College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Q&A with Ali Reza Manouchehri, Winter Commencement 2025 Speaker

Katarina Benson — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 19:07:25 +0000

Q&A with Ali Reza Manouchehri, Winter Commencement 2025 Speaker Katarina Benson Thu, 12/11/2025 - 14:07

MetroStar co-founder and chief executive officer Ali Manouchehri, BA Philosophy ’99, is the featured speaker at George Mason Ģ��AV’s Winter Commencement on December 18. Here he talks about his George Mason experience, his company’s partnership with the university, and his advice for new graduates.

Are there any lessons or experiences from your time at George Mason that inform your life (work or otherwise) today?

The most important experience George Mason provided was the opportunity to meet my co-founders. Robert [Santos] and I met as roommates at Mason and quickly developed a bond through our shared classes and curiosity. We came of age during the early days of the dot-com boom, where the spirit of experimentation, invention, and resilience shaped our thinking. Our time at George Mason gave us more than a degree, it gave us a launchpad.

Mason’s environment was rich with diverse people and perspectives. We were fortunate to learn from outstanding professors across the humanities and business, which helped shape the holistic thinking behind MetroStar. Associate Professor Rose Cherubin was a major influence; I took every course she offered. Her way of unlocking creativity through logic, philosophy, and storytelling helped influence the foundation of how I view problem-solving, leadership, and innovation today.

What George Mason truly offered us was the ability to customize our education and blend disciplines. That cross-pollination of thought, from engineering to philosophy to business, became a core trait of MetroStar’s culture and is something I carry forward every day.

Can you share a favorite George Mason memory?

One of my favorite and most pivotal memories was how Rob and I became roommates. At the time, I was living with a wrestler, and my suitemates were also on the wrestling team. Rob was living with a new wrestling recruit. One day, my roommate Ben asked me to speak with Coach [Brian] Shaffer, next thing I know, I moved downstairs, the wrestling recruit moved upstairs, and Rob and I ended up as roommates.

That move changed everything. We bonded quickly, exchanged ideas constantly, and soon began building what would later become MetroStar. That memory reminds me how spontaneous connections can become life-changing partnerships. It’s also a perfect metaphor for what we want to recreate with our partnership, bringing students from different disciplines together to spark the unexpected.

MetroStar’s partnership with George Mason offers some incredible opportunities for our students. Please speak about your inspiration to enter into the partnership, and what you look forward to most in working with the College of Engineering and Computing and the Costello College of Business.

The inspiration behind this partnership is deeply personal. When we founded MetroStar, Rob was in the business school, I was studying humanities, and our third co-founder, Pirooz Javan, BS Systems Engineering ’02, was a computer science major. The DNA of MetroStar was born out of these intersections—engineering, creativity, and business.

In many ways, this partnership is our opportunity to give back and pay it forward. We’ve always found ways to stay engaged with Mason, through internships, sponsored courses, events, and hackathons, even when we were bootstrapped and building. But this three-year partnership is different. It brings two decades of lived experience, lessons, and growth to the forefront.

What excites us most is creating structured opportunities for students to collaborate across disciplines and experience what we once did organically: the power of “accidental collisions.” We hope to spark those chance meetings, innovative projects, and unexpected friendships that can turn into start-ups, solutions, and careers.

What do graduates need to know about harnessing the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) regardless of their field, and how do you see AI impacting the job market? 

AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a mindset shift. It’s changing how we approach problems, unlock creativity, and imagine what’s possible. Whether you're in health care, the arts, business, or public service, the ability to understand and thoughtfully apply AI will become foundational to your career. You don’t need to be a machine learning expert to harness its power, but you do need to be curious, adaptable, and willing to engage with it meaningfully. 

One of the most important new skills is learning how to prompt AI, how to ask the right questions, frame the right challenges, and steer the outputs in useful directions. Prompting is quickly becoming a core competency, both personally and professionally. Knowing how to effectively communicate with AI, whether it’s for brainstorming, writing, analysis, or planning is like having a new kind of literacy that will only grow more essential. 

What AI does best is free us to focus on what makes us uniquely human: creativity, judgment, empathy, reasoning, and innovation. The future won’t be AI vs. Humans: it will be AI + Humans. The people who learn how to integrate AI into their workflows, whether to make faster decisions, personalize experiences, or generate new ideas, will have an edge. 

You’ve stayed involved at the university in various capacities. How is it mutually beneficial for George Mason alumni to stay engaged with their alma mater? 

Staying connected to George Mason is like plugging back into the source of your original spark. 

When alumni engage, whether by mentoring students, guest lecturing, sponsoring events, or collaborating on research, they’re not just giving back. They’re staying sharp. They’re reconnecting with fresh perspectives, new ideas, and the energy that comes from being around passionate, hungry students. 

It’s a two-way street. Students gain real-world insight and inspiration; alumni get renewed purpose and fresh perspective. What has always made George Mason special is the diversity of thinking across disciplines of business, engineering, humanities, and sciences and how that fuels creative problem-solving. The more we stay connected, the stronger that ecosystem becomes, and the more meaningful innovation takes root and grows beyond the classroom.  

Finally, if you could offer any advice to a George Mason student, what would it be?

My advice is simple: Stay curious and mix it up. If you’re studying AI, take a philosophy course, maybe even one on pre-Socratic thinkers. If you’re an engineer, take a business class. If you’re a business major, dive into the humanities or computer science.

Some of the greatest breakthroughs come from the intersection of disciplines. Don’t just follow a linear path. Explore. Take electives that challenge your thinking and expand your worldview. Meet people outside your major. Mason today offers more opportunities and resources than we ever had, so maximize them. This university is full of goodness—you just have to stay curious enough to discover it.

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Global affairs grad encourages others to give back to their communities

Katarina Benson — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 19:17:17 +0000

Global affairs grad encourages others to give back to their communities Katarina Benson Wed, 12/10/2025 - 14:17

Tereana Battle can look back on many accomplishments during her time at George Mason Ģ��AV, but one of the memories that gives her the most satisfaction is her capstone project, creating an anti-bullying workshop for middle school students.

With her workshop, she helped equip students in Loudoun County with cultural competency skills so they can treat one another with kindness and respect.

A native of Chesapeake, Virginia, Battle is graduating this month with a bachelor’s degree in global affairs.

Battle said giving back to the community is important to her because as a young person she sought out mentorship and guidance and wanted to provide that for other students. During her time at George Mason, she served as a Patriot Leader, helping new students and their families make the transition to college through Orientation and other programs.

Battle also participated in the Bonner Leadership Program, which combines exploration of citizenship and democracy studies with civic engagement through work at community agencies. “Not only did it help me with my vocational experiences, but also allowed me to continue to study full time as an undergraduate student,” she said.

At an internship with Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington provided Battle with another opportunity for service. There, she learned about immigration policy while assisting families.

Battle also took advantage of many of the student services the university offers, including the Writing Center, career readiness and success coaching.

“With the Writing Center, I was able to create my goal statement, and with my goal statement, I was able to get into the Bachelor's/Accelerated Master's Program within the Schar School, which is highly competitive,” Battle said. She plans to pursue a master of public administration.

She served in Student Government and worked as an access services student assistant for the Ģ��AV Libraries. She also studied in Spain through the Global Gateway scholarship program, living with a host family and improving her Spanish language skills.

She was also a member of Every Nation on Campus, or ENC, a faith-based group.

She encourages current and future Patriots to find clubs that align with their passion and values.

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From rugby pitch to classroom, this Patriot is redefining what success means to him

Colleen Rich — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 16:53:54 +0000

From rugby pitch to classroom, this Patriot is redefining what success means to him Colleen Rich Mon, 12/08/2025 - 11:53

At 26, Max Dacey enrolled at George Mason Ģ��AV with a singular goal: to earn his degree quickly and better support his family. A former competitive rugby player, he didn’t imagine a traditional college experience. His plan was to take classes, stay focused, “get the paper, and get out,” he said.

However, a year and a half later, the public relations major from Alexandria, Virginia, is graduating with far more than he expected: new confidence, a renewed sense of purpose, and a community that shaped the way he sees himself as a student, coach, and leader.

Fitting in as a contemporary student

Dacey’s decision to enroll was guided by a mentor from his hometown—a George Mason alum who urged him to return to school and reconnect with the university’s rugby program.

Once he entered the classroom, the sense of belonging broadened. “In my first class, a lot of students were above the age of 23 and talked about who they were outside of class,” he said. “I immediately felt like part of a community. The professors cared about my opinion, which was uplifting.”

