College of Education and Human Development

One of the College of Education and Human Development’s youngest programs has completed the accreditation process, providing further proof that the new classes are equipping students with the tools they need to succeed in the field of athletic training. The Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program at Mason, housed on the Science and Technology campus, recently received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education, or CAATE. Read more...

More than 20 adjunct faculty from colleges and disciplines across the university—as well as an equally diverse group of facilitators—met on March 5 to talk, share their visions, practice as educators, and begin to design a self-study teacher research project. After brief introductions by the facilitators and warm welcoming remarks by College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) Dean Mark Ginsberg and Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning (SCTL) Director Shelley Reid (sponsors of the project along with Faculty Affairs and Development in the Office of the Provost), participants formed critical friend teams to create and share the initial sketching of a personal-situated teaching inquiry to improve their students’ learning. Read more...

For Arne Duncan, the key to successfully educating and preparing students for career paths is relevance. “Students want to know what they are doing in the classroom is relevant in the real world,” the former U.S. Secretary of Education said. “Kids should know that if I take this class I can get this internship, and this internship will lead to a real job. If we can get to that point, we’re going to be in great shape.” Read more...

Fred Bemak remembers all the hugs and tears. They inevitably come, he said, when his Counselors Without Borders team is on location helping hundreds—sometimes thousands—of people healing from the emotional scars of a disaster. “It’s the person who is grabbing and hugging you, thanking you for being there,” the George Mason University professor said. “That’s huge.” For 13 years Counselors Without Borders has traveled the world into areas devastated by floods, wildfires and storms, offering culturally responsive humanitarian counseling in post-disaster situations. Read more...

One student questioned her father about his conservative views on gay rights. Another approached a friend from camp about their divergent opinions on President Trump. And a third pressed his cousin on his ardent support for guns. In a climate of political and social divisiveness, when social media often doubles as an echo chamber, educators issued a challenge to 12th-graders at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria that seemed, at once, simple and extraordinary — find someone different from themselves, with whom they disagree on a foundational issue, and talk. Read more...

The 2018 Winter Olympics have officially begun in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and top athletes from around the world are currently competing in 15 events over more than two weeks. But there’s more than just sport at this worldwide mega event—there’s also diplomacy. Read more...

Fred Bemak, a professor and academic program coordinator of George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development counseling and development program, is a recipient of a 2018 Oustanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Bemak, in the College of Education and Human Development, is one of 12 recipients selected from 83 nominees, and the 21st George Mason recipient since the award’s inception in 1987. Read more...

If you’re an enormous social media company looking to adapt some of your technology for younger children, you want to make sure you’re creating a fun user experience—but also a safe one. That’s what Facebook was recently looking to do. While preparing to put together what eventually became Messenger Kids, which launched in late 2017, the company consulted with experts on children and media. One of those experts was Kevin Clark, CEHD professor and director of the Center for Digital Media Innovation and Diversity. Read more...

As the scope of potential short- and long-term damage from brain injuries in football becomes clearer every day, the mad scramble is on to try to address the crisis, which threatens the very existence of the sport. And while the leading chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, research at Boston University has made the most headlines, two scientists at George Mason University have been working on a potentially groundbreaking diagnostic tool that could change the way we test for and treat brain injury across the sports world and beyond. Read more...

A middle school teacher in Prince William County was appointed Virginia’s next education secretary by Gov.-elect Ralph Northam (D). The announcement that Atif Qarni — a civics, economics, U.S. history and math teacher at Beville Middle School in Woodbridge — would join Northam’s Cabinet was made at the school Thursday by the governor-elect. Read more...

When Seth Parsons arrived at Mason in 2008, he was curious about something. Teaching can obviously be a tough job. So what makes a teacher stick it out? “There has to be something that sustains excellent teachers who remain in the field,” says Parsons, an associate professor at CEHD. Read more...

How can research practices be more socially and culturally inclusive? Are the values of our participants being recognized and honored? Does our research perpetuate systems of inequality or oppression? These were just a few of the challenging questions that over 200 researchers, professors, leaders, and graduate students wrestled with at the second annual Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) symposium hosted by George Mason University at the Arlington Campus last month Read more...

The first time Anne Holton was on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus after being hired as a visiting professor, the former Virginia Secretary of Education made sure to walk to the plaza dedicated to her father. A. Linwood Holton Jr. was Virginia’s governor in 1972, and signed the bill that separated then-George Mason College from the University of Virginia. “I’m a fan of George Mason for so many reasons,” Anne Holton said, “but especially because of the connection with my dad.” Read more...

