Faculty/Staff Newsletter

At this year’s Virginia Nurses Foundation Leadership Excellence Awards Ceremony Rebecca Sutter and Erin Maughan won Leadership Excellence awards in the categories of Nurse Manager/Director and Public Health Nurse, respectively. Bethany Cieslowski was named a finalist for the Leadership Excellence Award in the Nurse Educator category. 

Research by Alicia Hong, Larry Cheskin, Hong Xue, and MS Health Informatics graduate Jo-Vivian Yu found that the eating environments of college students affect their food intake.

Leah Moore, a first-generation college student, found her calling in public health after enrolling at George Mason University, where she’s now studying community health and nutrition.

Several faculty successfully received continuation funding, including Anna Pollack (GCH) and Jenna Krall (GCH) for their NIH-funded "Endometriosis Diagnosis and Subtypes, Reproductive History, and Cardiovascular Disease," Michael Bloom (GCH)  for his NIH-funded project "A South Carolina ECHO Pregnancy COHORT," and Rebecca Sutter for her Northern Virginia Family Services/DHHS-funded project "Survivors of Torture" and her HRSA-funded project, "Opioid Impacted Family Support Training."

Once again, CPH is seeking applications for its pilot research program, underscoring our commitment to pioneering investigations and impactful scholarly pursuits. We encourage you to submit your applications. The deadline for submission is January 21, 2026. Awards will be made by March 10, 2026, and extend for 12 months. The CPH pilot awards will support the direct costs of research, such as laboratory experiments, field studies, data collection, or data acquisition. Investigators may request up to $30,000; in all, approximately 8 awards are anticipated. Details on the application and review process are available here. Many thanks to the CPH Faculty Research Committee for helping to design the pilot program and guidelines. 

Our Aims page writing group has been busy! If you are planning a proposal submission, give yourself plenty of time for peer feedback. Join our Aims page group by emailing Alison Cuellar (aevanscu@gmu.edu). 

Faculty APRs are due to your department chair or divisional dean on Monday, February 16, 2026. Because we are transitioning from a fall APR to a calendar year APR, reviews will span the following time period: August 1, 2024 – December 31, 2025. Following this academic year, the timeframe will be from January 1 – December 31. Please contact Cathy Tompkins, ctompkin@gmu.edu, with any questions. 

Learn more about the faculty annual review process and procedures here.

The Stearns Center invites teams from all departments, programs, colleges, and schools at George Mason University, including full-time and part-time faculty, to submit a proposal for our Curriculum and Teaching Leadership Funds (CTL Funds): Extended Projects. 

Course ReDesign Academy
January 8-9, 2026
This online workshop supports your final adjustments for a spring course or your advance planning for summer or fall. Accepted participants receive a stipend to support significant course development. Find more information on the CRA webpage. Application due December 12.

The default letter grade scheme in Canvas may not match your syllabus’ grade scheme. Before submitting final grades, double check your Canvas Grade Scheme to ensure students receive the correct grade. When ready, you can submit final grades from Canvas to Patriotweb.

The Course Evaluations link in Canvas must be manually enabled in each of your sections. To enable Course Evaluations:

December 16 | 4 - 6 pm | The HUB, Corner Pocket | RSVP

Come celebrate the end of the semester and the holiday season in your tackiest holiday sweater with fellow CPH faculty and staff at The HUB Corner Pocket Game Room. We'll have private access to billiards, table tennis, arcade games, VR games, video games, board games and more!  Food, beer and wine will be provided! RSVP now.

December 10 | 10:30 - 12 pm | Zoom

Join the CPH Faculty Council for final Faculty Meeting of the semester. The Zoom link is in the calendar invitation that was sent to all faculty.

December 17 | 4 pm | EagleBank Area

Hopefully, this event is already on your calendar! Celebrate our winter graduates at the CPH Winter Graduation Degree Celebration with CEC.

Volunteers are still needed! Volunteers will be asked to arrive about 1 hour before the event. If you are able to help, fill out this form and OSA will be in touch.

University Career Services has career fairs, interview days, and job application support days after winter break. Please share these dates with your students. Learn more at careers.gmu.edu/events.

PART OF THE MSW PROGRAM’S HUMAN RIGHTS SPEAKER SERIES

December 1 | Various events, see below | Peterson Hall

The AIDS crisis is not over. According to the World Health Organization, more than one million people acquired HIV in 2024 alone. By sharing the story of HIV, we make strides toward ensuring that future communities will not be harmed by fear, silence, discrimination, or stigma.

Join the Master of Social Work program to honor World AIDS Day. Learn more.

10:15 am - Opening Ceremony
Welcome with Melissa Perry. Unveiling of National AIDS Memorial Quilt. 

12 pm - Resource Fair

4:15 pm - Learn Share and Discuss
Welcome by Emily Ihara

5:30 pm - Candlelight Vigil 

Lead Organizers: Evelyn Tomaszewski, Li-Mei Chen, Arielle Gradney (MSW student), Jaden Ganjriz (MSW student)

December 2 | 11 am - 12 pm | Peterson 2000 | Lunch to follow | RSVP 

Health psychologist Dr. David Huebner from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health will share a high-level framework and practical strategies to improve LGBTQ health in our communities. See this flyer for more information, or view the event on Mason360.

December 11 | 9:30 am–3:45 pm | Mason Square | Register

Join the Department of Health Administration and Policy for a one-day symposium featuring experts from George Mason University, the German Embassy, the University of Bremen, and more.

Learn about innovative solutions to strengthen the long-term care workforce through policy, training, technology, and global collaboration.

Now through December 15

Support students facing food insecurity this holiday season by donating non-perishable food and hygiene items to marked drop-off boxes in all CPH department suites or by contributing online. Someone from the HAP department will stop by every Friday to pick up items.

MOST NEEDED ITEMS
Food: Pasta, rice, canned tuna/chicken, soups, mac & cheese, vegetables, snacks, peanut butter, cereal, instant oatmeal, vegetarian/vegan options. 
Hygiene: Body wash, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion, toothpaste, period products, razors, laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper.

The Fall 2025 CPH Steps Challenge walking is now concluded. Be sure to report your final, Thanksgiving week’s walking (Nov 24-30) today, before midnight. Look for overall semester winners to be announced in the December 8 newsletter. Report your preceding week’s steps here.

In the week of Nov 17-23, HAP retained the lead with Nutrition & Food Studies still close behind. T Rebmann was top individual stepper again that week.

February 9, 2026 | Rebecca Winthrop, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Center for Universal Education, The Brookings Institution and lead of the Brookings Global Task Force on AI in Education

 March 16, 2026 | Claudio Battiloro, Harvard University Biostatistics

PUBLICHEALTH.GMU.EDU

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

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