Over time, Dacey uncovered strengths he hadn’t seen in himself. “I did not know that my critical analysis was as good as it is,” he said. In a rhetoric course last spring, his professor noted how consistently he identified metaphors and underlying connections—insights he hadn’t even realized he was making.

Max Dacey (far right) with the rugby team. Photo provided

Returning to school also gave him something he hadn’t had in his professional life: time to pause, think, and dig deeply into ideas. George Mason’s classroom environment offered the space to stretch intellectually and write about what mattered to him. One of his favorite assignments was a critical analysis of The Lord of the Rings, a series he has loved for years. Approaching it from a scholarly angle, dissecting its metaphors, themes, and world-building, was “challenging and energizing,” he said.

That shift, he realized, was transformative. It wasn’t simply about meeting degree requirements; it was about learning to think hard, ask questions, and make connections.

Coaching, leadership, and community

Throughout his student experience, rugby remained his anchor. Dacey first joined the club sports program as an assistant coach, eventually stepping into the head coach role. Leading teammates close to his age brought complexity along with humor.

“I didn't like being called ‘coach,’” he said with a laugh. “I joked with them, ‘I’m teaching you rugby because that’s what I’m good at. But if you tutor me in a class, I’m not calling you Coach —we’re peers.”

Max Dacey. Photo by Andani Munkaila/Office of Ģ��AV Branding

Coaching is one of his proudest accomplishments and has guided his journey in developing leadership skills. “My time at George Mason as head coach,” he said, “has given me a chance to better myself outside the classroom and lead my peers in the sport I love.”

Charting his own path

As graduation approaches, Dacey is exploring his next steps with intention, looking for opportunities that align with both his public relations training and leadership experience.

Success, to him, is deeply individual. “Success means achieving your goals in a way that you’re proud of,” he said. “Everyone has different aspirations and methods. Accomplishing them in your own way is success.”

His advice to other George Mason students, especially those returning to campus after time away, is grounded in his own experience. “Make as many connections as possible, attend every networking event, and have confidence in yourself,” he said. “The more you put yourself out there, the more confidence you’ll have. You’ll surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.”

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Historic victory for George Mason’s Debate Team

Shayla Brown — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 16:22:50 +0000

Historic victory for George Mason’s Debate Team  Shayla Brown Thu, 12/04/2025 - 11:22

George Mason Ģ��AV's Debate Team won the prestigious West Point Sword at the United States Military Academy’s 60th annual National Debate Tournament in West Point, New York. 

“This is one of the most iconic awards in college policy debate, and it was the one title George Mason Debate had never won until now,” said Jackie Poapst, director of the Debate Team. “To see our name finally engraved among the champions in the tournament’s 60th year is nothing short of historic. This moment represents six decades of legacy, and the future of excellence at George Mason.”  

The victory in October was one of many for the George Mason varsity team this season.  

George Mason's Debate Team. Photo provided.

George Mason students competed against teams from Harvard, Cornell, James Madison Ģ��AV, Liberty Ģ��AV, Binghamton Ģ��AV, New York Ģ��AV, the Ģ��AV of Rochester, and Suffolk Ģ��AV.

This year’s tournament topic was labor rights, and the George Mason team had several wins on the tournament leaderboard: 

Austin Davis (Communication, sophomore) and Del Gorman (Government and International Politics, sophomore)—1st Overall Seed, undefeated, Tournament Champions 
Ashley Wright (Government and International Politics, junior) and Ben Witkov (Economics, freshman)—2nd Overall Seed, Tournament Co-Champions 
Reet Taxali (Criminology, junior) and Dean Richter (Government and International Politics, senior)—4th Overall Seed, Elite Eight 
Brenda Reyes (Conflict Analysis and Resolution, senior) and Amira Shananier (Computational and Data Science, senior)—7th Overall Seed, Elite Eight

George Mason debaters also triumphed as individual speakers, winning four of the top five speaker awards, with Davis taking first place.   

Students from George Mason's Debate team accepting the West Point Sword. Photo provided.

“I told my coaches last year after losing in the finals that it was ‘Sword or bust’ this season. To win it with Del and to do it for George Mason Debate, it’s a dream realized,” said Davis, who is also a teaching assistant for the writing-intensive course COMM 300 Rhetorical Theory and Criticism. 

Other students placing individually were Witkov at 3rd, Gorman at 4th, and Wright at 5th. 

Reyes also serves as the team’s social events coordinator. 

“We've been going to this tournament every single year, and our director has always been our biggest supporter. I’m so proud of my team's hard work and dedication. It’s an honor to be part of this legacy,” said Reyes, who is in George Mason’s Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s Program.  

“My partner Amira and I centered our debate on marginalized populations often neglected in labor rights,” said Reyes, who also serves as vice president of George Mason’s Kappa Alpha Pi Pre-Law and Government Fraternity. “We argued that migrants and undocumented workers are not classified as workers by the [National Labor Relations Act] therefore, do not get access to all labor rights under most generic cases. This makes teams start to question what they can do for migrant labors that are undocumented who we believe are the backbone of America.”  

One of Reyes’ takeaways from this experience is that as a senior, her time on the team is winding down. 

“The moments of working together to achieve our teams' goal of earning the West Point Sword will always be a special core debate memory,” said Reyes. “These memories from supporting our George Mason team no matter the results is what matters the most.” 

George Mason’s performance was described by tournament officials as “one of the most comprehensive team showings in recent memory.”  

“This win means everything to our students,” Poapst said. “They have proven that teamwork, resilience, and belief in each other can quite literally make history.” 

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Three Minute Thesis Competition showcases doctoral research

Shayla Brown — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 15:40:07 +0000

Three Minute Thesis Competition showcases doctoral research Shayla Brown Mon, 12/01/2025 - 10:40

In This Story

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Rania Zaied, a fourth-year PhD student in George Mason Ģ��AV’s Department of Communication, has won first-place at the annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, an engaging event that showcases the innovative research of doctoral candidates. She will advance to the 2026 regional competition in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hosted by the Council of Southern Graduate Schools. 

3MT first place winner Rania Zaied (left) with Stephanie Bluth. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of Ģ��AV Branding.

The competition took place on November 7, 2025, and was organized by the Graduate Division of the Provost’s Office. The competition invites PhD students from various schools and colleges within the university to present their research in a concise and compelling format. 

Students from the College of Education and Human Development, College of Engineering and Computing, College of Humanities and Social Science, College of Public Health, and College of Science participated, presenting their chosen research topics with a single slide and a strict three-minute time limit. A panel of eight judges evaluated the presentations. 

This year, the doctoral candidates explored a diverse range of topics, including the integration of Gen-AI in K-12 classrooms and novel approaches to combating bacteria and biofilms. The competition concluded with the following winners: 

First Place: Rania Zaied (CHSS): “Decoding the Joke: Muslim Representations in Comedy and Their Impact on Internalized Anti-Muslim Racism.” 
Second Place: Mahmood Almosuli (COS): “Designer Phage: The Way to Beat Bacteria and Biofilms.” 
Third Place: Rooshna Mohsin (CPH): “Balancing the Risks: Dietary and Social Predictors of PFAs Exposure and Associated Health Outcomes in Hispanic Children.” 
People’s Choice: Oakley Thomas Hill (Carter School): “The Justice Languages of America.”

The winners of the 3MT competition. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of Ģ��AV Branding.

Zaied had previously competed in a 3MT competition at James Madison Ģ��AV during her master’s studies and found it a rewarding experience.  

“It truly helped me share my research clearly with any audience in a way that was simple, and to the point, regardless of their background. So, I really wanted to do it again for my doctoral dissertation, and train myself to talk about my research simply and concisely,” Zaied explained. 

Zaied is conducting a qualitative study involving online interviews with Muslim audiences, utilizing thematic analysis to identify and interpret recurring themes in participants' experiences.

She attributes much of her success to the constructive feedback received from various resources at George Mason, including workshops led by Graduate Professional and Career Development Program Coordinator Alyssa Bivins, preliminary round feedback from judges, and consultations with her mentor Melissa Broeckelman-Post and Communication Center staff.

“I also attended a practice session with Dr. Bivins and Makayla Johnson, who provided valuable feedback regarding clarity for a general audience, body language, and word choices in my speech,” said Zaied, who has a concentration in strategic communications.

With the support of George Mason’s resources, Zaied polished her presentation through continuous practice and refinement.  

