Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Advisors are nominated by students for going above and beyond in their service to advisee success. Congratulations!

Michael Bloom led the analysis of data from the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort research that found pregnant women in Hispanic and Black communities may experience greater prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including environmental phenols (EPs) and parabens.

Student nurses created a D.C.-area interdisciplinary nursing research conference to share knowledge and network with fellow students and nursing professionals.

Congratulation to Rebecca Sutter for receiving support from the Opioid Abatement Authority for opioid-related work in 3 communities, Manassas Park, Norfolk, and Petersburg.

Details about one of the pilot research projects that CPH is supporting.

Stefanos Tyrovolas, Associate Professor, Nutrition and Food Studies, received support for “Pathway Development of an e-Screening Sarcopenia Algorithm and an Integrated Medical Device for Older Adults (SARCMED).” This project aims to evaluate the screening capabilities (validity, sensitivity, specificity) of a new e-screening sarcopenia algorithm using sensor-based tools, compared to traditional tools.

The FDA is seeking to support A Research Study of Contaminants in School Meals (U18).

U.S. primary and secondary schools serve approximately 7 billion meals per year as part of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. This initiative builds on increasing evidence from independent laboratory analysis that have detected contaminants - including heavy metals - in meals served in public schools.

Program Requirements and Expectations:

Recipients of funds awarded under this notice of funding opportunity announcement are expected to plan and execute the following project phases within a 12-month period:

Have you heard about the NCHAT, a nationally representative U.S. survey and time diary of cohabiting and married individuals ages 20 to 60 who were in a same- or different-couple household during the recent pandemic? The sample includes 3,600 main respondents and 1,500 spouses who answered questions about relationships, emotions, stressors, discrimination, and time use, among other topics.

 NIH is seeking your comments and expertise. Learn more here.

Did you know? If you have named a GRA on your project budget, i.e., rather than saying “TBD,” that GRA must complete COI  in RAMP before your awarded project can be set up. Please reach out to CPH's pre-award administrators for more guidance on this.

Several AI tools are becoming available which support systematic reviews. Alison Cuellar is currently testing one from ica.ai and is very impressed with the assistance it provides on inclusion and exclusion criteria and the "rounds" of review it does. There is plenty of room for the expert human to provide guidance. She was particularly surprised because the types of technical questions she entered usually cause her general purpose AI tools to hallucinate, a lot, in her experience. The feel of this tool was very different. Email her if you want to test it (aevanscu@gmu.edu).

You can also learn about a product by Clarivate on June 25 at 10 am. Registration required. Learn more here.

Spring 2025 Blackboard courses are now migrated to Canvas. Log into Canvas, click “Courses,” then “All Courses” to view your list of available courses. The full list may not appear until you scroll to the bottom of the page. Migrated courses begin with “Bb Migrated.”

Review your courses to ensure that all content is present. In many cases, older Kaltura videos have not transferred from Blackboard to Canvas.

Blackboard will retire on July 15, 2025. Review the Blackboard Retirement Instructor Resources page in preparation for Blackboard’s closure.

Need Help with Blackboard Course Migration Cleanup?

The college’s Instructional Design team has additional support available to help fix content errors, missing videos, broken HTML, and more. Reach out to HLTHLRN@gmu.edu before July 15 so we can assist with course cleanup.

Blackboard will be unavailable to students, faculty, and staff on July 15, 2025.  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.

 July 7 | 9:30 am-12:30 pm | Multipurpose Room

Staff Council, in conjunction with George Mason University’s Office of Organizational Development and Learning, will host a half-day professional development seminar.

More details will be announced. The basic agenda is:

Registration is now open for the APHA Annual Meeting & Expo in November 2-5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The college is hoping for a large presence this year since the conference is local. 

Presenting? Email Mary Cunningham (mcunni7@gmu.edu) if you or your students are presenting. The Marketing and Communications Office will be promoting college presenters and assisting with the presence at our booth. 

August 27 | 11 am | Multipurpose Room

Please note the date change for the Dean's Address. Join us to kick of the new academic year. Address followed by a lunch reception. RSVP to come.

Add these important dates and deadlines for the 2025–2026 academic year to your calendar now. This list will continue to be updated throughout the summer.

In June and July, this newsletter will publish every other week on the following dates: July 7 and July 21. The newsletter will resume weekly publication in August.

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