Veterans Day

George Mason alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of University of West Georgia

Shayla Brown — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:02:59 +0000

George Mason alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of University of West Georgia Shayla Brown Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:02

�� alumnus and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Christopher Michael “Mike” Johnson, MAIS ’11, was recently appointed University of West Georgia’s ninth president. He stepped into his new role on August 1.

Johnson’s selection followed a national search led by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which named him the sole finalist in May before appointing him in June.

“It’s always a bit of a transition period having a new president come to a university with new goals and visions, but the north star will always be our students. Student success is our no-excuse priority,” said Johnson.

Michael Johnson. Photo by the University of West Georgia,

This role is the culmination of Johnson’s 20+ year career in higher education. In addition to his work at George Mason, where he started a program that became the university’s Office of Military Services, Johnson has held leadership roles at Purdue and Northern Virginia Community College. Most recently he served as chief of staff at the University of Houston System and the University of Houston, where he also earned a PhD in higher education leadership and policy studies.

George Mason was Johnson’s first job after transitioning out of the military.

“There was a wave of veterans like myself starting to come back to college campuses. The Office of Military Services allowed me one foot into the military space and one foot in the higher education space,” said Johnson.

“Although it was a transition period, I was still able to engage with a body of people that I felt comfortable around while helping them navigate their college experience. I feel honored to be a part of that growth of the university towards supporting veterans,” he said.

Johnson, a first-generation college graduate, accomplished a lot as a student and an administrator during his time on the Fairfax Campus, and he said his perspective as a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps has influenced his leadership style and approach to service and resilience.

While he and his wife, Beth, MA Strategic Communication ’12, raised their family, they also took classes while working full-time at George Mason. While Mike was advocating for veterans, Beth worked as a communications manager for the university’s fund-raising efforts in the office now called the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations.

“Beth and I pursued grad school at the same time. We had a small child and had to move in with her parents, but I think that work-life balance was certainly made easier by George Mason,” said Johnson. “Because the university had one of the best education benefits for its employees, they basically took away all of the reasons for me to say ‘I don’t have time.’”

Recently the College of Humanities and Social Sciences recognized Johnson for his dedication to student success, institutional advancement, and strategic leadership with the 2025 MAIS Distinguished Alumni Award.

“I can’t think of a greater honor than to come back to my alma mater and be recognized for the excellent work that I’ve been doing. The College of Humanities and Social Science provided a critical base of knowledge for me to draw upon as I was pursuing my PhD work,” he said. “And even today, I think those lessons learned have served me well in my current role.

“I don't think I truly appreciated my time at George Mason fully until I stepped into this role,” Johnson said. “And I find myself from time to time reflecting on those experiences with my leadership team and the lessons that I observed as the university was maturing and have brought those experiences here to the University of West Georgia.”

Reporting by Jerome Boettcher contributed to this article.

Connect with the Office of Military Services

Topics

Alumni

Veterans Day

Office of Military Services

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

George Mason and Walter Reed Bethesda collaborate to support veterans through the arts

Shayla Brown — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:33:46 +0000

George Mason and Walter Reed Bethesda collaborate to support veterans through the arts Shayla Brown Mon, 11/10/2025 - 10:33

This year marks the 10th anniversary of ��'s Veterans and the Arts Initiative—an important example of George Mason's long-standing commitment to assisting military-connected learners as they embark on new paths following their service.

Since 2014, the Veterans and the Arts Initiative has reached more than 20,000 military-connected community members by offering everything from hands-on workshops to art exhibitions and concerts—all designed with veterans, service members, military family members, and military caregivers in mind.

What began as a yearly effort to offer gratitude to veterans each Veterans Day by providing a creative outlet at the Hylton Performing Arts Center on the Science and Technology Campus has grown into a thriving hub—a place where art meets community, providing a much-needed space for the military community.

Coinciding with its 10-year milestone, the initiative once again received the opportunity to join forces with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's Arts in Health Program to discuss how to help servicemembers and their families through the process of injury recovery and the transition from military to civilian life.

The seeds of the Walter Reed collaboration were planted in 2018, when Niyati Dhokai, who leads George Mason's Veterans and the Arts Initiative, was asked to be a panelist at a Creative Forces: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Military Healing Arts Network event. It was there that Dhokai met Captain (Ret.) Moira G. McGuire, founding chief of the Arts in Health Program at Walter Reed Bethesda.

Later, when Dhokai and her team were selected for a contract to create an artist vetting process for McGuire's newly formed Arts in Health Program, the relationship continued to grow. The program was established to support servicemembers recovering from traumatic brain injuries and psychological health conditions.

At the time, Walter Reed Bethesda was the first destination stateside for all wounded and ill service members, McGuire said.

Over several months, the George Mason and Walter Reed teams examined the program from multiple perspectives, aiming to determine how resources could have the greatest impact, explained McGuire.

Dhokai (right) and McGuire (left) presenting at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Healing Arts Week Research Symposium. Photo by NYU Steinhardt.

In addition, McGuire co-taught AMGT 599 Managing Arts Programs in Healthcare with Dhokai, who is also a research associate professor at George Mason's College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA), at George Mason in fall 2023, emphasizing the importance of the arts in healthcare and how it can be implemented safely.

More recently Dhokai, McGuire, and their colleagues presented a panel titled "Supporting the Well-being and Social Connectedness of Military-Connected Communities through Clinical and Community-Based Arts Workshops" at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Healing Arts Week Research Symposium, which was produced by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab and the World Health Organization, in September 2025 in New York City.

The research symposium centered around the idea of engaging in the arts being recognized as a health behavior—like sleep, nutrition, exercise, time in nature, and social connection. Attendees included local and international policy leaders, cultural leaders, health providers, practitioners across disciplines, and students.

Dhokai said the Veterans and the Arts Initiative isn't just offering workshops; it's about creating a space where veterans, service members, and their families can explore creativity as families, as friends, and as people sharing similar experiences.

"As a program director, my joy is creating these welcoming, supportive programs," said Dhokai, who is also a George Mason alumna. "Our team includes faculty, staff, and arts practitioners, and we're always evolving our workshops to meet the needs of participants."

George Mason's School of Art, Dewberry School of Music, and the Arts Management Program have all contributed to the initiative. Some veterans are even teaching classes for the initiative.

Current George Mason student and Air Force veteran Valerie Acosta-Gonzalez will be the lead instructor for the upcoming Gel Printed Journals series.

A senior art and visual technology major, Acosta-Gonzalez says her own life has been positively influenced by using art as a tool for self-care. Her mediums include acrylic, gouache, watercolors, pencils, pens, clay and wood. Her art has been exhibited at the Arches Gallery in the Workhouse Arts Center in Virginia.

