Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Panagiota "Yiota" Kitsantas will formally assume the role effective May 25, 2025. She has previously served as the program director of George Mason's Health Services Research PhD and, most recently, she was the chair of the Department of Population Health at the Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University. Read Kitsantas's full bio here. Photo provided.

Thank you to P.J. Maddox for her 30 years of leadership in the department. Maddox retires at the end of the academic year.

Four faculty teams are pioneering new strategies to prevent and address interpersonal violence, with a focus on vulnerable and underserved populations. Their research efforts span youth-led education in local schools to ultrasound imaging for detecting hidden injuries, with student involvement and community partnerships playing key roles. 

Melissa Perry will graduate this spring with her Costello MBA—her third graduate degree, earned while serving as a full-time dean, raising two children, and leading one of the largest and fastest-growing public health programs in the region.

Rocío Rodríguez Morales MSW ‘25, a first-generation student, found support and community at George Mason as she forged a new career path with her third degree. Photo by Madalyn Julianna

As the college's student degree celebration speaker, you can hear from her directly on May 17. We look forward to seeing faculty and staff at the Degree Celebration.

Congratulations to Jhumka Gupta (GCH) on being awarded a grant from the  Health Alliance for Violence Intervention/Kaiser.

College faculty have published nearly 160 articles this academic year. View the list as of May 1. 

May 28 and 29 | 8:30 am - 4 pm | Horizon Hall | Register here

The writing workshop is for all faculty who need some dedicated time to write manuscripts, curriculum innovations, grant proposals and anything that needs dedicated and focused time. Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development visited our new faculty on May 7 and provided more details about the retreat. During the first day, there will be a panel discussion during lunch (see below). The full schedule available on the Faculty Writing Support page. 

Featured panel: Exploring the Full Landscape of External Funding in the Current Time

In these times, many faculty members are turning their attention to funding sources outside the federal government. As part of the faculty writing retreat, we invite you to join a panel discussion focused on identifying and navigating non-federal sources of research funding. This session will bring together experienced administrators from across George Mason who have experience securing support from foundations, industry partners, professional societies, and other private organizations. This conversation will offer practical insights, strategies, and resources to help you take the next steps. Featuring:

May 20 | 9 am - 12:30 pm | Dewberry Hall

Hosted by the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact, this half-day workshop is open to faculty, students, administrators, and research leaders. The workshop will provide a forum to hear from the George Mason community about their concerns and challenges in the current research landscape and consider avenues for moving forward despite those challenges. There will be breakout groups for early career faculty, senior faculty, LAU leadership, graduate students, and research administration and support team. 

We are excited to launch the college's five-year strategic planning process. This is our opportunity to think big, build on our momentum, and shape our future together—with courage, clarity, and collaboration. All faculty and staff are encouraged to complete the Strategic Plan survey by May 18. Your voice makes a difference – please take a few moments to complete the brief 12-question survey. 

Blackboard will be unavailable to students, faculty, and staff on July 15, 2025 Encourage your students to download course materials they’d like to keep. Archives will be maintained for two years, but not on a Blackboard platform. After July 15, faculty may submit a request to ITS to extract materials, grades, or a course export file. Learn more on the Blackboard Retirement Resources page.

In preparation for Blackboard’s closure, you can:

This college faculty/staff newsletter will publish weekly through May. In June and July, this newsletter will publish every other week on the following dates: June 9, June 23, July 7, and July 21.

The newsletter will resume weekly publication in August.

These events previously have been in the newsletter; to see full event descriptions, please consult previous newsletters.

Saturday, May 17 | 11 am - 1 pm | Peterson Hall | Learn more

Saturday, May 17 | 2 – 4 pm | EagleBank Arena | Learn more

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

View the newsletter archives here.