February 1, 2016

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FOURTH ESTATE February 01, 2016 | Volume 3 Issue 12 George Mason University’s official student news outlet gmufourthestate.com | @IVEstate

MASON PROFESSORS SAY

“PUT ME IN COACH” PAGE 15

(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

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Fourth Estate

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Hello everyone and welcome back from Fourth Estate, even though you’ve all already been back for two weeks. I hope you’re not stressed enough already to throw yourself in one of the 13-foot snow banks on campus (and if you are you should probably do it soon because we’re supposed to get some nice weather this week).

Before I dive into my wants and wishes for the semester, I’d like to take a minute to say hello, or for two of them welcome back, to three new editors on our staff.

Darian Banks has returned to our staff after a year-long hiatus to be my right hand, my go to as our managing editor. She’s bringing some of her skills from the dark side, aka public relations, to work on Fourth Estate’s marketing and recruiting, as well as with our editors to facilitate multimedia content with our partners at Student Media.

Ben Cowlishaw has bravely become our one man on staff as assistant sports editor. He’s got fantastic writing skills that you can already see on our website and I’m excited to see how his reporting and insight can help grow our sports section to its full potential this semester.

And last but nowhere near least, our beloved Amy Rose has returned as Photo Editor. Whether she’s scaling the roof of Robinson to take pictures of the not-yet-complete Fenwick Library or dodging stray basketballs and players on the sidelines of a game, Amy has been one of the best photographers and teammates Fourth Estate has ever seen.

When I started as Editor-in-Chief last semester with my Co-Editor, Sara Moniuszko, who I hope is eating both of our weights in croissants right now while she’s studying in France, we had a lot of lofty goals for ourselves for one semester. A few of them we hit, like collaborating more with MCN and WGMU to create more exciting content and finding a better balance between writing stories that we think you need to know and ones that you want. A few of them, not so much.

This semester, I’d really like us to have more of a dialogue with our readers. This is your newspaper, I just work here…seriously. I want to encourage all of you to talk with us and send your thoughts about our stories and coverage so we can make this the best newspaper possible for our community. We’ll be rolling out a few easier ways you can do that this semester but please email us, tweet at us, run into my office and yell at me (I respond great to that). We really want to know how we’re doing.

One other area that needs work is our opinion section. In my time as an editor with Fourth Estate, opinion has only ever existed when we’ve needed it to and I’d like to reinstate it as a regular part of our weekly edition. We’re supposed to be a place to facilitate conversation and personal expression and I’d like to refocus that by encouraging all Mason students, and my staff, to start submitting pieces on a weekly basis. But remember, this section is for you by you. It’s only as good as you want to make it.

Those are my two biggest goals, both of which I think are pretty attainable in the semester I have here. They involve contributions from our side and your side but I think this is what a newspaper is supposed to be.

Putting all that aside for a minute, I have a feeling this is going to be a good semester. Mason will be a fun place to be in the spring between some potential presidential campaign visitors, sports season

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Alexa Rogers Editor-In-Chief

Darian Banks Managing Editor

Ellen Glickman News Editor

Natalia Kolenko Assistant News Editor

Savannah Norton Lifestyle Editor

Tatyana White-Jenkins Assistant Lifestyle Editor

Courtney Hoffman Sports Editor

Ben Cowlishaw Assistant Sports Editor

Amy Rose Photography Editor

Katie Morgan Design Editor

Megan Zendek Visual Editor

Barbara Brophy Copy Chief

Ryan Adams Distribution Manager

Kathryn Mangus Director

ON THE COVER

David Carroll Associate Director

Patriots came close but ultimately couldn’t take down the GW Colonials on Sunday, ending the exciting game at 76-70.

Full story on page 15.

starting to heat up and everyone obsessing over those sound deflecting couch spots in Fenwick. It sure makes our jobs here easy.

As per my policy last semester, I won’t be here every week to talk to you about the stories that are in each edition. The only people unfortunate enough to have to listen to me talk that much are my mom and my friends. But I’ll be sure to drop in from time to time when I have something to add to one of our conversations in the issue or on campus.

If you have any questions or comments about our content or are interested in joining Fourth Estate yourself, feel free to email me at gmufourthestate.com. I’d love to hear your feedback. I hope you’ll follow us this semester online at gmufourthestate.com or continue to pick up a copy at your favorite stand on campus. Mine is the one by the JC’s lifeblood, aka Panera.

Alexa Rogers, Editor-in-Chief

Fourth Estate is printed each Monday for George Mason University and its surrounding Fairfax community. The editors of Fourth Estate have exclusive authority over the content that is published.

There are no outside parties that play a role in the newspaper’s content, and should there be a question or complaint regarding this policy, the Editor-in-Chief should be notified at the email provided.

Fourth Estate is a free publication, limit one copy per person. Additional copies are 25 cents payable to the Office of Student Media.

Mail Fourth Estate George Mason University Mail stop 2C5 4400 University Drive Fairfax, Va. 22030 Phone 703-993-2950

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New Fenwick provides expanded research services

Renovated library includes features for experienced student researchers ELLEN GLICKMAN | NEWS EDITOR

The addition to Fenwick library, which opened on Jan. 19, contains a lot of shining and brand new materials — including a laptop dispenser, modern furniture and windows upon windows.

However, the addition is not just a new building filled with fun and new things. As a result of the extra space, Fenwick and Gateway libraries will grow more specialized in the services they offer to students.

Primarily, Fenwick will target experienced researchers while Gateway, located on the first floor of the Johnson Center, will focus on the inexperienced, according to John Zenelis, dean of libraries.

He said graduate students and upperclassmen who have chosen majors typically fall into the first category and other undergraduates and new students usually fall into the latter.

Zenelis said Fenwick is designed for those who can conduct independent research and study and “be able to make a more sophisticated use of the higher end technology that exists in this library.”

He said it makes sense to differentiate in order to best equip the libraries to serve the varying needs of students.

For example, librarians at Gateway, “specialize in teaching and learning, whereas the library faculty we have in Fenwick library… specialize in subject areas, in the disciplines,” Zenelis said. “…

They’re able to work with students in a different way, on a different level, and all of this is dictated by the needs of the students.”

filled with 55 individual study carrels, according to Jennifer Wilder, development and communications coordinator for University Libraries. Each carrel comes with a cubby equipped with a lock where students can store research materials. Wilder said a student can reserve a carrel for an entire semester and they are available on a first come, first serve basis.

These carrels are only available on the fifth floor, and since they fill the entire floor, the fifth level varies significantly in looks from the other levels of the new library. While undergraduates have access to the floor, Zenelis said he does not expect many to utilize the space.

“We’re not going to be policing as such,” Zenelis said. “But, again, because it is space for graduate students, it is our expectation and hope that undergraduate students will be using other parts of the new library, as well as the existing library, rather than the fifth floor of the new library.”

(JOHANNAH TUBALADO/FOURTH ESTATE)

Other features in the new library that are tailored to fit more experienced student researchers can be found on the second floor.