Her favorite thing about conducting workshops with veterans is the camaraderie. "Making art is vulnerable, and when you show veterans how they can use the language of art to express things that others may not quite fully understand, you inevitably create a bond," Acosta-Gonzalez said. "We already have our military experiences in common, and we can add a deeper layer of meaning by creating art together."

Dhokai said that the connections the initiative makes with the military families extends beyond a single workshop offering. "For example, we held a songwriting series for military children in collaboration with Mason Community Arts Academy, and now some of those kids are participating in our Veterans Guitar Workshop Series. Additionally, student veteran alumni take workshops after they graduate," she said.

Dhokai and her staff continue to collect data longitudinally to understand how community-based arts projects have a role in the ongoing support of military-connected individuals.

Three major themes that emerged from initial participant responses and that continue to be highlighted by participants are increased interest in learning new skills, social connectedness, and a sense of well-being.

The program is just one of many ways George Mason supports its military-connected students, who make up about 10% of the student population.

In This Story

Niyati Dhokai

Moira McGuire

Topics

veterans and the arts

Veterans Day

Community Partners

United Nations

Mason Community Arts Academy

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Campus News

Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research

Sarah Holland — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:10:23 +0000

Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research Sarah Holland Mon, 11/10/2025 - 10:10

�� proudly proclaims that we are All Together Different. We are a school where non-traditional students are traditional students. And though they face unique challenges, these students bring important perspectives and experiences to our classrooms. Nowhere is this clearer than with our population of students connected to the military.

On this episode of Access to Excellence, Senior Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Psychology Keith Renshaw joins President Gregory Washington to discuss the role George Mason plays in providing service members, veterans, and their families the means to find community, purpose, and fulfillment beyond their military service.

I think a lot of times when people say, "I wanna make sure I know about the military veteran community so that I know how to recognize when somebody's got PTSD." And that is such a small piece of things. I'm really glad we have awareness of it, but I think it's kind of overtaken and overshadowed the totality of experience. Let's recognize the benefits, let's recognize the rich sort of experience that folks are bringing to the table. And let's start embedding that in trainings for faculty and staff so that we're aware of it and we can not only serve our students better, but leverage that experience to benefit all of our students more. And within that work, my real hope is that we don't just stay focused on veterans only, but we really broaden out to think about military spouses, military children, and the entirety of the family because that whole group brings a set of experiences to the table that we need to recognize and acknowledge. — Keith Renshaw

Read the transcript

Intro (00:00):

Trailblazers in research, innovators in technology, and those who simply have a good story: all make up the fabric that is ��, where taking on the grand challenges that face our students, graduates, and higher education is our mission and our passion. Hosted by Mason President Gregory Washington, this is the Access to Excellence podcast.

President Gregory Washington (00:27):

It should go without saying that at George Mason, everything starts with the students. As our website says, we're All Together Different, and that certainly describes the thousands of people who come to study in our classrooms and labs. George Mason students have often taken a less traditional path to our doorstep. Many have had challenges that they've dealt with in their lives, or maybe they come to us from community college or are late life learners coming from the workforce, or as we're going to talk about today, they come from the military. No matter what path they took, non-traditional students are traditional students at George Mason and with our guest today, we're going to take a look at how George Mason works to open the doors for them. Keith Renshaw is ��'s senior associate provost for undergraduate education and a professor of psychology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Actually, he probably would prefer I put the professor first. <laugh>. He specializes in anxiety, stress, trauma, and interpersonal relationships with particular interest in the experiences of service members and their families. Keith, welcome to the show.

Keith Renshaw (01:53):

Thank you very much. Happy to be here.

President Gregory Washington (01:56):

So you have an interesting path 'cause you're non-military, correct?

Keith Renshaw (01:59):

That is correct. I'm non-military.

President Gregory Washington (02:01):

So how did you first get involved in the veteran community?

Keith Renshaw (02:05):

That's, yeah, it's something a lot of people ask me, because a lot of times they assume I, I did serve. My field within psychology is clinical psychology, and with that degree I had to do a year-long clinical internship, which I did at a VA hospital. Shortly after that, I got my first tenure track job, uh, and that was at the University of Utah, and it was in, uh, 2005. And so we were in the height of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and you couldn't get away from all the reports about the impact of those deployments on the, the service members and, and in particular on their families. Um, and also on the folks who had, for instance, been in the National Guard and were being called up to deploy for 12, 15 months at a time. And I found myself really moved by those reports, and I wanted to do something.

Keith Renshaw (02:52):

I knew that myself, I wouldn't, uh, volunteer for the military. It just wasn't in me. And I had this overwhelming respect and almost awe for the people who would, and I wanted to find a way to use my own training to help. So one thing I considered was, uh, something called Give an Hour. This was a program back then that allowed you to donate sort of an hour of free therapy, uh, a week to, to somebody in the population. But as I thought about it, it felt too transient to me, and I wanted to do something that would be more sustainable. So what I did was tried to pivot my entire research program, which up to that point had really focused on anxiety disorders and adult relationships, to look at stress, trauma, and anxiety in the context of relationships within the military. Uh, and so through a series of connections, I started partnering up with the Utah National Guard and trying to find ways to design research studies to address problems they were seeing so that not only would I be able to sort of be giving back in some way through my work, I would be able to be directly impacting issues they were seeing and trying to help them form recommendations. And, and honestly, that work sort of launched my entire research career, which led me here to George Mason in, in 2009.

President Gregory Washington (04:08):

I guess you had early life experiences with veterans that helped shape your current thinking and involvement. Is, is that accurate?

Keith Renshaw (04:16):

I would say that is accurate. Um, my kids would object to your using early life experiences given that I was in my twenties. But yes, I, that's, that's the way I would think about it.

President Gregory Washington (04:25):

So, so talk to me a little bit about what some of those experiences were. What kinds of things did you see that kind of moved you in this direction?

Keith Renshaw (04:35):

So when I was at the VA hospital working with, with some of the veterans at the time, uh, I, I was at that hospital in 2001, so I was there on 9/11 and, and, and after. And so I was seeing a lot of the veterans who were coming from the Vietnam era and also from sort of the first Gulf War era. And what I saw, especially in the Vietnam era veterans, well actually in, in really in both populations, was just how disrupted their relationships had been after they came back. And that was a lot in terms of trying to understand what they were experiencing now that they were done, um, and, and how to explain that to others, or how they couldn't explain that to others. And I also saw just how, um, disrupted their sense of purpose had become, and I saw this throughout, there's this incredible sense of, of mission and purpose that these folks were experiencing while they were part of the military.

