Gary T. Taylor, MSW ‘15, is destigmatizing mental health support and normalizing therapy in the Black community one barbershop at a time.

Additionally, Taylor's mission is to “pass the baton” to the next generation of social workers – with a focus on recruiting more Black men to the field. 

The College of Public Health is pleased to welcome Nicholas Field-Johnson as the College’s Associate Director of Development. With over 25 years of noteworthy fundraising experience, including 10 years of experience in higher education, Nicholas will develop fundraising strategies and engage major donors in support of the College’s philanthropy goals. 

Help us celebrate National Public Health Week by attending our events and sharing them with your students!

All week | drop off location of every floor of Peterson

Mason's Patriot Pantry is an on-campus food pantry that provides nonperishable goods and personal hygiene products to currently enrolled students facing food insecurity. See this flyer for a list of the most requested items by students. 

April 1 | 2 options | Sign up to volunteer here
Patriot Pantry | 10 am-1 pm 
Presidents Park Greenhouse | 2-5 pm 

Students, faculty, and staff are welcome to join together in service to our community.

April 1 | 12-2 pm | Kiosk in JC

Join undergraduate HAP students at the JC to anonymously share your insights on tobacco use! Your feedback supports healthier choices. Attend the event to win gift cards, prizes, and Apple AirPods Pro! Register here.

April 2 | 9 am-2 pm | Peterson Hall Lobby

Don't miss the chance to meet face-to-face with the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board clinical staff to learn about job openings in your field, share your resume, and discuss how your career interests align with its mission. Register here.

April 2 | 6-7 pm | PHC Multipurpose Room

RSVP Here

April 2 | 7:30 - 9:30 pm | Peterson Hall 3000 & Zoom

Hear from the College of Public Health Alumni Association and School of Nursing on how the Mason and Partners Clinics help to create healthy neighborhoods.

April 3 | 6-8:30 pm | Merten 1201

April 5 | In front of Fenwick Library

Stop by the front of Fenwick Library for fun and games related to sexual health, including a condom toss and free giveaways!

For Classified Staff and AP Faculty hired prior to Dec. 31, 2023, the self-evaluation step of the annual performance evaluation is now past due (due 3/1/24) as is the supervisor evaluation (3/22/24). If you have not completed these steps, please complete them as soon as possible.

The next step is reviewer review and sign-off due 4/12.

Visit the Performance Evaluation Resource webpage for full details. 

Peterson Hall is scheduled for conversion to Vonage starting April 2 as part of the university-wide technology initiatives aimed at enhancing our communication systems. Here's what you need to know and how to prepare:

Desk Phone Replacement: All Avaya desk phones will be disconnected and replaced with Vonage desk phones. Please ensure you're prepared for this change.

Vonage Softphone Software: The new Vonage softphone software will be available for download onto your devices. You can sign in and start using the app on the installation day. Information regarding the setup and integration with Microsoft Teams will be provided shortly. Once the installation begins, it's advisable to use your Vonage softphone until the change is complete. Please note that remote or VPN connectivity might be affected during the desk phone replacement process.

Dialing Instructions: During the transition, please remember to dial all 10 digits of the phone number when placing or transferring calls. Dialing 9 for external calls will no longer be necessary.

Who to ask questions?

- Mojgan Sefat: She handles the administration of telephone services and requests for telephone services. Feel free to reach out to her for any assistance related to adding new services, changes/moves, disconnections, or reporting incidents/troubles.

- Matthew Hicks: He serves as our department's main IT point of contact for the transition and will be liaising with ITS for the implementation process. He will ensure a smooth transition and address any concerns or queries you may have. Rene Ayalais also an IT point of contact.

The MESA M: drive migration will begin March 29. M:\MyData folders will be moved to a OneDrive folder called “MESA-mydata”.The migration schedule is based on the first letter of your netID, as follows:

Friday, March 29 (A-I)

Friday, April 5 (J-M)

Friday, April 12 (N-Z)

The migration will begin Friday afternoon and end Monday morning. MyData access for those being migrated will not be available during their scheduled migration weekend. Only folders under “MyData” will be migrated. Folders created on the M: drive outside of “MyData” will not be migrated.

OneDrive is not approved to store Highly Sensitive Data (HSD). If there is institutional HSD in a MESA MyData folder, it must be deleted or moved to an approved department MESA shared folder. Contact CPHOIT@gmu.edu for assistance.

ITS is scanning MyData folders for HSD. If ITS finds a significant number of HSD records, they will contact the owner to discuss their needs and develop a strategy for storage before continuing with their migration to OneDrive.

