Leadership

Rare peace accord signed in the Congo, thanks to Carter School’s community-centered approach

Mariam Aburdeineh — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 00:18:43 +0000

Rare peace accord signed in the Congo, thanks to Carter School’s community-centered approach Mariam Aburdeineh Mon, 12/13/2021 - 19:18

In This Story

Alpaslan Özerdem

Charles Davidson

Learn more about the Carter School

Members of 21 armed groups, Congolese leaders, members of the armed services and local community leaders, including several female peacemakers, met in November to discuss a path to peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo provided by the Carter School.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has not seen peace for more than three decades, but in November 2021, George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution helped the country take a leap in a hopeful direction.

In the province of South Kivu, the school gathered representatives from 21 armed groups, the Congolese government, military, police, intelligence services, religious leaders, civil society groups, and peace advocates. Not only did everyone discuss a path toward peacebuilding, but they also signed a peace accord to solidify it.

“As a methodology, what we’ve done here is exemplary, and it can really change the way peace processes are designed, peace agreements are brokered, and the role of academic institutions in that,” said Carter School Dean Alpaslan Özerdem. “This is the first of many direct engagements we’re hoping to have in carrying the flag of peacemaking as an academic institution.”

Female peacemakers were also in attendance and played a substantial role in the four day conference. Photo provided by the Carter School.

So, what was new about the school’s approach?

Charles Davidson, PhD ’19, Carter School research faculty and alumnus, said it was reexamining the intersection of local and international peacebuilding—something he calls the “new hybridity” approach.

“It’s about, what would it look like to not have outsiders dominate the conversation? What happens when locals and internationals combine efforts?” Davidson said.

Özerdem said the process gives locals hope and opportunities to build their own peace.

“The role of the Carter School has been to facilitate, to accompany local actors by providing our direct qualities of trust building, and knowledge in the planning and implementation,” Özerdem said.

Members of local armed groups sat alongside members of the Congolese state and armed services in pursuit of peace. Photo provided by the Carter School.

The school’s model flips tradition on its head.

Typically, peace processes are administrated by outside states or international organizations. Özerdem said that dynamic may cause lower trust among locals, due to the nature of the conflict and the legacy of those relationships.

“With this South Kivu process, the uniqueness is that it was really designed and implemented by local leadership and international actors accompanied the process,” Özerdem said. “When an external academic institution comes, that creates a different type of opportunity for trust building.”

In many peace negotiations, money is given to incentivize collaboration.

“We emphasized we are not going to pay [non-essential] stipends—you come if you’re interested in making peace,” Özerdem said. “That gave a different proposition than previous peacemaking attempts.”

Surprisingly, it was effective.

“Many people showed up who were not invited,” Davidson said, mentioning more than 60 people were in attendance. “Knowing they had nothing [financial] to gain…they still came and I think it was a huge testament to what was going on.”

Members of local armed groups sat alongside members of the Congolese state and armed services in pursuit of peace. Photo provided by the Carter School.

That wasn’t the only break from the norm. Özerdem said third parties typically consult academic institutions for expertise only if and when needed.

“In this one, because an academic institution is the lead actor in facilitating the entire process, the knowledge part is integrated in a much more organic and natural way,” he said.

Özerdem said the school plans to replicate the process, piloted in the Congo, in other conflict-ridden zones.

“Particularly with our renaming last year, one of our key aspects of the vision is our relevance for conflict-affected communities and how we can translate this into practice, from addressing issues in our neighborhoods here, to global challenges of peace and security,” he said

It’s a sensitive undertaking with risks the school does not take lightly, Özerdem said, so each step is strategic.

And that’s what the school’s mission is about.

“For units like the Carter School, it’s really important that the practice of conflict resolution is part of our DNA,” Özerdem said.

David Bubasha (center), a former child soldier who left the militia to start AJDC, an organization that works to demobilize child combatants in the Congo, speaks to members of the Congolese press about the peace summit. AJDC, Charles Davidson's nonprofit Innovations in Peacebuilding International, and the Carter School helped facilitate the peace summit in November 2021. Photo provided by the Carter School.

Members of local armed groups sat alongside members of the Congolese state and armed services in pursuit of peace. Photo provided by the Carter School.