Keith Renshaw (05:27):

And when they left, they were often sort of grasping for some element of that afterward that they just couldn't recreate. And that was really causing them a lot of distress. And so I, I found myself wanting to find ways to think about both of those elements. How could I do things that might impact their relationships and how might I also be able to think about helping them, uh, regain and, and find that purpose outside of the military, uh, while also sort of helping them in the traditional, you know, sort of psychological sense as I was working with them in therapy and whatnot.

President Gregory Washington (06:02):

In 2020, you helped lead the formation and launch of the Military Veterans and Families Initiative at George Mason, the MVFI. Or I like to say M-V-Fi, you know? What was the inspiration behind the effort?

Keith Renshaw (06:21):

So when I got here over time, I started to get connected with other people at the university who also did something that touched on the service member, veteran family population. Um, at first it was researchers, people would, would introduce me to, you know, they'd say, "oh, somebody else is doing research with this group, you should really meet them." And so I would find out about this wide range of research we had going on here at the university from the kinds of things that I do, looking at sort of family adjustment, um, up through battlefield technology to sort of classified things people couldn't tell me about, you know, and all, all sorts of things. And, and if you look really at our, I, I know you know this, you know, if you look at our research portfolio, uh, over 50% of our federally funded projects come from the DOD over the past several years.

President Gregory Washington (07:03):

Yep, that is true.

Keith Renshaw (07:04):

So we have just an incredible range Yeah, pf, of, of research there. But I also met folks who are working with students. We had an Office of Military Services, uh, that started here under the leadership of Jennifer Connors, who's still their director now with her associate director, Ryan Barnett and some other staff. They serve the just huge number of students we have here at George Mason. When we started this work, about 10% of our student body self-identified as service member, veteran or family. Um, we're now up to almost 14%. We have well over 5,000 students, um, who are in this, this group. And so that really just sort of spoke to us as we all sort of talked to each other, we're like, wow, there's a lot going on here. But what I think really kicked us off to think about what we're trying to do with MVFI is seeing all of the other ways that we touched on this population that was embedded in our education and research missions.

Keith Renshaw (07:54):

So a couple of examples: I learned about the M-Vets Clinic. This is a clinic that runs through our law school. Every, every law school has their third year law students, they've gotta get practical experience. The way our law school does it is to give free services to veterans with certain types of legal issues. And the students sit first chair, and then there's a barred faculty member who sits, um, second chair with them. And so under the leadership of Tim MacArthur, that group has been serving veterans for years at this point. And then I also found that we had this, uh, incredible Veterans in the Arts program that's actually a nationally recognized research program led by Niyati Dhokai in our College of Visual Performing Arts, where in the context of research on how art impacts the service member, veteran, family community, um, they are serving thousands of veterans through free workshops.

Keith Renshaw (08:40):

They come in, they do the workshops, and they're, we're talking painting, photography. They're closing on 20,000 folks that they've served over the past decade or so in that program. And so we just had these unique types of ways that we serve veterans that I did not see at other universities. And so when we all got together and started talking, we wanted to find a way to connect these, because the two things we realized were, one, a lot of people didn't know about this unless you knew where to look outside the university. And two, a lot of even the people doing these efforts didn't know each other and didn't know about the efforts. And so we wanted to connect them. Um, and that was really the inspiration behind the, the effort was to try to connect the programs, grow them, and really raise the visibility because we thought we should be shouting this from the rooftop so that people know.

President Gregory Washington (09:27):

So really you see this more as a matchmaking kind of framework. It's, is that right?

Keith Renshaw (09:32):

It started as that, yes.

President Gregory Washington (09:33):

Okay. Well talk about what specific services you offer, and then let's talk about some of the successes.

Keith Renshaw (09:40):

Yeah, sounds good. So, so in addition to those, we, we've seen some other growth. Another really interesting program we had, um, was something called Educate the Educators. So back in the sort of mid 2010s, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden had a whole initiative around sort of recognizing all that military service members and, and veterans and families were doing. And one component of that was called Educate the Educators. They wanted to train teachers in how to know the challenges and the resources available to military children. And so Jill Biden actually came to our campus to announce the sort of initiative because we were already doing the work. Uh, Jennifer Drake Patrick, a faculty member in our College of Education and Human Development had developed, Educate the Educators modules that were being embedded into our curriculum for all future teachers within our College of Education and Human Development. So we were able to sort of really put a spotlight on that and help that shine. That is now actually professional education that is available to all teachers from preschool up through 12th grade throughout the state of Virginia.

President Gregory Washington (10:40):

No, that's pretty cool. I think people underestimate what young people who were in military, look, I was a young person in a military family and then, and served myself. As a young person, one of the things I oftentimes remember is that you would establish friendships, and your friendships were in, you know, two to four year cycles. Right. You, you establish these friendships and then the next thing you know, you're off to another duty station and you would essentially start all over. And these moves didn't come at, you know, the opportune time. And, and I remember, you know, just when life was getting good for me, <laugh>...

Keith Renshaw (11:23):

<laugh>

President Gregory Washington (11:24):

Trust, when things were getting really good, there was a move.

Keith Renshaw (11:29):

Boom, yeah.

President Gregory Washington (11:29):

And you start all over, right? And, and so I think it probably affects those young people relative to how they maintain and engage relationships. Because everything is temporary, right? I believe I have fewer lifelong relationships, right, because of it. I've had a couple of relationships endure everything. But I can see where it's, where it can be a problem.

Keith Renshaw (11:56):

Yeah. You're so spot on with that. And, and this is really one of the things that grabbed us when we started this work and, and why it's not just military veterans, right, or service member veterans. And it's, it's military veterans and families because the impact is so huge and, and honestly, when you meet the families, right. Um, and this, this was part of what really hit me in my early work, the amount of resilience and commitment that they have, but they don't necessarily get recognized, right. When they're walking through the airport, people aren't applauding for them, right, you know, I mean...

President Gregory Washington (12:28):

People don't say, thank you for your service.

Keith Renshaw (12:30):

No, they don't. Right. And, and boy, they should! And, and one of the things that, that we've actually been able to do that really speaks exactly to what you were just talking about, uh, here at George Mason, after we've started the MVFI, um, Jennifer Drake Patrick, that same faculty member, has also recently stood up with some support from us and some philanthropic donations we've gotten in, has been able to stand up, um, Student Ambassador days. So high schools in this area, most of 'em have Student Ambassador Programs. These are students who are sort of charged with helping new students transition in Right. And, and help them out. Obviously, the military children are a huge piece of that part. Yeah. Right. You know what I mean?

