Faculty/Staff Newsletter

How George Mason College of Public Health researchers are working to ease the strain on family caregivers of those living with dementia through evidence-based support, emerging technologies, and global insight.

More than 80% of 25-34-year-olds and more than 50% of respondents across all age groups already use AI for mental health care.

New research from Raedeh Basiri, a precision nutrition expert, identifies associations between dietary patterns, glycemic status, diabetes control, and sleep outcomes.

It is time to nominate your colleagues (and self-nominate) for the CPH faculty and staff awards!  Nominate now for:

Staff Awards -  due February 20, 2026  

Faculty Teaching Awards -  due March 16, 2026 

Faculty Community Service Impact Award – due March 16, 2026

Research Awards -  due March 16, 2026

Note: these are Word documents and might not automatically open in a window. Check your Downloads folder.

The December Wall of Wow winner is Kelly Kim, GCH Operations and Budget Manager. Congratulations, Kelly! Looking forward to seeing the unit level Wall of Wows filled up in January!

Martha Kubik (Nursing) received a continuation award from National Foundation to End Senior Hunger.

Karen Grace (Nursing) received a continuation award from the University of Pittsburgh/NIH for Reducing Alcohol-Involved Sexual Violence in Higher Education. 

Rebecca Sutter (Nursing) received a new, one-year award from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority.

NIH and NSF now require that biosketches be generated using SciENcv. Here is a helpful video on YouTube so you can become familiar with the interface.  SciENcv also generates the required Current and Pending (C&P) form, so please ask the pre-award team for the most recent information to enter. Both biosketch and C&P will need to be updated each time you submit. Unfortunately, the pre-award team cannot generate the biosketch or C&P in SciENcv for you, but we can support you. Please reach out for help.

Deadline: January 21

Once again, CPH is seeking applications for its pilot research program, underscoring our commitment to pioneering investigations and impactful scholarly pursuits. Awards will be made by March 10, 2026 and extend for 12 months. The CPH pilot awards will support the direct costs of research, such as laboratory experiments, field studies, data collection, or data acquisition. Investigators may request up to $30,000; in all, approximately 8 awards are anticipated. 

Details on the application and review process are available here. 

6th Annual Research & Scholarship Orientation

January 14, 2026 | 9 am – 1 pm | Webinar | Registration Required

This virtual event walks you through the project lifecycle—from proposal to award—and connects you with the teams that help make funding happen.

Grant Writing 101

January 14, 2026 | 3 – 4:30 pm | Merten 1204 | Registration Required

Grant Writing 101 is a hands-on session designed to help faculty: Align proposals with current federal guidelines, Identify private funding sources, and Navigate new policies and sponsor priorities with confidence.

Michael Bloom (GCH) received the 2026 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education. More information to come in a future newsletter.

Erin Maughan (Nursing) received the Presidential Award from the Virginia School Nurses Association for advancing school nursing research.

Create a realistic plan. Spend 30 minutes mapping out your research/writing/curriculum development goals for the semester. Break projects into manageable tasks and assign them to specific weeks. When you see your goals on the calendar, they feel doable instead of overwhelming.

Write for 30 minutes a day. Daily writing, even in short bursts, beats waiting for the “perfect” writing day. Those 30 minutes will keep your projects moving, lower anxiety, and align your effort with what matters most for your career path.

Lean on community. No one stays motivated in isolation. Connect with colleagues or join an accountability group. A supportive community keeps you writing even on days you don’t feel like it, and celebrates your wins when you do. There is a great George Mason writing community. We have had both CPH term instructional and tenure-line faculty participate. NCFDD is also having a virtual writing session on January 21.

Faculty life is full of competing priorities. The only way to protect time for your long-term goals is to claim it, schedule it, and back it up with support.

As a reminder, George Mason is a member of NCFDD so you just need to go to its website, and create an account to access  a plethora of resources! Here are some upcoming virtual workshops that may be of interest: “Every Career Chapter Needs a Plan” on January 30, “How to Align Your Time With Your Priorities” on February 12, and “How to Create and Maintain Healthier Boundaries” on February 19. Check the events calendar for more information.

 January 29 | 6:30 - 7:30 pm | Virtual, link in calendar invite

All CPH Faculty are invited to join this presentation by Laina Lockett from the Stearns Center. All instructional faculty (tenure-line and term faculty) should have received a calendar invite with a Zoom link. If you did not receive a calendar invite/zoom link and you are interested in attending (you don’t need to be instructional faculty), please let Cathy Tompkins know.

Deadline January 15 at 5 pm

Help us find the best time for our Faculty Networking & Peer Support Drop Ins. Complete this brief Qualtrics survey to find a day/time that works for most faculty to participate. Thank you to everyone who has already completed the survey. 

Spring 2026 Adjunct Faculty Meeting

January 29 | 6 - 7:30 pm | Virtual

All CPH adjunct faculty should have received a calendar invite with a Zoom link. At 6:30, we will have a presentation by Laina Lockett from the Stearns Center titled AI Teaching Strategies for CPH Faculty (the presentation is open to all CPH faculty). 

CPH Adjunct Faculty Connections Program

January 20, February 17, March 16, April 20, May 11 | 6:30 - 7:30 pm |  Virtual

Calendar invites with Zoom links have been sent. Please join us with any questions that may be on your mind. The idea for a presentation on AI Teaching Strategies was generated from these meetings. We discuss adjunct faculty engagement within their departments/school, at the college and university levels. Looking forward to having more robust conversations in 2026.

Ensure a smooth start to your semester in Canvas. Remember to set up your gradebook so letter grades match your syllabus. Run the Course Link Validator to repair broken and outdated links before students encounter them. Review the quality checklists available at Stearns Center’s Online Course Quality. And remember to use Panorama’s accessibility tools to ensure your students can access and engage with your content

For more tips visit ITS’s Beginning of Semester Canvas Checklist. This page includes tips on copying a course in Canvas, creating assignment groups, and linking journal articles from the Library.

January 15 | 11:30 am followed by lunch | Peterson 1105 | RSVP here

Kick off the spring 2026 semester with an address from Dean Melissa Perry. Join your fellow faculty and staff for lunch in the Peterson Lobby afterward. 

*NOTE LOCATION CHANGE - Event is in Peterson 1105

February 4, 2026 | 12 – 1 pm | Zoom

Join the Faculty Development Committee in a discussion about AI’s impact on teaching and learning. CPH faculty and students will share their experiences with AI-powered intelligent tutors built by CPH faculty, AI-assistance in grading, and other methods of using AI to enhance workflows.

February 9, 2026 | Dean's Speaker Series: Rebecca Winthrop, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center for Universal Education, The Brookings Institution and lead of the Brookings Global Task Force on AI in Education

February 16, 2026 | Faculty Annual Performance Reviews due. Learn more about the faculty annual review process and procedures here.

March 16, 2026 | Dean's Speaker Series: Claudio Battiloro, Harvard University Biostatistics

April 6-12, 2026 | National Public Health Week

April 9, 2026 | CPH Faculty and Staff Awards & Retirement Celebration

April 24, 2026 | Celebration of Student Scholarship

April 24, 2026 | CPH Student Award Ceremony

May 14, 2026 | University Commencement

TBD May 2026 | CPH Degree Celebration

PUBLICHEALTH.GMU.EDU

Access the CPH brand toolkit, including new CPH logos here.

View the newsletter archives here.