This floor includes a research commons and what Wilder termed “research row,” a string of offices for all of the subject-specific librarians.

These librarians will focus on helping upper level students who need “expert assistance in areas of not how to do basic library research, but how to do research in various subject areas within their majors,” Zenelis said.

At the other end of the spectrum, inexperienced researchers can find the help they need at Gateway Library. According to Zenelis, introducing new Mason students to the university libraries has always been Gateway’s focus. In fact, that is the meaning behind the library’s name — it is meant to function as gateway into realm of university libraries.

Patricia West, head of teaching and learning services for Gateway Library, said that over the years, Gateway has lost some its focus on the students it was originally designed to help. She said that as Fenwick became more and more crowded, some of its people and materials moved to Gateway, which made it difficult for Gateway to focus specifically on students unfamiliar with research.

“One of the cool things about the new Fenwick opening is allowing Gateway to focus more on that mission,” West said. “Because one of the things that started to happen over time as Fenwick became very cramped for space, is they would do things like put collections that really The Fenwick addition is filled with compact, movable shelving in order belonged in Fenwick, [like] their research-focused collecto hold its entire 1.5 million volume collection. tions of books, to be moved over here because of lack of space… Our mission as the undergraduate gateway The new Fenwick space, which was funded by $60 million from library was more or less diluted by space constraints, et cetera.” the state of Virginia, reflects this push to differentiate between the two libraries on the Fairfax campus. For example, the fifth floor Since the renovated Fenwick totals 300,000 square feet and has a of the library was designed specifically for graduate students. It is seating capacity of over 2,000, West hopes that Gateway can get

Study carrels on the fifth floor of Fenwick were designed to be places where graduate students can conveniently store research materials. back to its original purpose.

“Now that we have this new, shiny space…one of the neat things about this is it does kind of allow us to get back to our core mission,” West said. “I’m encouraged by that.”

Zenelis said there are plans to renovate Gateway Library but is unsure when construction will begin because the project is waiting on funding. He said the plans include consolidating the library onto its second and third floors and transforming the whole space into “more of a learning commons,” similar to the current first floor of the library.

West said these common spaces are a good fit for Gateway because they are a departure from traditionally quiet library spaces.

“A lot of times students in the Gateway library will complain to me about the noise, and it’s like, this is never going to be a quiet space,” West said. “It was designed as a collaborative space, and so I have to tell people, if you’re looking for quiet, this is not the place.”

She said it makes sense to distinguish between the libraries because, in terms of research, Fenwick and Gateway are trying to assist two distinct groups.

“The populations are so different,” West said. “...The focus on higher level research, graduate research, faculty support and so on is quite different than teaching someone how a university library works. [Those are] very different goals.”

Check out gmufourthestate.com to see more photos of the new Fenwick library.

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Mason saves $1 million with Atrium cloud-based card system “We can move over to those locations without you, the customer, knowing we had to switch where the data is located,” Kraner said.

However, Daniel Anthes, senior manager of information technology at Mason, said a cloud-based system does not eliminate the need for servers, but rather moves them off campus.

“There are still physical servers, but George Mason doesn’t host them, our vendor hosts them for us. They host a whole bunch of them, not just our school but a whole bunch of other schools as well. They’re sort of in charge of maintaining our servers and monitoring them and making sure they’re working well,” Anthes said in an email.

One of the biggest advantages of the new system is an increase in uptime.

NINA MOTAZEDI | STAFF WRITER

A recent post audit shows that Mason will save approximately $1 million in the first five years of using it’s recently adopted cloudbased card technology.

Mason is in its third year using Atrium’s cloud-based card system, according to Mark Kraner, executive director of retail operations for Mason. The system manages the Mason card system, which includes meal plans, Mason Money, photo IDs and other applications run out of the Mason Card Office.

Mason switched card systems a few years ago after its contract with Blackboard ended, Kraner explained.

“Our contract was up, and so we went out on what we call a request for proposals from companies to provide services. … [T] wo companies bid, and Atrium had the leading bid to provide the services for the University,” Kraner said in an email.

According to Kraner, during this process, one of Mason’s priorities was adopting a cloud-based system for pragmatic and financial reasons.

“We could have a [secondary] recovery program put in place which is one of the nice parts about being on the cloud. … It’s backed up not only at the primary location, but we have two locations behind it,” Kraner said.

Kraner said that currently Mason’s data is stored in servers in North Carolina. If these were to fail, data would be saved in back-up servers in Oklahoma and Washington.

Using a cloud-based card system “took away the dependency on the data center,” Anthes said. “We (CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE) really reduced our downtime. We were averaging probably 72 hours of down time a year, and now we average about 2 or 3 hours of downtime.”

According to Anthes, on the previous system, regular updates, general maintenance and outages were all capable of taking the system offline -- an occurrence referred to as downtime. For example, during downtime campus cards and credit cards are unable to be processed. This causes an inconvenience for the customer, while also hurting business for the university.

“Those were sales that the university lost, because we couldn’t take credit cards,” Anthes said.

According to Kraner, this cloud-based card system is also more cost efficient.

“We save on average $200,000 a year over what the contract was,” Kraner said. The university no longer needs to pay for a server farm on campus, nor does it need to pay for multiple servers to back up the programs in the case of disaster recovery, according to Kraner.

According to the Atrium Migration Savings document, the five year cost for using the previous Blackboard system was $2.09 million, while the five year cost for using Atrium’s

cloud-based card system is expected to be $1.1 million.

In addition, the document also showed that Mason saves $105,000 a year on server and administrative costs; $50,000 a year by not having to purchase propriety hardware; and $60,000 a year due to an increase in uptime, meaning that Mason would increase its sales by $60,000 just by being online. Additionally, the new system saves $30,000 on registers and $22,000 on copy card readers.

“The post audit showed that we did save the funds that we thought we would,” Kraner said.

The new cloud-based card system allows data to be moved over to a different server, for updates or general maintenance while the system is still live.

“If one of the vendors has to take the system down because there’s a bad disc or they need to perform routine upgrades, they can take it down, do the upgrades and send the data over to another system without any real loss,” Anthes said.

From the customer’s point of view, this transfer of data is unnoticeable as it may only result in a half second outage, according to Anthes.

Kraner added that the new cloud-based system also offers more redundancy, which essentially means having backup.

“Before the move to Atrium we were using a backup server at Science & Tech campus. This is part of our Disaster Recovery program. If the server at Fairfax was not functioning we would have a back up system that would allow us to go back to the night before, backup [the] file, and start from there,” Kraner said.

With the new cloud-based system, information is backed up in real time at multiple locations across the country. This ensures that there is no loss of data and, in the case of downtime, that the system is able to get back online faster.

From Anthes perspective, one of the most beneficial things about this change is the system’s capability to support new technologies, like the multiple credential cards that Mason released this summer.

“The move to Atrium and the cloud allowed us to leverage new technologies quicker,” Anthese said, “including this new card platform we’re on now.”