“Some feedback might have been small tweaks here and there, but all of it together truly brought my speech a long way from where it had started and really made a huge difference,” she said.  

“I’m very excited to move forward to the regional competition and represent George Mason Ģ��AV there,” she said. 

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Veteran alumna pays it forward after soaking up 'great' college experience

Katarina Benson — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 19:32:49 +0000

Veteran alumna pays it forward after soaking up 'great' college experience Katarina Benson Mon, 11/10/2025 - 14:32

When Tiffany Taylor, BS Criminology, Law and Society ’20, enrolled at George Mason Ģ��AV, she expected her college experience to look different than most.

An Army veteran and single parent with three school-aged children, Taylor was responsible for multiple schedules. But, over the next two years, she was still able to capitalize on the opportunities at George Mason—attending classes on campus, getting involved in her program and classmates’ projects, participating in internships, and embarking on two study-abroad trips.

Not only did she soak up every minute of the college experience, but today she mentors current College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) students, advocating for nontraditional students.

“I often say that because I was a nontraditional [student] and had outside responsibilities with my children, a lot of times it felt like I was just on campus for class and I would leave,” Taylor said. “But when I sit and reflect on it, I had a great experience at Mason, and I tapped into almost everything that was available.”

Taylor, BS Criminology, Law and Society ’20. Photo provided

Originally from New York, Taylor served as an intelligence analyst in the Army for more than seven years. She briefed senior-level commanders and staff for both Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Stateside, subsequent trainings moved Taylor and her family to bases in Missouri, Arizona, Georgia, and finally, to nearby Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

She imagined herself making a career out of the military, but, in 2011, she was forced to medically retire due to kidney complications.

“It was bittersweet having to leave the military and readjust to civilian life,” she said. “But I believe everything happens for a reason.”

After earning her associate’s degree at Northern Virginia Community College and working several odd jobs to help her family, Taylor decided to return to school and pursue her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer.

Taylor enjoyed being able taking classes on campus—both during the day and in the evening. She also appreciated how accommodating her professors in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society (CLS) were with her schedule as a single parent, understanding if she had to miss a class because of a conflict or welcoming and interacting with her two younger sons, who were in elementary and middle school.

Being on campus also gave her access to a variety of programs and projects, including an internship in the D.C. Office of Police Complaints and a role in a research study. She played a prosecutor in a guilty plea negotiation research study conducted by a PhD candidate in the Modeling Decision-Making in the Legal System (MoDiLs) Laboratory.

She heard about the opportunity from Allison Redlich, Distinguished Ģ��AV Professor and associate chair of Department of Criminology, Law and Society, who runs the lab. Redlich served as a mentor to Taylor, opening her eyes to a new career path in her capstone writing class.

“That capstone writing research class on wrongful convictions really opened my eyes and changed the whole trajectory of my law career and future,” said Taylor, who originally wanted to pursue entertainment law. “It just geared me toward public interest.”

Taylor’s curiosity, willingness to learn, and desire to improve made her an ideal student, Redlich said. The two stay in contact, with Taylor often reaching out to her former professor for advice or help on her writing.

“She had very clear career goals, and she did so much to achieve those goals even when life throws you a bunch of curves,” Redlich said. “She just kept going. I always found that extremely impressive.”

But perhaps just as impactful as her program was the opportunity to study overseas. A visit from members of George Mason’s Global Education Office to one of Taylor’s classes showed her that studying abroad was a possibility.

Over the holiday break two years in a row, and with her parents able to watch her children, she participated in two three-week experiences. First, she went to Tanzania and Zanzibar for a course on human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The next year, she traveled to Germany, Hungary, and Austria for a course on post-war and justice that focused on art recovery after the Nuremberg Trials.

On the heels of challenging medical issues, in what she described as an emotional time in her life, Taylor called the trips “life-changing” and expressed gratitude toward the Veteran Affairs scholarships she received to help pay for the trip.

Now, she looks to give back as she starts the next chapter of her career. She graduated from law school at Drexel Ģ��AV in Philadelphia in May and recently took the uniform bar examination with aspirations to practice law in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, perhaps as a public defender.

“I’m a big advocate for nontraditional students and older individuals going back to school, individuals like myself, from underserved or impoverished neighborhoods that never would have thought they could have gone to college,” said Taylor, who serves as a friend of the CHSS alumni chapter board. “The opportunities I have had at George Mason, the doors it has opened... I’m a big advocate for letting people know. I’m very grateful for going the extra step.”

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George Mason alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of Ģ��AV of West Georgia

Shayla Brown — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:02:59 +0000

George Mason alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of Ģ��AV of West Georgia Shayla Brown Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:02

George Mason Ģ��AV alumnus and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Christopher Michael “Mike” Johnson, MAIS ’11, was recently appointed Ģ��AV of West Georgia’s ninth president. He stepped into his new role on August 1.

Johnson’s selection followed a national search led by the Board of Regents of the Ģ��AV System of Georgia, which named him the sole finalist in May before appointing him in June.

“It’s always a bit of a transition period having a new president come to a university with new goals and visions, but the north star will always be our students. Student success is our no-excuse priority,” said Johnson.

Michael Johnson. Photo by the Ģ��AV of West Georgia,

This role is the culmination of Johnson’s 20+ year career in higher education. In addition to his work at George Mason, where he started a program that became the university’s Office of Military Services, Johnson has held leadership roles at Purdue and Northern Virginia Community College. Most recently he served as chief of staff at the Ģ��AV of Houston System and the Ģ��AV of Houston, where he also earned a PhD in higher education leadership and policy studies.

George Mason was Johnson’s first job after transitioning out of the military.

“There was a wave of veterans like myself starting to come back to college campuses. The Office of Military Services allowed me one foot into the military space and one foot in the higher education space,” said Johnson.

“Although it was a transition period, I was still able to engage with a body of people that I felt comfortable around while helping them navigate their college experience. I feel honored to be a part of that growth of the university towards supporting veterans,” he said.

Johnson, a first-generation college graduate, accomplished a lot as a student and an administrator during his time on the Fairfax Campus, and he said his perspective as a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps has influenced his leadership style and approach to service and resilience.

While he and his wife, Beth, MA Strategic Communication ’12, raised their family, they also took classes while working full-time at George Mason. While Mike was advocating for veterans, Beth worked as a communications manager for the university’s fund-raising efforts in the office now called the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations.

“Beth and I pursued grad school at the same time. We had a small child and had to move in with her parents, but I think that work-life balance was certainly made easier by George Mason,” said Johnson. “Because the university had one of the best education benefits for its employees, they basically took away all of the reasons for me to say ‘I don’t have time.’”

Recently the College of Humanities and Social Sciences recognized Johnson for his dedication to student success, institutional advancement, and strategic leadership with the 2025 MAIS Distinguished Alumni Award.

“I can’t think of a greater honor than to come back to my alma mater and be recognized for the excellent work that I’ve been doing. The College of Humanities and Social Science provided a critical base of knowledge for me to draw upon as I was pursuing my PhD work,” he said. “And even today, I think those lessons learned have served me well in my current role.

“I don't think I truly appreciated my time at George Mason fully until I stepped into this role,” Johnson said. “And I find myself from time to time reflecting on those experiences with my leadership team and the lessons that I observed as the university was maturing and have brought those experiences here to the Ģ��AV of West Georgia.”

Reporting by Jerome Boettcher contributed to this article.

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Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research

Sarah Holland — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:10:23 +0000

Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research Sarah Holland Mon, 11/10/2025 - 10:10

George Mason Ģ��AV proudly proclaims that we are All Together Different. We are a school where non-traditional students are traditional students. And though they face unique challenges, these students bring important perspectives and experiences to our classrooms. Nowhere is this clearer than with our population of students connected to the military.

On this episode of Access to Excellence, Senior Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Psychology Keith Renshaw joins President Gregory Washington to discuss the role George Mason plays in providing service members, veterans, and their families the means to find community, purpose, and fulfillment beyond their military service.

I think a lot of times when people say, "I wanna make sure I know about the military veteran community so that I know how to recognize when somebody's got PTSD." And that is such a small piece of things. I'm really glad we have awareness of it, but I think it's kind of overtaken and overshadowed the totality of experience. Let's recognize the benefits, let's recognize the rich sort of experience that folks are bringing to the table. And let's start embedding that in trainings for faculty and staff so that we're aware of it and we can not only serve our students better, but leverage that experience to benefit all of our students more. And within that work, my real hope is that we don't just stay focused on veterans only, but we really broaden out to think about military spouses, military children, and the entirety of the family because that whole group brings a set of experiences to the table that we need to recognize and acknowledge. — Keith Renshaw

Read the transcript

Intro (00:00):

Trailblazers in research, innovators in technology, and those who simply have a good story: all make up the fabric that is George Mason Ģ��AV, where taking on the grand challenges that face our students, graduates, and higher education is our mission and our passion. Hosted by Mason President Gregory Washington, this is the Access to Excellence podcast.