President Gregory Washington (13:04):

Without question. Especially here.

Keith Renshaw (13:05):

Yeah. And so, um, and they're coming in at all, at all times of the year and everything else. And so what we do now is we host those students. We brought, we bring students here to campus. They have a day on campus with our faculty and our students sort of training up in different ways to do this work and learning specifically about some of the challenges that the military children have and getting ready to work with them. And so we've been able to do that work and kind of amplify it. Started with one day with Fairfax, and now we have more than we can handle. Um, we got Prince William wanting to come in. We got Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, and, and so now we're, we're out there trying to find some more funds to, to support that work because we've got more demand than we can supply.

Keith Renshaw (13:45):

Um, so a another one that, that I'm really excited by to, to see how it's come is, was a success both in starting something new and then connecting programs. We took that M-Vets model and we have, uh, what's called the Center for Community Mental Health here at George Mason, operates out the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It's led by Robyn Mehlenbeck. And they provide therapy and assessment to the community through clinical psychology students, social work students, and counseling students who are all in graduate programs, training to be therapists and assessors and whatnot, um, in their, in their future life. So it's a similar model to the M-Vets program. Um, there is a cost associated with that. They're one of the lowest cost things in the area, but there's still a cost. And we've actually been able to, again, raise philanthropic funds to support the provision of services free to veterans and now their families as well. So any veteran or family in the area who needs therap,y needs assessment can come to our clinic and can get that free through that service. We actually now have a second fund.

President Gregory Washington (14:43):

Wow. Do we, do we advertise that? Is that something that's known?

Keith Renshaw (14:46):

We do. We actually partner with the Department of Veteran Services here in Virginia to make sure that they know. And so we actually sometimes have people referred from Richmond, Roanoke, you know, to, to come up for assessments in particular, um, because those are hard to get and extremely expensive. A thorough, you know, psychological assessment. The community is gonna cost you anywhere from three to $5,000.

President Gregory Washington (15:07):

And they can get that free.

Keith Renshaw (15:08):

They can get that free.

President Gregory Washington (15:09):

Outstanding. That's amazing.

Keith Renshaw (15:11):

On the student side, um, we have actually started to work and connect a lot of our different student offices around campus to the Office of Military Services through this work so that everybody's kind of on the same page. So we now have a monthly group that meets, and we have representatives from the Office of Military Services, Registrar's office, financial aid, Student Accounts, Counseling and Psychological Services, um, Center for Community Mental Health. I'm gonna forget some...Career Services...so that everybody knows the different things that are going on. And everybody also knows, hey, if you get a veteran coming in, there might be special services available to them. Um, and, uh, and so we've been able to stand that up. We now are just about to launch, I think this is now confirmed: in Fall '26 we are for the first time, gonna be able to evaluate veterans prior educational experiences in the military, through their joint services transcript, for credit here at George Mason.

Keith Renshaw (16:03):

And we have not been able to do that for years just because it's, it's kind of a morass. But through the work of this group and through some advocacy from people in this group, um, we've gotten to the point now where our transfer credit evaluation team has put some technology in place. And we are, we are test running it now. And so, so far all looks good. And so we think that we're gonna be able to launch that starting Fall '26, um, where people are getting, uh, much more credit for their prior service. Because one, one of the things that I saw, at least in my time working with folks, is not only the incredible purpose and, and the incredible things that service members master during their time, but just how much of that doesn't show up on any kind of resume or transcript except for this joint services transcript. And so that is critical to being able to help them get toward that degree by not making them repeat things that they clearly have mastered in the past.

President Gregory Washington (16:55):

Oh, that's amazing. So, and, and that will then, will, it should equal more courses being--

Keith Renshaw (17:03):

Credited...

President Gregory Washington (17:04):

--Being awarded to students.

Keith Renshaw (17:05):

Right. So that they're not basically repeating the same thing that they already know.

President Gregory Washington (17:08):

Outstanding, outstanding. This Military Veterans and Families Initiative, how does it uphold Mason's values as an institution?

Keith Renshaw (17:16):

Yeah, in my mind, it's, it's almost the sort of epitome of the values. And the reason I say that is because this whole thing is about bringing together inclusivity and access for students and supporting those students with what they need to get to their next step. With the incredible research enterprise that we have here, and the expertise that we have with serving the community and being a, a place where we are, um, we are a public good, right? We are a state entity, and we are here serving the state. We're doing that by serving the community members. We're in one of the, you know, most veteran-rich, service member-rich, family-rich areas of the country. And we have all of these services that are training our students, um, that are accomplishing research while also delivering services directly to that population in our region. In addition, we are one of the biggest producers of talent in the region, in the state. And we know that in our region, we have a number of employers who are not only looking for great talent, but they have specific recruiting initiatives around veterans. And so we are supplying that talent basically by bringing these things together. So we're able to marry the student services with the research mission, with the community service mission of our university. So, to me, it really sort of represents everything. And it also is bringing in a whole set of, of folks who have had a different life experience than those who haven't been in the military.

President Gregory Washington (18:51):

You know, what you call that?

Keith Renshaw (18:52):

I think I know what you're gonna say.

President Gregory Washington (18:54):

You know what we call that here? <laugh>, we call that diversity. And that's a part of the piece that's always missing from the discussions that we have on this topic.

Keith Renshaw (19:05):

You are right.

President Gregory Washington (19:06):

That's clear. We don't run from it.

Keith Renshaw (19:08):

Nope.

President Gregory Washington (19:09):

But I think the broader public misses that we see this as part of the diversity, the rich tapestry of diversity that we bring to this community, and that we work to enhance, you know, we work to engage, and we work to incorporate in terms of what George Mason is all about.

Keith Renshaw (19:29):

And that kind of experience benefits not just the service members, the veterans and their families, benefits our students from seeing different perspectives, different backgrounds. I mean, you've got people who are coming here who lived all over the world, seeing all kinds of things, um, and that they're bringing that into our classrooms.

President Gregory Washington (19:47):

Yeah. I had a dinner last night with a group of students, and in that group, you know, we had former military students, and they were older than, you know, the traditional students in the group, and they brought a different set of life experiences to discussion. They're in the same classes. They have the same engagement. Uh, they, they work in the same groups. But they bring a different set of experiences. And that is valuable to other young people who are really, for lack of a better way of saying this, figuring themselves out.

Keith Renshaw (20:19):

That's Right.

President Gregory Washington (20:20):

A 2019- 2020 survey from the National Center on Education Statistics stated that veterans represent 3.7% of all undergraduate students in the US. Would you say that this data has changed since then?