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Mason LIFE student revive garden outside Thompson Hall Vegetables, herbs and flowers expected this spring TIFFANY LIN | STAFF WRITER

A Mason LIFE (Learning Into Future Environments) professor is teaming up with Mason’s grounds shop to beautify the campus.

Professor Sophie Johnson is teaching students the art of horticulture by reviving a plot of land between Finley Building and Thompson Hall. Her class is able to use the plot because of an agreement between Mason LIFE and the grounds shop.

According to Suri Raut, academic coordinator for Mason LIFE, the partnership has been active for three semesters. Several years ago, a similar partnership was attempted, but it eventually petered out. However, last semester Raut and Johnson signed a memorandum of understanding with Archie Nesbitt, landscape and grounds supervisor, due to an increase of student interest for the class.

“We’re going to maintain it for, you know, as long as I’m here and beyond,” Raut said.

The memorandum of understanding contains the Mason LIFE program’s caretaking responsibilities for the plot as well as a description of the situations in which the grounds shop will step in, such as pesticide application, Raut said.

“Everything needs to be approved through Mr. Nesbitt before we can actually plant anything,” Raut said. “We’re definitely going to be working with them very, very closely.”

Johnson said Dr. Heidi Graff, director of Mason LIFE, and Molly Gordon, assistant academic coordinator for Mason LIFE, also played significant roles in establishing the partnership with the grounds shop and developing the horticulture class.

Johnson’s course is called LIFE A100 Horticulture. The class discusses the life cycle of plants, their maintenance, how to grasp their nutritional value and how to create organic soil, among other topics. Reviving the land outside Thompson Hall is Johnson’s primary method of teaching these lessons to her students.

She said there are many plans for the plot, including “rebuilding the bird houses, planting annual vegetables, trench composting and adding as much organic material to the soil as we can.”

Raut said the students enjoy going outside and working with their hands during every class.

“Everybody is getting their hands dirty and getting down on their hands and knees,” Raut said.

Johnson said her students’ horticulture experience varies. While some have spent time working on farms, others are novices in planting and growing vegetables and other plants.

Beyond teaching students about gardening, Johnson also wants the class to allow students with disabilities to expand their horizons and assist them in finding jobs. Students can show off their class blog called “gmulife,” which documents their activities and showcases what they have learned. Johnson said landscape services and design is an opportune career field for students with disabilities. “[They can] put their foot in the door, and so something I’m hoping for is -- with this blog developing -- it actually gives them a visual résumé for things that they have done,” Johnson said.

One post from November 2015 highlights the work of a student named Iya. Iya helped Johnson prepare the garden for spring by pulling weeds and removing dead plant material. The blog also spoke about how she taught her classmates a technique called sheet-mulching, which adjusts the soil’s nutrient composition in order to assist the growth of vegetables.

Raut said in the spring, the class will breed kale, lettuce, peas, broccoli and tomatoes. Maintaining the plot of land and designing it to attract butterflies and bees are also on the agenda.

“Hopefully the soil will be more fertile after the feeding we did to it last semester with the cardboard and leaves and hay,” Raut said.

He said the vegetables grown in the garden are not for mass production and students may take them home.

Raut said students, faculty and staff should be excited for the garden’s developments.

“The Mason community will look forward to having a nice, manicured plot of land with a bunch of butterflies and bees buzzing around,” Raut said.

Johnson and her class are even planning to reconstruct two destroyed bird houses that have become worn out over the years, a project students are enthusiastic to begin.

Meri Isham removes dead plant material from Mason LIFE’s garden in her LIFE A100 Horticulture class.

Mason LIFE students develop a strong connection to the land they work on and the plants that grow out of it. Johnson said that by working on the garden, her students are able to learn where their food comes from, develop a better relationship with food and apply these horticulture skills in their future lives. By maintaining a garden on campus, students will gain school pride and thus become “better student[s] for Mason,” she said.

For Johnson and Raut, the land stewardship that students gain

(CLAIRE CECIL/FOURTH ESTATE)

Professor Sophie Johnson works one-on-one with Meri Isham in Mason LIFE’s butterfly garden. from working on the garden is one of the most important things about the course. Johnson said that in this way, her Mason LIFE students can contribute to the wider university community.

“Maybe [after] this lesson that they learn and their work on this land ... the land stewardship [will] bleed over to the larger community,” Johnson said. “Mason LIFE students probably feel more [passionate about] land stewardship than others, but their work might make more members of the community care more about the land.”

Johnson’s horticulture background contributed to her understanding of land stewardship and gave her a sense of responsibility toward Mason’s grounds. Before becoming a Mason LIFE faculty member, Johnson graduated from Mason’s permaculture certification course in 2012. She then managed the Potomac Heights Vegetable Garden for a few years. Johnson also has three years’ experience in organic farming, including a summer spent working a ten acre vegetable garden at Idyllwood Farms in Floyd, Va. “I saw [plants] from seed, to transplant, to harvest, to market -- that whole process,” Johnson said.

This spring, Johnson’s class expects to harvest plants from the garden for the first time, including various vegetables and herbs.

Mason LIFE plans to hold a picnic-like event to celebrate the harvest and offer the Mason community a chance to try the produce.

Raut said he wants the Mason LIFE garden to unify the community by helping everyone to “just to be one” with the campus.

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Mason and Inova forge new partnership to boost research, facilities Additionally, new opportunities will be available in non-science areas as a result of the MasonInova Institute for Personalized Medicine Public Policy and Ethics, according to Wu. Regarding population health, opportunities in data analytics will also become available, and “that’s when you bring in the social sciences,” said Wu. He added that opportunities from the partnership are not limited to the biomedical field; they are much broader than that.

Sandra Simon, a biology major, thinks the partnership is great and is excited to hear about future discoveries.

“The partnership will help students to widen their opportunities, and it helps to cement Mason as a research university,” Simon said.

NINA MOTAZEDI | STAFF WRITER

On Dec. 22, 2015, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced a partnership between Inova and Mason.

The partnership included Inova contributing $2.5 million in seed funding and the state contributing $16 million, according to the Washington Post. Inova’s $2.5 million will be distributed as follows: $500,000 will go toward cancer research, $500,000 will support heart disease research, $1 million will help build an InovaMason Proteomics Center on Inova’s Personalized Health campus and $500,000 will support the construction of the Mason-Inova Institute for Personalized Medicine Public Policy and Ethics.

The seed money will help fund initial research, which will then generate results that allow Mason “to be more competitive in applying for other research grants, from places like the National Institute of Health (NIH) … so we can embark on larger, more impactful research projects,” Mason Provost David Wu said.

Specific biomedical research projects in the areas of cancer, heart disease and metabolic disease will be conducted, as will additional research in personalized medicine and health care, according to News at Mason.

According to Wu, this partnership is a natural next step as Mason and Inova have been collaborating for over a decade.

“I’ve been working with [Vice President for Research at Inova, Dr. Younossi, and CEO of Inova’s personalized medicine campus, Todd Stottlemyer] to basically structure this agreement and, of course, with many of our faculty involved in the process,” Wu said.

