Faculty and Staff Weigh In On College’s Five Years

by Rashad Mulla

Faculty and Staff Weigh In On College’s Five Years

With the inception of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2006, George Mason University found a permanent home for rich and dynamic subjects - such as English, history, psychology, and communication. These subjects provide the college’s students with a solid core foundation of knowledge and skills.

Many faculty members recalled the creation of the college, and noted its improvements over the last five years.

Karl Zhang, educational director of the Confucius Institute and faculty member in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, has been at Mason for 11 years. He said the college has become more visible and more supportive of its own.

“I’m very glad and happy that the dean values and supports research,” he said. “We are grateful for that.”

Raja Parasuraman, University Professor of Psychology, touted college support as well.

“There has been steadily increasing support for research activities and recognition of faculty and students who are engaging in high-quality research,” he said. “Secondly, there is a greater recognition of the interrelationship between teaching and research, particularly teaching outside of the classroom.”

Cynthia Lum, deputy director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy and a faculty member in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, said that students and faculty are being recognized more for their efforts.

“The Dean’s Challenge scholarships, for example, are good opportunities that have just recently been developed and gotten better and better each year,” she said. “Faculty also are being more rewarded in many ways.”

Stephen Mastrofski, University Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, has been at Mason for 12 years, and says the college community is now better than ever.

“We have a strong sense of intellectual community and mutual supportiveness that has really grown and blossomed,” he said. “It has been very helpful to me and many others.”