Keith Renshaw (20:40):

I, yeah. So we don't have any comprehensive studies like that that they've done since that I have seen what we're seeing in some of the sort of, you know, sampling type studies, is that, that that number seems to be going up right, might be inching closer to 5%. Now, in addition, I think it's important to layer on top of that the veteran connected folks and the military connected folks, thinking about the kids, thinking about the, the spouses, right, 'cause military spouses, I, I just wanna sort of note, they often get left out of the conversation, you know, but they have their own issues with you, you mentioned it before, right, you know, just like the kids are moving every one to two to four years. So are the spouses. And so stringing together a set of educational or work experiences is difficult. So, so I think that that number is inching up. Um, it's certainly higher here at George Mason.

President Gregory Washington (21:31):

We're higher than those statistics. Is that what you would say?

Keith Renshaw (21:34):

For sure. Yeah. We're definitely higher than that on the veteran side. And then when you layer on top of that, the, um, the sort of, we, we also have, you know, we've got active duty and, you know, guard reserve who are here as well. And then we've got, you know, a very robust, uh, enrollment of, of dependents and spouses.

President Gregory Washington (21:49):

What are some of the unique experiences that veterans bring to the classroom?

Keith Renshaw (21:54):

You know, I think all kinds of things, right? So, on the one hand, you've got a set of folks who have often had pretty global experiences depending on where they've been deployed. And, and when I say deployed, I don't mean combat zones. I mean, you know, they, sometimes they're going off and doing other types of missions. Also every, you know, one to two to three, four years, there are changes of station, right? And so sometimes they're in Germany or sometimes they're over in Korea, and, and, and so they're bringing all of that life experience in. But they're also bringing the experience of being part of this broader mission, you know, this, this broader group with a fairly singular mission. And that kind of experience of being a piece of a team to a level at which most people haven't experienced, I, I think is just invaluable, right?

Keith Renshaw (22:40):

To hear about and, and, and to see. And then they've got just a world of logistical experience. You've got, you've got some, you know, veterans who are coming in having managed, you know, millions of dollars of equipment, hundreds of other--right, you know, service members being responsible for their lives. And, and then they're walking into the classroom, right. You know, and sitting down and making a presentation with other groups that that's gonna change the way they think about some of the issues we're talking about in the classroom. Um, that's gonna layer on different experiences with other cultures as well, you know, a lot of folks are out there interacting with, with people all over the world. Right. Right. And having to kinda learn that.

President Gregory Washington (23:19):

It's interesting when you juxtapose that you may have been serving in theater in a country, and then you are now in the classroom interacting with students from that country. Right?

Keith Renshaw (23:32):

Absolutely. Especially here. Yeah.

President Gregory Washington (23:34):

Oh, yeah. Without question. What are some of the challenges or barriers veterans face when returning to school?

Keith Renshaw (23:40):

So one, I think, is a logistical one, which is being able to sort of get credit for some of the experiences and training they have had that maps really closely onto the courses that they're now being told they have to take because they don't have a neat transcript that shows it. Um, so that, that's, that's a biggie. I think the, you know, I don't know if culture shock is the right word, but, but having to sort of transition from the world they've been in to a classroom setting can often be challenging. It can often be challenging, I think, even from things as simple as a vague assignment that is vague on purpose, you know, sometimes we give our students assignments where part of the assignment is figuring out, right, what they need to do. Sometimes these are folks who are very used to being told precisely what they need to do.

Keith Renshaw (24:23):

I had one student I worked with who's a doctoral student, and, um, and his phrase was always like, what's the target? Right? What, what, what do I need to hit? Right. And I was like, unfortunately, you gotta figure out that target. Right. You know, that that's part of it. Part of it is finding it. Um, and so, you know, so we would have these kind of back and forths, but, but I'm gonna layer on top of all of that. I think one thing that doesn't get enough attention, which is often the search for purpose and mission, right? I think what we're seeing now is a real struggle in that transition period from service to veteran, um, where you go from having this very clear mission and, and you're part of an entire group that is 100% devoted to that mission, and then you step out, it's all kind of open. You know, what now? And I think that sometimes that's a, that's a bigger struggle than we realize sort of as as, as folks are trying to figure out, what am I doing next? How do we layer on that sense of purpose, that sense of mission with that work?

President Gregory Washington (25:21):

MVFI's mission of providing critical support to military veterans, and family extends to developing curricula and learning opportunities for our non-military connected students to understand the unique needs and experiences of veterans and their families. Right. Can you talk about some of these hands-on opportunities for our students?

Keith Renshaw (25:43):

I'm so glad you asked about that. So, you know, we, we have those educate the educator modules, right, right. Which will, which sort of train future teachers. We use that as a springboard to create a similar set of modules for healthcare programs. So partnered up with a, with a nonprofit and a, a, a medical doctor who had been in the service and created a set of modules that trained folks in healthcare about different sorts of conditions they might see. And again, different resources available to veterans. Um, because what folks don't realize is the majority of veterans are getting their care outside the VA system. A lot of times people think, oh, I'm not gonna see it. Well, you are, right? And especially if you're going graduate and practice in this region, you're absolutely going to see it. So we wanna prepare those students. Some of the other interesting things we've been able to do, and this is what I want, what I hope to grow in the future, is to be able to connect students in particular classes with either veteran serving organizations, nonprofits in the area that have particular needs, um, or other sorts of efforts.

Keith Renshaw (26:44):

And so, I'll give a couple of examples. I was, uh, talking to somebody who was, uh, running kind of a nonprofit, and they were like, you know, we just don't have time to build out our website to sort of get our, you know, our, our marketing out there, et cetera. And I said, well, let me look around and turns out, and we have, not surprisingly, a set of communication classes that that's what they do. And they're always on the lookout for clients as sort of practice for the students to get hands-on training that semester, so I was able to hook them up. And the students got their experience while helping this nonprofit get their website off the ground. And on the way the students also got to sort of see some of the issues that the service member, veteran family community is dealing with because of the content of what they were working on.

Keith Renshaw (27:31):

We had a partnership with the Department of Veteran Services to, um, help run, uh, a suicide prevention program that they do that's called, uh, Virginia's "Identify, Screen, and Refer." And they needed a, a logo so that they could give people something that would show that they had completed a certain type of training. Well, we were able to connect them with a, a summer class in graphic design here, and the students as part of their final projects, each submitted designs, and then the, all the final designs were sent to the Department of Veteran Services, and they selected a winner, and then that student was able to come down and talk about it. Turns out it was a military kid. And in the middle of his presentation, the, uh, Commissioner of, uh, Veteran Services was there, stood up, uh, came up and gave him a military coin for doing such a great job. It was, it was just a really, really cool moment for one of our students. Yeah.

