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IN THE DECEMBER EDITION
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WELCOME
NEW STAFF
Coming Soon!
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Starting: January 4, 2021
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2021
ALL STAFF MEETINGS
Staff meetings are Wednesday afternoons and will remain ALL VIRTUAL through May.
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Apr. 21, Relationship Mgmt
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Jun. 4, Professional Development
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Nov. 5, Professional Development
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Lauren Theresa Lucas
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Q. Before working in the Office of Admissions, what was the most unusual or interesting job you had?
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I worked at an alternative school in Portland. I had three roles; Administrative assistant, Mentor Coordinator and teacher. There was never a dull moment! I credit my experience at that job for getting me where I am today, earning a master in social work.
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Q. What 3 words would you use to describe Mason?
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Spirit. Excitement. Supportive
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Q. What does your usual workday look like?
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My usual work day normally starts with getting out of bed and making a cup of coffee, of course. Then I begin responding to emails. That normally gives me an idea of how slow or fast the day will be. Then I run a list and process the non degree apps for the day.
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Q. What do you like to do for fun?
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I love to thrift and shop of any kind. I love to spend time with family and friends. I also have a passion for crafting, I sell crochet hats and scarves and earrings.
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Q. What are your top 3 life highlights?
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Graduating with my
Bachelor's degree
(Grambling State University)
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Competing in
Miss Black Oregon (2011)
Buying my first car
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Samantha Onstad
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Q. What does your usual workday look like?
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I review applications for Virginia In-State tuition for all Freshman, Transfer and Non-Degree students. Verifying that these applicants meet all State requirements to be granted In-State tuition. Domicile is a complex situation with a lot of different moving parts, but I love my job. Every day brings new challenges and puzzles to figure out. Never a dull day!
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Q. What 3 words would you use to describe Mason?
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Integrity. Diverse. Nurturing.
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Q. What aspect of your role do you enjoy the most?
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Getting to email students who have qualified for In-State tuition under the high school completers exception legislation. Many of these students have put off attending college because they could not financially afford it. Now they might be able to, and it makes me happy to give them that hope.
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Q. What do you like to
do for fun?
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Over quarantine I took up gardening and digital art. Even into these fall months I am still harvesting kale, cayenne, and poblano peppers. I love to go on "Food-Adventures" where my fiancé and I search out new restaurants we haven't been to and try their most unique dish. Most of my other free time is spent reading or playing video games.
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Q. If could be anyone from any time period, real or fictional person, who would you be?
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Dean Martin. Discovering him as a child made me fall in love with singing. I would like to experience that time in history. Getting to sing some good ole standard jazz on stage with Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davis Jr. Yah, that would be a real treat.
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I hope everyone is ready for a relaxing Winter Break as we approach the final weeks of 2020. While this year has presented us with many challenges and literally changed our way of living, I am excited about what the future holds for us. During these uncertain times, you have continued to work closely together as a team (virtually) and serve students at a very high level. I want to formally thank you for the commitment you have shown and the effort you have given this year. It has not been easy to recruit students and build meaningful relationships during the global Coronavirus pandemic, but you all are doing an amazing job of making the best of a difficult situation. What can I say? You are true Patriots.
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We are finishing the year off very strong. I am excited about our Early Action admits for fall 2021, and our spring class is shaping up nicely. I want to give a special thanks to those of you who will be working over Winter Break to ensure our final hour spring applicants will be admitted and ready to start classes in January. I also want to thank those of you who have worked on extending holds so our current students can register for spring 2021. These efforts will be critical to meeting our spring enrollment goals.
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In closing, I want to thank you again for welcoming me into the Mason family. It has been such a pleasure getting to know many of you over this last month. We truly have a special group of individuals on this team, and I look forward to all of the great things that we will accomplish together. I hope and pray that we will be able to celebrate some of our accomplishments together in person soon. In the meantime, I wish you and your families the best for the holiday season.
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HR / Finance
by the Personnel Management Team
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The official start to winter is just around the corner and that means the possibility of inclement weather. For those of you who are new to Mason, or you’ve been here forever and want a refresher, here are some key things to know:
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- Stay updated about university closings, class cancellations, late openings, and other weather-related changes in the operating schedule through Mason Alert, on Mason’s homepage and the switchboard (703-993-1000), as well as on local media outlets.
- To receive Mason Alerts on your mobile device, register at alert.gmu.edu
If you are new to teleworking or are a new remote worker you might be wondering … do I have to work if the university is closed, or on a modified schedule, due to inclement weather? Yes, you do. Teleworkers and/or remote workers, if it is your scheduled workday, continue to work even if classes are canceled and administrative offices are closed, or on a modified schedule. However, teleworkers or remote workers do not have to work if the weather or emergency impacts the alternate location, for example there is a regional power outage. The official university policy and more information on inclement weather and emergency guidance is here Inclement Weather/Emergency Closing Policy.
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Looking for help with the holiday timesheet, pay and hours? Want to know what to do if you have scheduled leave and then the university closes? Are you curious how you would record your time if the university or the administrative offices are closed? Check out the new HR & Payroll website landing page for Holiday and Inclement Weather Payroll Guidance.
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May your holidays be full of light and merriment; we hope you enjoy a well-earned Winter Break. It’s time to kick 2020 to the curb and celebrate new beginnings in 2021. Stay safe and be well – see you in the New Year!
