Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Carol Cleaveland, associate professor of social work, releases a new book this week called Private Violence: Latin American Women and the Struggle for Asylum. Together with her coauthor, Michele Waslin, assistant director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, she speaks about her work at George Mason's Fall for the Book Festival on October 17. 

A new study from the College of Public Health at George Mason University, led by Professor Janusz Wojtusiak and Health Services Research doctoral candidate Ghaida Alsadah explores the use of machine learning to predict social isolation among caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and related disorders. 

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 | 11:30 am – 12:30 pm | Multipurpose Room
Lunch will be served in the lobby following the event

Speaker: Nadia Fawaz
Topic: "AI for Public Health: From Guidance to Implementation"

Nadia Fawaz is a presidential innovation fellow and a senior technical advisor in responsible artificial intelligence (AI) and equitable data who advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

She led the development of the CDC’s Generative AI (GenAI) guidance, supported initiatives to pilot and deploy CDC’s GenAI capabilities, and led efforts on health equity data recommendations. Prior to joining the government, she was a senior staff applied scientist at Pinterest, where she founded and led the Inclusive AI team, building technology such as the Skin Tone Ranges, Hair Pattern Search, and Body Type Technology.

She received her Ph.D. and her Diplome d’Ingenieur (M.Sc.) in Electrical Engineering from Telecom ParisTech and EURECOM, France. An engineering leader with expertise in AI, ML, and data privacy, she is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Find her full bio here. 

We encourage all faculty and staff to take a couple of minutes to complete the Fall, 2024 Pulse Survey. Your voice matters—please make it count! The data from the Pulse Survey will help us prepare for the second CPH Climate Survey coming in November. Please let Cathy Tompkins (ctompkin@gmu.edu) know if you have any questions. 

We currently have a low response rate. The survey takes less than 2 minutes to complete! 

Click here to take the 2-minute CPH Pulse Survey. Please complete it by Monday, October 21st. 

(Note:  Students have an opportunity to complete the Pulse Survey under a different survey link.  This link will be distributed in the CPH student newsletters and announcements).

Study leave applications for both term instructional faculty and tenured faculty for the 2025-2026 academic year will be due on Monday, October 28, 2024. Click here for more information about study leave for tenured faculty and here for study leave for term instructional faculty.

If you are interested in a study leave, and have any questions, please let Cathy Tompkins know (ctompkin@gmu.edu).

November 6, 2024 | 11:30 am - 1:00 pm | Zoom

The Provost and Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development will hold a forum for tenure-line faculty to discuss tenure and promotion.

Here is the Zoom link.

A spring forum will be held for reappointment & promotion for term faculty.

Check out the Core Curriculum from NCFDD.

There are 10 webinars focusing on the skills you need to thrive in academia.  From Skill #1: Every Semester Needs a Plan, to Skill #10: How to Manage Stress, Rejection, and the Haters in Your Midst! 

Click here to explore the webinars!

George Mason’s designation as a minority-serving institution for Asians was renewed. Such designations are very specific (e.g., Asian does not include Pacific Islander) for purposes of applying for external funding.

If there is a funding opportunity, contact Terri Mancini (tmancini@gmu.edu) with the CPH Office of Research and we can help you sort this out.

Here are other helpful resources for your proposals: 

Selection of Minority-serving Institution Funding Opportunities and Resources

Sample DEI Language

CDC has multiple research grant funding opportunities around violence prevention, all due December 2.

Grants to Support New Investigators in Conducting Research Related to Preventing Interpersonal Violence Impacting Children and Youth: RFA-CE-25-0294

Research Grants for Preventing Violence and Violence Related Injury (R01): RFA-CE-25-021

Formative Research of Community-led Primary Prevention Approaches to Address Elevated Risk of Intimate Partner Violence: RFA-CE-25-032

Research Grants to Rigorously Evaluate Innovative and Promising Strategies to Prevent Firearm-Related Violence and Injuries: RFA-CE-25-030

Rigorous Evaluation of Community- and Societal-Level Primary Prevention Approaches to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Expanding the Best Available Evidence: RFA-CE-25-025

Rigorously Evaluating Programs and Policies to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Problematic Sexual Behavior among Youth: RFA-CE-25-026

Check out these tips from Sage Publications for creating an article abstract that attracts readership! 

Helen Chin, assistant professor in GCH,  was awarded a two-year grant by NIH, “Prenatal and Minipubertal Exposure to Air Pollution and Pubertal Timing.” This is Helen’s first award as PI!