President Gregory Washington (00:27):

It should go without saying that at George Mason, everything starts with the students. As our website says, we're All Together Different, and that certainly describes the thousands of people who come to study in our classrooms and labs. George Mason students have often taken a less traditional path to our doorstep. Many have had challenges that they've dealt with in their lives, or maybe they come to us from community college or are late life learners coming from the workforce, or as we're going to talk about today, they come from the military. No matter what path they took, non-traditional students are traditional students at George Mason and with our guest today, we're going to take a look at how George Mason works to open the doors for them. Keith Renshaw is George Mason Ģ��AV's senior associate provost for undergraduate education and a professor of psychology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Actually, he probably would prefer I put the professor first. <laugh>. He specializes in anxiety, stress, trauma, and interpersonal relationships with particular interest in the experiences of service members and their families. Keith, welcome to the show.

Keith Renshaw (01:53):

Thank you very much. Happy to be here.

President Gregory Washington (01:56):

So you have an interesting path 'cause you're non-military, correct?

Keith Renshaw (01:59):

That is correct. I'm non-military.

President Gregory Washington (02:01):

So how did you first get involved in the veteran community?

Keith Renshaw (02:05):

That's, yeah, it's something a lot of people ask me, because a lot of times they assume I, I did serve. My field within psychology is clinical psychology, and with that degree I had to do a year-long clinical internship, which I did at a VA hospital. Shortly after that, I got my first tenure track job, uh, and that was at the Ģ��AV of Utah, and it was in, uh, 2005. And so we were in the height of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and you couldn't get away from all the reports about the impact of those deployments on the, the service members and, and in particular on their families. Um, and also on the folks who had, for instance, been in the National Guard and were being called up to deploy for 12, 15 months at a time. And I found myself really moved by those reports, and I wanted to do something.

Keith Renshaw (02:52):

I knew that myself, I wouldn't, uh, volunteer for the military. It just wasn't in me. And I had this overwhelming respect and almost awe for the people who would, and I wanted to find a way to use my own training to help. So one thing I considered was, uh, something called Give an Hour. This was a program back then that allowed you to donate sort of an hour of free therapy, uh, a week to, to somebody in the population. But as I thought about it, it felt too transient to me, and I wanted to do something that would be more sustainable. So what I did was tried to pivot my entire research program, which up to that point had really focused on anxiety disorders and adult relationships, to look at stress, trauma, and anxiety in the context of relationships within the military. Uh, and so through a series of connections, I started partnering up with the Utah National Guard and trying to find ways to design research studies to address problems they were seeing so that not only would I be able to sort of be giving back in some way through my work, I would be able to be directly impacting issues they were seeing and trying to help them form recommendations. And, and honestly, that work sort of launched my entire research career, which led me here to George Mason in, in 2009.

President Gregory Washington (04:08):

I guess you had early life experiences with veterans that helped shape your current thinking and involvement. Is, is that accurate?

Keith Renshaw (04:16):

I would say that is accurate. Um, my kids would object to your using early life experiences given that I was in my twenties. But yes, I, that's, that's the way I would think about it.

President Gregory Washington (04:25):

So, so talk to me a little bit about what some of those experiences were. What kinds of things did you see that kind of moved you in this direction?

Keith Renshaw (04:35):

So when I was at the VA hospital working with, with some of the veterans at the time, uh, I, I was at that hospital in 2001, so I was there on 9/11 and, and, and after. And so I was seeing a lot of the veterans who were coming from the Vietnam era and also from sort of the first Gulf War era. And what I saw, especially in the Vietnam era veterans, well actually in, in really in both populations, was just how disrupted their relationships had been after they came back. And that was a lot in terms of trying to understand what they were experiencing now that they were done, um, and, and how to explain that to others, or how they couldn't explain that to others. And I also saw just how, um, disrupted their sense of purpose had become, and I saw this throughout, there's this incredible sense of, of mission and purpose that these folks were experiencing while they were part of the military.

Keith Renshaw (05:27):

And when they left, they were often sort of grasping for some element of that afterward that they just couldn't recreate. And that was really causing them a lot of distress. And so I, I found myself wanting to find ways to think about both of those elements. How could I do things that might impact their relationships and how might I also be able to think about helping them, uh, regain and, and find that purpose outside of the military, uh, while also sort of helping them in the traditional, you know, sort of psychological sense as I was working with them in therapy and whatnot.

President Gregory Washington (06:02):

In 2020, you helped lead the formation and launch of the Military Veterans and Families Initiative at George Mason, the MVFI. Or I like to say M-V-Fi, you know? What was the inspiration behind the effort?

Keith Renshaw (06:21):

So when I got here over time, I started to get connected with other people at the university who also did something that touched on the service member, veteran family population. Um, at first it was researchers, people would, would introduce me to, you know, they'd say, "oh, somebody else is doing research with this group, you should really meet them." And so I would find out about this wide range of research we had going on here at the university from the kinds of things that I do, looking at sort of family adjustment, um, up through battlefield technology to sort of classified things people couldn't tell me about, you know, and all, all sorts of things. And, and if you look really at our, I, I know you know this, you know, if you look at our research portfolio, uh, over 50% of our federally funded projects come from the DOD over the past several years.

President Gregory Washington (07:03):

Yep, that is true.

Keith Renshaw (07:04):

So we have just an incredible range Yeah, pf, of, of research there. But I also met folks who are working with students. We had an Office of Military Services, uh, that started here under the leadership of Jennifer Connors, who's still their director now with her associate director, Ryan Barnett and some other staff. They serve the just huge number of students we have here at George Mason. When we started this work, about 10% of our student body self-identified as service member, veteran or family. Um, we're now up to almost 14%. We have well over 5,000 students, um, who are in this, this group. And so that really just sort of spoke to us as we all sort of talked to each other, we're like, wow, there's a lot going on here. But what I think really kicked us off to think about what we're trying to do with MVFI is seeing all of the other ways that we touched on this population that was embedded in our education and research missions.

Keith Renshaw (07:54):

So a couple of examples: I learned about the M-Vets Clinic. This is a clinic that runs through our law school. Every, every law school has their third year law students, they've gotta get practical experience. The way our law school does it is to give free services to veterans with certain types of legal issues. And the students sit first chair, and then there's a barred faculty member who sits, um, second chair with them. And so under the leadership of Tim MacArthur, that group has been serving veterans for years at this point. And then I also found that we had this, uh, incredible Veterans in the Arts program that's actually a nationally recognized research program led by Niyati Dhokai in our College of Visual Performing Arts, where in the context of research on how art impacts the service member, veteran, family community, um, they are serving thousands of veterans through free workshops.

Keith Renshaw (08:40):

They come in, they do the workshops, and they're, we're talking painting, photography. They're closing on 20,000 folks that they've served over the past decade or so in that program. And so we just had these unique types of ways that we serve veterans that I did not see at other universities. And so when we all got together and started talking, we wanted to find a way to connect these, because the two things we realized were, one, a lot of people didn't know about this unless you knew where to look outside the university. And two, a lot of even the people doing these efforts didn't know each other and didn't know about the efforts. And so we wanted to connect them. Um, and that was really the inspiration behind the, the effort was to try to connect the programs, grow them, and really raise the visibility because we thought we should be shouting this from the rooftop so that people know.

President Gregory Washington (09:27):

So really you see this more as a matchmaking kind of framework. It's, is that right?

Keith Renshaw (09:32):

It started as that, yes.

President Gregory Washington (09:33):

Okay. Well talk about what specific services you offer, and then let's talk about some of the successes.

Keith Renshaw (09:40):

Yeah, sounds good. So, so in addition to those, we, we've seen some other growth. Another really interesting program we had, um, was something called Educate the Educators. So back in the sort of mid 2010s, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden had a whole initiative around sort of recognizing all that military service members and, and veterans and families were doing. And one component of that was called Educate the Educators. They wanted to train teachers in how to know the challenges and the resources available to military children. And so Jill Biden actually came to our campus to announce the sort of initiative because we were already doing the work. Uh, Jennifer Drake Patrick, a faculty member in our College of Education and Human Development had developed, Educate the Educators modules that were being embedded into our curriculum for all future teachers within our College of Education and Human Development. So we were able to sort of really put a spotlight on that and help that shine. That is now actually professional education that is available to all teachers from preschool up through 12th grade throughout the state of Virginia.