“Inova is strengthening and developing their research capabilities in biomedical research, and Mason has some of the important research capabilities that we can collaborate on, [and] in order for us to make important progress in this research, we need access to clinical data.”

Emanuel Petricoin, Mason professor and co-director of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), said that “both entities can gain a lot … and it’s a great opportunity for Mason to … work with world class clinicians at Inova and especially within the context of precision medicine initiatives … being integrated into clinics as much as possible.”

According to Petricoin and Wu, Mason researchers are responsible for some of most cutting-edge precision medicine trials in the world.

Petricoin explained that CAPMM has developed a distinct approach to proteomics and has invented proteomic technologies that are being used in a number of world-leading precision medicine trials. Petricoin said this partnership will advance research in proteomics, which seems to be the future of precision medicine.

“Inova has been very good at leading a genomics based analysis and now we can extend that to the next revolution which is the protein side,” said Petricoin. “The genome is the information archive but it’s the proteins that do all the work. … It’s the proteins’ that are the drug target. Drugs work by acting on and through proteins, not genes.”

The partnenship also means new opportunities for Mason students majoring in subjects like biology and health policy.

According to Wu, in the past, Inova has been an accommodating partner providing internship opportunities for students in the health sciences, including neuroscience and nursing majors. This institutional partnership will provide new opportunities, especially for students interested in research with a clinical component.

“This opens up a lot of undergraduate research opportunities, because when we have a larger volume of research collaborations going on, and a lot of these research projects will then involve the faculty, graduate students, and then provide opportunities for undergraduate students,” Wu said.

Ali Weinstein, associate professor of global and community health, interim director of the (AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE) Center for Study of Chronic Illness and Disability and the graduate programs coordinator for GCH, said, “Only good things can come from organizations collaborating together.”

Weinstein has extensive experience working with Inova, and students in the HHS 492 Clinical Research Internship class have been able to work with Inova in the past without difficulty.

“I’ve been here since 2007 and have almost immediately been collaborating with Inova. I work on chronic illness, so having a partnership with a healthcare organization is almost essential to my work,” Weinstein said.

Additionally, Weinstein has had students intern at Inova every semester and has never had any difficulty arranging it.

In addition to the internships, this official partnership will open up more opportunities to other students and faculty at Mason, according to Weinstein.

“It was easy for us to get this class going and for us to do this collaboration because we had a great collaborator at Inova, and Dr. Gerber has a natural link. We were on the lucky side, and perhaps this partnership will let other people not have to be lucky,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein added that this partnership might spark an interest in students who were unaware that interning at Inova was a possibility.

This partnership could have the potential to lead to the construction of a medical school operated by Inova and Mason, according to Wu. “It’s always a possibility down the road,” Wu said. “It is a favorable pathway towards a medical school, and there are examples of how that was done, for example, Virginia Tech and Carilion Hospital.

That’s kind of how their partnership started, [but] at this point we are mostly focusing on the research partnership.”

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From rubble to ritz

Prospects, promises and progress within the College of Health and Human Services DONNA IMADI | STAFF WRITER

Members of the Mason community have likely noticed the large pile of dust and rubble lying next to Merten Hall. Most commuters know it as the construction site that consumed what was once Lot H.

and also create better resources and specialties, because right now the concentrations are very narrow,” Brianna Santiago, a freshman community health and health administration double major, said.

“And it’ll also give students more opportunities to find internships because there will be more faculty to contact.”

It is, in fact, the site of Academic VII/Research III -- a soonto-be glamorous addition to the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) and the product of a $71 million investment.

Construction began in June 2015 and is expected to be completed in August 2017.

In addition to the SPH, the Community Health Institute will be housed in the completed Academic VII. The institute will have its own wing in the new building, which will function as a clinic for members of the Fairfax County community, as previously reported

by Fourth Estate.

CHHS will undergo a metamorphosis in the coming years, both aesthetically, as stated in Academic VII, and internally, as the college pursues the addition of two academic departments: the School of Public Health (SPH) and the Community Health Institute (CHI).

The CHI will also encompass a “multidisciplinary learning laboratory” for training nursing, nutrition, social work and rehabilitation science students, according to the CHHS website.

Frank Whittington, associate dean of CHHS, said via email that this new building is designed to serve as the first “home” for CHHS and will finally “unite” the location of all academic departments and research centers as well as bring together faculty and staff.

The new building will include computer labs, a nutrition lab and kitchen, rehabilitation science labs and extra research space -- all of which will be equipped with new technologies.

Statements released on the CHHS website outlined future ambitions and developments in CHHS, including a focus on the significance of the addition of the SPH. The school will be Virginia’s first school of public health and will merge with CHHS to become the College of Public Health and Human Services.

The SPH will absorb the current department of global and community health, which will in turn house two new degree programs -- epidemiology and environmental health. These programs will become part of the department within the next five years.

Robert Weiler, chair of the department of global and community health, said via email the greatest challenge in developing the SPH will be “obtaining the resources needed to hire the faculty and staff to launch the School of Public Health” as well as “dedicating the time and effort required to develop all the degree programs, have them approved by the state, and then preparing all the documents to meet the rigorous accreditation requirements.”

The departments of epidemiology and environmental health will include new doctoral programs in epidemiology and behavioral sciences. These additions will also create “joint graduate degree programs that combine public health with both nursing and social work,” according to the CHHS strategic plan. The aim of these new degree programs is to create “a stronger college that is capable of contributing multidisciplinary trained health practitioners and researchers able to meet the changing healthcare workforce needs of the region.”

Mason undergraduates within CHHS anticipate the completion of the building and simultaneous growth of the college.

“I think it [the new building] would be really cool because it’ll bring more exposure and attention to the community health major

“For the first time, our faculty will not have to send all our students off campus to gain hands-on, clinical experience in an inter-professional environment,” Whittington said.

Alzahra Hamidaddin, a freshman community health major, said she is excited for the educational opportunities students will have through the institute.

health clinics) opportunities for community residents, health and social service providers, and local governments.

“This position will be charged to increase communications both ways between our programs and the broad community as a necessary process for increasing community support of CHHS,” according to the strategic plan.

Gaby Marmelajos, a freshman majoring in health administration and policy, is enthused about the new building.

“It’s good because it’s going to make it easier for students to access administrators, faculty and professors, because right now you have to go to downtown Fairfax to the nutrition offices, or to the trailers in order to personally meet with faculty,” Marmelajos said. “This will make our faculty and staff a lot more accessible considering that the departments, which are far away, will all be housed in the new building.”

In related news, Mason’s health department has recently made headlines for announcing a partnership with Inova. Whittington said Academic VII could increase the benefits of this collaboration.

“[The CHI is] an amazing opportunity for Mason students to be more hands on,” Hamidaddin said. “It also creates a balance of giving back to the community while also being able to learn from those who will come into the clinic.”

“Mason’s new formal partnership with Inova, coupled with our occupancy of the new building and the Community Health Institute, promise a major opportunity for expansion of the scope of our current activities and almost unlimited possibilities for innovation and improvement of both access and quality of health care in our region,” Whittington said.

