Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Bloom teaches graduate-level epidemiology and mentors graduate students, while conducting research on the health effects and sources of exposure to environmental pollutants, with a focus on human reproduction and fetal development. His work is driven by a commitment to addressing health disparities and supporting vulnerable populations.

Michelle Hand explores the experiences of survivors over 50, calling attention to an overlooked public health problem.

New articles! Congratulations to our faculty on their 129 newly published articles since July 2025. Have a look.

Spencer Foundation, Large Research Grants on Education. Due February 24. Supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived, with budgets ranging from $125,000 to $500,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. Learn more.

Foundation for Women’s Wellness. Research grant program. Deadline April 3. Learn more.

EPA’s Environmental Education Grant Program. Applications are due March 3. Learn more.

NIH is now accepting applications for the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Early Career Workshop. This opportunity provides scientists with training on how to transform their research ideas into competitive NIH grant applications. This workshop provides opportunities to:

-Gain insights from NIH program officers and scientific review officers on writing strong National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposals and navigating the peer review process.

-Network with NIH program staff and fellow early career researchers, exchange ideas, and connect with potential collaborators.

Application Submission Deadline is February 13. Learn more here.

See this article for the NIAID’s updated vision.

February 4 | 12 - 1:30 pm | Multipurpose Room

The Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and Research Development Services are hosting this brown bag session on funding sources for well-being research and scholarship. Learn more, connect and network with like-minded researchers across the university. Bring your lunch, your questions, and your curiosity. Dessert and drinks will be provided.

RSVP to Ali Weinstein (aweinst2@gmu.edu).

February 4 | 1:30 - 3 pm | Zoom | Register Here

External funding is often essential for faculty research, scholarship, and creative activity. Private foundations have always served as important sources of support, especially for topic areas outside federal funding agency priorities. Writing a foundation grant application often involves more than a straightforward project description; these applications must also be strategically targeted and tailored to foundation priorities. In this session successful George Mason foundation grant awardees, along with our George Mason Director of Foundation Relations, will share their experiences and tips for submitting foundation applications. Attendees will also learn about university rules of engagement with foundations and gain insight on best practices for foundation grant writing. Join Faculty Affairs and Development, along with the Office of Research for this workshop and others in the series.

Please join us for monthly opportunities to network and discuss faculty and student matters—whatever may be on your mind. The spring 2026 CPH drop-ins will be held on the following days/times:

Monday, February 2 | 3 – 4 pm (note date change)
Tuesday, March 3 | 9 – 10 am
Friday, April 3 |  9 – 10 am
Monday, May 4 | 3 – 4 pm

Calendar invites, including the Zoom link should already be on faculty calendars. If not, please contact Cathy Tompkins, ctompkin@gmu.edu.

February 13 and April 10 | 12:00 - 12:30 pm | Zoom

CPH Lightning Talks are a great way to learn about your colleagues’ work and to determine commonalities and possible collaborations. Each presenter has 5 minutes to discuss their work and then there is time for questions at the end.

Calendar invites have been sent to faculty. Contact Cathy Tompkins, ctompkin@gmu.edu with questions.

If you are a tenure-track faculty member or any faculty member seeking promotion within the next couple of years, please work to have peer observations done of your classroom teaching and of your online course teaching. It is great to have a few peer teaching observations completed as part of your third-year renewal, tenure packet and term promotion casebook. Each academic unit may have its own peer teaching observation form. If you have any questions or need an example of a peer teaching observation form (for on-ground as well as online courses), please contact Cathy Tompkins, ctompkin@gmu.edu.

We will be leading two faculty mentoring sessions this spring semester focused on practical strategies, tips, and best practices for mentoring students, post‑doctoral fellows, and junior faculty. These sessions are for tenured faculty and are designed to help make mentoring both more efficient and more effective and are part of CPH’s broader efforts to build a strong and supportive mentorship community. Calendar invites have been sent. If you are a tenured faculty member and did not receive a calendar invite, please email Cathy Tompkins, ctompkin@gmu.edu. 

Plans are underway for term faculty mentoring sessions starting this spring.  Please stay tuned for details.

The George Mason Library staff wants to better understand the informational needs of undergraduate and graduate students within the College of Public Health to establish priorities as they work to create more asynchronous learning objects and set more sustainable options to support these students. It plans to shift to offering more virtual opportunities to meet the demands of our students who are often working professionals with challenging schedules.