President Gregory Washington (28:23):

Outstanding. So why is it important for students to learn about the unique needs of military veterans and their families, other students?

Keith Renshaw (28:31):

Yeah. I, I see it as, as one: part of our broader approach to, as you said before, right? From the perspective of diversity, recognizing we live in a, you know, global and diverse world. And our students need to be prepared for that in all aspects. Not just in one aspect of diversity, not in two or three aspects, but all aspects. This is another one. In addition, a lot of our students are going out there and doing work that is where they're gonna be interacting with folks. And, and guess what? <laugh>, a huge percentage of our population is military or veteran connected. So developing competence to work with that group is sort of critical to success. If you're in a service field, you need to be prepared for that. And just, if you're gonna be a person who interacts with other colleagues, you should be prepared for that to some degree. And so I see it as another piece of what we are delivering to our students in terms of training them to be prepared to engage with the full range of diversity they're gonna experience when they leave this place.

President Gregory Washington (29:34):

Especially if you stay in this area.

Keith Renshaw (29:38):

Absolutely.

President Gregory Washington (29:38):

Right? Which more than 70% of our students do. You stay in this area for a job, it's a high probability you're gonna deal with people from the military.

Keith Renshaw (29:50):

For sure.

President Gregory Washington (29:50):

And so you need to have an understanding or even some life experiences where you've engaged with folk in the classroom and others. That's right. So you, you're an accomplished professor here at George Mason, and you've gotten multiple teaching awards. Right. And, you know, I always would envy you folk over in psychology because, you know, everything you do is so relatable. Yeah. <laugh>, which made it easier to win teaching awards.

Keith Renshaw (30:13):

<laugh>, I feel like you're, I feel like you're knocking down my award a little bit.

President Gregory Washington (30:17):

<laugh> Make it easier, because, you know, you deal with the human condition and everybody has a dog in the hunt. And they don't necessarily have that with differential equations. <laugh>, I, I get it. <laugh>. Um, but how have your experiences with the military community impacted your approach to teaching?

Keith Renshaw (30:36):

It's a, it's a great question. I'm gonna sort of put two elements to it. One is sort of my broader experiences, right? It's just kind of opened my eyes to a very particular slice of diversity that I would not have otherwise been aware of. And so that then makes me realize in my teaching, like I have to realize people in my classroom might have had any range of experiences that I'm not aware of. You know, when I started out early on in my teaching career, a lot of what I did relied on the relatability, right, of the material. And, um, you can make that be pretty fun. I realized, you know, over time that some of what I was making fun, um, I wasn't making fun of it, but I was making fun with it. But that was probably pretty personal to a student in my class, and I didn't realize it.

Keith Renshaw (31:25):

And so I was able to sort of shift my, as, as, as I had some more of these experiences, in particular, some of the experiences with the military folks, I was able to start to shift the way that I delivered my material, even to be a little bit more sensitive to that, I think, and to be, um, a little bit more aware. It also opened my eyes to the importance of exposing people to different perspectives in ways of thinking. And this one, I'll get a little more personal in, in this region, right? You make friends, right? You know, you meet people, um, who are coming in. And, um, number of years ago as I was sort of starting in this work, uh, you know, we had a military family kind of move into the, the neighborhood and kids were the same age, you know, and everything else.

Keith Renshaw (32:03):

So we, we spent a lot of time together and I ended up getting into some sort of in-depth conversations with their father who was a, a military member. And, and that really led to this kind of what now is probably going on almost 10 years of occasionally sort of stepping aside and having really deep conversations about issues where we have differing perspectives and trying to understand each other. And that has kind of formed the basis for how I think about what we need to be teaching all of our students, because we have far too little of people with from different perspectives trying to engage with each other, to understand each other, as opposed to put each other down or shut each other down. And in fact, that that really is driving some of the work I'm now doing in my current role in, in sort of senior associate provost for undergrad ed, trying to think about how do we foster these types of experiences in our students.

Keith Renshaw (33:02):

He came with me actually to an event we had last year pre-election that we hosted through our Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning. And the Schar School sent over Jennifer Victor and Lucas Núñez, and there was this whole sort of, uh, engagement of students and staff and faculty around particular issues. Um, and it was all fact-based and sort of respectful, but trying to sort of think about different sides of the same issue and, you know, and, and where people were coming from. So seeing how that can happen and how intentional that has to be, particularly now, um, has really shaped my thinking about how to teach in a way that makes people confront other ideas from a perspective of learning more about it. Not just shooting it down.

President Gregory Washington (33:48):

As someone with extensive experience at this intersection of the military community and higher ed, what would you say is one way higher ed can improve themselves in, in terms of the support of veterans, the military and their families?

Keith Renshaw (34:04):

I would love to see higher ed push ourselves in thinking about the military veteran family community within diversity work. As you said, you know, I mean, this is, this is work that, that has to happen because it's who our student body is, right? So how do we make sure it's robust so that it's capturing the totality of what we mean by diversity? So I would love to see us incorporate this, you know, the sort of understanding of the population and understanding the totality of what the, the population goes through. Because I think a lot of times when people say, oh yeah, you know, I mean, I wanna make sure I know about the military veteran community so that I know how to recognize when somebody's got PTSD. And it's like, that's not the totality, right? I mean, you know, that is, that is such a small piece of things that I think I'm really glad we have awareness of it, but I think it's kind of overtaken and overshadowed the, the, the sort of totality of experience.

Keith Renshaw (34:59):

Let's recognize the, the benefits, let's recognize the rich sort of experience that folks are bringing to the table. Um, and let's start embedding that in trainings for faculty and staff so that we're aware of it and we can actually not only serve our students better, but leverage that experience to benefit all of our students more. And within that work, my real hope is that we don't just stay focused on veterans only, but we really broaden out to think about military spouses, military children, and the entirety of the family because that whole group brings a set of experiences to the table that we need to recognize and, and acknowledge.

President Gregory Washington (35:42):

That is good stuff. So what encourages you to continue working with and advocating for the veteran community?

Keith Renshaw (35:50):

Every now and again, with this veteran opportunities group, some sort of emergent issue pops up. And because that group is functioning so well together and, and so tight, we're able to sort of problem solve it. And we help a student who is about to lose their benefits, right? Or who is about to have to stop out because their benefits ended, and we figure out a way to keep them in and get them over the finish line. When, when I see those kinds of things, I get excited. And when I see the kinds of things we've been able to do, standing up the Student Ambassador Days, starting these services at Center for Community Mental Health for the folks, um, continuing the services we're doing through M-Vets. When I see those kind of impacts, as much as this is all done right now with just donated time and effort from folks across the university, it keeps you going and it makes you wanna keep doing it.

