Around Mason: Week of Oct. 13, 2020

Black Scholars Endowed Scholarship: Help Identify Eligible Students

The George Mason University Black Alumni Chapter seeks assistance in identifying eligible students to submit applications for this year’s Black Scholars Endowed Scholarship ($2,500).

The scholarship is open to full-time undergraduate students who meet all eligibility criteria. Further eligibility requirements and application instructions are available here for this scholarship and all other offered Alumni Association scholarships.

While the official submission deadline is Jan. 4, 2021, we encourage students to submit applications prior to the Thanksgiving break to allow professors/administrators ample time to submit letters of recommendation prior to the holiday season.

Questions may be directed to gmubac@gmail.com.

Reminder: Mason Shuttles Service Reductions

A reminder that service reductions on Mason Shuttles went into effect in early October:

• Service on the Burke VRE and Sandy Creek to Metro routes ended on Friday, Oct. 2, until further notice. To travel to Vienna Metro, use the CUE bus, which remains on its regular schedule with departures from Rappahannock River Lane. For scheduling information, visit cuebus.org.
• Beginning Monday, Oct. 5, shuttle service is only available on the Fairfax/SciTech and Gunston Mason routes, with some service changes.
  • Fairfax/SciTech: No weekend service. Monday–Friday, service will be every 40 minutes beginning at 6 a.m. from Sandy Creek and Colgan Hall with four buses on the route.
  • Gunston Mason: No weekend service. Monday–Friday, some morning service is eliminated, but Gunston Mason will run with a single bus all day and evening.

Updated schedules for Fairfax/SciTech and Gunston Mason are available at shuttle.gmu.edu.

If you have any questions, reach out to Parking and Transportation at 703-993-2828 or shuttle@gmu.edu.

Annual Socktober Collection

Don’t miss this opportunity to do a bit of good for our local community. While there won’t be campus drop-off locations this year, we’re not letting that get in the way of Socktober 2020.

This is Mason's fifth annual collection of new socks to donate to the Katherine Hanley Family Shelter. We’ve had great participation in the first four years, and we’re hoping for equally great participation this year.

Remember, it feels good to do good.

This might be the easiest year to participate, because we’re doing it through an Amazon wishlist: http://bit.ly/SocktoberMason. Place your order by Oct. 31!

Contact Katie Clare, Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, at kclare@gmu.edu with questions.

Performance Management Sessions

Join an upcoming virtual performance management session. Open to all faculty and staff, this session will:

• Provide an overview of the performance evaluation process
• Explore best practices for effective performance management and the important conversations that are a part of the process
• Share ideas on how to ensure these conversations are effective—especially in a virtual setting

Participants are encouraged to ask questions and explore some of the ways in which the conversation may be different this year.

To register for one of the four virtual sessions, visit MasonLEAPS.

For questions, contact hrlearn@gmu.edu.

Virtual Performance Conversations Playlist

Access the new Virtual Performance Conversations Playlist for tools and resources supervisors and employees can use as they prepare for upcoming performance conversations.

The playlist can be accessed through MasonLEAPS and LinkedIn Learning.

Contact hrlearn@gmu.edu with questions.

Bicycle Commuting 101: Online via Zoom

Bicycling to campus can be fun and great for your well-being. Join Delia Johnson from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and a League of American Bicyclists-certified instructor for Bicycle Commuting 101.

During this session on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at noon (via Zoom), Delia will share information to help you feel more confident about getting to campus on two wheels.

This session is open to faculty, staff, and students. Register today. Zoom meeting details will be sent to you.

Mason Families Share

Members of the Mason community recently participated in the Patriot Families Helping Families Brainstorm Session. During this robust session, families shared their greatest family-centered hurdles during the global pandemic.

Our Human Resources and Payroll (HR) facilitators listened and gathered the top four issues Mason families are facing. Who knows better about how to handle these difficult issues, than other families?

To offer a positive and productive space for sharing ideas, HR is hosting a collaboration called Mason Families Share. This collaboration offers a focused and safe place for Mason families to share what’s working. 

This collaboration only works if Mason families join in and share their solutions! Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, via Instant HR and Twitter, HR will release a Solution Share Prompt that is based on one of the top four issues Mason families are facing. 
2. Members of the Mason community are encouraged to share their solutions to this Solution Share Prompt posting their solution on Twitter with the hashtag #MasonFamsShare or emailing hrcomm@gmu.edu. If you email your solution, HR will post the emailed solutions on Twitter with the same hashtag. 
3. Then, Mason families will be able to see and engage with others’ solutions by searching the hashtag #MasonFamsShare on Twitter.

Mindful Mason Moments

Don’t miss the opportunity to engage in some daily mindfulness through Mindful Mason Moments.

A variety of campus partners offer mindfulness practices Monday–Friday at noon. Sessions run for 30 minutes Monday–Thursday and for 20 minutes on Friday.

Each session is a single offering. Come to some sessions. Come to all sessions. Build a practice that works for you and give yourself these moments of self-care to help you keep going.

As of October, these sessions will be held via Zoom:
https://gmu.zoom.us/j/99936517619
Meeting ID: 999 3651 7619

Contact Katie Clare, Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, at kclare@gmu.edu.

Staying Safe: Traveling at Dusk

A reminder from Parking and Transportation that the days are growing shorter, and it’s getting darker earlier. As we prepare to “Fall Back” on Sunday, Nov. 1, please remember that it is difficult to see and be seen at dusk.

Exercise care whether you are driving, biking, scooting, or walking.

Business of Well-Being Newsletter

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Business of Well-Being Newsletter—an every-other-week newsletter—explores this $4.5 trillion marketplace.

Using “building a life of vitality, purpose, resilience, and engagement” as a definition, we take a deeper look at the many businesses that focus on these six areas of well-being: financial, place-based, occupational, social, physical, and emotional/spiritual.

Join our growing list of subscribers.

Contact Nicole Kelleher at nkelleh@gmu.edu with questions.

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