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From Jerusalem to DC, Mason alumna dedicates her life to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Mariam Aburdeineh — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

From Jerusalem to DC, Mason alumna dedicates her life to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Mariam Aburdeineh Wed, 09/23/2020 - 01:00

After graduating from Mason, Fakhira Halloun returned to Jerusalem, where she works as a civil society and peacebuilding consultant at the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Photo provided.

Fakhira Halloun holds two contradictory identities: She is Palestinian and an Israeli citizen.

It wasn’t until she began facilitating peace dialogues between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem in 2000, that she realized Palestinian citizens of Israel could be the missing link in bridging ties between the two groups.

“Palestinian citizens of Israel have an important role to play in solving the conflict,” said Halloun, a 2019 PhD graduate of George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. “We know the mindset of the Palestinians in the West Bank and share the same national identity and culture; at the same time, we know the Jews in Israel because we live with them and a lot of relationships are built there.”

That realization inspired her studies at Mason and life goal of bringing about peace, she said.

After graduating from Mason, Halloun returned to Jerusalem, where she works as a civil society and peacebuilding consultant at the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

“This was my dream work,” Halloun said. “I’m helping civil society organizations engaged in peacebuilding work on both sides to reexamine and redefine their work in order to make a difference.”

Though she is overseas, Halloun’s impact in the Washington, D.C., area remains.

Halloun was part of a team that established the D.C.-based Museum of the Palestinian People, which highlights the history, identity, culture and achievements of Palestinians.

Fakhira Halloun (left) shows a guest around the Museum of the Palestinian People, which she helped establish. Photo provided.

“Usually the story about the Palestinian people is very narrow, and it’s linked with the conflict,” Halloun said. “We wanted to expand their narrative and bring out the complexity of it so that Americans and others can see themselves through the stories of the Palestinian people.”

Halloun has also stayed connected to Mason.

Since 2019, she has been co-teaching a study-abroad course with professor Marc Gopin that takes students to Israel and Palestinian territories to understand the conflict from both sides.

It’s an enlightening course, Halloun said, and one she also took as a student.

“Fakhira is an extraordinary peacemaker who understands intellectually and personally the power of compassion and the heart to heal wounds of war and conflict,” Gopin said. “She combines that with reasoning and strategy to build bridges across lines of adversaries.”

“I brought my passion, commitment and persistence to impact my reality, but professors like Dr. [Kevin] Avruch and Dr. Gopin equipped me with a deep lens in conflict resolution through their knowledge, analysis and approaches to understand,” Halloun said. “I couldn’t be successful now where I work in the UN without their contribution to who I am.”

Creating a better future is Halloun’s top goal, she said. According to her professors, she has what it takes.

“If peace with justice is ever to have a chance, it will be people like Fakhira—on all sides—who will commit to seeing it through, and bring it about,” Avruch said.

Fakhira Halloun (far right) with her students in Jerusalem. Photo provided.

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Celebrating stories of personal growth from these graduating seniors

Damian Cristodero — Fri, 22 May 2020 09:30:00 +0000

Celebrating stories of personal growth from these graduating seniors Damian Cristodero Fri, 05/22/2020 - 05:30

Gabrielle Jackson, Community Health

Gabrielle Jackson came to Mason because she said she wanted to be close to Washington, D.C., and she admired the friendliness and diversity of the campus. She also appreciated Mason’s interdisciplinary approach to community, global and public health.

“I wanted to be well-versed in the social and economic issues affecting health access,” Jackson, 22, said. “I was able to get the big picture view of community health at Mason.”

Jackson has taken on a number of leadership and mentoring roles while at Mason, including resident advisor, peer student success coach and peer research mentor.

Jackson of Voorhees, New Jersey, is a member of the Honors College and is a University Scholar, Mason’s most prestigious merit scholarship. Jackson, who minored in Spanish, said she was grateful for the opportunities she had to travel and learn about other countries.

That will continue as Jackson, with a Fulbright Scholarship will be a teaching assistant in Colombia, teaching English and math, and providing additional support to professionals who wish to improve their English. The program is on hold until at least January 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jackson spent a semester in Mason’s study-abroad program in Spain and traveled with Mason to Cuba. In 2018, Jackson received the prestigious Boren Award for International Study to spend a summer learning Portuguese in Brazil.

“That was a pivotal Mason experience for me,” Jackson said. “It was a chance to challenge myself.”

