having first done so in 2022.

“I was kind of in shock,” he recalled. “The whole season, you’re working your way to get to that point. Then you get to that critical point where you could either skate your way on or off the medal stand. It felt like a relief.”

Malinin’s first world championship didn’t exactly go unnoticed by the Mason community.

“Six quads in a single performance?” asked Tim Groseclose, an economics professor within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the holder of the Adam Smith Chair at the Mercatus Center, who knows a little something about the sport thanks to a daughter who skated. “He’s basically the Michael Jordan of figure skating—not just the best in the world, but probably will be the world’s best for quite some time … and he’s an econ student at Mason!”

Malinin is the only person to have ever successfully performed a quad axel in competition, having first done so in 2022. Photo provided

Malinin is looking ahead to the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston in March 2025, with the Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy to follow in February 2026.

In the meantime, however, he still has plenty to keep him busy in his limited free time.

Mindful of a career after his skating days are over, Malinin said he began his collegiate academic pursuits at Mason because it offers a great education near his home and his nearby training rink in Reston.

It doesn’t hurt either that a number of his close friends from high school are currently Mason students.

But being the best in the world means practicing anywhere from four to six hours daily, six times per week under the watchful eye of his parents, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, the two former Uzbekistan Olympic skaters who also coach their son. Malinin’s grandfather, Valery Malinin, is a former Soviet Olympic skater currently coaching in Russia.

“When I first started skating [at age 7], it was more for fun,” Malinin said. “I was around 13 when I realized that I could skate for more than just fun.”

But that means it’s imperative Malinin make the most every minute of each day, so he often brings his laptop along for use at the rink during breaks to keep up with the online introductory economics class he’s taking this semester.

Last semester, he took a class in Mason’s School of Dance within the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Although he’s yet to declare his major, Malinin hopes to eventually study civil engineering, with an eye on design or architecture.

“Hope I meet Ilia someday,” Groseclose said. “And I hope even more he takes one of my classes.”

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Mason researcher tackles 'The Politics of Innocence' in new book

Colleen Rich — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:38:42 +0000

Mason researcher tackles 'The Politics of Innocence' in new book Colleen Rich Fri, 04/05/2024 - 15:38

Since 1989, more than 3,000 people have been exonerated after being wrongly convicted. In his new book, The Politics of Innocence: How Wrongful Convictions Shape Public Opinion (New York University Press, September 2023), Robert J. Norris, associate professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, and his coauthors explore the political dynamics that shape the innocence movement.

Robert J. Norris. Photo provided

What inspired you to write this book?

After exploring how wrongful convictions had become such a prominent advocacy issue in the criminal legal system, I was left with lingering questions about how much the public knew about [wrongful convictions] and how they responded to information about them. Around that same time, one of my coauthors and I were having lunch and discussed the first season of the podcast Serial, which was about a likely wrongful conviction. We were talking about how those sorts of stories made people nervous and wondered how common that feeling was. We began designing our first study and now, seven years later, here we are!

Was there anything that surprised you in the research for this book?

Throughout the book, we show that wrongful convictions can change people’s support for the death penalty and their trust in the criminal justice system generally. However, we were a bit surprised to find that we could not change people’s trust in police, even when explicitly telling people about the role of police in wrongful convictions. Those attitudes appear to be more entrenched and resistant to change than others. Another thing that is perhaps not surprising, but definitely heartening, is that while innocence reform is political, people across the ideological spectrum can be persuaded to support changes that would help improve our legal system. We can cut through some of the ideological noise and appeal to a variety of different people.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on a variety of things. Some of these projects are still related to innocence, including work on the racial history of wrongful convictions, the post-release experiences of wrongly convicted people, narrative language in wrongful convictions, and the relationship between the innocence movement and the antideath penalty movement. Other work is more generally tied to public opinion, such as the process that leads people to support punitive practices and the effects of the language we use to discuss incarcerated populations. I’m also beginning to explore some broader conceptual ideas about completely unrelated issues, which is really exciting for me.