President Gregory Washington (10:40):

No, that's pretty cool. I think people underestimate what young people who were in military, look, I was a young person in a military family and then, and served myself. As a young person, one of the things I oftentimes remember is that you would establish friendships, and your friendships were in, you know, two to four year cycles. Right. You, you establish these friendships and then the next thing you know, you're off to another duty station and you would essentially start all over. And these moves didn't come at, you know, the opportune time. And, and I remember, you know, just when life was getting good for me, <laugh>...

Keith Renshaw (11:23):

<laugh>

President Gregory Washington (11:24):

Trust, when things were getting really good, there was a move.

Keith Renshaw (11:29):

Boom, yeah.

President Gregory Washington (11:29):

And you start all over, right? And, and so I think it probably affects those young people relative to how they maintain and engage relationships. Because everything is temporary, right? I believe I have fewer lifelong relationships, right, because of it. I've had a couple of relationships endure everything. But I can see where it's, where it can be a problem.

Keith Renshaw (11:56):

Yeah. You're so spot on with that. And, and this is really one of the things that grabbed us when we started this work and, and why it's not just military veterans, right, or service member veterans. And it's, it's military veterans and families because the impact is so huge and, and honestly, when you meet the families, right. Um, and this, this was part of what really hit me in my early work, the amount of resilience and commitment that they have, but they don't necessarily get recognized, right. When they're walking through the airport, people aren't applauding for them, right, you know, I mean...

President Gregory Washington (12:28):

People don't say, thank you for your service.

Keith Renshaw (12:30):

No, they don't. Right. And, and boy, they should! And, and one of the things that, that we've actually been able to do that really speaks exactly to what you were just talking about, uh, here at George Mason, after we've started the MVFI, um, Jennifer Drake Patrick, that same faculty member, has also recently stood up with some support from us and some philanthropic donations we've gotten in, has been able to stand up, um, Student Ambassador days. So high schools in this area, most of 'em have Student Ambassador Programs. These are students who are sort of charged with helping new students transition in Right. And, and help them out. Obviously, the military children are a huge piece of that part. Yeah. Right. You know what I mean?

President Gregory Washington (13:04):

Without question. Especially here.

Keith Renshaw (13:05):

Yeah. And so, um, and they're coming in at all, at all times of the year and everything else. And so what we do now is we host those students. We brought, we bring students here to campus. They have a day on campus with our faculty and our students sort of training up in different ways to do this work and learning specifically about some of the challenges that the military children have and getting ready to work with them. And so we've been able to do that work and kind of amplify it. Started with one day with Fairfax, and now we have more than we can handle. Um, we got Prince William wanting to come in. We got Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, and, and so now we're, we're out there trying to find some more funds to, to support that work because we've got more demand than we can supply.

Keith Renshaw (13:45):

Um, so a another one that, that I'm really excited by to, to see how it's come is, was a success both in starting something new and then connecting programs. We took that M-Vets model and we have, uh, what's called the Center for Community Mental Health here at George Mason, operates out the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It's led by Robyn Mehlenbeck. And they provide therapy and assessment to the community through clinical psychology students, social work students, and counseling students who are all in graduate programs, training to be therapists and assessors and whatnot, um, in their, in their future life. So it's a similar model to the M-Vets program. Um, there is a cost associated with that. They're one of the lowest cost things in the area, but there's still a cost. And we've actually been able to, again, raise philanthropic funds to support the provision of services free to veterans and now their families as well. So any veteran or family in the area who needs therap,y needs assessment can come to our clinic and can get that free through that service. We actually now have a second fund.

President Gregory Washington (14:43):

Wow. Do we, do we advertise that? Is that something that's known?

Keith Renshaw (14:46):

We do. We actually partner with the Department of Veteran Services here in Virginia to make sure that they know. And so we actually sometimes have people referred from Richmond, Roanoke, you know, to, to come up for assessments in particular, um, because those are hard to get and extremely expensive. A thorough, you know, psychological assessment. The community is gonna cost you anywhere from three to $5,000.

President Gregory Washington (15:07):

And they can get that free.

Keith Renshaw (15:08):

They can get that free.

President Gregory Washington (15:09):

Outstanding. That's amazing.

Keith Renshaw (15:11):

On the student side, um, we have actually started to work and connect a lot of our different student offices around campus to the Office of Military Services through this work so that everybody's kind of on the same page. So we now have a monthly group that meets, and we have representatives from the Office of Military Services, Registrar's office, financial aid, Student Accounts, Counseling and Psychological Services, um, Center for Community Mental Health. I'm gonna forget some...Career Services...so that everybody knows the different things that are going on. And everybody also knows, hey, if you get a veteran coming in, there might be special services available to them. Um, and, uh, and so we've been able to stand that up. We now are just about to launch, I think this is now confirmed: in Fall '26 we are for the first time, gonna be able to evaluate veterans prior educational experiences in the military, through their joint services transcript, for credit here at George Mason.

Keith Renshaw (16:03):

And we have not been able to do that for years just because it's, it's kind of a morass. But through the work of this group and through some advocacy from people in this group, um, we've gotten to the point now where our transfer credit evaluation team has put some technology in place. And we are, we are test running it now. And so, so far all looks good. And so we think that we're gonna be able to launch that starting Fall '26, um, where people are getting, uh, much more credit for their prior service. Because one, one of the things that I saw, at least in my time working with folks, is not only the incredible purpose and, and the incredible things that service members master during their time, but just how much of that doesn't show up on any kind of resume or transcript except for this joint services transcript. And so that is critical to being able to help them get toward that degree by not making them repeat things that they clearly have mastered in the past.

President Gregory Washington (16:55):

Oh, that's amazing. So, and, and that will then, will, it should equal more courses being--

Keith Renshaw (17:03):

Credited...

President Gregory Washington (17:04):

--Being awarded to students.

Keith Renshaw (17:05):

Right. So that they're not basically repeating the same thing that they already know.

President Gregory Washington (17:08):

Outstanding, outstanding. This Military Veterans and Families Initiative, how does it uphold Mason's values as an institution?

Keith Renshaw (17:16):

Yeah, in my mind, it's, it's almost the sort of epitome of the values. And the reason I say that is because this whole thing is about bringing together inclusivity and access for students and supporting those students with what they need to get to their next step. With the incredible research enterprise that we have here, and the expertise that we have with serving the community and being a, a place where we are, um, we are a public good, right? We are a state entity, and we are here serving the state. We're doing that by serving the community members. We're in one of the, you know, most veteran-rich, service member-rich, family-rich areas of the country. And we have all of these services that are training our students, um, that are accomplishing research while also delivering services directly to that population in our region. In addition, we are one of the biggest producers of talent in the region, in the state. And we know that in our region, we have a number of employers who are not only looking for great talent, but they have specific recruiting initiatives around veterans. And so we are supplying that talent basically by bringing these things together. So we're able to marry the student services with the research mission, with the community service mission of our university. So, to me, it really sort of represents everything. And it also is bringing in a whole set of, of folks who have had a different life experience than those who haven't been in the military.

President Gregory Washington (18:51):

You know, what you call that?

Keith Renshaw (18:52):

I think I know what you're gonna say.

President Gregory Washington (18:54):

You know what we call that here? <laugh>, we call that diversity. And that's a part of the piece that's always missing from the discussions that we have on this topic.

Keith Renshaw (19:05):

You are right.

President Gregory Washington (19:06):

That's clear. We don't run from it.

Keith Renshaw (19:08):

Nope.

President Gregory Washington (19:09):

But I think the broader public misses that we see this as part of the diversity, the rich tapestry of diversity that we bring to this community, and that we work to enhance, you know, we work to engage, and we work to incorporate in terms of what George Mason is all about.

Keith Renshaw (19:29):

And that kind of experience benefits not just the service members, the veterans and their families, benefits our students from seeing different perspectives, different backgrounds. I mean, you've got people who are coming here who lived all over the world, seeing all kinds of things, um, and that they're bringing that into our classrooms.