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Relationship Management
The chill of the winter is upon us. It's getting colder outside, and the RM Team elves have been hard at work reading and decisioning freshman Early Action applications. We have read thousands of applications for Early Action, and cannot believe that decision release time is upon us! We release Early Action decisions in two rounds. The first is on Friday, December 11th and the second is on Thursday, December 17th. All Early Action students with completed applications should have their decisions prior to Winter Break. Once we return from break, we will begin to read Regular Decision applications. We'd like to get through these as quickly as possible to be able to release in waves starting in the later part of January.
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If students have questions about their admission decisions or scholarships, please direct them to the RM Team. Financial Aid packages for Early Action admitted students should release prior to Winter Break, too.
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I hope you and your loved ones have a safe and healthy holiday season. I am thankful in this very difficult year for good colleagues like all of you and my team. Happy Holidays!
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WSP/K12/Events
I know everyone is ready for a relaxing winter break! The WSP team hopes to come back in 2021 with a renewed energy for the work we do and are hopeful for a return to normalcy.
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We are beginning plans for an in-person WSP in July. This involves extensive planning that has to be approved by the Events Exception Committee. We are re-writing policies, reviewing budgets, and reassessing all we know about summer programs. We are also excited to run spring virtual programming to capture excitement and make up students we will not reach because of smaller in-person programming.
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The Events team is gearing up for a busy spring. We are hosting a winter open house for prospective students (more details to come) and 30+ events for admitted students, transfers, and high school juniors. If you have experience with web design or graphics, let me know! We are always looking for support.
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Envision is planning for summer programming, so we are supporting the marketing initiatives through data purchases and approving materials. You should start hearing from more students who are invited to Envision programs.
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Operations
by Crystal Hall Brett
Happy Holidays! I can't believe winter break begins at the end of this week! What a month! What a year! I hope you enjoy your time off and get the chance to relax and recharge.
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Here are the Operations updates:
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Transfer, Non-Degree, and Domicile - The Team is busy reviewing and admitting students for the Spring 2021 term. They are working hard to try and move those numbers up a little bit.
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Transfer Credit Evaluation - The Credit Evaluation Team temporarily lifted final transcript holds for Fall 2020 admits to help improve Spring registration numbers. The holds are only temporarily lifted and will go back on if final transcripts are not received by February 1, 2021.
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Document Center - The Doc Center, because they are amazing, will be working a few days over the break to make sure documents and mail are processed. Here is their schedule:
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Document Processing - 12/21 and 12/28
Remote Processing - 12/22 and 12/29
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Graduate Admissions - OGA, like the Credit Eval Team, has temporarily lifted their final transcript holds too for Fall 2020 admits. Graduate students who have not submitted final, official transcripts by February 1 will also get a hold placed on February 2, 2021. OGA is also working 2 days over the break because of December 15, January 1, and January 15 deadlines. Big thanks to that team as well! Here is their schedule:
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Remote Processing - 12/22 and 12/29
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INTO Mason - The INTO Mason Team is working hard to quickly process applications each week to help improve Spring enrollment. They have also picked up some small quality control projects to make sure students do not experience any hiccups when enrolling in the Spring.
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Enjoy this time away from work and with those you love! Cheers to the end of 2020!
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International
by Meghan Walter
Congratulations on getting all of the Early Action decisions out! Everyone worked so hard and accomplished amazing things. We were happy to see the number of international applications increased from last year! Last week we also finished our fall recruitment virtual fairs. It was so great to be able to speak with students all over the world, especially in places we don't regularly travel.
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Keep sending us your international transcript questions! We have heard from many of you and enjoy working with everyone to help get those GPAs calculated appropriately.
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December 15th is our deadline for the You Are Welcome Here Scholarship for Fall 2021 freshman. Any applicant that is not a US Citizen or Permanent Resident is eligible to apply for this scholarship. They should have received emails on how to apply, but if anyone has questions please let us know. If any applicant misses the deadline and are still interested in apply please have them contact us at [email protected]. We will start reviewing the applications in mid-January - mid-February and send decisions by March 1.
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Military Services
As 2020 comes to an end, I would like to take the time to reflect on our year. When I think about it, I can say the pandemic response from our office is simply a reflection of the core values we learned in the military. Flexibility, adapt and overcome are too familiar in our world. So, it's no surprise the OMS team excelled under pressure. Not only did the team excel, OMS bridged service gaps and workload managed from partner offices. I can recount story after story of relieved families comforted by the advise and expertise from OMS staff. For many, just hearing a voice on the phone made a difference. In fact, we went live with phone service in the end of August and have an impressive 1500 phone calls logged with an average time to answer of 22 seconds and an average length of almost 10 minutes. This is customer service with genuine care.
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We are thankful to everyone on the admissions team for always helping and understanding the unique characteristics of military families and veterans. We wish everyone a happy holiday season and look forward to a healthy next year.
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Admissions Tech Corner
To avoid disruptions, ATT strongly encourages everyone to install Microsoft Teams and begin migrating to that platform. ITS has been aggressively disabling Cisco Webex accounts of inactive users, and their definition of “inactive” has been somewhat unpredictable. The desktop installer for MS Teams (Windows & Mac) can be found at the following link:
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Mobile versions for Android and iOS are also available on the respective platform’s app store.
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Any questions may be directed to Matt Scott.
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The Office of Admissions publishes a monthly newsletter. An archive of past newsletters can be found at Admissions Newsletters. If you have questions, comments, complaints or items to share, send them to the Editor at [email protected].
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