Schar School News for December 2023

Schar School Student Spotlight

Graduation

Government and International Politics

A Successful Semester Abroad Fosters a Love of Travel

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 14:54:26 +0000

A Successful Semester Abroad Fosters a Love of Travel Andrew J Schappert Tue, 12/12/2023 - 09:54

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Schar School junior Maggie Reier visited various cities, including Budapest, while studying at the University of Oxford.

Even before arriving at ��AV, Maggie Reier knew she wanted to study abroad for a semester. The Schar School of Policy and Government helped her achieve that goal.

A San Francisco Bay native, Reier wanted to be in the Washington, D.C., area for college—location was key for the current junior double majoring in government and international politics and integrative studies with a concentration in social justice and human rights. Following graduation, she plans to attend law school and study human rights law.

“I knew I wanted to be somewhere that would provide a lot of job and internship opportunities for what I wanted to do, and Mason just fit the bill,” she said. “Not to mention, the government degree was unique to Mason, and really appealed to me.”

As far as studying abroad, that notion was homegrown. Her father traveled extensively for work as a photographer and her mother and sister both studied abroad while in high school.

“I grew up hearing about their experiences and I wanted to experience traveling abroad for myself,” she said.

When the Global Education Office sent an email to students advertising a study abroad opportunity in Oxford, England, Reier immediately got in touch with her Schar School advisor to apply.

A semester at Mason is structured differently than a semester at the University of Oxford, according to Reier. Instead of the usual five classes a semester, she took two tutorials: The Politics of Human Rights and Comparative U.S. and U.K. Law.

“I am given readings and discussion questions, and sometimes an essay. Basically, I do the work over the course of the week, and when I meet with my tutor, we talk about what I read and/or wrote,” she said. “My tutors aren’t afraid to put me on the spot; that’s really helped to improve my ability to answer questions and recall the readings.”

Although the changes were an adjustment for Reier to make, she says that the differences improved her academic abilities.

“My writing has also gotten better in terms of speed and conciseness,” she said. “The learning system forces me to time manage more efficiently than I have before.”

She credits her Schar School classes for helping her to prepare for the content covered at Oxford.

“The Nonprofit Sector in the U.S. class was heavily research-based, so that was helpful in preparation for the amount of research I have to do in my tutorials,” she said. “Constitutional Interpretation gave me a foundation for my comparative law tutorial because the subject matter requires you to be thoughtful and analytical when looking at cases and decisions.”

Outside the classroom, Reier liked to travel across Europe with her peers. She spent a lot of time traversing the United Kingdom, specifically the city of London.

“There’s just so much to do, and I’ve barely scratched the surface,” she said.

Reier also visited Rome and the Vatican. Her favorite city to explore is Budapest.

“The city is so cool, and I wish we could’ve had more time there,” she said. “We went to St. Stephen’s Basilica and Heroes’ Square. We also saw Fisherman’s Bastion, a lookout point on the Buda side of the Danube. We spent a lot of time on the Pest side in the Jewish quarter and it was my personal favorite part of the trip.”

Reier encourages any student interested in studying abroad to take advantage of the opportunities that Mason offers and shares this advice: “It’s important to understand what your priorities are in terms of what you want to get out of your study-abroad experience. If travel is important, try to pick somewhere that’s accessible to other countries. Try to plan as much as possible—don’t be afraid to reach out to the GEO office to talk about their different programs. I found that meeting with someone to get more insight into the different programs was helpful in figuring out what program I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it. Once you’re abroad, just make the most of it. Take advantage of what’s near you and try to get out of your comfort zone.”

Topics

Global Education Office

Schar School Student Spotlight

Schar School BA in Government and International Politics

Learning How to Overcome the Barriers of Student Voting

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 15:50:03 +0000

Learning How to Overcome the Barriers of Student Voting Andrew J Schappert Wed, 12/06/2023 - 10:50

In This Story

Jennifer N. Victor

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Associate Professor Jennifer Victor leads students in her “You’re the Voter” project.

Jennifer N. Victor

College students are an elusive group of voters.

Looking at the low voter turnout rate among college students, it may seem as though they are disinterested in elections. But a new study in the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV suggests college students face more barriers to voting than nearly any other population of voters and aims to determine how to get students to the polls.

Mason’s voter turnout record has huge disparities over the last few elections. For example, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement based at Tufts University, Mason had record-high voter turnout in 2020—nearly 72 percent of registered students voted, including those who voted on campus, by mail, or in their home districts. But in 2023, despite a robust political climate on campus, Mason’s polling station in Merten Hall saw the lowest turnout in Fairfax County—only 12 percent of registered students voted there (excluding provisional ballots, which are not yet available).

