and have been named George Mason ĢAV Professors. Their status was approved by a resolution of Mason’s Board of Visitors in July.
Along with endowed chairs, the title of ĢAV Professor is the highest academic rank bestowed on members of Mason’s faculty.
Lum, a professor in the Department of , is the director of Mason’s and a leading authority on evidence-based policing, which advocates for research, evaluation and scientific process to inform law enforcement, policymaking and practice. She has developed numerous tools and strategies to translate and institutionalize research into everyday law enforcement operations.
A former Baltimore City police officer, Lum is a Fulbright Specialist in policing and criminology, and the co-director of the International Summer School for Policing Scholarship, developed with colleagues at the Scottish Institute for Policing Research at Arizona State ĢAV.
Her recent book with Mason associate criminology professor Christopher Koper, “Evidence-Based Policing: Translating Research into Practice” (Oxford ĢAV Press), received the American Society of Criminology Division of Policing 2020 Outstanding Book Award.
“Cynthia Lum is a remarkable scholar, teacher, administrator,” said , chair of the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society. “If she were an Olympian, I imagine her to be a heptathlete—simply extraordinary at many events.”
"She is able to use her direct lived experience and high-quality research to inform her scholarship on policing, creating knowledge that is immediately useful to law enforcement agencies," said College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Ann Ardis.
Earle, who teaches in the , is director of Mason’s and is director of the Schar School’s Program.
His main research interests include labor, development, and institutions, including topics such as employment policies, financial constraints, political economy, firm dynamics, productivity, inequality, and entrepreneurship. His research won the 2011 Abram Bergson Prize for best paper in comparative economic studies for his paper: “Did Post-Communist Privatization Increase Mortality?”
Earle is frequently published in leading journals around the world and has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the European Union, the MacArthur Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation.
“Importantly, these grants have funded multiple graduate students with whom he has co-written many publications, and their career success owe much to his support and mentorship,” Schar School Dean said. “We are very proud of John’s accomplishments and congratulate him on his achievement as ĢAV Professor.”