President Gregory Washington (36:38):

Outstanding. Outstanding. Well, we really, really appreciate you, and we appreciate the work you're doing for our students and for our veterans and their families.

Keith Renshaw (36:47):

There you go. There you go. Well, I appreciate the opportunity.

President Gregory Washington (36:49):

Outstanding. Well, we're gonna have to leave it there. Keith, thank you for joining us and for your hard work in helping �� students succeed. I am George Mason president Gregory Washington. Thanks for listening, and tune in next time for more conversations that show why we are All Together, Different.

Outro (37:13):

If you like what you heard on this podcast, go to podcast.gmu.edu for more of Gregory Washington's conversations with the thought leaders, experts, and educators who take on the grand challenges facing our students, graduates, and higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.

Serving military, veterans, and their families at George Mason

In This Story

Keith Renshaw, PhD

Gregory Washington

Topics

Access to Excellence podcast

Featured podcast episode

podcast

Podcast Episode

Military Veterans and Families Initiative (MVFI)

Office of Military Services

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Psychology

Veterans

Veterans Day

From the classroom to the courtroom: George Mason Scalia Law School student assists veteran at hearing

Colleen Rich — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:29:31 +0000

From the classroom to the courtroom: George Mason Scalia Law School student assists veteran at hearing Colleen Rich Thu, 10/31/2024 - 17:29

M-VETS gave �� third-year law student Danny Jenkins the kind of courtroom experience that no classroom could.

From left, M-VETS Director Timothy MacArthur, Student Advisor Danny Jenkins, and Assistant Director Raphael Johnson. Photo provided

Jenkins, a student advisor in the Scalia Law School, played a crucial role in helping a former servicemember take a substantial step toward securing the benefit he was owed.

The Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (M-VETS) provides free legal services to veterans and servicemembers, making it a unique program in legal education. Since its founding in 2004, it has become a model for similar clinics at law schools across the nation.

“That’s exactly why I wanted to be part of it,” said Jenkins, a 28-year-old Provo, Utah, native. “I’ve always felt indebted to our servicemembers for their sacrifice, and being able to really make a difference in a veteran’s daily life is extremely satisfying and rewarding.”

M-VETS Director Timothy M. MacArthur emphasized the clinic’s collaboration with George Mason’s Office of Military Services, the Military, Veterans, and Family Initiative, and the Center for Community Mental Health to better support veterans.

M-VETS enables George Mason law students to assist veterans, servicemembers, and their families with a wide range of litigation and non-litigation matters. Over the past two decades, the clinic has helped hundreds of clients from all five branches of the armed services, offering services like appeals for the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Board of Veterans Appeals for disability and educational benefit claims, and the filing of requests for increases in disability ratings. M-VETS services are available regardless of the veteran’s state of residence.

“Supporting our veterans is incredibly important, not only because of their sacrifices, but also because of the unique challenges they face after service,” MacArthur said. “They’ve served our country, and providing legal support is a way for me to show my gratitude.”

Jenkins, who plans to join the Army JAG Corps after graduating and passing the bar, volunteered to take on a case involving a client M-VETS had represented since 2018. The case stemmed from a claim for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) for a DVA home loan, and finally went before a judge on Aug. 23 after nearly six years of litigation.

Jenkins conducted the hearing, arguing for the COE under MacArthur’s supervision, before the DVA’s Board of Veteran Appeals. The client, a Virginia Army National Guard veteran, had been denied the COE because he hadn’t met the required six years of service. During his initial training, the client had injured his right ankle while on active duty, which led to his discharge. Exceptions are allowed for those discharged from service due to a service-connected disability, but the veteran’s discharge papers didn’t indicate an injury-related separation.

Jenkins argued the motion and presented evidence proving that the discharge papers were inaccurate. While M-VETS awaits the ruling from the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, it is helping the veteran to correct his records with the Board for Correction of Military Records to reflect a medical retirement.

“The most challenging part of this case was preparing for the hearing,” Jenkins said. “I needed to make sure I had information and research for any potential questions or issues that would arise, which required a tremendous amount of time and effort.”

While Jenkins doesn’t have a personal military background, his grandfather and father-in-law are veterans. Reflecting on the case, he described the experience as “incredibly satisfying,” offering the kind of real-world experience and personal satisfaction that no classroom could ever provide.

“I came to law school to help people, and most of your time in law school is spent in classrooms,” Jenkins said. “This unique opportunity allowed me to step outside the classroom and make a real difference in someone’s life.”

Learn more about the Antonin Scalia Law School

Topics

Students

Veterans

Antonin Scalia Law School

experiential learning

Veterans Day

MBA military veterans share how the Mason MBA impacted their careers

Marianne Klinker — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 20:01:54 +0000

MBA military veterans share how the Mason MBA impacted their careers Marianne Klinker Thu, 11/09/2023 - 15:01

The Donald G. Costello College of Business at �� is committed to the active-duty military service members and veterans who come to Mason to enhance their education.

We caught up with some military veterans who recently graduated from the Mason MBA program who shared the impact the MBA program has had on their career already, and how the Mason MBA could be beneficial for others.

Matthew Scott

Matthew Scott, MBA ’21

Military Branch: United States Army 

Current Role: Acquisition Modernization Program Manager, Defense Logistics Agency

Earning an MBA from �� assisted with my transition from military to civilian life. The comprehensive management and technical skills acquired during my MBA journey significantly contributed to my hiring as the new Acquisition Modernization Program Manager for the Defense Logistics Agency.  

I believe one of the most valuable factors in gaining an MBA from Mason is expanding your real-time knowledge basis in critical areas to further develop and achieve current strategic goals while concurrently orchestrating future value in an ever-changing world. 

Matt Munsch

Matt Munsch, MBA ’22

Military Branch: United States Air Force 

Current Role: Director, Dark Wolf Solutions 

After graduating from Mason's MBA program, I was able to enter the next phase of my career.  

Shortly after graduating, I joined Google as a Technical Program Manager. After learning and growing with Google, I was able to continue propelling my career forward, joining Dark Wolf Solutions as a Director. 

The Mason MBA program gave me the skills, qualifications, and confidence to continue up leveling my career. Going back to school after more than a decade in the workforce was daunting but I do not regret my decision! 

