Graduation

For these graduates it's a December to remember

Damian Cristodero — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 15:44:24 +0000

For these graduates it's a December to remember Damian Cristodero Wed, 12/16/2020 - 10:44

Mohammed Saffouri
Film and Video Studies

Life hasn’t slowed down for graduating film and video studies major Mohammed Saffouri since he completed his award-winning documentary “The First.”

“The First,” which Saffouri created for the FAVS 365 Documentary Filmmaking class, follows 24-year-old Libyan American Abrar Omeish as she campaigns for and wins a seat on the Fairfax County School Board in 2019, becoming one of Virginia’s youngest elected officials and the first Muslim woman on the board.

The documentary garnered Saffouri a prestigious Capital Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter. The accolades didn’t stop there. The documentary was featured in a number of film festivals, winning the Student Documentary Grand Prize at the March on Washington Film Festival and the Best Short Documentary at Georgia’s Broad Street Film Fest.

Saffouri has spent the past year and half preparing for and making his senior film, which is currently in post-production. The narrative film is based on his grandfather’s experiences as a young soccer player who makes the national team just as his family is forced to emigrate from his native Palestine.

The film, titled “Touchline,” was shot in Jordan last summer. Saffouri worked with a producer there and said the shoot was a challenging process not only with the pandemic but because it is a period film set in 1948.

“We had to rent antique cars,” he said. “We shot in the cities of Amman and Al-Salt. We used Al-Salt because it looks like Haifa would have in 1948.”

The pre-production work for “Touchline” was completed at Mason with the help of the Film and Video Studies faculty, he said. Although the pandemic delayed the project, Saffouri said the attention his documentary received definitely made making his senior film easier, especially in terms of raising money for the production.

As the end of his college career approaches, Saffouri is working with film professionals in Qatar, Los Angeles, and Egypt to complete “Touchline,” which he plans to enter into a number of international film festivals.

“[“The First”] was a requirement for a class,” Saffouri said. “I was using it to see how the [film festival] process worked and was surprised by the amount of recognition it received. It definitely was a good way to market myself and helped tell people who I am.”

“Mohammed is one of those rare students whose drive and dogged passion for creating films by any means necessary eclipses most,” said filmmaker Nikyatu Jusu, an assistant professor in the Film and Video Studies Program. “His desire to create authentic films related to his specific cultural/ethnic existence is necessary within an often-homogeneous canon of cinema. We are all perpetually inspired by his contagious tenacity.”

— Colleen Kearney Rich

Trinidad Lara
Anthropology

Trinidad Lara was born in Santiago, Chile, and also lived in Japan and Russia with her family before settling in Newport News, Virginia.

While at Mason she also studied abroad for a year and a half in France. All of those experiences contributed to her major in anthropology.

“For me, I was always an outsider and always looking at society from my particular standpoint,” she said. “The experience of growing up and being a bit different and being interested in what was going on in different cultural context, definitely pushed me to wanting to pursue an area of study that helped me to further explore these questions.”

A member of Mason’s Honors College, Lara came to the university on the recommendation of a high school advisor and because of its proximity to Washington, D.C. She said she found Mason’s campuses—the most diverse among Virginia’s public research universities—a rewarding amalgam of ideas.

“Looking back on the experience, I gained so much,” Lara said. “I had great professors. I met some great people, and my experience within my classes, the various perspectives, was so rewarding.”

“She’s just a joy to be around,” said Andy Hoefer, assistant dean of the Honors College. “She’s pursued every opportunity available to her at Mason with a wide-open heart and a sense of adventure.”

After she graduates in December, Lara said she wants to work in a field related to anthropology, perhaps at a refugee agency with which she is already familiar. With her theater minor, she might even become a playwright as a way to convey what she has discovered in her field of study.

“Culture, in a way, is a collective performance,” she said. “We perform our identities, our roles, so there’s a lot of connection between the two.”