Farrokh Alemi, professor in HAP, through collaborators at University of Wisconsin, was awarded a three-year grant by NIH, “Using Digital Photovoice to Explore Relationships between Social Media Content and Suicidality Among Transgender Adolescents.”

CPH Faculty Mentors Dr. Allison Miner and Dr. Lila Fleming offer Canvas consultation appointments for faculty. Meet with your mentors to learn course cleanup and building tips, explore new features in Canvas, and design your course to promote student success. 

Dr. Fleming’s office hours are available Wednesday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Book an appointment with Dr. Lila Fleming via Microsoft Bookings.

Email Dr. Miner to schedule a Canvas consultation.

Dr. Allison Miner offers the following tip for Canvas novices:

“As a Canvas novice, the most helpful training I received was through the Canvas-Instructure live training. This was a 45-minute training which distilled the training to the absolute basics. The facilitator was a teacher who had years of experience. You could interact with the trainer in real time. Once you have the basics, you can get help from the university instructional designers or faculty who use Canvas for additional tips.”

October 28, 2024 | 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm | Multipurpose Room

Rick Kwan will join us to discuss his abstract on “The use of digital technologies to promote the health of older people”

Rick Kwan serves as associate dean and professor at the School of Nursing, Tung Wah College, Hong Kong. He is also the associate director of the Digital Mental Health Transformation Centre, the leader of the research theme group of Health Professional Education, a visiting professor at Zunyi Medical University in Guizhou, and an adjunct professor at Huizhou Health Science and Technology College. His research focuses on geriatric nursing, particularly the application of e-health technologies to improve the health and healthy behaviors of older people with cognitive impairment.

Contact Stefanos Tyrovolas (styrovol@gmu.edu) with questions.

October 23, 2024 | 11:00 am - 2:00 pm | Merten Hall 1203

Creative Services Photography will be holding a FREE OPEN CALL photo session for new faculty, staff, and administrators. We ask that priority be given to new hires and those who have not had a photo taken in the last 4 years.

This photo session is your opportunity to obtain a professional George Mason head shot for use on Mason-affiliated websites and publications.

Please RSVP. You will need to sign up for a slot to be photographed!
This ensures that everybody who wants a portrait taken can get one.

Please try and adhere to the time slot that you signed up for.
Wear solid colors and have your hair and makeup ready!

Sittings should take no longer than 15 minutes.

October 17, 2024 | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm | Johnson Center, Room 241

November 20, 2024 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Zoom
November 21, 2024 | 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm | Johnson Center, Room 241

Have you ever considered going to Transylvania? GCH professors, Iulia Fratila and Michael Bloom, have created a study abroad program to Transylvania, Romania for Summer 2025. This is the first time GMU is offering a study abroad program to Romania! The program is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.

There are three remaining info sessions about this program.
Use the Zoom link for the online events.

You can also reach out to Dr. Fratila (ifratila@gmu.edu) with any additional questions. 

November 4, 2024 | 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm | Multipurpose Room & Zoom

Elevate Your Communication Skills as a Top Researcher, Effective Teacher, and Leader: A CPH Faculty Development Workshop Featuring Prep Rally

The College of Public Health Faculty Development Committee are inviting top experts to help you transform how you communicate, whether you're preparing for an important presentation or building stronger relationships with your students and clients.

This immersive learning session will sharpen your ability to connect, engage, and lead with confidence. Lunch will be served. 

This event is open to full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, post docs, graduate assistants, and CPH staff.

RSVP by November 1.

OSA and HAP are unbelievably close, but in that order. Naren Durbha once more had the most steps for an individual.

Participants may walk anywhere, anytime, within the weekly time frames, counting their steps, and then report their CPH unit affiliation along with the steps they’ve walked.

At the end of the semester, the unit with the most steps (proportionally) will be awarded a prize and take the trophy! Report your steps by noon on the Monday after each Monday-through-Sunday challenge week.

Report October 7 - October 13 steps by 12:00 pm TODAY, October 14.
Bookmark this link to report your steps and get stepping!

Every Tuesday | 12:00 pm | Peterson 2800  

Join us for CPH yoga on Tuesdays! You are welcome to stay for as much or as little of the class as you are able and we hope to see many of you there! If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Tompkins.

Every Thursday | 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm | Peterson Lobby  

Walk with your CPH colleagues! Get updates or schedule an impromptu walk through our walking group on MS Teams.

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

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