Jennifer N. Victor, associate professor in the Schar School, wants to understand what drives student voting and the best ways to overcome the barriers in student voting. This fall, she mounted a new project called “You’re the Voter,” which aims to increase voter awareness and turnout at Mason. Part mobilization, research, and experiential learning, You’re the Voter was open to students whose class instructors are enrolled in the program, offering keen insights into the motivations of an elusive voting bloc that has yet to emerge as a dominant force in American politics.

Members of the Schar School Democracy Lab Learning Community assisted Victor with the project. Democracy Lab is the only Schar School residential learning community that is exclusively for first-year students. Together, the students take an introductory government course while also engaging in events, discussions, and field trips to learn about civic engagement.

Democracy Lab students delivered an experimental protocol by going into classrooms and providing information about voting and encouragement to vote. Other classes only received emailed encouragement, while about one-third of classes in the study received no added information about voting.

A watch party was hosted for election night on November 7, 2023, and an open invitation was extended to all Schar School students to gather and watch the live results of the Virginia election. After the night ended, Victor shared some of her preliminary results.

Historical data on turnout at the Mason campus polling place (Fairfax County precinct 134 “University”; VA House of Delegates district 35; Senate district 11; Fairfax Count Braddock District)

Year	Registered Voters	Total	Percentage
2020	2294	709	30
2021	1992	452	23
2022	1798	305	17
2023	2165	254	12

*Excludes provisional ballots for all except 2021, which is inclusive of provisional ballots.

The year 2023 saw an increase in the number of registered voters in the Mason precinct relative to 2021 and 2022. Mason saw a roughly 20 percent increase in registered voters from 2022 to 2023.

Turnout at the Mason student polling site has been declining over the past four election cycles. Turnout in 2023 was 29.4 percent lower in relative to 2022, with only 12 percent of registered voters.

Victor will not know which motivation method was the most effective for turning out students until she receives the final tallies of voting data from the state, which she expects in early 2024. In the spring semester, she will work with Democracy Lab students to analyze the study data and draw conclusions about how to best get students to the polls.

Victor and her campus and community partners, including the Provost’s Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning (CECiL) and the League of Women Voters of Fairfax, celebrated the students and faculty who participated in the study at a breakfast event on Wednesday, November 29.

“The people in this room, and elsewhere on campus, are the village that makes voting happen and keeps democracy resilient,” Victor said to the group.

Topics

Democracy Lab

Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning

Schar School Featured Stories

Democracy Lab Learning Community

Strong Research Skills and Internships Open Doors For December Graduate

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 21:23:56 +0000

Strong Research Skills and Internships Open Doors For December Graduate Andrew J Schappert Tue, 12/05/2023 - 16:23

Government and International Politics major Lydia Sigman interned in Senator Bob Casey’s office while taking classes at Mason.

Graduating senior Lydia Sigman could write the manual for college success—develop professional skills through internships, learn research skills through faculty-led projects, and secure a position with state government by graduation. This government and international politics major and Honors College student took full advantage of every ��AV opportunity and it shows. “I've always enjoyed politics and history, and I wanted to figure out how that interest would transfer into a real career,” says this Pennsylvania native who chose Mason for its proximity to D.C.

Using internships as a way to explore careers in public service, Sigman worked both in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and also in U.S. Senator Bob Casey’s office. “While interning in the U.S. Senate, I was still able to take classes and be with my friends on campus, which solidified all the reasons I chose Mason in the first place,” she explains.

Sigman also honed her research skills through the Schar School’s Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP) where students are paired with faculty to conduct original research. Students develop presentation skills by participating in research fairs, and many become co-authors on publications as a result of their participation. Sigman first joined a team of students led by Professor Jennifer Victor which documented caucus relationships in the US Congress. The subsequent semester, Sigman worked with Professor Jonathan Gifford to write a case study examining why the public-private partnership for Interstate 69 construction was terminated earlier than scheduled. The topics Sigman explored illustrate the diversity of Schar School faculty expertise.

“I am excited to do policy work in my home state!”

Sigman points to the applicability of what she learned to her career development: “Having worked on large papers in classes and as a research assistant in the URAP project, I felt prepared to do a lot of research. I took those skills directly to my internship where I helped write briefings for the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture. This required clear and confident skills in research and writing that I had developed as a student.”

Sigman credits her research experience as the reason she secured her first position post-graduation. In January, she will begin working full-time with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture in Harrisburg. Says Sigman, “I am excited to do policy work in my home state!”

In This Story

Jennifer N. Victor

Jonathan L. Gifford

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Topics

Schar School Undergraduate Research Assistant Program

Government and International Politics Program

Schar School of Policy and Government Undergraduate Internships

Schar School Student Spotlight

Graduation