GUEST ESSAY

MASON TODAY AND TOMORROW: INNOVATIVE, RELEVANT AND SUCCESSFUL MARK

R. GINSBERG, Ph.D.

Provost and Executive Vice President

As George Mason University celebrates its 50th Anniversary, now is an opportune time to reflect and consider our history while simultaneously looking toward the future. As the saying goes, “Looking in the mirror is important, yet looking into the windshield is even more critical.”

The history of George Mason University — from the days of being a branch of the University of Virginia to our founding as a four-year institution of higher education to our becoming a highly ranked and well-respected comprehensive research university — is a journey of great pride. Evolving from modest roots primarily as a commuter campus to become the largest comprehensive public research university in Virginia is quite remarkable. Even more remarkable is the progress we have made with respect to the rankings of our academic programs, the academic performance and graduation rates of our students as well as their career success, the research and scholarship portfolio of our faculty, and the recognition of Mason as a Carnegie Tier 1 research university. One of the most remarkable achievements, of which I remain very proud, is the continued emphasis on engagement with and relevance to our community — the Northern Virginia and National Capital regions.

As exciting as it has been to watch Maxon grow and evolve, it follows most other organizations — especially institutions of higher education — across the globe that are currently experiencing a period of rapid change often characterized as a “time of inflection.” As we consider the implications of change, it also is important to consider the “catalysts for change” and an associated vision for the next era.

Challenges And Opportunities

The last few years have been quite challenging. The COVID crisis, the awakening of our nation with respect to social issues and associated concerns, economic uncertainties, an increase in violent crime locally and nationally, and the tragic conflicts that have erupted in many parts of the world — particularly in Ukraine — are but a subset of the challenges we have faced. For Mason, my view has been that challenges need to be addressed while concurrently identifying the opportunities that can flow from them.

Author H. Jackson Brown, Jr. once wrote “When you can’t change the direction of the wind — adjust your sails.” Indeed, as we have demonstrably experienced, the winds have shifted — headwinds, tailwinds and also crosswinds. Of the many challenges we have faced over the last few years, among the most consequential has been the “COVID crisis” and its many implications.

The Covid Crisis

March 2020 was to be a time of the year when the cold of winter would yield to the warmth of spring. Flowers would begin to bloom as the leaves on the trees could be seen again, as spring is always the season that portends a new beginning. Indeed, spring 2020 was a new beginning — the beginning of a time to be like none other. COVID changed most everything about our lives, and many things about our university.

Over the span of two weeks, nearly 10,000 Mason classes became virtual, student housing closed, faculty and staff deserted campus and we were forced to discover a “new normal.” Fear abounded as the disease raged and so many people around the world became ill and faced grave personal risk. COVID was also a spawn of new things — new ways of doing almost everything. Although the initial effect of COVID was disruption to our daily lives, as the virus quickened its pace and savagery, virtually everything about our existence transformed. The virus also, rather paradoxically, inspired us to view this as a period of “inventiveness” that created new approaches to most every aspect of life.

We learned how to connect via Zoom — which was to become ubiquitous — while grocery shopping was done via Instacart, food was delivered via Uber Eats, and within a matter of weeks, almost all our relationships shifted to a virtual modality. In short, and by necessity, we invented new approaches to our daily lives. This was not easy and not without great stress and strain. In fact, the emotional and mental health implications of the pandemic have been enormous, with many experiencing significant behavioral health consequences (Kaslow et al., 2020; Han et al., 2021; Sloan et al., 2021).

However, the disruptiveness of COVID and the inventions that unfolded as a result would become transcended by the opportunities for accelerated change. Nearly overnight we were forced to adjust and adapt — to do almost everything differently. Fortunately, we soon learned that this was an “unintended opportunity” brought by the crisis of COVID.

Organizational theorists long have studied the changes that occur in organizations. For example, the concept of VUCA was initially developed in 1985 by renowned organizational theorists Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (Bennis & Nanus, 1985) to describe or to reflect on the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations. These four words defined, in important ways, the experience of the COVID crisis. More recently, Bill George updated the concept of VUCA by identifying VUCA 2.0 (George, 2017). His re-conceptualization is as follows:

At Mason, both models reflect our reality. My view is that as the COVID crisis evolved, Mason has needed to review, reflect and refresh much of what we do and how we do it. We also determined that we needed to reinvent some of our most fundamental processes while we reset expectations so needs would be met and expectations exceeded. For many months after the inception of the pandemic, we were in the midst of VUCA. Over time we moved to a period of VUCA 2.0 which is where I believe we remain.