The addition of new health-related programs and physical expansion of CHHS may cause enrollment to grow considerably, according to the Strategy Website.

Weiler also addressed the significance of the INOVA partnership.

“[T]he construction of Academic VII/Research III as the College’s (CHHS) new home will become the very cornerstone of Mason’s plan and will create a powerful integrative force for the College,” Whittington said.

Additionally, Academic VII and the CHI will spur an enhancement of Mason’s “research capacity” due to the investment in “new faculty and laboratories which include ... the Human Performance Laboratory for Rehabilitation Science, the Health Informatics Learning Laboratory in Health Administration and Policy, and the nutrition kitchen,” according to the strategic plan.

“Establishing a School of Public Health ... will complement initiatives across campus including the new partnership with Inova and the new community health clinic,” Weiler said.

The pile of dust and rubble may look a bit dismal now, but it seems to be in for a huge transformation. Whether or not the project will benefit the Mason community will be up to the execution of these ambitious endeavors.

CHHS is also investing in the creation of a Dean’s Student Travel Fund, which will support a portion of the travel expenses for CHHS students, either graduate or undergraduate, who are presenting or co-presenting research papers at national conferences. The college also plans to increase the number of available awards and grants from two to 10 “for the purpose of expanding the number of students who can benefit from attending research conferences,” according to the strategic plan.

CHHS has also created the new faculty position (ALYA NOWILATY/FOURTH ESTATE) Associate Dean for Community Engagement to direct and develop both educational (e.g., A new building for the College of Health and Human Services has taken the academic outreach) and service (community place of Lot H. Construction is expected to finish in August 2017.

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IV Patriot Circle under construction to make room for Academic VII 02.01.2016

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

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ALAN & SALLY MERTEN HALL

Access via Occoquan River Lane (Rogers Hall/Subway) to Patriot Circle will be closed

CONSTRUCTION ZONE

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The Chesapeake River Lane shuttle stop, across from Merten Hall, may be closed or relocated at times during construction

Patriot Circle will remain closed between George Mason Boulevard and Aquia Creek Lane

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The Lot I entrance at Aquia Creek Lane will be closed

STUDENT APPARTMENTS

THOMPSON HALL Aquia Creek Lane connection will re-open for a detour to Patriot Circle from George Mason Boulevard

MAP LEGEND CLOSED ROADS

NEW PATH OF TRAVEL

OPEN ROADWAYS

CONSTRUCTION ZONE

(GRAPHIC BY MEGAN ZENDEK/FOURTH ESTATE. PHOTOS BY DAVID SCHRACK/FOURTH ESTATE)

ELLEN GLICKMAN | NEWS EDITOR

As a result of Academic VII construction, continual detours and road closures around campus will be in effect throughout the semester. Construction crews are rebuilding part of Patriot Circle to lie further south of its current location in order to make space for the new College of Health and Human Services building.

Some students, like freshman civil engineering major Mera Shabti,

Information and map adapted from the Building Patriot Pride website.

are unhappy with the resulting changes to their commute.

“The construction site has really deterred my travel to get onto campus, and has even caused me to be late to class sometimes,” Shabti said. “It has blocked off a major road that once allowed us to reach the other side of campus from University Drive very easily, but now we have to make a U-Turn and take a long detour around the whole campus to get to the other side.”

The road adjustments have been broken down into five phases, according to the website Building Patriot Pride. The first phase finished on Jan. 18, and the fifth phase is expected to be completed in June. Parking and Transportation plans to send emails to the Mason community before each new phase begins. The last email, which described Phase 2, was sent on Jan. 15. See the map below for a visual of Phase 2.

(Additional reporting by Donna Imadi)

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lifestyle

02.01.2016

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Scenes from Snowzilla 2016

(KATIE MORGAN/ FOURTH ESTATE)

Tweet at us at @IVestate with you snow photos using #gmusnowzilla and we will retweet them!

(SAVANNAH NORTON/ FOURTH ESTATE)

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Lifestyle

02.01.2016

#GMU #Blizzard “I’ve learned that I can live off of chips and salsa for four full days so sign me up for prison or whatever”

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

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TO DO THIS WEEK: MONDAY 2/1

On campus:

Off campus:

Astronomy Observing Session

Muse Live in Concert

Research Hall 163, Lobby

Verizon Center

5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

7:30p.m.

@juliette_aa juliette

TUESDAY 2/2 Okay, I’m going to need the University to be open. I need human interaction.

Off campus:

On campus:

Washington Capitals vs. Florida Panthers

Groundhogs Day Breakfast

Verizon Center

Johnson Center Georges

7:00p.m.

8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

@nathanpittman95 Nathan Pittman

WEDNESDAY 2/3 “I was actually doing reading when the Mason alert hit. I don’t feel like reading no more.”

@_Mekus Chu kwu e me ka

Off campus:

On campus:

Washington Wizards vs.

Golden State Warriors

Chocolate Ball: An Evening of Dancing and Chocolate

Verizon Center

Johnson Hall, Dewberry Hall South

8:00p.m.

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

THURSDAY 2/4 Off campus:

On campus: “Just called Wendy’s at University Mall and asked the guy to go outside and tell me if Dunkin was open #itsfine”

Music Productions Club Open Mic Night

Veramar Vineyard

The Hub Corner Side Pocket Lounge

12:00p.m. - 5:00p.m.

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

@ahhitsashleyy Ashley Hil

Wine Tastings Veramar Vineyard

FRIDAY 2/5 On campus: Card Decorating Johnson Center 336, Meeting Room F 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Off campus: Phantom of the Opera Hippodrome Theatre 8:00p.m.

02.01.2016 11 lifestyle IV Mason Alum Deanne Kaczerksi shares her passion for fashion GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

but things took a turn her junior year. “I had gotten to a point in my schoolwork where we were dissecting something, and I was like ‘I cannot do this anymore,’” Kaczerski said.

to oversee a new site in Hearst’s portfolio: Elle Magazine. Kaczerski was just about to go on a several-month maternity leave, but she accepted the job and only took seven weeks and five days off. “I am totally type A and couldn’t be away for that long,” she said.

She decided to switch her major to psychology her senior year and started to learn more from her about “this cool new program language that just came out” called HTML. They encouraged Kaczerski, who was a studio art minor and had been painting since she was six years old, to make an online portfolio for some of her paintings.

She became the editorial director for Elle’s website while still running Real Beauty and later folded the company into Elle to grow the site approximately 12 percent in one year.

After graduation, with the help of a coworker in IT person at her job at Z University, Kaczerski created her first website. “I loved the fact that it was new,” she said. “I just kept pursuing it.”

Not everyone goes into a career that has to do with what they studied in college. Not long ago, Deanne Kaczerski was a Mason Patriot sitting in class, attending basketball games, hanging out in Corner Pocket playing pool -- and studying science. She is now the editorial director of MIMI Chatter, a website devoted to all things beauty and fashion.

