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First Full-time Female Division I College Football Coach has Mason Roots

October 8, 2018

When Callie Brownson became quality control coach for Dartmouth’s football team, she had no idea she was making history as the first full-time female Division I football coach. Even now, after all the attention, including stories by the Associated Press, Sports Illustrated and The Washington Post, Brownson said the whirlwind is still difficult to believe. “To me, it was kind of crazy there hadn’t been another female coach at this level,” she said. That Brownson was the first did not surprise those who knew her at George Mason University, from where she graduated in 2016 with a degree in Health, Fitness and Recreation Resources. Read more...

Mason Research Helps Boost Students of Underserved Populations

June 26, 2018

Problem-based learning is useful in identifying high-ability middle school students from underserved populations who historically are left out of honors, advanced and gifted programs. That is the conclusion being drawn by Project ExCEL, a five-year study led by Anne Horak, an assistant professor in George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development. Read more...

Exemplary Early Career Teacher Award Winner Takes Inspiration From His Family’s Immigration Experience

June 22, 2018

Dennis Nolasco’s parents immigrated to the United States from El Salvador. His father reached the 4th grade before dropping out to work on the family farm. His mother had never seen a school until she came to the U.S. Years later, Nolasco used his family’s experience as inspiration to get his license to teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Read more...

CEHD Alumnus Is Virginia’s 2018 National Distinguished Principal

May 10, 2018

On April 4, Andy Jacks was sitting in a meeting with the associate superintendent of Prince William County Public Schools when his secretary called and said there was an emergency in the cafeteria. Jacks had been discussing the power of good leadership with the associate superintendent. Later, Jacks realized that his colleague was engaging in a bit of creative deception. Read more...

Mason’s Kate Dunn is a Pioneer for Women Football Coaches

May 3, 2018

George Mason University’s Kate Dunn had just begun high school when she first realized that coaching football was what she was always meant to do. Her passion for the game runs deep. “I love the teamwork and the dedication that is required,” she said, “and that you never know everything. You can always get better.” Dunn joined a panel of accomplished women who coached men in sports during the “Breaking Gender Roles: Women Coaching Men” Symposium on April 18, hosted by Mason’s Division of Sport, Recreation and Tourism and the Center for Sport Management. Read more...

April 30, 2018

Pablo Ramirez Uribe, a master’s student at George Mason University studying secondary education and English, said it was quite a revelation when he learned how to really be successful as teacher. More than planning, more than constructing assignments, is the ability to connect with students. “It’s go into a school and help these people grow,” Ramirez Uribe said. That was Ramirez Uribe’s takeaway from a program called “Through Students Eyes,” developed by George Mason education professor Kristien Zenkov. Read more...

Brian Negron and Johnny Gomez Named to 2018 EIVA All-Academic Team

April 21, 2018

Senior Brian Negron (Bayamon, Puerto Rico) and graduate student Johnny Gomez (Indialantic, Fla.) represent George Mason on the 2018 EIVA All-Academic team and mark the third time in the last four years the Patriots have had multiple players on the list. The list has 19 players and the Patriots are one of five teams to have multiple players selected. Read more...

Counselors Without Borders Provides Counseling Services in Puerto Rico

April 20, 2018

In March several faculty members from the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at George Mason University had the opportunity to travel to a rural area of Puerto Rico with a small team from Counselors Without Borders. Among the people they met was a 25-year-old who had begun withdrawing from society before Hurricane Maria hit the island last September. After the storm wreaked its devastation, his condition worsened. Read more...

Mason Students Volunteer at Paralympic Games in South Korea

March 27, 2018

The power of sport is what Jiordan Carter says she’ll remember most about being in South Korea, attending the Winter Olympic Games and volunteering for the Paralympics in PyeongChang, as part of George Mason University’s inaugural Olympic Study Abroad Program. “Being able to go to the Olympics was amazing,” said Carter, a junior sport management major. “I love that sports can bring people together from all walks of life. I wanted to be able to work in an industry that all people can relate to and enjoy.” Read more...

Mason Team Helps Heal Scars from Disaster

March 1, 2018

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...