Bradley B. Son

Bradley B. Son, MBA ’21

Military Branch: United States Army 

Current Role: Product Manager, Cyber Platforms & Systems, Defensive Cyber Operations, United States Army 

For myself, the MBA was more than career progression and networking. The aspect of my job in the Army Acquisition Corps requires me to fundamentally understand the aspects of business management to make decisions not only on behalf of my organization, but for the Army and the Department of Defense. My experience at �� greatly assisted me in many facets of my profession, which includes leadership, ethics, economics, marketing, information systems and operations management, project management, and many more! I can't thank the incredible organization, my outstanding cohort, and more importantly, the incredible instructors that helped guide me throughout my journey!

John Goetchius

John Goetchius, MBA ’21 

Military Branch: United States Army, Retired 

Current Role: Company Manager 

The Mason MBA program imparted new, useful technical and analytical skills—and the confidence to solve current, real-world business and management problems. I benefited from contact with an engaged, dedicated, highly competent faculty and a smart, diverse group of fellow students. Inside a well-planned curriculum, I found the program challenging—and deeply rewarding. 

Connor Mallon

Connor Mallon, MBA ’23 

Military Branch: United States Army 

Current Role: Strategy Consultant, NOVACES 

An MBA and the skillset that accompanied the degree helped me stand out in a saturated and competitive market. The program gave me the edge I needed to hit the ground running in a new career and the confidence to navigate complex challenges and demanding stakeholders. 

Ramon Walker

Ramon Walker, Jr., MBA ’23 

Military Branch: United States Air Force  

Current Role: Intelligence Research Specialist, United States Custom and Border Protection 

The Mason MBA program gave me an opportunity to network and I gained experience and skills that could be applied to reaching the upper echelons of my career field. 

Douglas Chapman

Douglas Chapman, MBA ’22 

Military Branch: United States Army 

Current Role: Vice President of Operations, CoreSys Consulting Services, LLC 

The MBA program at Mason enabled me to improve my business skills and expanded my aperture as related to strategic thinking.   

Did you know �� is a Yellow Ribbon Participant? Mason provides additional funds to eligible service members to pay education costs without charging your GI Bill® entitlement. Visit Mason's Office of Military Services to learn more about education benefits for veterans.

Topics

Costello College of Business News

Costello College of Business Alumni

Learn more about Mason's MBA program

Learn more about VA Benefits at Mason

A Special Veterans Day Message

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 18:32:20 +0000

A Special Veterans Day Message Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/01/2021 - 14:32

LR: Emily Fasick (Program Assistant), Dr. Niyati Dhokai (Program Director)

Happy Veterans Day! As we honor and celebrate the service of our Veterans and their families, we also look back at the past year and the amazing community we have sustained virtually through the Hylton Center's Veterans and the Arts Initiative. Through countless music and art workshops, we have played guitar and ukulele, taken smartphone photos and videos, and created mixed media. We have not only reflected on our own community's service through the arts, but also inspired others by sharing our work at the Virginia Women Veterans Summit and through the release of an innovative Tele-Arts Engagement Guide. The implementation guide shares how the Initiative created a virtual Ukulele Workshop Series that is inclusive and accessible to our diverse, intergenerational, military-connected community, and provides a template for others to create similar programming in their communities.

As we return to the Hylton Center for hybrid workshops this fall and into 2022, we draw upon our resilience as individuals and especially as a community. As Program Director of the Veterans and the Arts Initiative, I look forward to reflecting on this resilience joyfully through the music of husband-and-wife duo, Michael Trotter and Tanya Trotter of The War and Treaty on Sunday, November 14. The couple first met in 2010 at the aptly titled Spirit of Love festival in Maryland, where their artistic-romantic partnership began. Today, the couple continues to bring their very relatable struggles to their music including Trotter’s battle with PTSD as an Army Veteran. Their music speaks truthfully about their journey, including challenges encountered and the hope that they have sustained.

If you haven't heard about The War and Treaty yet, please read more about them and grab your tickets now! Tickets are free for Veterans and Servicemembers with ID (up to 2 tickets each, must be claimed in-person at the Hylton Center Ticket Office).

I look forward to seeing you at the Hylton Center!

Dr. Niyati Dhokai

Program Director, Veterans and the Arts Initiative, Hylton Performing Arts Center, and Research Associate Professor, College of Visual and Performing Arts

Topics

Hylton Center

veterans and the arts

Veterans Day

Mason alumnus Michael A. Bills reflects on his 42-year career in the U.S. Army

John Hollis — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 10:30:00 +0000

Mason alumnus Michael A. Bills reflects on his 42-year career in the U.S. Army John Hollis Tue, 11/10/2020 - 05:30

Think about what �� students are dealing with right now, Mason President Gregory Washington said.

There is the ongoing pandemic and the daunting task of searching for a first job.

“But they also have to start thinking about what they want to do with their lives,” Washington said. “I want to be able to give them some feedback. Here are some of the big issues out there that you can solve, that you can attack with your Mason education.”

That feedback will come through interviews and discussions Washington will undertake with Mason faculty each month as a guest host on the university’s “Access to Excellence” podcast, available on platforms such as Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

Washington’s first podcast, just released, is with Schar School Dean Mark J. Rozell, who talks about the presidential election, how Donald Trump has molded the Republican party in his own image, how to reform the electoral college, and where things go from here politically in this country.

“I’m hoping that a) students will listen, and b) they will use the feedback associated with this podcast to help chart their directions in terms of their majors, in terms of the directions they want to go in their own careers,” Washington said. “That’s the real motivator for me. I’m hoping to give them some clarity.”

Topics

Veterans Day

Veterans

Military

Military Veterans and Families Initiative (MVFI)

Campus News

Scholarship helps Mason veteran realize his dream to serve America

John Hollis — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 10:30:00 +0000

Scholarship helps Mason veteran realize his dream to serve America John Hollis Tue, 11/10/2020 - 05:30

Veterans Day

George Mason alum and Marine Corps veteran enters new role as president of University of West Georgia

Related News

Topics

George Mason and Walter Reed Bethesda collaborate to support veterans through the arts

In This Story

Related Stories

Topics

Podcast: Serving those who serve: A deployment of education and research

In This Story

Related news

Topics

From the classroom to the courtroom: George Mason Scalia Law School student assists veteran at hearing

Related Stories

Topics

MBA military veterans share how the Mason MBA impacted their careers

Matthew Scott, MBA ’21

Matt Munsch, MBA ’22

Bradley B. Son, MBA ’21

John Goetchius, MBA ’21

Connor Mallon, MBA ’23

Ramon Walker, Jr., MBA ’23

Douglas Chapman, MBA ’22

Topics

A Special Veterans Day Message

Topics

Mason alumnus Michael A. Bills reflects on his 42-year career in the U.S. Army

Topics

Scholarship helps Mason veteran realize his dream to serve America