President Gregory Washington (19:47):

Yeah. I had a dinner last night with a group of students, and in that group, you know, we had former military students, and they were older than, you know, the traditional students in the group, and they brought a different set of life experiences to discussion. They're in the same classes. They have the same engagement. Uh, they, they work in the same groups. But they bring a different set of experiences. And that is valuable to other young people who are really, for lack of a better way of saying this, figuring themselves out.

Keith Renshaw (20:19):

That's Right.

President Gregory Washington (20:20):

A 2019- 2020 survey from the National Center on Education Statistics stated that veterans represent 3.7% of all undergraduate students in the US. Would you say that this data has changed since then?

Keith Renshaw (20:40):

I, yeah. So we don't have any comprehensive studies like that that they've done since that I have seen what we're seeing in some of the sort of, you know, sampling type studies, is that, that that number seems to be going up right, might be inching closer to 5%. Now, in addition, I think it's important to layer on top of that the veteran connected folks and the military connected folks, thinking about the kids, thinking about the, the spouses, right, 'cause military spouses, I, I just wanna sort of note, they often get left out of the conversation, you know, but they have their own issues with you, you mentioned it before, right, you know, just like the kids are moving every one to two to four years. So are the spouses. And so stringing together a set of educational or work experiences is difficult. So, so I think that that number is inching up. Um, it's certainly higher here at George Mason.

President Gregory Washington (21:31):

We're higher than those statistics. Is that what you would say?

Keith Renshaw (21:34):

For sure. Yeah. We're definitely higher than that on the veteran side. And then when you layer on top of that, the, um, the sort of, we, we also have, you know, we've got active duty and, you know, guard reserve who are here as well. And then we've got, you know, a very robust, uh, enrollment of, of dependents and spouses.

President Gregory Washington (21:49):

What are some of the unique experiences that veterans bring to the classroom?

Keith Renshaw (21:54):

You know, I think all kinds of things, right? So, on the one hand, you've got a set of folks who have often had pretty global experiences depending on where they've been deployed. And, and when I say deployed, I don't mean combat zones. I mean, you know, they, sometimes they're going off and doing other types of missions. Also every, you know, one to two to three, four years, there are changes of station, right? And so sometimes they're in Germany or sometimes they're over in Korea, and, and, and so they're bringing all of that life experience in. But they're also bringing the experience of being part of this broader mission, you know, this, this broader group with a fairly singular mission. And that kind of experience of being a piece of a team to a level at which most people haven't experienced, I, I think is just invaluable, right?

Keith Renshaw (22:40):

To hear about and, and, and to see. And then they've got just a world of logistical experience. You've got, you've got some, you know, veterans who are coming in having managed, you know, millions of dollars of equipment, hundreds of other--right, you know, service members being responsible for their lives. And, and then they're walking into the classroom, right. You know, and sitting down and making a presentation with other groups that that's gonna change the way they think about some of the issues we're talking about in the classroom. Um, that's gonna layer on different experiences with other cultures as well, you know, a lot of folks are out there interacting with, with people all over the world. Right. Right. And having to kinda learn that.

President Gregory Washington (23:19):

It's interesting when you juxtapose that you may have been serving in theater in a country, and then you are now in the classroom interacting with students from that country. Right?

Keith Renshaw (23:32):

Absolutely. Especially here. Yeah.

President Gregory Washington (23:34):

Oh, yeah. Without question. What are some of the challenges or barriers veterans face when returning to school?

Keith Renshaw (23:40):

So one, I think, is a logistical one, which is being able to sort of get credit for some of the experiences and training they have had that maps really closely onto the courses that they're now being told they have to take because they don't have a neat transcript that shows it. Um, so that, that's, that's a biggie. I think the, you know, I don't know if culture shock is the right word, but, but having to sort of transition from the world they've been in to a classroom setting can often be challenging. It can often be challenging, I think, even from things as simple as a vague assignment that is vague on purpose, you know, sometimes we give our students assignments where part of the assignment is figuring out, right, what they need to do. Sometimes these are folks who are very used to being told precisely what they need to do.

Keith Renshaw (24:23):

I had one student I worked with who's a doctoral student, and, um, and his phrase was always like, what's the target? Right? What, what, what do I need to hit? Right. And I was like, unfortunately, you gotta figure out that target. Right. You know, that that's part of it. Part of it is finding it. Um, and so, you know, so we would have these kind of back and forths, but, but I'm gonna layer on top of all of that. I think one thing that doesn't get enough attention, which is often the search for purpose and mission, right? I think what we're seeing now is a real struggle in that transition period from service to veteran, um, where you go from having this very clear mission and, and you're part of an entire group that is 100% devoted to that mission, and then you step out, it's all kind of open. You know, what now? And I think that sometimes that's a, that's a bigger struggle than we realize sort of as as, as folks are trying to figure out, what am I doing next? How do we layer on that sense of purpose, that sense of mission with that work?

President Gregory Washington (25:21):

MVFI's mission of providing critical support to military veterans, and family extends to developing curricula and learning opportunities for our non-military connected students to understand the unique needs and experiences of veterans and their families. Right. Can you talk about some of these hands-on opportunities for our students?

Keith Renshaw (25:43):

I'm so glad you asked about that. So, you know, we, we have those educate the educator modules, right, right. Which will, which sort of train future teachers. We use that as a springboard to create a similar set of modules for healthcare programs. So partnered up with a, with a nonprofit and a, a, a medical doctor who had been in the service and created a set of modules that trained folks in healthcare about different sorts of conditions they might see. And again, different resources available to veterans. Um, because what folks don't realize is the majority of veterans are getting their care outside the VA system. A lot of times people think, oh, I'm not gonna see it. Well, you are, right? And especially if you're going graduate and practice in this region, you're absolutely going to see it. So we wanna prepare those students. Some of the other interesting things we've been able to do, and this is what I want, what I hope to grow in the future, is to be able to connect students in particular classes with either veteran serving organizations, nonprofits in the area that have particular needs, um, or other sorts of efforts.

Keith Renshaw (26:44):

And so, I'll give a couple of examples. I was, uh, talking to somebody who was, uh, running kind of a nonprofit, and they were like, you know, we just don't have time to build out our website to sort of get our, you know, our, our marketing out there, et cetera. And I said, well, let me look around and turns out, and we have, not surprisingly, a set of communication classes that that's what they do. And they're always on the lookout for clients as sort of practice for the students to get hands-on training that semester, so I was able to hook them up. And the students got their experience while helping this nonprofit get their website off the ground. And on the way the students also got to sort of see some of the issues that the service member, veteran family community is dealing with because of the content of what they were working on.

Keith Renshaw (27:31):

We had a partnership with the Department of Veteran Services to, um, help run, uh, a suicide prevention program that they do that's called, uh, Virginia's "Identify, Screen, and Refer." And they needed a, a logo so that they could give people something that would show that they had completed a certain type of training. Well, we were able to connect them with a, a summer class in graphic design here, and the students as part of their final projects, each submitted designs, and then the, all the final designs were sent to the Department of Veteran Services, and they selected a winner, and then that student was able to come down and talk about it. Turns out it was a military kid. And in the middle of his presentation, the, uh, Commissioner of, uh, Veteran Services was there, stood up, uh, came up and gave him a military coin for doing such a great job. It was, it was just a really, really cool moment for one of our students. Yeah.

President Gregory Washington (28:23):

Outstanding. So why is it important for students to learn about the unique needs of military veterans and their families, other students?

Keith Renshaw (28:31):

Yeah. I, I see it as, as one: part of our broader approach to, as you said before, right? From the perspective of diversity, recognizing we live in a, you know, global and diverse world. And our students need to be prepared for that in all aspects. Not just in one aspect of diversity, not in two or three aspects, but all aspects. This is another one. In addition, a lot of our students are going out there and doing work that is where they're gonna be interacting with folks. And, and guess what? <laugh>, a huge percentage of our population is military or veteran connected. So developing competence to work with that group is sort of critical to success. If you're in a service field, you need to be prepared for that. And just, if you're gonna be a person who interacts with other colleagues, you should be prepared for that to some degree. And so I see it as another piece of what we are delivering to our students in terms of training them to be prepared to engage with the full range of diversity they're gonna experience when they leave this place.

President Gregory Washington (29:34):

Especially if you stay in this area.

Keith Renshaw (29:38):

Absolutely.

President Gregory Washington (29:38):

Right? Which more than 70% of our students do. You stay in this area for a job, it's a high probability you're gonna deal with people from the military.

Keith Renshaw (29:50):

For sure.

