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IN THE MAY EDITION
Ryan Barnett and SOME Farms, LLC
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CONGRATS
GRADS!
of you and your distinguished accomplishments. Great work!
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Team: Relationship Management
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This month, Pat completed his MAIS with a Concentration in Higher Education. He has been a part of our Admissions family since 2007 and this is his second Mason degree (BA'10).
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VA Work Study/Military Transition Assistant
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Eric is graduating in May with a BA in Government & International Politics. He joined the OMS Team as a true Freshman and the team is so proud of him!
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UPCOMING
ALL STAFF MEETINGS
May 22, International
* DATE CHANGE *
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Jun. 12, Prof. Development
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Nov. 6, Prof. Development
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Ryan Barnett and
SOME Farm, LLC
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One of Ryan's hobbies, in addition to bee keeping, is his love of farming. Over the past year he has been transforming his basement into a hydroponic oasis! He founded SOME Farm LLC, which is a veteran-owned and operated urban farm utilizing hydroponic technology that provides locally grown food to the surrounding community at competitive prices. “So Others May Eat” (SOME) is the simplest expression of the mission, and evokes a core value that has driven him throughout his life. This month Ryan donated his product to local first responders. Thanks Ryan!
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Kelly Cardew
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Senior Admissions Counselor
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Team: Relationship Management
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Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
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Q: What does your usual
workday look like?
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In addition to managing my territory (CT, RI, and NY), I also field emails and phone calls from students from Virginia. Depending on the time of year, I could be reading applications all day (that's starting to slow down a bit, yay!) but I also act as a liaison between the Pathway program at NOVA and Mason Athletics. Pathway typically consists of a lot of processing and double checking, while Mason Athletics consists of making sure our recruited student athletes are moving through the admissions process properly. Through Mason Athletics, I get great experience working with both domestic/international students and freshmen/transfer students.
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Q. What are 3 words you would use to describe Mason?
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Student-focused, Inclusive, Genuine
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Q. Tell us anything about yourself and/or family.
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I am the oldest of four kids in my family, so there's always a lot of energy and personality when we are together. In the last couple of years, especially since I've moved away from them, I am constantly reminded of how supported and loved I am by my family. We are a loud and crazy bunch but I wouldn't have it any other way!
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Q. What is your favorite food?
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Give me a cheese board and I'll be a happy person.
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Nika Rahini
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Transfer Credit Coordinator
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Q: What does your usual
workday look like?
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Evaluate transfer credit for transfer undergrad students along with evaluating AP,IB, CLEP exams
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Q. What are 3 words you would use to describe Mason?
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Q. What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most?
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My team! I have the most thoughtful, caring group of coworkers at SUB 1 that make going into work fun because I get to be with them all day. They've helped me grow so much as a young adult since graduating college back in 2018, I don't think there are enough words for me to say thank you to them and tell them how much I appreciate all they have done and continue to do for me.
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Q. Tell us anything about yourself and/or your family.
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I come from a Persian family so I get to bring delicious food in everyday for lunch and get asked a million questions about what my mom made. Fun fact: I also have a twin brother who is a minute older than me.
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Happy May! While I sometimes forget what day it is, I am excited about some warmer weather and more sunshine each day. I know that many of you continue to have friends and loved ones that are dealing with the effects of COVID-19 and my heart is with you. It’s still hard to believe that we haven’t been on campus for two months now. I miss you all, but I’ve loved having virtual coffee with you, dropping into your team meetings, and continuing to see how you all are staying more connected then ever! You all are creative! I am also so extremely proud of this office. The Virtual Spring Previews that we pulled off these last several of weeks were nothing short of phenomenal. YOU all did that and you did it TOGETHER to serve students and families and in these uncertain times. It’s just another example of what this office can do when we put our collective best minds and talent together. Thank you!
