Schar School News for February 2025

In Memoriam: Harold F. ‘Hal’ Gortner

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 17:53:05 +0000

In Memoriam: Harold F. ‘Hal’ Gortner Andrew J Schappert Wed, 02/05/2025 - 12:53

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Harold F. “Hal” Gortner in an undated photo.

When Hal Gortner arrived at ��AV in 1979, the campus was little more than a cluster of buildings and an ambitious vision. The university, just seven years old, had about 10,000 students and was still defining itself. But Gortner saw potential—not just in George Mason, but in the students he would go on to mentor over the next several decades.

Gortner, a towering figure in public administration education and a founding architect of the university’s public administration program, died August 7, 2024. He was 84.

At a time when George Mason was rapidly evolving, Gortner launched the public administration program, one of the university’s first to grant graduate degrees. His work laid the foundation for what would become the Schar School of Policy and Government, now home to 90 full-time faculty and 2,000 students across undergraduate and graduate programs.

Gortner served as director of the fledgling program for four years before stepping into a larger role for eight years as chair of the new Public and International Affairs Department in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

“Hal was a good chair and generous colleague,” said University Professor Emeritus James P. Pfiffner, who came to George Mason in 1984 when Gortner was chair of the department. “Faculty members knew we could count on him if we needed help, and we had high confidence in his fair and balanced leadership of the department. We knew we could count on him as our leader but also as a friend.”

A prolific scholar, Gortner authored several influential works, including Organization Theory: A Public and Nonprofit Perspective, a widely used text that has been translated into multiple languages. His contributions at George Mason were recognized in 2006 with the establishment of the Harold Gortner Distinguished Speaker Series in Public Administration.

A Missouri native, Gortner’s academic journey took him from Earlham College, where he earned a degree in political science in 1963, and to Indiana University, where he earned master’s degrees in public administration (1966) and political science (1969), as well as a PhD in political science (1971). Before arriving at George Mason, he was an assistant professor at San Jose State University.

Beyond his academic achievements, Gortner was known for his warmth and generosity. His students remember him as a mentor who believed in their potential.

“Hal’s positive outlook and confidence helped us become productive public servants,” said one former student. A colleague called him “the most community-spirited and devoted to the greater good.”

After retiring in 2004, Gortner and his wife, Sylvia, moved to Bluffton, South Carolina, and later to Bloomington, Indiana, where they settled in 2015. His legacy is etched not just in the institutions he helped shape but in the countless students and colleagues he inspired along the way.

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A Troubling, Instructive Visit to the ‘Epicenter’ of the U.S. Fentanyl Crisis

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 20:19:58 +0000

A Troubling, Instructive Visit to the ‘Epicenter’ of the U.S. Fentanyl Crisis Andrew J Schappert Tue, 02/04/2025 - 15:19

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Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera

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Before departing to the U.S.-Mexico border as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar fellowship, ��AV Schar School of Policy and Government professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera ventured several times to Kensington, Pennsylvania, a bustling neighborhood in lower northeast Philadelphia.

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera: ‘I have a hypothesis that the fentanyl crisis cannot be blamed exclusively on Mexican cartels.‘ Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Accompanied by Texas journalist Sergio Chapa, Correa-Cabrera’s purpose was to further her research by investigating the origins and dynamics of the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

The resulting magazine story, published this week in the American Prospect magazine, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit forum addressing public policy, is titled “The Onion of Kensington,” a remarkable examination of the collision of the American dream and an immigrant community at the epicenter of the nation’s fentanyl tragedy.

It also illustrates, in her words, “Big Pharma’s role in spreading addiction” while “avoiding accountability for the devastation they’ve caused.”

“I have a hypothesis that the fentanyl crisis cannot be blamed exclusively on Mexican cartels,” said Correa-Cabrera, countering an argument used to justify trade wars with bordering countries. “The explanation is much more complex. I study drug trafficking and focus on the cartels and in my view, current U.S. drug policy is based on wrong premises. I went to Kensington to see the crisis firsthand.”