— Damian Cristodero

Fatiha Tabibipour
Government and International Politics

Born in Morocco and raised in Italy, Fatiha Tabibipour said she has been fascinated with politics since she can remember. Coming to the United States as an au pair exchange student in 2014, she later enrolled at George Mason University, where she learned about the U.S. Supreme Court, and was inspired anew.

“What inspired me is the history of bipartisanship, the history of believing in the law and ruling by the law and the constitution, not by what one administration wants,” she said.

The government and international politics major said she hopes her degree “will open doors in the NGO world and the government world.” She’s also considering law school.

“I want a job that can help me make a difference,” Tabibipour said, “[particularly] in the U.S. government or regarding human rights.”

During her time at Mason, Tabibipour interned with the Arab American Business and Professional Association, helping research and draft communications to support their mission of helping minorities achieve roles in public service.

She also helped code and analyze legislative bills passed by Virginia and Pennsylvania through Mason’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR).

Tabibipour said her OSCAR research was complex and an incredible learning opportunity, as was her entire Mason experience.

“I love that so many professors are very successful and come from different backgrounds from the Department of State, Department of Defense, or other agencies,” Tabibipour said. “[The professors] have not just a knowledge of the book, but the knowledge of the real world that many of us in the Schar School want to experience.”

— Mariam Aburdeineh

Cory Jack
Economics

Cory Jack, who just turned 20, isn’t about to slow down. After graduating high school in Northern Virginia a year early, he finished his studies at George Mason University in two-and-a-half years. Jack loaded up on classes during the summer and academic year because he wanted to graduate early.

“I am ready to assume short-term costs for long-term gains,” Jack said. “If I can make it easier for myself down the road by working hard up front, I’d rather do that.”

An economics major and member of Mason’s Honors College, Jack also managed to find time to intern at the White House, act as an Honors College peer mentor and work for the Madison Coalition, a political advocacy group. In addition, he received the Joseph Schumpeter Fellowship from Mason’s Mercatus Center. Jack also has minors in criminology, law and society and data analysis.

Jack plans to go to law school next year. He’s considering practicing antitrust law, although he’s also interested in politics or perhaps pursuing a doctorate in economics.

“There is no doubt that Cory is a very bright and talented student,” said Jason Dunick, director of undergraduate programs for the Economics Department in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “But further, he is able to pair that ability with a high level of intellectual curiosity. I am certain those things will take him far in his career.”

— Anna Stolley Perskey

Syed Abbas
Biology, Neuroscience

Syed Abbas’ days as an undergraduate student at George Mason University and a member of the Honors College will soon be over, but his presence on campus will extend far longer.

That’s because the Arlington, Virginia, native who majored in biology and neuroscience has created a legacy for himself after completing an impressive Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) undergrad research project that saw him help construct Greta Ann Herin’s neuroscience lab from scratch.

Using the $1,500 they each received for their OSCAR grants, Abbas and classmates Ali Ahmad and Paresha Khan created a fully functional lab, setting up servers and software, putting up microscopes, creating an electronics rack and perfusion system, and connecting the electronic equipment.

“It’s going to help people learn after I’m gone,” Abbas said. “I’m not the only one using it. Mason students after me are going to be using it and getting research experience.”

Herin, his advisor, called him “an invaluable resource.”

“He really helped build the lab from the ground up,” she said.

Abbas’ contributions to the community don’t stop there. In 2019, he founded the nonprofit George Mason Food Assistance Club to help feed the hungry. The organization has more than 100 members.

— John Hollis

Topics

George Mason University

Students

Commencement

Graduation

Mason honors 2020 graduates with a virtual celebration featuring Stacey Abrams

Colleen Rich — Tue, 19 May 2020 09:00:16 +0000

Mason honors 2020 graduates with a virtual celebration featuring Stacey Abrams Colleen Rich Tue, 05/19/2020 - 05:00

Stacey Abrams
Photo provided

George Mason University honored the largest and most diverse graduating class in its history with a virtual Celebration of the Class of 2020 on May 22.