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In the next coming weeks, I anticipate we will receive more information and guidance about what this summer and fall will look like for instruction and physical campus presence. While these decisions will come from executive leadership, our Admissions senior staff is already discussing and preparing for different scenarios. Please know, that all decisions will be made with the primary factor of keeping our staff and the students we serve healthy and safe. I ask for your help and assistance in working with your supervisors on continuing to be flexible and think creatively about how we will perform our daily work. We know this, the fall will NOT look like any fall from the past. There will be a new normal. I am confident that whatever that looks like, this team will work collaboratively to accomplish our goals. We’ve done hard things in the past, and this will be no exception. I hope you’re taking time to take care of yourselves and I can’t wait for the day when we get to celebrate all we’ve accomplished these last couple of months!
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Stay safe, be well, GO MASON!
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HR/Finance
REMINDER: Open Enrollment Closes on Friday, May 15!
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LET'S GET MOVING: Looking for a challenge the whole family can enjoy?
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We hope you will consider joining us in the “New River Trail Challenge” announced by Governor Northam last week. No travel is required.
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The challenge is a new movement-related event that the CommonHealth employee wellness program will launch this June. You can virtually traverse the New River Trail through an online travelogue photo book. To complete the challenge, all you need to do is 45 minutes of movement activity 5 days a week for 6 weeks beginning on June 1. Fifteen minutes of movement is the equivalent of one mile of simulated travel, so your time spent in movement activities like walking, bicycling, gardening, and playing with family all contribute to promoting movement along the New River Trail.
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Six weeks of beautiful photos showing you the scenic and historic New River Trail will be emailed to you. There is something for everyone along the trail and all finishers will receive a challenge commemoration.
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Registration is open now! Sign up for a fun way to get and stay healthy while we socially distance together. For more information please visit here.
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Relationship Management
by Melissa Bevacqua
How is it already May? It seems like we were just wearing winter coats, and now we are thinking warm, summer thoughts!
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We are excited for the warmer weather and enrolling our next class of Mason Patriots. We continue to aggressively recruit students for the fall 2020 freshman and transfer class, and are making good strides to the extended June 1st enrollment and housing deposit deadline for freshmen, and the June 15th transfer deposit deadline. We will continue to work with all future Mason students throughout the summer, even after these deadlines, as we always do, to maximize fall enrollment. We will also continue to plan what fall recruitment might look like for the next cohort of students joining us in 2021.
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We were pleased to have partnered with our Events Team, and across the campus community for a successful Virtual Spring Preview in late April, and are super excited for our second Virtual Spring Preview event on May 14th. And the virtual events do not stop here! We continue to provide in a virtual format 1:1s for admitted Fall 2020 freshmen and prospective juniors in high school, OTS appointments, ADVANCE 1:1s and info sessions. Our telecounselors are also working very hard calling students to push next steps and provide a friendly, supportive voice on the other end of the phone. Our communication plans are firing on all cylinders on all platforms from the website, to texting, emails, social media and more.
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Everything is working well together as we strive towards our enrollment targets, despite the global COVID-19 pandemic. As always, if you have ideas of how we can do our work differently or if we can support your work in a new way, please let me know! We are always open to new ideas. Our team is thriving together despite our physical distance. We are doing well, and hope you are, too!
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WSP/K-12
by Elena Johnson
What an exciting spring we are having! Here is a quick update on what is happening.
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WSP - We are finalizing plans to move WYSE and WJMC online this summer. Registration will open in the next couple of weeks.
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Envision - Most Envision programs have been canceled for this summer.
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K-12 - We are enrolling a new group to the Governors School and finalizing the Fairfax Math semester. Sydney has conducted virtual sessions with middle school groups and is planning on expanding her online offerings this fall. Rachel is working diligently on a new partnership with DCPS to enroll more students to Mason this fall.
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Events - The first Virtual Spring Preview was a success and the second iteration will take place on May 14. More information is coming next week about your Webex room and additional training for new admissions staff and Mason units. We are also finalizing dates and plans for fall events.