To support this effort, please take this CPH Students' Information Needs by February 27. Full-time and adjunct faculty are encouraged to complete the survey.

The data gathered in the survey above is an attempt to learn from your enriched perspectives. There may be questions you are less inclined to answer, please know that Libraries is completely suspending judgment and hope to better understand the needs of the students we all serve. Thank you for your support and advocacy. 

In the future, Libraries hopes to reach out to faculty to gather insights into their research needs. 

February 5 | 1 - 2 pm | Zoom | AIEM-Teach Level 2 | Register Here 

Explore faculty mental health strategies for improving the environment and addressing barriers to concerns. Contact Rachel Yoho with questions.

 January 29 | 6:30 - 7:30 pm | Virtual, link in calendar invite

All CPH Faculty are invited to join this presentation by Laina Lockett from the Stearns Center. All instructional faculty (tenure-line and term faculty) should have received a calendar invite with a Zoom link. If you did not receive a calendar invite/zoom link and you are interested in attending (you don’t need to be instructional faculty), please let Cathy Tompkins know.

February 4, 2026 | 12 – 1 pm | Zoom

Join the Faculty Development Committee in a discussion about AI’s impact on teaching and learning. CPH faculty and students will share their experiences with AI-powered intelligent tutors built by CPH faculty, AI-assistance in grading, and other methods of using AI to enhance workflows.

First workshop February 13 |  Register

The Stearns Center is offering a new "Teaching with AI" workshop series to help instructors navigate the choices around the use of AI in their courses. Faculty who complete the full series earn the Level One Certificate in Teaching with AI. 

Help the college celebrate the incredible impact of CPH alumni. The Office of Development seeking nominations for the College of Public Health Distinguished Alumni Award, a graduate who exemplifies leadership, service, and dedication to advancing public health.

Submit your nomination here. Deadline: February 20, 2026 

Your input helps us recognize our alumni making a difference in their communities and beyond. Thank you for helping us shine a spotlight on alumni excellence!

Last year, we proudly honored Bridget Nesko BSN ’06 for her leadership and remarkable contributions. Who will inspire us this year? Read more about the 2025 Awardees.

Have additional questions? Please reach out to our Development Team at cphdev@gmu.edu

February 2 | 3:30–4:45 pm | Van Metre Hall, Room 113, Mason Square | RSVP Here

The Department of Health Administration and Policy is hosting the next D.C. Health Economics Seminar featuring Sarah Miller, associate professor at the University of Michigan. Miller will discuss new research on whether guaranteed income affects health outcomes, including short-term improvements in stress and food security. Light refreshments will be provided, and registration is encouraged.

The CPH Steps Challenge is back again—starting today!—for a new semester of healthful, departmental competition. All CPH employees can join in—this includes adjuncts, GRAs, and wage staff. Participants may walk anywhere, anytime, within each weekly time frame, counting their steps, and then report the steps they’ve walked by midnight the immediately following Monday. 

At the end of the semester, the unit with the most steps (proportionally) will be awarded a prize and take the trophy! Each week, the individual with the highest weekly number of steps will be acknowledged in the CPH newsletter along with a report of unit standings.  
 
Report your steps no later than 11:29 pm on the Monday after each Monday-through-Sunday challenge week. The first week of walking is January 26 - February 1. Report steps on February 2. Report your preceding week’s steps here.

Don’t forget to recognize your colleagues for their January accomplishments on your unit’s Wall of Wow, no later than 4 pm on January 29. The winner will be announced in the February 9 newsletter.

January 29 | 6 - 7:30 pm | Virtual | Link in Calendar Invite

All CPH adjunct faculty should have received a calendar invite with a Zoom link. At 6:30 pm, we will have a presentation by Laina Lockett from the Stearns Center titled "AI Teaching Strategies" for CPH Faculty (the presentation is open to all CPH faculty). 

February 9 | 11:30 am -12:30 pm followed by lunch | Multipurpose Room | RSVP here

Join the Dean for "A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, and Protect," with Rebecca Winthrop, a leading global authority on education, the director of the Center for Universal Education at Brookings and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Winthrop is dedicated to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to thrive in life, work, and as an engaged citizen. She leads cutting-edge research and initiatives aimed at transforming education systems around the world to better support children's learning and development.

PUBLICHEALTH.GMU.EDU

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