Because of the physical demands they face, police and firefighters should be considered athletes, Shane Caswell said. So why not keep them on the job by providing them the same treatment and rehabilitation options that keep injured athletes on the field? Read more...

The conference, Innovation and Internationalization in Pakistani Higher Education, marked the culmination of a partnership between Mason and the University of Management and Technology (UMT) in Lahore. As Fox began her concluding remarks, it became clear that even as the formal project was winding down, the work was just beginning. Read more...

The hiring of Kevin Taylor as program coordinator of George Mason University’s American Sign Language Program is a milestone of sorts. Previously, the program ran primarily with adjunct professors, said Pam Baker, director of the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research in the College of Education and Human Development. Read more...

There are only nine other people in the country like Jessica Guzzo. Guzzo has completed all three research administrator certifications, a professional achievement she accomplished just before school started this fall. "It hasn’t really set in yet that I actually passed it,” says Guzzo, Director of Research Administration at CEHD’s Office of Research Development, about the final test she passed in August. Read more...

In South Korea, students’ abilities in mathematics are extremely high. But there’s an issue. “The achievement is so high but the attitude toward it, the feeling toward it, is so negative,” says Jennifer Suh, an associate professor of mathematics education at Mason. “So they needed to do something.” Read more...

In his 20-year teaching career, College of Education and Human Development Professor Rodney Hopson has received several awards for his work in the field of evaluation. But no award has yet compared to the American Evaluation Association’s (AEA) prestigious Paul F. Lazarsfeld Evaluation Theory Award. Recently, Hopson was named the winner of the 2017 award. Read more...

This fall, more than a dozen distinguished professors are joining the ranks of the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) faculty. From long-time professors and experienced public school instructors to faculty who have held important jobs at the federal and state government levels, the new crop of faculty members brings a wealth of talent, knowledge, and experience to the college.

Read more...

After three-year appointments at the National Science Foundation (NSF), two College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) faculty have returned to the college this fall—though they’ll continue to bridge the gap between the federal government and the university in part-time roles. Read more...

The field of education policy is constantly changing. But there is a way to make sense of an area in perpetual flux. College of Education and Human Development Dean Mark R. Ginsberg will moderate “Looking Back, Looking Forward: A Conversation about the Changing Landscape of Education Policy,” presented by CEHD. A panel of distinguished Mason faculty will discuss the current landscape of issues, their implication for education practice in schools, and the learning and development of students in Virginia and throughout the nation. Read more...

Margaret Jones has held many jobs—coach, director of strength and conditioning, associate professor of kinesiology at George Mason University. But though her job titles have changed over the years, she’s always felt at home as a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Read more...

CEHD faculty, Betsy DeMulder, Stacia Stribling, and Jenice View were invited to WJLA’s Let’s Talk Live television program to discuss the Transformative Teaching Program. Transformative teaching is a multi-layered practice grounded in democratic leadership. It is the practice of protecting all and fostering equitable treatment, often through activism or negotiation with the school system. This form of transformative leadership relies on emotional intelligence and is cultivated through mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Read more...

For George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), the 2017-18 academic year will be one of creation and integration. The school is adding 13 faculty members, which means new faces, classes and ideas in a college whose increasing enrollment is bucking the national trend in education preparation. “It’s energizing,” CEHD Dean Mark Ginsberg said of the new additions. “I’m very excited. We have some really good people who will be joining with us and adding their expertise and experience to our highly respected faculty.” Read more...

The best way to get and keep students interested in STEM programs is to engage them in hands-on learning, said Morgan Occhuizzo, assistant principal of Centreville Elementary School in Centreville, Va. That is why Occhuizzo is so excited about SPARK STEM, an interdisciplinary program for elementary school students and teachers developed by faculty at George Mason University, using a $125,000 grant from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). ...excerpted from Mason News. Read more...

The College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University is pleased to announce the appointment of Erin Peters-Burton, PhD as the Donna R. and David E. Sterling Endowed Professor in Science Education. This new endowed professor position within the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University is supported by a generous gift from the Sterling family that will provide resources to advance STEM education in Virginia’s K-12 schools as well as nationally. Read more...

The College of Education and Human Development’s Dr. Kevin Clark will be awarded the university’s first Alcalde Family Medal for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion. Mason’s president, Dr. Ángel Cabrera, will present Dr. Clark with this medal on May 20 at the university’s Commencement ceremony. This newly-created award honors a faculty member who has made extraordinary contributions to advancing diversity and inclusion within the Mason community and beyond. Read more...

