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Volleyball star finds her place on and off the court

Colleen Rich — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 12:33:54 +0000

Volleyball star finds her place on and off the court Colleen Rich Tue, 10/10/2023 - 08:33

As far back as her sophomore year in high school, Ewelina Gacek knew she wanted a career in law enforcement.

Junior criminology major and outside hitter on the Patriots women’s volleyball team, Ewelina Gacek (No. 19) has shined on the court this season. Photo by Rafael Suanes/Mason Athletics

That is why ��AV and its highly regarded Criminology, Law, and Society Department originally made it onto her radar. Add an offer of an athletic scholarship and Gacek, from Chicago, said attending Mason was something she couldn’t pass up.

Now a junior criminology major and outside hitter on the Patriots women’s volleyball team, Gacek has shined on the court for a building squad. But she also has taken advantage of a university culture and flexible environment that does not demand student-athletes cocoon themselves in what Gacek called an “athletic bubble.”

“You get the opportunities to meet people and do something separate from volleyball,” Gacek said. “It gives me another identity, and it’s cool to show people I’m not just a Mason athlete, that I am part of the Mason community in a different way.”

For Gacek, that means participating in Mason’s Police Cadet program and getting a summer internship.

Photo by Art Pittman/Mason Athletics

Still, it is volleyball that defines the Fall 2023 semester for Gacek as the Patriots try to find their way after winning only 12 matches during her first two seasons. The team already has six wins this season with 11 matches to go, including a 2-5 record in the Atlantic 10 and Gacek leading in total points and kills.

“She’s been absolutely fantastic for us this year,” Coach Megan Shifflett Bachman said. “She’s incredibly athletic. The kid is in incredibly good shape and just outworks people.”

For Gacek, though, it’s all about the team.

“I’ve never seen us have such depth at every position,” she said. “Everyone is truly ready to go, and that’s what I mean by everyone is on the same page. Everyone is willing to put in the work and be ready when they need to be.”

As a cadet, Gacek must be ready for several duties. Cadets direct traffic on campus, lock up and help patrol academic buildings, and help with security during events.

Interestingly, Gacek said no one in her family is in law enforcement, and she even had thoughts of becoming a lawyer. But after some Mason classes that were taught by faculty who had been or are in law enforcement, Gacek said her career direction solidified.

“The professors, you just can’t beat it,” she said. “It’s like I’m getting officers and federal employees teaching my class.”

That said, another possible career option did emerge last summer, when Gacek worked as an intern in Victoria Secret’s compliance office, an opportunity she got through a former teammate’s connections. There, she said, she did intake of cases and classified them according to subject matter. She also worked with senior investigators, listening in on interviews and taking notes.

“It was great,” Gacek said. “It just opened my eyes to another thing that I could do as far as my career.”

For now, though, Gacek and her teammates are focused on building toward the Atlantic 10 tournament. The event, hosted by Davidson College, isn’t until mid-November, so there is plenty of time to fine-tune, starting Friday, Oct. 13, at home against Loyola University Chicago.

“We’re all just hungry and want to prove people wrong,” she said. “We all have the same goal in mind, that we can be who we want to be.”

A sensibility, Gacek found, that Mason encourages in all its programs and opportunities.

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Lum named 2023 Distinguished Scholar by the American Society of Criminology Division of Policing

Colleen Rich — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 13:21:05 +0000

Lum named 2023 Distinguished Scholar by the American Society of Criminology Division of Policing Colleen Rich Mon, 09/25/2023 - 09:21

Cynthia Lum, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and director of ��AV’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, has been named the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology’s (ASC) Division of Policing.

Cynthia Lum. Photo by Office of University Branding

The award recognizes an established academic/researcher whose outstanding contributions to the field of policing either consists of a single outstanding work, a series of theoretical or research contributions, or the nominee’s accumulated scholarly contributions.

“I am thrilled that Cynthia has received this recognition,” said James Willis, Criminology, Law and Society department chair. “Cynthia is at the vanguard of the movement to ensure that scientific evidence gets a seat at the table of police policy and practice. As a scholar and researcher, she has made important contributions to knowledge about what works in making policing more effective and fairer, and as director of the internationally recognized Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, she has been instrumental to disseminating high quality scientific research and fostering closer researcher-practitioner partnerships. She has received many awards and prizes over the course of her distinguished career, and this honor is equally well deserved."