After graduation, Jackson will be working as a project assistant at Justice & Sustainability Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based firm specializing in alternative dispute resolution in public policy and civic engagement.

— Anna Stolley Persky

Patrick Grady, Government and International Politics

Patrick Grady really took advantage of the Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C., while working on his degree in government and international politics with minors in criminology, law and society and legal studies.

The Honors College student from Kennebunkport, Maine, interned on Capitol Hill with his state representatives, Congressman Jared Golden and Senator Susan Collins, and Maine’s Democratic Party.

His service work wasn’t limited to the Hill; Grady was also very active in Student Government and as resident advisor. He also led the student organization InvestinYOUth, a youth mentoring program with at-risk high school students.

In his junior year, he received a prestigious Truman Scholarship, which provides $30,000 for graduate work for those pursuing public service careers. Grady has deferred graduate school until a later date and has accepted a year-long Truman-Albright Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Rural Health Policy.

“One of the issues I will be focusing on is the opioid epidemic and more broadly drug misuse and mortality in rural populations,” he said. “I want to investigate what policies are needed to curb the issue and ultimately move our country to a place where this is no longer a problem.”

Of his time at Mason, Grady said, “I think what made Mason such a great place for me was being in an environment where I was exposed to so many different people and ideas while also being encouraged to do well in my classes and make an impact in my community. It was the perfect formula for me to learn and find direction.

— Colleen Kearney Rich

Ben Rhoades, Environmental and Sustainability Studies

Ben Rhoades said he didn’t realize the breadth of environmental science before he came to Mason. That is why it’s been difficult for him to decide on a master’s program, and why he is looking for a job.

“I’ve learned about all these issues and academic fields,” said Rhoades, who recently researched the amount of microplastics in the Potomac River. “I want to be involved before I narrow it down for the rest of my career.”

A member of the Honors College and a University Scholar, Rhoades, of Midlothian, Virginia, said his Mason experience has been one of personal and academic growth.

Never a joiner, Rhoades has been part of Roosevelt @ Mason, a nonpartisan student policy organization; Green Patriots; the Mason Environmental Justice Alliance, which advocates for diversity in the environmental movement; and Alpha Kappa Chi, the environmental science professional fraternity.

“I could never have expected everything I got out of Mason,” Rhoades said. “The professors were amazing. I never thought I’d be doing undergraduate research, but that’s been a defining part of my time at Mason.”

— Damian Cristodero

Sarah Richart, Conflict Analysis and Resolution

While working as a waitress at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon last summer, Sarah Richart’s coworkers instantly noticed the patient way she dealt with the elderly. While some people might have gotten frustrated with them, Richart said she found them delightful.

“My whole life I’ve gotten along with older people, and my grandmother and I were very close,” said Richart, an Honors College student from Philadelphia. “It hit me this summer that this is something I could do with my conflict resolution degree.”

Richart said her senior capstone project is centered on the experiences of elderly refugees, and she’s already been applying for jobs that would allow her to connect elderly refugees with helpful services.

“I’ve really had a great time,” Richart said. “The thing I loved most about my time at Mason is that there are so many different things I can be involved in.”

That includes running Division I cross country and track, being a Peacebuilding Fellow who interned with Churches for Middle East Peace, studying international security in Switzerland, and pursuing research through the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR), she said.

Whether it was researching how female authors like Zelda Fitzgerald had their narratives influenced by their husbands, or finding ways to combine her passions, Richart’s Mason experience “has been a dream come true,” she said.

— Mariam Aburdeineh

Zaria Talley, English

Zaria Talley has been busy in her four years at Mason. She’s majoring in English with concentrations in literature, and writing and rhetoric, and minored in African and African American Studies and Criminology, Law and Society.

The Honors College member worked as a Mason Ambassador; an editor for Volition, an undergraduate literary and arts journal; and on the communication team and as a peer mentor for the Honors College.

“Getting involved with Volition and becoming an editor was really a big stepping point in moving my career and advancing what I want to do after graduation,” Talley said. “Volition has been a big part of my Mason experience.”

As a Mason Ambassador, Talley was the first face some incoming freshmen saw on campus, and that experience can be pivotal. At Volition, she helped create an expressive community for students.

About the Honors College, she said, “Being able to work as a mentor and help guide [freshmen] through their Mason journey, give them some advice on what I learned … it was a good opportunity for me.”