Kaczerski and the staff update the website 24/7 and post 50 stories a day year-round. “It is Time Inc.’s only mobile-first, socially fueled editorial brand that is dedicated to beauty news, service and beauty inspiration through a pop culture lense,” she said.

Kaczerski has been at MIMI for almost a year now.

But it didn’t come easily for her. Kaczerski has worked hard to climb the digital publishing ladder even before she graduated from Mason.

Kaczerski has worked at big publishing names within the Hearst Corporation since she has left campus and it is all because of her passion for her job. “Being a professional shopper since the age of three,” Kaczerski said, “I once threw a tantrum in Bloomingdales over my parents not buying me a Mickey Mouse watch.”

But she had a long way to go before realizing this was where she belonged.

Kaczerski was 16 when she graduated high school and was the youngest person in her graduating class at Mason. “I was actually not allowed to live on campus my freshmen year because I was so young,” Kaczerski said.

As a biology major, her original plan was to go into medicine,

From Marie Claire, Kaczerski was recruited to her current job at MIMI Chatter. “I had just launched Real Beauty. I had done a beauty start up and knew how to do it on budget [and] with no budget,” she said.

Through networking, Kaczerski eventually landed a job at AOL. “I helped create their team portal, called Red and helped create some of the Internet’s first fashion and beauty content that existed,” Kaczerski said.

At MIMI, it was the staff ’s job to create a relatable, beauty-specific site with a focus on news for millennial women. MIMI went from zero to 2.1 million unique views in seven months, which is a huge increase for a website in such a short amount of time.

She loved working for AOL and writing for their fashion section. “I remember a very specific point in my career where Alexander Wang, his cousin and his mom [were] on the phone because this was when he was just starting out,” she said. “It was his first or second collection where he was still doing cashmere, tunics and sweaters. The Alexander Wang tripod was what it [the fashion line] was called.”

As far as her own style goes, Kaczerski describes herself as a jeans and t-shirt girl. “I have things that I purchase that I just want to look at, [things] I will never use or wear. It just sort of exists in my world because it’s beautiful.”

Wang later sent Kaczerski a box of his samples, which she reviewed in an article for AOL - one of the first media corporations to review Wang’s products online.

(Courtesy of Elysia Berman)

SAVANNAH NORTON | LIFESTYLE EDITOR

From Elle, she accepted an open editorial director position at Marie Claire. The magazine had not had an editorial director for a while and needed help growing. “I really love a good challenge.

I feel like that is where my strength is,” Kaczerski said. She grew the website from 2.1 million unique views to 6.1 million in the year she was there.

After six years at AOL, she got a job running the website of CosmoGirl magazine. “It was amazing to go from a digital [leader] at the time, like AOL, to a massive publisher of some of the world’s most prestigious magazines,” Kaczerski said. CosmoGirl was owned by the Hearst Corporation, which also owns other magazines like Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Esquire.

Kaczerski helped lead the digital charge at the magazine. “When I got there, CosmoGirl was just publishing magazine content [online] once a month, or they would schedule it out that a story would go live every other day,” she said. “I took a site that had 2 million page views at the time roughly and took it up to 6 million after about a year.” She also encouraged the company to create original content and post it multiple times a day.

“That really helped my career trajectory at Hearst because I, along with some of my co-workers, taught everybody what we wanted to do.” Kaczerski helped the brand use its power to create exciting, original content and triple page views within a year. Even when CosmoGirl magazine folded, the website continued running under the direction of Kaczerski.

She was then asked to help launch a beauty-only website that Hearst could use to sell advertising. With almost no budget and a handful of freelancers, Kaczerski and others created Real Beauty.

The site, which Kaczerski ended up running for four years, saw almost 1 million page visitors by the end of its first year.

A great opportunity came her way when her boss approached her

“What I love about being in editorial is that your day is never quite the same.” She explained that there is a similar outline day to day, but there is “always something new ... that I am passionate about.”

Her day starts at 6 a.m. when she starts looking at links and approving stories. “Being in this industry for as long as I’ve been -- I think about 18 years now -- it is not work to me,” Kaczerski said. “This is what I would be doing anyway. I love this. If I wasn’t in this, I probably would have been a blogger.”

She explains that her work takes a different mindset and requires a special type of person. You have to be passionate about your work to spend this much time on it. “When you work in digital, you are just a 24/7 person,” she said. “If you are going to excel in digital, you need to not only be able to wear multiple hats, but constantly be on-the-go and not be fatigued by that.”

Her advice to hopeful fashion and beauty editors is to “go digital” and practice writing. “At the very root of it, you have to be an excellent writer,” she said. “Even digital is going to change within the next five years, and it’s going to be all about creating content just for Facebook or just for Instagram or just for Snapchat or just for the thing that doesn’t exist yet. Magazines aren’t going away; we are just changing the way in which you are digesting that content.”

Kaczerski has two pieces of advice for those hoping to enter the world of fashion publishing: “Be open to change. I think one of the reasons that I have been so successful in my career, despite my ups and downs, is that I have been just open-minded to change. The other is learning how to take criticism and actually peel away the shit that people are throwing at you and understanding what is at the center of that criticism.”

She’s also the perfect example of doing what you love. For Kaczerski, she lives and breathes fashion and beauty. “There is just something about walking into a store and looking at a display wall full of jeans and how they are folded. There is just something amazing about looking at that,” Kaczerski said. “Because my life is engraved in my job and my job is engraved in my life, this is just who I am.”

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01.02.2016

lifestyle Mason Housing: Love it or List it

DANIELA RAMBAL PINERO | STAFF WRITER

With just days until housing applications go live, many students have already begun looking ahead and preparing for what they hope to be a very promising school year. For current freshmen, this means using their experiences from their first year to make more informed decisions on where and with whom they want to live.

For upperclassmen, this means taking the coming-of-age step from suite-style dorms to the slightly more lavish and enticing option of apartment living.

Although only about 6,000 students and staff call Mason home, on-campus students agree that living at Mason gives them the opportunity to take full advantage of all the school has to offer.

Sophomore Meghan Hobson opted to have a traditional freshman experience on campus before moving off campus for her second year. “If you have the ability to live on campus, do it,” Hobson said. “It is a hub of activity and extremely convenient.”

With over 40 residence halls grouped into three neighborhoods, students are given a variety of options. So how exactly does one pick their home away from home? Fourth Estate got a firsthand look at what spaces students can set their sights on.

First up, the Rappahannock neighborhood. Most sought out for its proximity to central campus, here you can find easy access to academic buildings, convenience stores and dining. The cool thing about living in Rappahannock is that students get the choice of living in either traditional dorms such as the Commons; suites such as Blue Ridge, Eastern Shore, Dominion and Hampton Roads; or apartments in Northern Neck.

“My favorite thing about living in Dickinson is how welcoming my floor mates are,” freshman Donna Imadi said. She also added that the proximity of her dorm to her classes is nice because she “can wake up 10 minutes before class and still be on time.”

The go-to hang out spot in the Rappahannock neighborhood is Southside. “[It is] the place to go, no matter what time, ‘let’s go to Southside’ [is] always offered as a pastime,” Hobson, who lived in Dominion her freshman year, said.

