Category: George Mason University

First day of classes Spring Semester…

It may be foggy and cold here in Washington, but it’s also a day full of anticipation as we begin the Spring (yes that’s the operative word, Spring!) semester here at Mason.

Tomorrow is my first day of teaching in a bit. I’ll be teaching 50 undergraduates in a cellular neuroscience core course. I’m very much looking forward to trying out some new pedagogical ideas….

In the meantime, the first snowdrop blooms are out in our neighborhood. If the winter continues to be as mild as it’s been so far, we should have crocuses within a couple of weeks.

This semester will also be one of transition here at Mason as we salute Alan Merten for a job well-done and welcome Angel Cabrera as our new President on July 1. Change is part of life, no less within the academy. It will be interesting to watch this marvelous place continue to evolve and grow.

Angel Cabrera

George Mason’s Board of Visitors announced the appointment of Dr. Angel Cabrera to be Mason’s next President in the last hour. The photo is from the press conference that just ended a few minutes ago.

He brings both incredible dynamism and experience to Mason most recently as President of the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Born in Spain, he trained in Madrid as an engineer and then went on to Georgia Tech to get his doctorate.

Here is a recent You Tube video in which his passion for education is abundantly clear:

Mason will clearly continue its tradition of innovation under dynamic leadership. Dr. Cabrera will take office on July 1 of next year.

MASON

This time not referring to the University, but rather to our own homegrown and widely used java-based simulator for agent based modeling. You can find it here. The link has great simulation demonstrations that you can watch in your browser.

What does MASON stand for as an acronym?

From the web site:
” Multi-Agent Simulator Of Neighborhoods… or Networks… or something… “



Proposed merger of University of Maryland campuses

The proposal to merge the College Park campus with the Law School and Medical School in Baltimore is reported in the Chronicle here. It’s being strongly opposed by Baltimore City interests, but it certainly would increase the prestige of the university. It also makes sense thinking in the longer term about whether Mason or Maryland will be the dominant public research university in the National Capital Area.

So, as an ardent Mason supporter, here’s hoping that the folks in Baltimore are successful.

Special Teaching Deals Being Called Off…

From today’s Chronicle here. My colleague, Jorge Haddock, dean of our School of Management, is part of the story:

Some administrators are beginning to make changes, sometimes by giving professors a choice in the process. At George Mason University, professors who agreed to chair one of five “areas,” or departments, within the university’s School of Management had always taught just one course a year, compared with the usual faculty load of four courses per year. When Jorge Haddock took over as dean of the management school two and a half years ago, he thought the course release for area chairs was too generous. So he offered them a new deal: They could teach two courses a year, with pay for one month during the summer, or teach three courses a year with pay for two summer months. While the university pays more, Mr. Haddock says it’s worth it to make faculty workloads more equitable across the board and to get full-time professors back into the classroom.

Summer’s Over

If you are an administrator at  George Mason. I’m back in DC,  ready to focus on the new academic year. This is a particularly important one for Mason–we’re choosing a new President.

For the Institute, this year will as much about new international collaborations, as it is about our new faculty members and research space. But we’ll also be carefully watching the US science funding agencies as they deal with their own challenges.

Mason and the National Capital Area

The Washington DC area is an odd duck in some ways. Incredibly dynamic, well-educated, well-to-do, and….split over multiple governmental jurisdictions as well as the Potomac River. Although one could certainly argue that New York’s metropolitan area does share some similar traits (it’s often called the Tri-State area), I’d argue that the history of the two places combined with their core businesses make for apples and oranges comparisons.

Part of the history of the Washington DC area (if we exclude Baltimore) is that the historically older institutions of higher education are 1) small (relative to say the big Ivy League schools) and 2) private.

The two state publics, University of Maryland at College Park and George Mason, are quite large, but relative to the other major public research universities, not yet dominating the city’s culture the way University of Texas or Ohio State do for Austin and Columbus respectively.

Thus, unlike many other major US cities, DC isn’t dominated by a single institution (or even two) the way for example Boston, Chicago and San Francisco are.

Another way of putting this notion is that, projecting into the future, the DC area is still up for grabs.

Thinking this way, I see two key points: first, the derivative of growth (writ large) is more important than size. Second, past-decisions put real constraints on the future.

Anyone who has visited Mason over the last several years can’t help but notice how rapid the growth has been. It’s singular frankly.

But more important is that Mason is still young enough, that key decisions (and opportunities) remain for the future. In other words, Mason isn’t constrained for its future growth and has the opportunity to become what UofM is to Ann Arbor, what UCSD is to San Diego.

That’s an exciting future, especially in the Nation’s Capital.