The College of Education and Human Development at Virginia’s George Mason University (GMU) and its professional development school (PDS) partners have established leadership teams to plan robust and personalized training programs for teacher candidates. The teams at the university and school sites work together to engage interns in well-rounded experiences, such as by involving them in local school activities, to help fulfill their individualized professional development plans.

Read more...

George Mason University professor Kevin Clark is certain that African-American youth in low- and middle-income communities can enhance their education and even change their lives through the use of technology. Read more...

University researchers are tackling tough problems. Three of Mason’s standout researchers, Nelson Cortes, Wilsaan Joiner, and Danielle Rudes, have earned the university’s 2015-16 Emerging Researcher/Scholar/Creator awards. Read more...

Twenty faculty from the University of Management and Technology (UMT) in Lahore, Pakistan, are visiting George Mason University. The purpose of the visit, scheduled from September 17 to October 2, is to participate in professional development seminars and to meet with Mason faculty in their respective disciplines. This faculty exchange is part of a two-year grant from the U.S. Department of State. Read more...

What surprised Abigail Solis most about her internship as an athletic trainer with the NFL’s Washington Redskins was how the players seemed so down to earth. Read more...

CEHD and George Mason University Alumni can enjoy several "signature" University-wide events every year to welcome our Alumni back to campus. This fall, you're invited to The Color of My Writing: Reflections on Race, Sport, and American Culture presentation by Dr. David Wiggins. Read more...

The George Mason University community is saddened to note the death of Mark Aaron Spikell, who served as a visionary faculty member in the Graduate School of Education for 25 years prior to his retirement in 2004, when he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus of Education. Spikell passed away on August 12, 2016, at the age of 75 in his apartment at Sunrise Assisted Living in Fairfax, Virginia. Read more...

David K. Wiggins and Chris Elzey received the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) award for the Best Edited Collection for their book, DC Sports: The Nation’s Capital at Play. The anthology explores the multi-faceted ways in which sport, both amateur and professional, female and male, forms an important part of urban life. It addresses race, class, and gender in addition to ‘fandom, the power of the press, and politics.’ Read more...

This year Mason's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) says farewell to five retiring faculty members, many of whom have been at this university for decades. Dr. David Anderson, Dr. Michael Behrmann, Dr. Susan Burns, Dr. Gary Galluzzo and Dr. Steve White, were all granted emeritus status based on their dedication and contribution to the strengthening and advancement of CEHD educational programs. Read more...

Congratulations to Dr. Amanda Caswell, director of the Athletic Training program who has been selected as one of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) 2016 Athletic Trainer Service Award recipients for her contributions to the athletic training profession as a volunteer at the local and state levels. Read more...

On April 13, 2106,Mark Ginsberg, Dean of George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) participated as an invited speaker in a White House Conference focused on military-connected children and families. Read more...

CEHD's Elementary Education program receives the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPD) Exemplary Professional Development School Award. Read more...

This year the AERA SER-SIG announced Dr. Sarah Nagro as the recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Student Research Award. This award has been created to recognize excellence in research related to the education of children, adolescents and adults with disabilities. Read more...

Summer 2016, professor Craig Esherick, from the School of Recreation, Health and Tourism will teach a Sport Management course at Franklin University in Lugano, Switzerland as part of the George Mason University Mason Abroad program. .

Read more...

Mason releases results of a groundbreaking study on the economic impact of regional and local parks. Read more...

Experts from the College of Education and Human Development are available to discuss the White House's proposed cap on student testing in the nation's public schools. Read more...

As an extension of its sport diplomacy efforts, the Center for Sports Management has provided donated sports equipment to groups in Samoa, Tanzania, Uganda, and many other countries. Read more...

The consumer finance website WalletHub features Maggie Daniels discussing the outlook for the winter travel season. Read more...

CEHD is delighted to announce that Erin Peters-Burton is the recipient of the national 2016 Outstanding Science Educator of the Year award. Read more...

As a presidential fellow, Ndura will work closely with George Mason president Ángel Cabrera to promote peace through intercultural conversations. Read more...

This week's issue of Education Week cites the NSF-funded work of Jennifer Suh in the area of mathematics modeling for elementary school teachers. Read more...

Dean Ginsberg announced that eight faculty members received promotion and/or tenure. Read more...