When residents of Rappahannock aren’t grabbing a bite to eat or hanging out in Hanover, one might find them working out at Skyline.

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

IV

Sophomore Caitlyn McMurry said the biggest advantage of living in suite-style housing is that “it’s bigger than freshman housing but cheaper than apartments.”

Longo, a freshman who currently lives in Presidents Park, said. “It almost feels like I’m ... away from the school, but it’s close enough that I can walk to all of my classes.”

Adjacent to Rappahannock, you’ll find the Aquia neighborhood, located in the northwest corner of campus. This is where upperclass students have the option of living in Student Apartments, Townhouses, Rogers or Whitetop. Campus buildings closest to this neighborhood include Student Union Building 1 (SUB1) and the Recreational and Athletic Complex, better known as the RAC.

The traditional freshman halls in Presidents Park and the Commons average in the semesterly rate of $3,120.00. Suites like eastern Shore and Hampton Roads on campus are about $3,715.00 on average, including shared bathrooms and/or kitchenettes.

Apartments and Mason Global Center Suites are about $4,370.00 per semester. The Student Apartments and Townhouses are about 3,715.00 per semester.

What’s unique about the Aquia neighborhood is its proximity to University Mall and Old Town Fairfax, giving older students more distance from central campus.

“Living in an actual apartment by yourself or with friends gives you a real sense of independence,” senior Adrianne Figueroa said.

Another housing option previously only open to members of the Global Living LLC and Mason’s international student, is the Mason Global Center. New for the upcoming academic year, groups of two and individuals can choose to living at the Globe for an 11-month commitment period.

This is ideal for students who need housing for longer than the standard nine months. Though quite a distance from most buildings on campus, the Globe, which used to be the Mason Inn, boasts plenty of advantages.

From traditional dorms to apartment complexes, Shenandoah has it all. Sophomore Emily Jakob lives in Potomac Heights said the biggest advantage of living there “is the access to a kitchen and not needing to go to the dining hall for all of [her] meals.”

Overall, the three neighborhoods of Mason housing each have love it and list it qualities to consider as students make upcoming housing plans. To plan your dorm set up ahead before move in, you can play with the virtual room set up on housing.gmu.edu.

Freshman Amanda Rodriguez is part of the Global Living LLC. She explained that the best part about it is the amenities that come with living in a hotel-style building such as “having your own bathroom, a shuttle stop right outside the building and a dining hall downstairs.”

Located in the southeast corner of campus is the Shenandoah neighborhood, which includes Presidents Park, Liberty Square and Potomac Heights. Its residents, who are a mix of freshmen and upperclassmen, are just a short walk away from Ike’s dining hall, the Aquatic Fitness Center and a few academic buildings. “[I like] how separated it is from the center of campus and the academic buildings,” Jenna

(MEGAN ZENEK/ FOURH ESTATE)

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02.01.2016

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Mason nation welcomes Oh George!

SOPHIA DELMAR | STAFF WRITER

A new restaurant called Oh George! opened in early December in University Mall, just across the street from Mason’s Fairfax campus.

The recently renovated space is one of 11 restaurants owned by the Stephan Parry restaurant group and the first of it’s kind in Northern Virginia.

The restaurant is unique in many senses, starting with it’s name. “[It] pay[s] tribute to George Mason ... because we are in ... close proximity to the university,” said assistant general manger Aragorn Rahm.

Assistant general manager Kyle Stolte finds University Mall to be a great location for Oh George! because of it’s unique concept and atmosphere. He describes the restaurant as “casual fine dining” and the concept as being an “American bistro” style of food that “[offers] a different dynamic and different quality.”

“I don’t think it’s so much the food, as the quality of product where we’re sourcing our ingredients from and kind of food composition,” Stolte said. He said that their menu was not created by a corporate structure; instead, many of their items were handpicked by their own chefs from Oh George!.

Oh George!’s menu sections include starters, salads, pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, specialty entrees and desserts. Prices range from $11 margherita pizzas to $32 dry packed scallops. The menu offers not only the classics, but also other fun options such as fried double-stuffed Oreos, barbacoa brisket tacos and giant Bavarian pretzels.

Stolte explained that a number of items are made in-house, including steaks, sauces and hand-crafted burgers. According to managers, the freshness of the food sets Oh George! apart from its competitors.

The decision to bring the quality of their food up to this level is “chef-driven and chef-inspired.”

The restaurant also offers gluten-free options for a few dollars more, including pizza and bolognese.

Oh George! primarily advertises its selection of 24 beers on tap, mostly made up of local selections.

They also carry two nitro beer lines at the bar that offer slow pour beers, an extensive cocktail list and a selection of Virginia wines.

The restaurant does carry beers off tap that are popular among college-aged students, like Bud Light and Miller Lite, though Stolte acknowledged that “most college kids want to drink for less” than the restaurant charges.

“Unfortunately, we do not take meal plans, we do not offer lower prices [for Mason students],” Rahm said. He said that the restaurant’s prices on food and beer are already competitive considering the quality of the ingredients.

Stole explained the restaurant has no intention to reach one part of the community over another, whether it be the surrounding Fairfax community or Mason students. He said that the restaurant plans on seeing how it evolves over time.

However, he said they are looking forward to seeing more of a Mason presence in Oh George! as the restaurant continues to grow.

In the meantime, Rahm said managers are focusing on getting their new staff prepared for the flood of customers from the Fairfax community as well as from the Mason Nation, while already receiving customers from both ends.

Both assistant general managers believe thoroughly in the restaurant’s singularity within the area.

From how the interior is designed to how the food is made, Stolte said he finds the concept to be fun and interesting.

“I definitely think it’s worth taking a look,”Stolte said. “The décor, the ambiance, the energy in here is definitely not going to be found anywhere else within quite a few miles radius.”

LOCATION 10659 Braddock Road Fairfax, Va. 22032 HOURS Sun-Wed: 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Thu-Sat: 11 a.m.-midnight (AMY ROSE/ FOURTH ESTATE)

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02.01.2016

Sports

GMUFOURTHESTATE.COM @IVESTATE

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Mason’s own fitness band COURTNEY HOFFMAN| SPORTS EDITOR

Mason Recreation’s newest promotion might not be the most fashionable piece of jewelry, but having the little piece of plastic around your wrist could earn you many benefits. Free to all Mason students, the new Mason fitness band is a bracelet that gives students access to free gym classes, extra specials and deals over the course of the semester.

The band is meant to be a reminder to students that Mason Recreation has a lot to offer beyond the gyms, including classes, trainers, rentals and pools.

Ethan Carter, director of fitness with Mason Recreation, hopes the bands will help students realize these opportunities. “On campus, as much as we like to say everyone is aware of what’s going on, there are a lot of individuals who say they didn’t even know they had the facilities available to us. If anything, we just want people to realize if you’re a full time student, you can utilize our facilities,” Carter said.

The power meet will take place this April and will include squat, bench and deadlift competitions. Be my Fit Valentine is a partner competition that includes more lighthearted games like wheelbarrow races and crab walks.

impact fitness center hours.