Investigate Criminology, Law and Society programs at Mason

At the barbershop, it’s OK not to be OK

mthomp7 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 17:14:29 +0000

At the barbershop, it’s OK not to be OK mthomp7 Fri, 03/22/2024 - 13:14

Destigmatizing mental health support and normalizing therapy in the Black community, one barbershop at a time

��AV alumnus Gary T. Taylor, MSW '15, is destigmatizing mental health support and normalizing therapy in the Black community one barbershop at a time. “Barbershops are this safe space for Black men,” says Taylor who has been working with local barbershops in the Rappahannock region of Virginia since 2022 to foster healthy discussions about mental health by educating barbers on “mental health first aid” for their patrons.

“This is where men may go to talk through things, have big debates, talk about sports. Barbershops are an important part of culture for us as Black men—just like salons are for Black women,” says Taylor. Given the trusted role that barbers often play in Black men’s lives—it seemed like a natural place to Taylor for reaching men about mental health.

Taylor has found that barbershop talks play an important role in normalizing talking about issues and going to therapy. The talks can help point participants in the right direction to get therapy resources or find substance abuse resources.

Working in partnership with the Rappahannock Area Community Service Board, Taylor realized he could bring his crisis therapy experience into the community through “barbershop talks”—informal group discussions with the barber, the shop patrons, and a trained social worker.

“Most of the time when you talk to barbers, they'll tell you they're almost de facto therapists and social workers,” says Taylor, “They're listening to their clients’ problems and maybe don’t know about resources available to help. So we wanted to equip the barbers to know what the necessary resources are just in case somebody comes in and it's a crisis or they're really struggling and they don't know where to go.”

It helps reduce stigma by normalizing that it's OK to not be OK. Therapy doesn’t mean I'm crazy or something's wrong with me,” he says.

Taylor relays to participants that seeking mental health support is just like taking your car in for an oil change to make sure it keeps running properly.

“With the rise of substance abuse and overdoses, the barbers or the folks that are coming to these barbershop talks now are getting Narcan training too. And I think that's the strengths-based approach to meet the community where they're at,” said Taylor.

To date, Taylor has completed more than five barbershop talks in the Rappahannock region and is working with female colleagues to begin salon talks this spring.

“It’s important that people who share lived experiences are leading these sessions, so the participants can relate and see themselves in the facilitator,” says Taylor. "I can speak to that direct cultural experiences of Black men and then also bring in my skill set, my knowledge, my experience, my education to help provide that education and awareness

An assistant professor at Virginia State University, Taylor is also passionate about “passing the baton” to the next generation by getting more Black people—particularly Black men—into the social work profession to meet the growing demand.

“The suicide rate for young Black men has been increasing over the past 5 to 10 years, starting from ages 9 and 10 up to the mid-20s. We’re seeing similar challenges for Black girls too. So, there is a growing need for diversity in the social work profession. That cultural awareness piece for the Black community and having more Black social workers, Black practitioners, Black Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW), it's very, very, very important as we progress in the field.”

Learn more about Taylor's work

Gary Taylor spoke to the College of Public Health about his mission is to “pass the baton” to the next generation of social workers.

Discover what it is like to have a career is social work >

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This royal alumna’s foundation works to prevent poaching

Sarah Holland — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 17:29:34 +0000

This royal alumna’s foundation works to prevent poaching Sarah Holland Thu, 03/14/2024 - 13:29

Listening to Aliyah Pandolfi, BS Management ‘04, talk about her journey from entrepreneur to anti-poaching advocate, it can be easy to forget another title she holds: princess.

Pandolfi pose with one of the drone prototypes. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Pandolfi is a descendant of one of the royal families of Kashmir—a Himalayan region occupied by foreign military forces. Her father fled to Pakistan as a child during territorial disputes and later became a Pakistani diplomat in Washington, D.C., after which he moved his family to Northern Virginia. After retirement, he earned his real estate license. Pandolfi recalls going to her father’s office, where her interest in business began.