The online event recognized the graduates whose final semesters were impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and was livestreamed on GMU-TV. The celebration included remarks from Mason Interim President Anne Holton, a graduating student, and a special congratulatory message from Stacey Abrams, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, author, entrepreneur and voting rights advocate. In addition, the Green Machine performed.

As part of the event, each school or college had its own slide show, including personalized slides for graduates.

In surveys, the 2020 graduates noted a strong preference for a future ceremony at EagleBank Arena. With a traditional Spring Commencement not possible because of the pandemic, the virtual event was a way to acknowledge students’ achievements until an in-person ceremony can be safely held on campus. The virtual program will last about 20 minutes.

Holton has frequently noted how proud and impressed she has been by the resilience of the 2020 graduates, who pushed through the unexpected challenge to complete their degrees. The university shifted 5,200 courses online and extended the academic calendar so classes could be completed.

The 2020 graduating class is projected to include 9,719 degree earners and 744 certificate earners, from 83 countries and 45 states, plus the District of Columbia, Guam and foreign military installations.

A projected 50.5% of the 6,018 bachelor’s degree earners are part of minority populations—an all-time Mason high—and 32% of undergraduates say they will be a first-generation graduate in their family.

The graduating class reflects Mason’s standing as the largest producer of tech talent in the state. Thirty-five percent of the 2020 undergraduate degree earners are in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, and 24% of the 3,528 master’s and doctorate degree earners are in STEM fields.

The top undergraduate majors are criminology, law and society; information technology; psychology; information systems and operations management; and computer science.

The top degree programs for the 3,222 master’s degree earners are curriculum and instruction, special education, data analytics engineering, education leadership, and business administration—the same five and same order as last year.

Of the 306 doctoral degrees to be awarded, the top five PhDs choices are education, psychology, economics, conflict analysis and resolution, and public policy.

The university will also award 173 law degrees.

Class of 2019: Making the most of the Mason experience

Melanie Balog — Tue, 14 May 2019 19:12:57 +0000

Class of 2019: Making the most of the Mason experience Melanie Balog Tue, 05/14/2019 - 15:12

George Mason student Youstina Abdelmalak. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

Originally from Egypt, Youstina Abdelmalak moved with her family to Virginia in 2010 to pursue more education and career opportunities. The way things worked out, “it was meant to be that we stayed here,” Abdelmalak said.

In May 2017, Abdelmalak completed her undergraduate degree in civil and infrastructure engineering at Mason, receiving several scholarships along the way, including the Michael J. Casey Endowed Scholarship. She interned with Mason Facilities and landed full-time employment there immediately after her graduation.

Abdelmalak now works at Mason as a construction project engineer, managing renovation and construction projects on campus. In her spare time, she completed her master’s degree in civil and infrastructure engineering with a focus on construction project management, also at Mason.

“It was a real-world example of what I was about to see [at my internship and at work],” Abdelmalak said of her classes. She appreciates learning from experienced Volgenau School of Engineering professors like Laura Kosoglu and Michael Loulakis, who are like mentors to Abdelmalak “and who really care about the generations they are teaching,” she said.

“Youstina has been a high achiever in her classes and beyond,” said Kosoglu. “I have full confidence that she will continue to be successful in her future career, as well as her plans to become a professional engineer.”

- Mariam Aburdeineh

Tejon Anthony. Photo by Art Pittman.

As a high school senior in Baltimore, Tejon Anthony viewed George Mason University as a land of opportunity.

Given Mason’s proximity to Washington, D.C., Anthony figured it was a great place to begin growing his career. He also saw an up-and-coming wrestling team he wanted to help build. As Anthony prepares to graduate on May 17 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, he has succeeded on both counts.

Anthony said if things fall right, he’ll be working as a software engineer after graduation. And he punctuated his wrestling career at Mason with an Eastern Wrestling League Championships win at 149 pounds.

“Absolutely,” he said when asked if coming to Mason was the right choice. “I don’t regret it at all.”

“We’ll miss everything he’s done from an athletic standpoint,” Mason wrestling coach Frank Beasley said. “But what we’re really going to miss is his leadership.”