For example, our faculty and students successfully made a transition, or what had been termed by many in higher education a “pivot” in teaching and learning through virtual modalities of instruction. This was not easy and not without transition challenges. However, we learned how effectively this could be done. As a result, our class catalog today is offered in multiple instructional formats. At the undergraduate level, about one-quarter of our classes are delivered in virtual format — and these often are among the very first sections to fill. We have learned that our students seek classes in multiple instructional formats, not one format alone. Consequently, it has altered our academic planning — in fact, it has accelerated a phenomenon that we previously envisioned would slowly accrue. This also has been the experience of many colleges and universities across the country, not just Mason. Concurrently, we accelerated the provisions of other student services in multiple formats including student advising, success coaching, telehealth appointments and other services focused on the needs of our students. We have reconsidered all of our student services, and many student activities in ways that have transformed — in tangible and positive ways — the student experience at Mason.

Life has indeed changed — especially at our university. COVID forced us to invent and reinvent. Most recently, we leveraged and built on the successes of our new experiences, which leads me to the underlying theme of my work as Provost.

The Role Of The Provost

Historically, the “provost” was the “jailer” in a community and the person who had responsibility for the prison. This definition took my breath away when I first learned of it. I never viewed myself as, nor is my personal identity, associated with such a role. However, it is true that some may even believe that a university provost still serves that purpose in their institution!

Although Provosts need to set limits and define boundaries, the role of the Provost traditionally is regarded to be as the Chief Academic Officer of their university (Clayton, 2019). At Mason, that is my role. I oversee the entire educational enterprise including academic and research programs, the libraries, university life and student services and most everything that relates directly to the Mason student experience.

Although academic excellence and educational attainment is the essence of my portfolio, another role that I choose is to serve as the university’s Chief Success Officer. I believe my role is to ensure that students are successful as they navigate and progress through their academic programs and that our faculty and staff have the tools and resources to succeed as educators, researchers and scholars. It has been my experience that a focus on the success of others is consistent with the notion of a “servant leadership.” I subscribe to the notion that the most effective leaders are those who serve others while promoting their success and associated substantive achievements.

Since I became Provost in April 2020, our university has continued to evolve and grow. In July 2020, we welcomed Gregory Washington as our eighth President. Concurrent within his arrival at Mason, we continued strengthening our many university initiatives, including growing our capacity to help students experiencing personal challenges and providing increased financial aid in support of our students. We have also reviewed and enhanced our academic programs, including a recent enhancement of the Mason Core program, and have begun many other new programs designed to prepare our students for career and life success. In addition, we also opened new facilities, renovated others and began a master planning process to help us envision our campus in the future.

Throughout all of this, COVID provided a platform that elevated the work we undertake. While I am proud that we had among the lowest COVID infection rates of large universities in the nation, I am even more proud that our students continued their path to a degree with enviable academic achievement. And our faculty and staff, despite incredible challenges, also continued their trajectory of steady success.

We have been careful, we have been intentional, we have been strategic, and we have been unrelenting in the pursuit of excellence. This focus will continue and I hope that our students’ experience reflects that intent.

I am proud to be part of Mason Nation and to have served our university in a senior leadership position since 2010, first as the Dean of our College of Education and Human Development for a decade and now as Provost and Executive Vice President. More than ever before, we must continue on our path toward “greater greatness.”

Mason is vibrant, energized and poised to continue its path forward. If you have not yet viewed our latest video that captures the spirit of our university, I invite you to view it at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24zkOmV5mp0 (George Mason University, 2022).

As the video declares, Mason is “All Together Different.” u LEARN MORE about Provost Ginsberg: provost.gmu.edu/about/about-provost

I look forward to the new academic year, to continued success and achievement, and to our students having an inspiring Mason experience. As President Washington often says, “It is Mason’s Time” and I agree. Mason’s history is one of resilience. As we look to the future, I have no doubt we will be an example of innovation, relevance and success to institutions of higher education and beyond.