President Gregory Washington (29:50):

And so you need to have an understanding or even some life experiences where you've engaged with folk in the classroom and others. That's right. So you, you're an accomplished professor here at George Mason, and you've gotten multiple teaching awards. Right. And, you know, I always would envy you folk over in psychology because, you know, everything you do is so relatable. Yeah. <laugh>, which made it easier to win teaching awards.

Keith Renshaw (30:13):

<laugh>, I feel like you're, I feel like you're knocking down my award a little bit.

President Gregory Washington (30:17):

<laugh> Make it easier, because, you know, you deal with the human condition and everybody has a dog in the hunt. And they don't necessarily have that with differential equations. <laugh>, I, I get it. <laugh>. Um, but how have your experiences with the military community impacted your approach to teaching?

Keith Renshaw (30:36):

It's a, it's a great question. I'm gonna sort of put two elements to it. One is sort of my broader experiences, right? It's just kind of opened my eyes to a very particular slice of diversity that I would not have otherwise been aware of. And so that then makes me realize in my teaching, like I have to realize people in my classroom might have had any range of experiences that I'm not aware of. You know, when I started out early on in my teaching career, a lot of what I did relied on the relatability, right, of the material. And, um, you can make that be pretty fun. I realized, you know, over time that some of what I was making fun, um, I wasn't making fun of it, but I was making fun with it. But that was probably pretty personal to a student in my class, and I didn't realize it.

Keith Renshaw (31:25):

And so I was able to sort of shift my, as, as, as I had some more of these experiences, in particular, some of the experiences with the military folks, I was able to start to shift the way that I delivered my material, even to be a little bit more sensitive to that, I think, and to be, um, a little bit more aware. It also opened my eyes to the importance of exposing people to different perspectives in ways of thinking. And this one, I'll get a little more personal in, in this region, right? You make friends, right? You know, you meet people, um, who are coming in. And, um, number of years ago as I was sort of starting in this work, uh, you know, we had a military family kind of move into the, the neighborhood and kids were the same age, you know, and everything else.

Keith Renshaw (32:03):

So we, we spent a lot of time together and I ended up getting into some sort of in-depth conversations with their father who was a, a military member. And, and that really led to this kind of what now is probably going on almost 10 years of occasionally sort of stepping aside and having really deep conversations about issues where we have differing perspectives and trying to understand each other. And that has kind of formed the basis for how I think about what we need to be teaching all of our students, because we have far too little of people with from different perspectives trying to engage with each other, to understand each other, as opposed to put each other down or shut each other down. And in fact, that that really is driving some of the work I'm now doing in my current role in, in sort of senior associate provost for undergrad ed, trying to think about how do we foster these types of experiences in our students.

Keith Renshaw (33:02):

He came with me actually to an event we had last year pre-election that we hosted through our Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning. And the Schar School sent over Jennifer Victor and Lucas Núñez, and there was this whole sort of, uh, engagement of students and staff and faculty around particular issues. Um, and it was all fact-based and sort of respectful, but trying to sort of think about different sides of the same issue and, you know, and, and where people were coming from. So seeing how that can happen and how intentional that has to be, particularly now, um, has really shaped my thinking about how to teach in a way that makes people confront other ideas from a perspective of learning more about it. Not just shooting it down.

President Gregory Washington (33:48):

As someone with extensive experience at this intersection of the military community and higher ed, what would you say is one way higher ed can improve themselves in, in terms of the support of veterans, the military and their families?

Keith Renshaw (34:04):

I would love to see higher ed push ourselves in thinking about the military veteran family community within diversity work. As you said, you know, I mean, this is, this is work that, that has to happen because it's who our student body is, right? So how do we make sure it's robust so that it's capturing the totality of what we mean by diversity? So I would love to see us incorporate this, you know, the sort of understanding of the population and understanding the totality of what the, the population goes through. Because I think a lot of times when people say, oh yeah, you know, I mean, I wanna make sure I know about the military veteran community so that I know how to recognize when somebody's got PTSD. And it's like, that's not the totality, right? I mean, you know, that is, that is such a small piece of things that I think I'm really glad we have awareness of it, but I think it's kind of overtaken and overshadowed the, the, the sort of totality of experience.

Keith Renshaw (34:59):

Let's recognize the, the benefits, let's recognize the rich sort of experience that folks are bringing to the table. Um, and let's start embedding that in trainings for faculty and staff so that we're aware of it and we can actually not only serve our students better, but leverage that experience to benefit all of our students more. And within that work, my real hope is that we don't just stay focused on veterans only, but we really broaden out to think about military spouses, military children, and the entirety of the family because that whole group brings a set of experiences to the table that we need to recognize and, and acknowledge.

President Gregory Washington (35:42):

That is good stuff. So what encourages you to continue working with and advocating for the veteran community?

Keith Renshaw (35:50):

Every now and again, with this veteran opportunities group, some sort of emergent issue pops up. And because that group is functioning so well together and, and so tight, we're able to sort of problem solve it. And we help a student who is about to lose their benefits, right? Or who is about to have to stop out because their benefits ended, and we figure out a way to keep them in and get them over the finish line. When, when I see those kinds of things, I get excited. And when I see the kinds of things we've been able to do, standing up the Student Ambassador Days, starting these services at Center for Community Mental Health for the folks, um, continuing the services we're doing through M-Vets. When I see those kind of impacts, as much as this is all done right now with just donated time and effort from folks across the university, it keeps you going and it makes you wanna keep doing it.

President Gregory Washington (36:38):

Outstanding. Outstanding. Well, we really, really appreciate you, and we appreciate the work you're doing for our students and for our veterans and their families.

Keith Renshaw (36:47):

There you go. There you go. Well, I appreciate the opportunity.

President Gregory Washington (36:49):

Outstanding. Well, we're gonna have to leave it there. Keith, thank you for joining us and for your hard work in helping George Mason Ģ��AV students succeed. I am George Mason president Gregory Washington. Thanks for listening, and tune in next time for more conversations that show why we are All Together, Different.

Outro (37:13):

If you like what you heard on this podcast, go to podcast.gmu.edu for more of Gregory Washington's conversations with the thought leaders, experts, and educators who take on the grand challenges facing our students, graduates, and higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.

Serving military, veterans, and their families at George Mason

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A legacy of resilience: New scholarship helps students persevere to get their degree

Sarah Holland — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 20:46:17 +0000

A legacy of resilience: New scholarship helps students persevere to get their degree Sarah Holland Thu, 11/06/2025 - 15:46

“What advice would you give to someone who’s in the process of understanding and knowing their worth?” Amany Bouali asks her mother.

“Everyone one of us has a lot to give and a lot to receive. You are so precious, and you are worth this world and more,” Zeineb replies.

It’s a bittersweet interlude on Amany Bouali’s album Came from Something: Her mother, Zeineb Mrad Bouali, passed away not long after recording. She was a student in George Mason Ģ��AV’s MA in English program.

Amany (left), Fathi, and Ons hold a photo honoring Zeineb at Ons' graduation from Elon Ģ��AV. Photo provided

Inspired by their mother’s determination, Amany and her sister, Ons, and their father, Fathi, created the Zeineb Mrad Bouali Tenacity and Perseverance Award for students who have had to pause their educational goals and are now hoping to return to complete their degrees.

Zeineb called herself an “avid life wanderer,” her daughters said. A mother, a daughter, an educator, a poet, a cake decorator, and a business owner, Zeineb wore many hats throughout her life. But she had one dream waiting to be fulfilled: completing a master’s degree.

Before immigrating to the United States, Zeineb was an accomplished English teacher in her home country of Tunisia. But like many immigrants, her credentials didn’t transfer upon her arrival in the U.S.

“Part of my mom’s struggle in this country was all the barriers that are in place for immigrants to start a business, go back to school, resume where they were in their country,” explained Ons. “She had to start her college education from scratch.”

Throughout her life she tried returning to school to be reaccredited, periodically taking classes at Ģ��AV of Texas at San Antonio, George Mason, and Northern Virginia Community College. Life just kept getting in the way of a formal degree program.

But Zeineb cared deeply about her daughters’ education. “Her whole life's dream was watching us succeed. When we went on college tours and got acceptances, she was so excited,” said Ons. “She was beside herself with happiness when the acceptance letters came in.”

“That was her moment,” agreed Amany. “It meant so much more to her than it could have ever meant to me.”