The experience, with its grim realities and uncertain solutions, was, she said, “very tough, but it was also very interesting.”

You can read the resulting story in the American Prospect.

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Wargame Prepares Students for the Next International Security Crisis

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 20:07:18 +0000

Wargame Prepares Students for the Next International Security Crisis Andrew J Schappert Mon, 02/03/2025 - 15:07

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Ellen Laipson

Lee Roberts

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“When we decided to close the Suez Canal, everyone else in the room had to change their plans, especially the United States.”

George Mason alum Jerad Harper (far left), an associate professor at the U.S. Army War College, leads students in the Middle East crisis simulation. Photo provided

So commented one Schar School of Policy and Government student who represented Egypt during a Middle East crisis simulation hosted by ��AV’s Center for Security Policy Studies (CSPS).

One year after the beginning of fighting in Gaza, CSPS trained students to anticipate the next crisis and how countries might respond. This simulation, which took the form of a daylong matrix board game, was part of an annual series held by the Schar School, including a defense and security research forum and a Gettysburg battlefield tour.

“We offer these ‘out of the classroom’ opportunities,” said Ellen Laipson, director of CSPS and the school’s Master of International Security program, "because they help students move from conceptual thinking and scholarly writing to actually imagining what it would be like to operate in a crisis decision-making environment.”

Ellen Laipson, director of the Schar School’s Center for Security Policy Studies

Reflecting on her extensive career, which includes time as vice chair of the National Intelligence Council and on the staff of the National Security Council, Laipson believes that these simulations can help participants better understand what careers suit them.

“Some people are more suited to being the analyst, with deep knowledge of different world regions, or of specific political and military issues,” she said. “Others enjoy the ‘gaming’ of weighing different policy options; those who think more in terms of ‘now what do we do?’”

George Mason alumni Lee Roberts, PhD Political Science ‘22, an adjunct professor and U.S. Army strategic intelligence officer, and Jerad Harper, PhD Political Science ‘20, an associate professor at the U.S. Army War College, led the simulation in which three years had passed since the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon ended in a ceasefire. They painted a picture in which the new leadership of Fatah and Hamas had formed a united front against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and were demanding a full withdrawal to the 1967 “Green Line.” Students were then divided into eight teams representing the United States, the European Union, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, and given packets describing their countries’ respective goals and interests.

Meredith Hutchens, CSPS fellow and international security master’s student, helped facilitate the simulation.

"Designing and facilitating exercises like this gives us an opportunity to merge our experience as practitioners with the curriculum," said Roberts. "Seminar discussion is great, but it can't really recreate the pressure of prioritizing limited resources, options, and time against multiple urgent challenges. We compress that sensation as best we can into the game and the students report that it makes the concepts much more tangible to them."

During the simulation, each team took turns during which they could take any action incorporating one of the “instruments of national power” identified by the Defense Department’s DIME framework (i.e., diplomatic, informational, military, or economic). They then had to defend the viability of their preferred action. Every other team was given the option of either arguing in favor of or against that action's chances of success. The adjudicator—Roberts or Harper—then used dice to determine whether that team was successful. The relative strength of the arguments for and against the proposed action determined the threshold that the dice roll must reach for the action to be successful.

“It's really great to see how quickly people get into their roles,” said Meredith Hutchens, a CSPS fellow and international security master’s student. “Most people are not timid about stepping into the role, regardless of which country they’ve been assigned.”

As a CSPS fellow, Hutchens volunteered to help facilitate the simulation and was able to observe how her peers navigated the scenario. She was especially intrigued by the negotiations that took place as groups of teams sought to coordinate their actions to achieve common goals and outmaneuver other groups.

“Your decision and your actions can have a lot of consequences, and if you choose to leave someone out of your action plan, that really impacts the game,” she said.

The Schar School’s security studies graduate programs are ranked No. 4 by U.S. News & World Report and include degrees in biodefense and international security as well as a national security track in the master of public policy program and an emergency management and homeland security concentration in the master of public administration program.

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