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Operations
by Andrew E. Bunting
On behalf of the entire Operations Team, I hope you are all doing well, staying healthy, and staying sane. Despite the change in scenery, our work continues (and doesn’t it feel like you are busier now than before!? How does that work!?).
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Here are some important updates from Operations:
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The Transfer, Non-Degree, and Domicile Teams continue to process applications for Fall 2020 transfer applications. Please continue to remind applicants that we will happily take any and all transfer applications through the summer. The summer non-degree application opened on April 1, permitting summer application. We are processing applications as quickly as possible. We have an open position as the part-time Domicile Assistant, which is currently on hold due to COVID-19 hiring freeze.
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The Transfer Credit Evaluation Team has been busy evaluating all of our recently admitted students for Fall 2020 and cross-training (especially on international) and updating the equivalences via the online tool. Please note that automated notifications are still going out to students, regardless of IE status, once an evaluation is complete (which is occurring same-day).
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For health and safety reasons, Document Center has reduced the number of hours that staff are physically in the office (the last staffed office in admissions). As noted in an all-staff e-mail from last month, a small team will be going in on Mondays (10am-2pm) to open, sort, code, and scan the mail from the previous week. We have worked closely with Mail Services to ensure delivery. Continued thanks to Julio and his team for their hard work and flexibility. Indexing documents to files continues to run smoothly.
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The Graduate Operations Team continues to process application for Fall 2020 intake. We are currently working with units to extend deadlines in order to better serve our applicants. The team is working to continue to process applications, and maintaining our 3-5 day window. The Spring 2020 audit is over, and most files have been completed. Those that did not pass audit will be re-audited with the Fall 2020 cohort; no holds are placed this term. The Graduate Operations team will NOT be saying goodbye to Natalie Hoak, Assistant Director of Graduate Operations, just yet, though she has moved to Texas and is working remotely!
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The INTO Mason Team is fully staffed and remains flexible, given the current health situation. We are working closely with INTO and other university partners to ensure we stay competitive in the market.
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We are also in the process of updating the Common Application and TargetX Application for the 2021 cycle. Please let me know if you have any questions about that, or anything in this update, and don’t forget to wash your hands.
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Military Services
Military Services is hard at work in our new virtual environment. Everyone has settled into a comfortable battle rhythm. Between emails and phone calls, we have full days plus some. For our international calls, Whats App seems to be the tool of the trade. It's amazing to all of us how our continuity of operations has been pretty seamless during this transition. I feel confidant we all are able to provide the same level of service regardless of mode.
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As a reminder, emergency legislation was passed addressing concerns with VA benefits during COVID 19. Please be sure to share with perspective students our office is available to discuss VA benefits and can do phone calls or face to face using their technology of choice.
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International
by Meghan Walter
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I hope everyone is still doing well and staying healthy! I really miss seeing everyone in the office. We have had a busy couple of weeks on the International Team. We continue to meet with students for our virtual one-on-one meetings, issuing I-20s (electronically), and are fielding a lot of questions on what the fall semester might look like at Mason. Soon we will start thinking about what fall recruitment might look like for us.
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One thing I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of is an issue with F-1 visas. Due to COVID-19, international students have not been able to get an F-1 visa because all consular posts have been closed. We are hoping they will open soon to allow for students to make their appointment and receive their F-1 visas, but we are quickly running out of time. Even if Mason does have some sort of face-to-face classes in the fall semester, international students may not have the ability to get to the US. We are working on some alternative solutions for international students so they can still start in the fall. The first options will be to make sure they are aware of all of the online classes they can take while still in their home country. The second solution is for students to know that they can switch to Mason Korea. Mason Korea is planning on having face-to-face classes in the fall. We will be sending a message to all international students so they are aware that they do have options!
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If you get questions from international students about any of this, please feel free to send them to [email protected] and we would be happy to work with the students.
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Virtually Funny
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