Iron Mason, on the other hand, is a continuous event that occurs all semester. Students are challenged to swim two miles, bike 186 miles and run 86 miles by the end of the semester. They track the progress themselves and, upon completion, become Iron Mason finishers.

Junior public administration major Courtney Ericson has been going off campus to Lifetime Fitness in Fair City Mall in order to work out, but the bands have enticed her to return to Mason’s gyms. Ericson is excited about the potential classes holders might get to take.

These events are meant to help increase the health of Mason.

“It isn’t just for our program; it’s for the wellness of the campus,” Carter said.

“I like the idea of outdoor classes. I would love to see Pilates, bare classes or Insanity classes offered to people with these fitness bands,” Ericson said, adding that she recommends that other students go snatch up bands, too.

Alison Hall is the fitness communications officer who, along with Carter, has been working to promote the fitness bands. Hall said that in addition to admitting students into exclusive classes and events, the band is also useful for connecting students to Mason Recreation’s social media accounts, which are always the first sources to notify students when closings and delays at Mason will

“It’s an easy reminder of our website and social media because they’re both right on there [the band],” Hall said.

The fitness bands were given out to students during the first two weeks of fitness classes and at Student Splash Night on January 21. The next chance to pick up a band will be during Mason Recreation’s first free fitness screening on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

If a student gets a fitness band, they will be able to gain extra benefits over the course of the semester not available to other students.

Owners receive 10 percent off yoga, pilates and martial arts class packages for the semester. In March, band wearers will be able to take advantage of 15 percent off personal training sessions. After Spring Break, Mason Recreation plans to host group fitness classes exclusively for fitness band wearers. The classes are not yet finalized, but Mason Recreation is looking into outdoor cycling and outdoor yoga, among other sports.

Carter said the bands go beyond getting students involved, they also serve as a way to inspire students to get moving. “[We are] trying to create some excitement. A lot of times it’s ‘What are they trying to sell me this time? What are they trying to get out of me?’ And a wristband is very simple and cheap. … [T] he benefit for the student is you can benefit from our facility, you can get promotions, it allows the user have something unique to them,” Carter said.

Carter first tested the bands last year. The benefits from the band have increased greatly since its first trial run. “Last time it [the band] was more [about] promotions, this time it’s connected with certain events and having more to do with free classes and stuff people can do that doesn’t have to do with purchasing things,” Carter said. “Eventually, we’d like it to become where we invite people with fitness bands to participate in a fitness walk or awareness walk.”

Beyond the benefits associated with the band, Carter also wants students to be aware of all the different events put on by Mason Recreation. He has noticed that many students wait until their senior year to finally begin utilizing all the facilities and classes at Mason.

This semester Mason Recreation is holding a power meet and an indoor triathlon as well as programs unique to Mason like Be my Fit Valentine and Iron Mason.

(COURTNEY HOFFMAN/FOURTH ESTATE)

Junior Courtney Ericson showing off her new fitness band.

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02.01.2016

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Paulsen brings the sideline coaching program to Mason Groseclose is a prime example of how the gap between academics and athletics can be connected. He recalled speaking with a player in the locker room after a game about a test the player had to study for. It was almost 10 p.m. at that point, and the player was mentally preparing to go home and study.

“I was thinking [about] how hard that must be because you’re out on the floor and there’s [too] much excitement in the arena to ... calm down and study. I remember feeling bad for him, actually. I was thinking, I’m so glad I don’t have to [study]. There was no way I could switch gears and do that,” Groseclose said.

The program has even begun to help with recruiting, too. Now Paulsen can recommend different professors or staff members for potential students to speak with if they are interested in attending Mason.

“As we’re recruiting, we can get a real understanding of the place.

It’s been a real positive,” Paulsen said.

While this program has seen success at Mason, it began at Bucknell, Coach Paulsen’s old stomping grounds. The program was already in place when Paulsen began coaching at Bucknell, but he was not very thrilled with the idea at first.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want these faculty members in our practice, in our huddle,’” Paulsen said.

Patriots face rival George Washington, while their sideline coach looks on from the bench.

COURTNEY HOFFMAN | SPORTS EDITOR

Head men’s basketball coach Dave Paulsen started a new tradition this year by inviting faculty and staff to join him on the sidelines of home games as part of the sideline coaching program. This new program is meant to bridge the gap between players and faculty.

(AMY ROSE/FOURTH ESTATE)

an athlete. Most teachers just see players leaving class early for a game, or tired after a practice. They don’t see all the work that goes into being an athlete.

“I was excited because it allowed the professors to see a different perspective. ... They actually see what we go through,” Royal said.

The program has seen great results thus far for the Patriots. Over 80 people responded immediately to an email sent to faculty and staff interested in an opportunity to sit on the sidelines with the team.

Beyond bridging the gap between faculty and athletes, the program has also helped the players make connections for their careers after school.

With so much interest for only a few home games, Paulsen had to figure out who would get to participate in the limited number of games. In the end, the team put all the names in a lottery to pick who would be part of the program this season.

Tim Groseclose is an economics professor at Mason who sat in as a sideline coach during the game against the University of Northern Iowa. He looks back on his time with the team as an eye-opening experience.

Faculty and staff members who were chosen receive the entire basketball experience. They attend a practice the day before the game, watch pre-game prep, sit on the bench during the game, experience the huddles and sit in on a tape viewing.

He was able to get to know Michael Rudy well at practice and on the bench during the game. After his time with the team, Groseclose connected Rudy with one of his colleagues to help the player further his networking opportunities. The professor learned that Rudy was interested in attending grad school for chemical engineering, a path similar to the one Groseclose’s friend had taken.

The point of the program is to break down the barriers between athletics and academics. It is also a great way for Paulsen and his new assistant coaches to meet more people in the Mason community.

“We want to break ... stereotypes. There are misconceptions about our guys, misconceptions about our coaches. For our coaching staff it’s great, because [none of the coaches were] Mason student[s].

We didn’t know anyone when we started. It’s been good for us to form connections,” Paulsen said.

Senior forward Julian Royal had his finance professor attend a game and a practice. Royal said he was excited for the program since it opened the doors for faculty to see the other side of being

“I had coffee once with Michael to talk about [chemical engineering] and sent an email introduction [to] my friend [about] Michael. I said to my friend Joe, ‘Can you give a sentence or two of advice for Michael?’ And he said, ‘Sure, give me a call back,’” Groseclose said.

After going through the program, he realized how great it could be and worked to bring it with him to Mason.

“Once I went through it,” Paulsen said, “it was an awesome program.”

The program has seen great benefits for the Patriots thus far and works to drive home one of Paulsen’s biggest concerns for the team: academics. He takes missed classes very seriously, and expects everyone on his team to put forth their maximum effort -- not just on the court, but also in the classroom.

“My thing is just [to] do as well as you can. If that’s an A, then don’t settle for a B plus. Just trying to let our guys know we want everyone to graduate ... and do as well as they can,” Paulsen said..