Lum was nominated for the award by former students and David Weisburd, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society and executive director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. “Professor Lum is one of the most important police researchers in the field,” he said. “Her work has contributed to a wide range of knowledge about the police, but she has made particularly seminal contributions in the area of evidence-based policing. She not only contributes to the science of policing, but she has ‘made the scene’ of policing in a way that few police scholars have. Her work, which is widely cited, has also had tremendous influence on the reality of policing in the field.”

Kiesong Kuen. Photo provided

Kiesong Kuen, doctoral candidate in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, also received a 2023 ASC Award—the Outstanding Student Article Award—for his article titled "What Makes Police Officers Resist Research and Evidence-Based Policing? Examining the Role of Organizational and Environmental Factors." This award is given to a single outstanding paper on the topic of policing written by a student enrolled in a recognized PhD program.

Lum and Kuen will be honored at this year’s ASC annual meeting in Philadelphia during the Policing Division’s annual reception and awards ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 16.

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She honed her research and counseling skills at Mason

Shayla Brown — Wed, 10 May 2023 20:09:22 +0000

She honed her research and counseling skills at Mason Shayla Brown Wed, 05/10/2023 - 16:09

Senior McKenzie Lauber has been involved with research since her freshman year at ��AV. A member of the Honors College, she has worked in the College of Public Health’s Social Work Integrative Research Lab, where she has taken on many roles from interviewing study participants to analyzing data as part of the StrongerMemory project.

Social Work student McKenzie Lauber poses in Peterson Hall. Photo by Cristian Torres.

Lauber is graduating from ��AV this month with a bachelor of social work degree and a minor in criminology.

When not in class, this Honors College student has gained real-world social work experience through an internship at Gateway Homes, a nonprofit group home for people diagnosed with severe mental illness, where she conducts daily interventions and runs a group based on coping mechanisms.

She also acted as the external director for Mason Miracle Dance Marathon from August 2021 to May 2022, which included fundraising for Children's National Hospital and engaging the local community. She also spent a little over a year as a virtual reading tutor for 10 to 15 students a week in Baltimore City Public Schools.

What are you most proud of regarding your time at Mason?

I am most proud of being a published co-author on an article about student satisfaction with mentoring opportunities in the Journal of Social Work Education. That was a really monumental moment for me; it allowed me to see the impact I could have through the research I’ve been a part of here at Mason.

How have you surprised yourself at Mason?

I always used to think of myself as studious and not much else, but coming to Mason really expanded my interests and what I thought as possible for myself. While at Mason, I’ve been a part of multiple student groups. I worked in the Social Work Integrative Research Lab for all of my undergrad years, which is a very rare feat. I’m surprised how much I’ve grown over the past four years. I think most importantly I’ve become more confident in my work and my abilities as a budding social worker.

What resources/opportunities did you find at Mason that you don't think you'd be able to find anywhere else?

I don’t think I would have been able to find as many career-building opportunities as I got at Mason anywhere else. Having taken advantage of being able to do research all through undergrad, I can confidently say it has helped me both academically and professionally so much. Mason also has many resources and events for professional growth, which have been extremely helpful to me, exposing me to jobs and career paths that I would have never imagined for myself.

What have you learned outside the classroom?

I have learned so much here at Mason beyond the classroom, specifically from my peers within the Department of Social Work. Everyone that I’ve met in my cohort has so much to offer to our field, and I cannot wait to see what everyone does. We all come from different backgrounds and life experiences, so it’s been really great to be able to hear everyone’s perspectives and learn from each other.

I’ve also learned a lot from my internship at Gateway Homes, which gave me real-world social work experience that allowed me to take what I had learned in my classes out into the field. Completing that internship showed how everything I’ve been taught at Mason fits into the work I will be doing once I graduate.

What impactful professor(s) did you get to work alongside?

I have been fortunate to work alongside so many amazing professors in the Social Work Department, including Emily Ihara and Catherine Tompkins. I have a lot of special memories with each of them, but I think that their confidence in me and my work is honestly what I am the most grateful for. They have given me the opportunity to do things in research that I didn’t even know I was capable of myself. Their support and mentorship have meant the world to me.

What’s next for you?

I got accepted into the Advanced Standing Social Work Program here at Mason, and I am happy to say that I will be coming back here to earn my master's degree and hopefully continue my research work as well.