Talley has a post-graduation job lined up in editing and publishing.

— Delaney Harrison

Farhaj Murshed, Applied statistics

It was the kind of rare opportunity that few ever have, let alone a young college student. Farhaj Murshed spent the latter part of 2018 in his native Bangladesh doing fieldwork that would help better inform policymakers about organ trafficking. Talking with legal and illegal kidney donors, the Honors College student in the Volgenau School of Engineering gathered critical information needed to protect those most vulnerable from unscrupulous dealings.

It was the fourth time Murshed had been funded by Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR). His research mentor’s team received additional funding from the National Science Foundation.

“It was a great experience,” said Murshed, 22, from Lorton, Virginia, “and it felt great to know that you’re contributing to the field of research you’re in and making an impact. I feel I was able to do that.”

Murshed was also selected for a Critical Language Scholarship, and spent the first half of 2018 in India, honing his skills in Bangla.

— John Hollis

Leaders highlight Winter Graduation

Damian Cristodero — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 10:30:00 +0000

Leaders highlight Winter Graduation Damian Cristodero Thu, 12/19/2019 - 05:30

These George Mason University winter graduates not only pushed the envelope in their fields of study, but pushed themselves out of their comfort zones.

With expanded knowledge and gained experience, they have forged a path by not only thinking but doing.

Photo by Lathan Goumas.

Thalia Dimopoulos
MA Psychology

Thalia Dimopoulos said she wants to do research for the rest of her life.

That wasn’t always the case. Originally she wanted to be a hospital geriatrician. But after a research opportunity through Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR), in which Dimopoulos explored if mushrooms could diminish the effects of Alzheimer’s disease in mice, she was hooked.

“Those are skills that really do carry on, not only for your academic a career, but one day, your professional career, too,” said Dimopoulos, whose concentration is in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience.

Working in the lab of Department of Psychology associate professor Jane Flinn, and with the approval of Mason’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Dimopoulos fed mice who had the Alzheimer’s gene about six grams of white button mushrooms a week, about five percent of their diet, for six months.

The research builds on similar studies that have shown how mineral metabolism imbalances may play an important role in Alzheimer’s progression.

The mushrooms contain selenium, an antioxidant that improves spatial memory or, in other words, the ability to navigate space.

Dimopoulos said the mice with the Alzheimer’s gene showed a 10% improvement in navigating a water maze. The maze contained a raised platform that provides the swimming mice a safe harbor. The research tested the ability of the mice to recall the location of the platform.

Dimopoulos said such experiments can help find treatments for Alzheimer’s in people.

“The research can go further than just studying mushrooms,” Dimopoulos said. “I can see selenium-fortified human clinical trials happening even now.”

— Damian Cristodero

Shreya Bhatia
BS Computer Science

Mathematics has always been personal for Shreya Bhatia, and she has literally taken it to heart.

She was still a child when she underwent open heart surgery, and it was her fascination with math that helped during many subsequent visits to her cardiologist.

“When I would see their medical equipment, I would get so intrigued about how math was used to calculate the health of the heart,” said Bhatia, who will graduate from George Mason University on Dec. 19 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. “In 10th grade, I began taking calculus classes where I learned about integrals and Riemann sums [which approximate the lengths of curves], so I imagined how the surface area of the heart was likely scanned and used to calculate the volume of the heart changing during beats.”

Next up for Bhatia could be a master’s degree in computer science through Mason’s Accelerated Master’s Program. She’ll be completing her coursework while working as a system development engineer at Amazon Web Services, where she had an internship.

Bhatia, who also served as an Honors College Peer Research Mentor, was invited to speak to middle schoolers in Loudoun County by her former high school calculus teacher. She says her story is proof that school doesn’t have to be a chore.

“Learning about something new can provide you with the tools you need to build something great,” Bhatia said.

— John Hollis

Hicham Hall
BIS Individualized Study

Pursuing a college education as a nontraditional student can make for some budgeting and scheduling challenges, something George Mason University’s Hicham Hall knows firsthand.

Hall has been continuing his education with the support of his wife and two small children. A veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force and the Army, Hall will graduate from Mason Dec. 19 with a bachelor of individualized study in Islamic thought. He is fluent in English and Maghrebi Arabic, and is studying modern standard Arabic.

