Category: Outreach

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Outreach

The Mason Center for Social Entrepreneurship

The Mason Center for Social Entrepreneurship (MCSE) prepares students and the Mason community to build organizations that solve pressing social and environmental problems.  We recognize that those who want to improve conditions often lack the skills they will need to make the changes they seek, and those who learn these skills don’t always realize the amount of good these skills will allow them to accomplish.  MCSE aims to change that dynamic.  We expect our students to have a unique set of skills that will lead to transformative social and environmental changes.

The MCSE directs the Concentration is Social Entrepreneurship for the Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies at Mason, and they work closely with those who are developing an undergraduate concentration in that area.  They also offer two graduate hybrid distance learning courses and a summer interactive institute, the Social Innovation program, which offers upper level undergraduates and recent graduates theoretical background, social enterprise consulting experience, and the opportunity to launch a virtual social enterprise.

StartUp mason also helps social entrepreneurs get going, and our Venture Camps and hackathons provide other ways to explore, experiment, and launch social enterprises.  The MCSE is able to leverage the energy of the National Capital Region, a hub of social innovation, information technology, and policy-making.  The commitment to innovation at Mason allows the MCSE to create an environment where emerging social entrepreneurs will turn innovative ideas into reality.

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Outreach

Preparing for careers in the academy

Preparing for Careers in the Academy is a credit-bearing course offered by Mason’s Center for Teaching and Faculty Excellence.  The purpose of this program is to help students working on terminal degrees such as the PhD and the MFA to prepare for future academic careers and strengthen their instructional effectiveness.  Mason also participates in the Preparing Future Faculty program, a national movement to transform the way aspiring faculty members are prepared for their careers.  The PFF program provides doctoral students, as well as some master’s and postdoctoral students, opportunities to observe and experience faculty responsibilities at a variety of academic institutions with varying missions, diverse student bodies, and different expectations for faculty.  Students come from several types of institutions such as historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, women’s colleges and tribal colleges.  Mason’s relationship with Howard University has been productive, resulting in the hiring of more minority faculty members.

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Outreach

Food pantry to address student homelessness

A storage closet in Sub I was converted into a Pop Up Pantry to help homeless and financially unstable students.  The closet houses supplies such as non-perishable food, hygiene items, coats and blankets.

The Pop Up Pantry was started by graduate student Yara Mowafy, who has been advocating for the homeless and financially insecure by addressing several different needs.

“As November 2013, we had the Student Meal Assistance Fund.  So that provides meal vouchers to students who seek them from the Office of Student Support.  After that, I began doing research; it is Institutional Review Board approved research.  So I’m looking to identify the prevalence and nature of homelessness and hunger at George Mason University,” Mowafy said.

Though the research is still ongoing, Mowafy said results should be released by the end of this semester.

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