Virginia Secretary of Education: Mason Prepared Me for a Life of Public Service

February 27, 2018

Atif Qarni, who is Virginia’s 19th Secretary of Education and the first appointed to the Cabinet straight out of a K-through-12 classroom, graduated from George Mason University in 2009 with a master’s degree in history and having participated in the teaching licensure program through the College of Education and Human Development. Read more...

Counseling Students Work Together to Build a Library

January 10, 2018

Until recently, there was no library at Montrose Alternative Learning Center, a school for students in grades K-10 with behavioral challenges, academic difficulties, or who would fit best in a less traditional learning environment. And it had been that way for quite a while. Read more...

CEHD Alumnus Appointed Virginia’s Next Education Secretary

January 5, 2018

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...

CEHD Welcomes Newest Kappa Delta Pi Members

November 16, 2017

Twelve College of Education and Human Development students were initiated into the George Mason University's Nu Alpha Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi education honor society on Monday, November 13 at a ceremony in Thompson Hall. The new members were nominated by faculty as exemplars of scholarship, leadership, and service the core values of Kappa Delta Pi. Read more...

Patriot Player Keeps Hometown Troubles at Forefront

November 8, 2017

For Jaire Grayer, the best thing about this year’s Fresh Flint Festival was the smiles on the children’s faces. The George Mason University junior, a starting guard on the Patriots men’s basketball team, ran a shooting clinic at the April event in Flint, Michigan. Read more...

Student Project 'Goes Beyond the Class and Research Itself'

October 19, 2017

Christina Cherry, a senior human development and family science major, and Jasmine Felder, a master's student concentrating in counseling and development, say their research helps give a voice to families facing displacement through gentrification. Read more...

Counseling Student Is Graduate Student of the Year

October 12, 2017

Mirella Saldaña Moreno found out that she was the Virginia School Counselor Association (VSCA) Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year while sitting in the parking lot at George Mason, checking e-mails before heading into work. Read more...

CEHD Alumna Kaleigh O’Donnell Receives Exemplary Early Career Teacher Award

July 10, 2017

Kaleigh O’Donnell (MEd ’15) is the 2017 recipient of Apple Federal Credit Union Education Foundation’s Exemplary Early Career Teacher Award. The award is given to an alumnus or alumna of CEHD who has demonstrated excellence, leadership, and innovation in the classroom within the first three years of teaching in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). Read more...

Twelve Mason LIFE Students Earn Certificate of Completion

June 19, 2017

Mason Learning into Future Environments, more commonly known as Mason LIFE, held a graduation ceremony for 12 of its students at the beginning of May. Read more...

Education Honor Society Inducts Newest Members

June 5, 2017

The Nu Alpha Chapter of the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society initiated 15 new members on May 9, 2017. The initiates represent six academic programs from within CEHD’s Graduate School of Education. They are now part of a network of 1.2 million members across 34 countries. Read more...

Videos Explore PDS Approach to Mentoring, Feedback

January 26, 2017

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.

Abigail Solis, just one of the guys at Redskins camp

September 8, 2016

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...

First Student to Complete Coaching Minor Prepares for Career in International Sports Coaching

August 8, 2016

George Mason University student E’Yad Al’Taha will be celebrating two significant accomplishments this December: he will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology, and he will be the first graduate to complete the new minor in coaching. Read more...

Kaitlin Romm Receives AKA National Scholar Master's Award

April 11, 2016

Congratulations to Kaitlin Romm who has been selected as an American Kinesiology Association (AKA) Masters Scholar for 2016. Kaitlin is a student in the Exercise, Fitness, and Health Promotion (EFHP) graduate program within the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. She is earning a Master’s of Science degree in Exercise, Fitness, and Health Promotion which focuses on the role of physical activity in the promotion of health, fitness and quality of life. Read more...

Designing Digital Learning in Schools using Robots

April 4, 2016

Robots attended class along with teachers in the Designing Digital Learning in Schools (DDLS) graduate program. These teachers had the opportunity to meet Sphero. They were able to build thinking and problem-solving skills by completing a range of missions and then to use those programming skills to teach their Sphero tricks. Read more...