“I wasn’t always interested in religious studies,” he said. “I have always been, however, very passionate about whatever it is I found interesting.”

The path hasn’t been easy for Hall, who worked full-time as an emergency room technician while in school and did side work to earn extra cash. His wife oversaw things at home and even made time to organize an initiative that raised $100,000 for black churches in the South that were burned down a few years ago. She was among those honored at the White House by then-President Barack Obama.

“My days are busy, and so are hers,” Hall said. “We are making it happen day-by-day. Our kids have no idea the sacrifices their parents are making because they are too little to know. When life settles down and we settle into our careers, we will tell them stories of how it was for us.”

— John Hollis

Samantha Borders-Shoemaker
PhD Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Samantha Borders-Shoemaker noticed an unsettling trend when she conducted workshops in Fairfax County Public Libraries on how to talk with others about polarizing topics.

“A lot of [the attendees] spoke about political issues at home, how it caused divorces or in some cases fractured close family relationships,” she said. “It was quite serious.”

Borders-Shoemaker said those struggles helped spark her dissertation addressing interpersonal communication around political differences. And the conflict resolution curriculum and dialogue program Borders-Shoemaker helped develop in partnership with Fairfax County Public Library won the 2019 Gordon M. Conable Award from the Public Library Association.

“I would like to take the workshop I designed [for my doctoral research] and apply it in more rural communities,” Borders-Shoemaker said.

After graduation, Borders-Shoemaker said she plans to help address local conflicts, such as political tensions and racial reconciliation, among individuals in the Hampton Roads area.

She said she’s grateful for the connections she has made at Mason. Professors Karina Korostelina, Julie Shedd and Richard Rubenstein became mentors who “from day one invested in me and helped me succeed in a meaningful way,” Borders-Shoemaker said.

Her Christian faith and the transformative impact of others’ investment in her own life motivate her to give back, she said.

In addition to attending classes, Borders-Shoemaker worked as a certified interventionist at the Lizzy Foundation, a local suicide prevention organization, and serves families affected by dementia through storytelling therapy at the Center for Well-Being and Resilience.

— Mariam Aburdeineh

Qui “Kelly” Mai
BA Philosophy

Winter graduate Kelly Mai said she came to Mason for diversity, and as a student in the Honors College, she found plenty of opportunities to explore.

“Mason is well-known for its diversity in thought, opportunity, and culture,” said Mai. “I am fortunate to experience this richness in my courses and outside around campus.”

She completed several research projects as part of her courses, but she also participated in the Arlington Global Health Fellowship, where she was able to fuse philosophy into global issues such as poverty, immigration and health justice. She also explored other parts of the world with a study-abroad opportunity at Oxford University with support from the International Horizons Scholarship.

“The International Horizons Scholarship was a chance for me to literally expand my horizons," said Mai.

In her classes, Mai completed an ethical analysis on international pharmaceutical restrictions and another on indigenous property rights, like the Western-Shoshone peoples in Nevada, in relation to the nuclear waste conversation, in particular, the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository proposal.

After graduation, Mai said she’ll be studying for the LSAT so she can attend law school to pursue medical law.

— Mary Lee Clark

Ana Ramon Albors
MHA Health Care Administration

As a working professional, George Mason University winter graduate Ana Ramon Albors said she looked for a university that was reasonably priced with in-person classes—because she preferred them to online classes—and a flexible schedule (evening classes). With all of that in mind, she said, Mason was a great fit.

During her time at Mason’s College for Health and Human Services, Ramon worked with Len Nichols, professor of health policy, who is working on a feasibility study to prove a new model of financing social determinants of health (SDoH).

“The field was something outside my comfort zone. I am a pharmacist by training and having to focus on economic models, social determinants of health and learn about specific Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations was both challenging and very rewarding,” said Ramon. “I am very thankful that he gave me this opportunity.”

For her capstone class, Ramon worked on a memo to Congress advocating for changes in CMS policies to allow and also incentivize Medicaid and Medicare plans to invest in SDoH to implement a holistic health care approach.

After graduation, she plans to take a break after having to balance work, classes and family for the past few years. Stepping out of her comfort zone at Mason, she said, has open new opportunities in her career.

“My capstone opened new doors,” said Ramon. “I have seen how much we can do from the health care side to address social issues, interventions that will benefit population health and that I am very interested in exploring.”

— Mary Lee Clark