Anthony, a team captain, had a 31-11 record last season and finished his Mason career with 94 wins, including two at the NCAA championship. He said he prided himself on how he presented himself as an athlete and student.

“Being a leader puts pressure on you, good pressure, to do the right things, work hard, so you can show everybody how it’s done, how you’re supposed to carry yourself as a good person, a good friend,” Anthony said.

That sensibility benefitted him as well.

“I had guys who showed me what it took to be successful as a Division I athlete,” Anthony said. “That’s one of the things I can carry over into my work life, the work it takes to be successful.”

—Damian Cristodero

Michaela Dodge. Photo provided

Originally from the Czech Republic, Michaela Dodge first became interested in missile defense as a college student. Her home country was considering hosting a U.S. missile defense site at the time, she said, and she became fascinated with debates surrounding the topic.

She moved to the United States to complete her master’s degree in defense and strategic studies at Missouri State University, and she stayed to pursue her PhD in political science and government with the Schar School of Policy and Government at Mason, where she researched the U.S.-Czech missile defense and factors that make their alliance stronger or more difficult.

“I had a great experience at Mason,” Dodge said. “I would highlight the world-class faculty and professors who are willing to help students and make time for them—I really appreciated that.”

Mason’s location was also ideal for Dodge, who was able to take advantage of opportunities near the nation’s capital.

Dodge worked at the Heritage Foundation and in the U.S. Senate as then-Arizona Senator Jon Kyl’s senior defense policy advisor during her studies. She returned to the Heritage Foundation in February as a research fellow for missile defense and nuclear deterrence.

“What I enjoy most is the ability to contribute to advancing national security policies,” Dodge said.

- Mariam Aburdeineh

Milo Pilgrim in Seville, Spain. Photo provided

When Milo Pilgrim attended middle school in Oklahoma, they (Pilgrim identifies as nonbinary) skipped the seventh grade to pursue opportunities to do more advanced classwork. That allowed Pilgrim to graduate from high school a year early.

At George Mason University, aggressive degree planning and strenuous course loads allowed Pilgrim, who is graduating on May 17, to finish a bachelor’s degree in art history at age 19.

“People at Mason are more than willing to help you if you show commitment to your work,” Pilgrim said. “Mason was good to me—especially the Art History Department. I spent a lot of time brainstorming with the great minds of Mason. I found professors who had similar research styles to me, and they pushed me forward.”

Pilgrim, a member of Mason’s Honors College and a co-winner of the Academic Excellence in Art History award, given to the graduating art history major with the highest cumulative and major GPA, has always pushed forward.

Pilgrim said they came to Mason, in part, because of the university’s proximity to Washington, D.C., and the variety of courses in the Honors College. Pilgrim spent three semesters abroad in Spain and Montenegro, focusing on language, architecture, art and culture. Pilgrim speaks Spanish, French, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin and Bosnian.

They are also an alternate for a Fulbright award, which offers students opportunities to undertake international graduate study.

After graduation, Pilgrim said they are returning to Montenegro as part of a language and culture exchange program through the University of Pittsburgh. When they return, they plan to earn their master’s degree in a yet-to-be-determined field.

- Hannah Harmison

George Mason University senior Jared Palacios. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications

Jared Palacios wants people to pay attention to how they treat each other.

Growing up in Hawaii, Palacious encountered many different people from all over the world visiting the islands. He said he was taken aback by some of the racial discrimination he saw.

“I want to shed a new light on how to view immigrants in America,” said Palacios, who is graduating with a degree in film and video studies. “It is not meant to sway people to think differently politically, but just to open their minds.”

He recently premiered his documentary “How to Get There,” a success story about Justin Gudiel and his journey that began when he came to America as an immigrant to becoming an executive chef at a successful Italian restaurant. Palacios, who moved to Northern Virginia from Hawaii when he was in high school, met Gudiel in the restaurant where he works at as a server.