Zeineb in from of the Department of English offices. Photo provided

And it was her daughters who encouraged Zeineb to try for her master’s degree one more time. “Our mom put her whole life on hold to make sure we could achieve our dreams,” said Ons. “And once we were older, we told her that it was time for her to go after her dreams.”

With support from then-graduate admissions coordinator of the Department of English Holly Mason Badra, Zeineb applied and was accepted into the MA in English program in 2021, where she planned to pursue a concentration in literature. She passed unexpectedly from complications due to a rare autoimmune disease in September 2022. This is the inaugural year for the scholarship honoring her legacy.

“I hope my mom’s story inspires the recipients to be resilient and to find a way to achieve their dream no matter the obstacles, even if it doesn't look exactly like they planned,” said Ons. “I want them to think, ‘what would Zeineb do?’”

“We want the scholarship to give people from diverse backgrounds who have these additional challenges they’re facing a bit of additional support and kind of ease that burden from them, so they can persevere like our mom did,” said Amany.

This year’s inaugural awardees honor Zeineb’s legacy through their determination to achieve their dreams despite major setbacks.

Hyerin Cha

Major: Global affairs

Photo provided

When Hyerin Cha was a child, she and her family were displaced from their home in South Korea after a major tragedy. Rebuilding from those early hardships shaped her deep commitment to education and community service. “I’m always trying to learn something” she said. “Because of the lack of resources around me, I had to teach myself.”

Driven by curiosity and compassion, Cha grew into an active advocate for equitable education. She has served as a STEM and coding mentor for underprivileged children, an NGO strategy coordinator, and a volunteer leader in community development initiatives both in Korea and abroad. “Giving back through education became my way of honoring the help I once needed,” she said.

Knowing early on that she wanted to work in policymaking, Cha chose Mason Korea for its global connections and focus on international governance. Balancing her studies with part-time jobs to fund her education, she continued to excel academically and serve her community.

As a Mason Korea student, she was required to complete a year at the Fairfax Campus, but her student visa limited her ability to work. The Zeineb Mrad Bouali Tenacity and Perseverance Award provided crucial support, allowing her to continue her studies and complete her degree.

“This scholarship didn’t just relieve a financial burden, it reaffirmed my belief that perseverance and purpose matter,” she said. “It reminded me that I’m on the right path, and that I can keep going.”

Andrea Delgado Portillo

Major: Criminology, law and society

Photo provided

Andrea Delgado Portillo and her family immigrated to the United States in 2017. Despite being approved for a green card and completing her high school education in Virginia, Delgado Portillo did not qualify for in-state tuition and was ineligible for federal financial aid.

After graduating from high school in 2020, she completed three semesters at Northern Virginia Community College, paying out-of-state tuition. Already facing financial strain, she was forced to pause her education when her mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

“My primary focus shifted to providing for her both financially and emotionally, and after my money ran out, going back to school was out of the question,” she said.

But Delgado Portillo, a first-generation high school graduate, had dreams of studying criminology and law and being the first in her family to get a college degree. “My community doesn't have a lot of representation in law enforcement,” she said. “When my mom went through a domestic violence incident, she didn’t have anyone to translate for her. I want to be able to help people like that in my community.”

While supporting her mother through treatments, she saved money whenever she could in the hopes of returning to college. After a two-year gap, she applied to George Mason to finish her degree.

“[George Mason’s] financial aid office helped me be accepted for in-state tuition and showed me where to apply for scholarships,” she said. The Zeineb Mrad Bouali Tenacity and Perseverance Award was one of her awarded scholarships.

“With the scholarship I was able to pay for books, parking, and part of my tuition,” she said. “I hope one day I can pay their generosity back, maybe through supporting another immigrant student who, like me, had a dream they were struggling to achieve.”

Delgado Portillo plans to graduate in Spring 2026.

“When I came here [to the United States], I knew nothing, not even how to say, ‘how are you?’” she said. “Now, I’m going to graduate from college. Hopefully, my mom is going to see me walk across the stage.”

Zeineb Mrad Bouali: A remembrance, a celebration, a legacy

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Students

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Exploring fear and fascination with a Popular Horror class

Colleen Rich — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 14:15:57 +0000

Exploring fear and fascination with a Popular Horror class Colleen Rich Thu, 10/30/2025 - 10:15

When George Mason Ģ��AV English professor Eric Gary Anderson steps into the classroom to teach ENGL 419 Popular Horror, he’s not just talking about things that go bump in the night—he and his students are exploring what makes people seek out horror in the first place.

HarperCollins issued a new edition of The Exorcist in 2025 with a glow-in-the-dark cover. Photo provided

For more than a decade, Anderson has taught classes that blend literature and the supernatural. He’s led semester-long dives into vampires, ghosts, and zombies. His Indigenous literature class regularly focuses on ghosts and hauntings. “The ghosts are everywhere in Indigenous literature so it turns out to be a really nice way to introduce people to the subject,” he said. “And it opens up doors for thinking about other cultural things.”

He admits it is always a challenge deciding what goes on the syllabus. “Horror does so many different things—it goes in so many directions,” Anderson said. “I didn’t want the class to just be about bestsellers, but about what draws people to horror and the kinds of horror that are thriving right now.”

The course breaks horror down into categories such as vampires, demonic possession, Indigenous horror, and found footage, pairing classic works such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist with films and more contemporary readings and criticism.

Though horror stories often center on isolation, Anderson’s classroom is anything but lonely.

“This class is a blast,” he said. “When you put horror fans together, there’s this incredible bond. We’re all kind of weird in the same way, and it makes it really fun.”

In fact, that’s why English major Madison Perino signed up for the class—the community. “I love horror and wanted to be around people who like horror and want to talk about it.”

Eric Gary Anderson. Photo provided

Perino said she also appreciates hearing the different perspectives on the works being studied, and there are a lot of them. In the classes leading up to Halloween, Anderson was facilitating lively discussions about The Exorcist. The students complained about Father Karras dragging his feet in requesting an exorcism as they discussed the book in depth.

The walls of Anderson’s Music and Theater Building class are covered in white boards and he gets the class up and moving around as they put their thoughts on the walls. One panel this week is simply labeled “Demons.”

The students said that sometimes at the end of class they will take a kind of “gallery walk” around the room and read the walls. Anderson also documents the written comments with photos.

In addition to the discussions, English major Alex Miles said he finds horror and what it says about the culture fascinating. “And the fact that I get to ‘hate watch’ The Nun and write an essay about it makes me very happy,” said Miles.

Anderson said, “It’s fascinating to think about what was scaring people in the 1970s. [The Exorcist novel] is a slow burn—it’s unsettling in a different way than the movie. And when you pair it with the surge of interest in things like The Nun, which is one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time, it opens up questions about religious horror and why it continues to resonate.”

He also sees horror evolving with new forms of media. “Some of my students encounter horror through gaming—zombie games, survival horror, found footage-style stories. That’s all part of popular horror now.”

Anderson also encourages creativity in his classes. For their final projects, students can choose to produce original works—short fiction, paintings, or multimedia pieces—alongside a critical reflection.

“The creative projects blow me away every semester,” Anderson said. “Just opening that door and saying, ‘You’re allowed to do this,’ is really meaningful for [the students].”

For those looking for a chilling Halloween read, Anderson recommends The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, an Indigenous vampire novel that reinvents familiar tropes. “If you’re a vampire, you start taking on the traits of whoever—or whatever—you’ve been drinking from,” Anderson said. “It’s such a clever twist.”

He also praises Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts, a modern possession story that blurs the line between faith, fear, and media spectacle. “It has one of the best unreliable narrators I’ve ever read,” he said. “You’re never quite sure what’s real.”

Ultimately, for Anderson, horror isn’t just about fear—it’s about fascination.

“It’s a really great time to be alive if you like horror,” he said. “These stories let us explore what scares us most, and in doing so, they help us understand the world—and ourselves—a little better.”

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Q&A with Ali Reza Manouchehri, Winter Commencement 2025 Speaker

Are there any lessons or experiences from your time at George Mason that inform your life (work or otherwise) today?

Can you share a favorite George Mason memory?

MetroStar’s partnership with George Mason offers some incredible opportunities for our students. Please speak about your inspiration to enter into the partnership, and what you look forward to most in working with the College of Engineering and Computing and the Costello College of Business.

What do graduates need to know about harnessing the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) regardless of their field, and how do you see AI impacting the job market?

You’ve stayed involved at the university in various capacities. How is it mutually beneficial for George Mason alumni to stay engaged with their alma mater?

Finally, if you could offer any advice to a George Mason student, what would it be?

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