Mason Core Faculty Certification Program

SPRING 2025

The Mason Core Instructor Certification Program (MC-ICP) is a joint effort of Mason Core and the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, recognizing faculty who are investing their time in gaining skills and expertise about teaching non-majors as part of Mason Core. With a blend of live workshops (in-person and on Zoom), asynchronous engagement, and individual projects, you can work on your own timeline to earn one of our certifications. 

Participating in MC-ICP also allows instructors to 

• Learn about strategies, assignments, and approaches that can make teaching more effective and engaging  
• Connect with a wider community of faculty teaching general education courses 
• Document their teaching for reappointment or promotion processes 

MC-ICP is open to all George Mason University instructors who have taught one or more Mason Core courses in the past two years. Instructors may complete one or multiple levels as they have time and interest. All instructors who complete the program will receive a certificate and a special email signature-file recognition icon. In addition, their academic unit leaders will be notified directly of their achievements. 

Please complete the form below if interested in learning more about this opportunity, and we will be in touch with more details. 

Faculty Learning Community
SPRING 2025

Do you regularly incorporate student discussions in your courses? Are you interested in learning more about how to navigate complex issues with your students and encourage them to have productive conversations with each other? Are you teaching a Just Societies-flagged course for the first time? Join our Faculty Learning Community in Spring 2025 to work alongside faculty across the university to share ideas, ask questions, and develop the skills to support student engagement and discussions in your courses. Instructors who participate in this learning community as required will be eligible for a stipend.  

An Introduction to the Writing-Intensive Course
JANUARY 17, 2025 | 11AM-12:30PM

Are you new to teaching a Writing-Intensive (WI) course or want a refresher on some of the basics? This workshop will focus on writing-intensive course design and help faculty develop WI assignments with a disciplinary focus that directly support course content. Join Writing Across the Curriculum staff to learn more about the WI learning outcomes and get a strong start to the semester, and don’t forget about the WI grant opportunities to facilitate innovative approaches to faculty support, course management, and curriculum development.  

Course Proposal Workshop
FEBRUARY 10, 2025 | 12PM-2PM

Calling all faculty developing a Mason Core course proposal! Join us for a review of learning outcomes, a guide to the proposal process, and the opportunity to compose a first draft of your proposal and get some early feedback. Come on your own or bring colleagues who will help design or teach the course. You can also check out our website, which was revamped over the summer and includes a variety of helpful resources for the course proposal process.  

Thank you to the Arts, Literature, and Social and Behavioral Science instructors who submitted their required artifacts for Fall 2025! If you missed the December 9 deadline, there’s still time! Submissions will be accepted through the end of the semester. 

We appreciate your ongoing commitment to Mason Core, and the data we receive from the assessment process helps to further refine Mason Core to better serve our students. If you have not participated in the assessment of these categories but will be teaching courses in any of the aforementioned categories in Spring 2025, please plan to participate, and be on the lookout for communications about what is required for assessment next semester.

Teaching a newly designated Mason Apex course that's still at the 300-level? As a reminder, existing 300-level Capstone and Synthesis courses should be revised to meet the Mason Apex learning outcomes and submitted to the Mason Core Committee for review ideally by February 20th for the March 6th meeting. This will allow these courses to be renumbered in time for the 2025-2026 catalog. Please refer to this guide for the renumbering process for courses at the 300-level and review our course submission resources. Attending a course proposal workshop or the Project-Based Learning Bootcamp below will also help with this process! 

Project-Based Learning Bootcamp

JANUARY 9 & 14, 2025

Are you creating or revamping a Mason Apex course or a course for your major? Do you want to create a high-impact project that fosters critical thinking skills and creativity?  Would you like students to draw connections with their previous coursework? Led by the Stearns Center, please join us for this hybrid faculty development opportunity that includes two Zoom meetings and several asynchronous online modules. By the end of the bootcamp, you will have an assignment sheet, including grading rubric, ready to implement into your course. 

Revising a course or developing something new for Mason Core consideration? In addition to our proposal workshops, we recommend faculty review our course development and proposal resources available on our website.  

Is there a workshop you'd like to see us offer? Or would you like us to visit your college or department to discuss Mason Core in general? Do you have lingering questions about teaching or developing Mason Core courses that are not covered in our current offerings?  

We are always interested in developing workshops to meet the professional and course development needs of our dedicated Mason Core instructors. We are also happy to visit with units to talk about the structure of Mason Core and the value it brings to our students.  

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