By 18, she had started her own real estate company. Pandolfi needed her college education to fit around the full-time responsibilities of business ownership—and that’s where her journey intersected with Mason. After she earned an associate’s degree she took advantage of the university’s flexible course offerings and completed her bachelor’s while continuing her career.

Her management degree would eventually lead Pandolfi from independent business owner to an international foundation: the Kashmir World Foundation (KwF). KwF has three arms—Kashmir Academy, Kashmir Robotics, and Kashmir Rose—working toward conservation and endangered species protection through education, technological development, and art, respectively. The foundation specifically focuses on developing drones that support anti-poaching efforts. Previous projects include using drones in the African bush that could identify poachers and share their location with authorities, and drones with the real-time ability to identify sea turtle tracks and geolocate their nests.

Pandolfi is known for thinking of solutions far outside the box. But she views that space of evolution and innovation as precisely where the KwF needs to be. “I want to revolutionize not just what we create, but how we think about autonomous aerial, ground, and marine systems and what they’re capable of,” she says.

That strong belief in the importance of evolution and growth is something she sees reflected in Mason.

“Both Mason and I are so different from when I was a student, but that evolution is necessary,” she says. “Resilience is inherent to being able to grow and flourish, to allow different views to be accepted and applied. I see that resilience in Mason.”

Pandolfi’s daughter, Kashmir, attended the Mason Space Exploration Center Summer Camp at the Fairfax Campus this past summer, continuing the Mason legacy.

“I continue to carry the Mason spirit wherever I go. I want to be defined not by my title, but by my legacy. I want to lead by example and bring people together to solve problems that might seem impossible.”

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Schar School ’06 MPP Alumna Lewis is 2023 ‘Washingtonian of the Year’

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 18:50:33 +0000

Schar School ’06 MPP Alumna Lewis is 2023 ‘Washingtonian of the Year’ Andrew J Schappert Tue, 02/20/2024 - 13:50

Studies show that one in five undergraduate college students is a parent, a situation that makes them 10 times less likely to complete a degree program than nonparents. Meanwhile, fewer than 2 percent of teen mothers who have a baby before age 18 earn a college degree before they turn 30.

Nicole Lynn Lewis: ‘My two years in the [Schar School] program really opened me up to looking at the issues that I was most passionate about through a policy lens…’

Nicole Lynn Lewis has spent the last 14 years trying to change those odds—because it wasn’t so long ago, she was among those unwed, pregnant teens trying to finish her senior year of high school and then attend college.

Fourteen years later, Lewis has helped some 450 young families in the Washington, D.C., metro region reach their education goals with financial assistance and mentoring through Generation Hope, the nonprofit she founded in 2010 after earning a 2006 Master of Public Policy degree at ��AV’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

In January, Lewis was named Washingtonian of the Year for 2023, one of 10 awards presented by the magazine to community leaders in various fields. It’s not the first major honor the author of Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families has won: In 2020, Lewis was one of 31 inaugural awardees of the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, an initiative of actress Kerry Washington and philanthropist Wes Moore, now the governor of Maryland.

My two years in the [Schar School] program really opened me up to looking at the issues that I was most passionate about through a policy lens, and understanding the role that legislation plays in shaping the lives of all of us—but especially of marginalized people who are under-resourced in our in communities,” she said of her experience at Mason.

While helping individuals in need was the driving force, lessons learned at the Schar School taught her about the implications of larger-scale policy.

“It really helped open my eyes to the systemic impact of what young families are navigating every day,” she said. “I also remember looking at policy holistically and understanding that policies don't always do what they're intended to do. It's important to really be intentional and thoughtful about not only crafting policies, but the way that they're rolled out.

“And I think that was really helpful in looking critically at policy and understanding that the intention of a policy is one thing, but what’s really important is how it plays out in the lives of the people it’s purporting to serve.”

The Schar School’s Master of Public Policy program prepares students to become leaders in influential positions in the policy world. The program addresses a vast range of public concerns and “big problems,” including terrorism, human trafficking, gender studies, environment, and others. More information can be found at the Master of Public Policy website.

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