Folders under M:\shared will be migrated later this semester. For full project details and training resources, visit the MESA to M365 Roadmap

One of the largest studies in CPH is Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes which is led by Kathi Huddleston PI, School of Nursing, and is part of a multi-site, national, longitudinal study. Among her many skills, Kathi is a very successful participant enrollment, recruitment, and retention expert. Under her leadership ECHO has recruited 250 families since January 2024 alone, not to mention the over 10,000 people Kathi has recruited in the past 5 years at Inova. I asked Kathi to share some of her tips for success. Linked below is Kathi’s top 5. I revised them a bit for space reasons, but Kathi is a fountain of knowledge and has generously offered to share her experience with you. Just reach out!

Congratulations to PJ Maddox and Caroline Sutter for receiving funding to support Mason's Center for Health Workforce to serve as the Centralized Technical Assistance hub for regional health workforce development throughout Virginia. The support comes from earmarked funding through Senator Warner.

Here are two upcoming funding notices from AHRQ of potential interest: 

Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Implementing and Evaluating Patient-Centered Clinical Decision Support Strategies in Real-World Settings (U18). 

Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for Research to Advance the Science of Primary Care (R01)  

MSN & DNP Pinning ceremony on May 5 | Dewberry Hall, JC

BSN Pinning ceremony on May 9 | Dewberry Hall, JC

Accelerated BSN Pinning ceremony on August 1 | Dewberry Hall, JC

April 4 | 5:30 - 7 pm | Merten Hall 1202

Join us at the Value-based Purchasing Bootcamp presentation for Master in Health Administration students and healthcare professionals. The event features Inova Health System Executives Toni Ardabell, Chief of Clinical Enterprise Operations, Dr. Neeta Goel, Chief Medical Officer, Ambulatory, Marque Macon, VP & Administrator, Ambulatory Operations & Provider Services, and Jeff Rosenzweig, VP of Strategic Financial Planning & Analysis. This event aims to comprehensively understand value-based purchasing strategies, innovations, and best practices in healthcare management. Food will be provided.

All Mason employees are encouraged to participate in the Faculty and Staff Experience (FSE) Survey. The survey is an opportunity for faculty and staff to communicate engagement needs and co-create an environment that better understands, creates space for, and invests in well-being, inclusion, and belonging practices. We are aiming for a 90% response rate in the College. All responses remain anonymous.

This survey is separate from the COACHE survey that many faculty completed in 2019 and 2022. New for 2024, the Faculty Evaluation of Administrators (FEA) will be added to the FSE Survey and an evaluation of academic chairs and directors has also been included. After completing the FSE, you will advance to the FEA survey. Learn more about the Faculty and Staff Experience Survey.

April 3 | 10 am- 3 pm | SUB 1 room 4210 

CPH Career Advising is hosting a University Career Services Career Influencers Network Handshake training. Handshake is the best way to find student work. This training is especially useful for clinical placement coordinators and any departments or faculty that want to learn how to post internships, shadowing opportunities, jobs, etc. Email Raven McCormick (rgreen14@gmu.edu)  with any questions.

April 5 | 12 pm | Zoom

Please join us to hear the following CPH faculty share their scholarship during the April Lightning Talks:

Dr. Limei Chen, SW - Productive Aging and Community Well-Being

Dr. Debora Goldberg, HAP - Clinicians’ Perspectives on the use of Clinical Decision Support Tools in Primary Care

Dr. Jacqueline Guevara, SW - Being Self Care Role Models for our Students

April 9 | 12 pm | PHC Multipurpose Room or Zoom (in-person preferred)

The CPH Faculty Development Committee invites you to a (rescheduled) Media Training workshop presented by Michelle Thompson. Learn about working with the media, responding to media inquiries, social media, and improving your professional online media presence. Participants will have an opportunity to “workshop” their own messaging on a topic of their choice. Those who RSVP will receive more details on how to prepare for the session. In-person attendees who RSVP by noon on Friday, April 5, can choose to receive lunch provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Zoom link for session.

 April 19 | 12 pm | PHC Multipurpose Room

RSVP now for the annual CPH Faculty & Staff Awards ceremony. Lunch will follow immediately in the Peterson Hall Lobby.  Please RSVP by Monday, April 15.

April 19 | 8:30 am - 3:30 pm | Mason's Potomac Science Center - 650 Mason Ferry Ave, Woodbridge, VA 22191

Join stakeholders from George Mason University's College of Public Health, Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinic, Prince William Community Services Board, and other community partners for a free day on how community outreach can improve public health for marginalized communities in Northern Virginia. For questions or concerns, please contact Samba Pathak at spathak5@gmu.edu.

Heads up as the last reporting deadline, April 22nd, is coming up soon! OSA is in the lead with Nutrition close behind; Kathy Prudden is the person with the most steps this week. Report your steps each Monday by noon