“[The film] tackles the discrimination and setbacks that immigrants face, and hopefully inspires others to not give up on their goals and dreams,” Palacios said .

After he graduates in May, Palacios plans to stay in the D.C. area for a year before making his way to California or New York to pursue his dream of becoming a renowned documentary filmmaker.

- Mary Lee Clark

Mason film major returns to Kosovo to document his family's displacement

Damian Cristodero — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 16:01:45 +0000

Mason film major returns to Kosovo to document his family's displacement Damian Cristodero Mon, 12/04/2017 - 11:01

Erblin Nushi, a senior film and video studies major, and his production crew drew the attention of a Kosovar public interested in films detailing a chapter in their nation's history of conflict. Photos courtesy of Tilia Entertainment.

Erblin Nushi’s thesis film BINI has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious Student Academy Awards. His film is one of the eight films to advance as a finalist in the Narrative (Domestic Film Schools) category and the only undergraduate film in the category, competing against MFA thesis films from top-ranked U.S. university film programs.

“During my two years at Mason, I was shaped to be the filmmaker I am by giving me the space and encouragement to tell stories that are personal and stories that matter,” said Nushi (BA Film and Video Studies 2018).“BINI is exactly that. I took the opportunity to give a voice to all those lives lost during the war and spread awareness about the horrid events of 1999 in my home country, Kosovo.”

He said he would like to thank the faculty that has guided him through this process, and the Academy for this prestigious opportunity.

The Academy created the student awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. The awards will take place Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

The memories of the day armed Serbian soldiers chased his family from their home in Kosovo 19 years ago come and go, said George Mason University graduating senior Erblin Nushi.

Rounded up in the city square of Peja, the Nushis and others were loaded into trucks and covered with tarps for a six-hour ride on an unpaved road to the Albanian border. There was little air in the truck and several people suffocated, Nushi said. Nushi’s father used a utility knife to make a life-saving hole in the tarp so Nushi and his siblings could breathe.

“These are the mini-flashbacks I have,” he said.

That day is documented in a 19-minute short narrative film titled “BINI,” written and directed by Nushi and filmed over the course of a month in Kosovo this summer. The film will be shown at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, in the JC Cinema on the Fairfax Campus.

It’s been a remarkable—if dangerous—journey, and the 6-year-old homeless refugee in a war zone is now a budding 25-year-old filmmaker.

Nushi and his crew, including three other George Mason students and a professor, had barely more than a month to find locations, cast six speaking and 40 nonspeaking roles, rehearse the actors, design the wardrobe, shoot the film, edit the footage and compose the score.

Along the way Nushi appeared on five television talks shows—“and always wearing my Mason hat,” he said—as the production drew the attention of a Kosovar public interested in films detailing a chapter in the nation’s history of conflict.

“The whole country knew we were there making this film,” he said.

He also encountered Kosovar film personalities he idolized as a child, and he was able to hire two actors featured in the Oscar-nominated 2016 short film, “Shok.”

Nushi came to the United States with his family in 2010. He transferred to Mason after two years at Northern Virginia Community College, where he focused his studies on his first love, acting. But as a film and video studies (FAVS) major at Mason he was compelled to make short films—and discovered an affinity. “BINI” is the ninth film he’s made in two years at Mason.

“Honestly, I still prefer acting,” he said, “but storytelling is addicting.”

“He’s one of the most prolific filmmakers and one of the most talented students we have,” said Lisa Thrasher, the FAVS Professor of Film Business and Producing and the producer of “BINI.”

Thrasher, who accompanied the Mason team to Kosovo, said Nushi raised the $15,000 budget for “BINI” himself by bundling money from awards, scholarships, a work-study job, donations from friends and family, and donations via an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. “The department has supported his talent and his energy” with gear, personnel and encouragement, Thrasher said.

“I have been in this country for seven years,” Nushi said, “and I don’t think I would have gone to Kosovo and did what I did without [FAVS]. I thought when I came to Mason I would get a diploma, but I got a lot more.”

“BINI” will be screened as a sneak-peek viewing, obligatory for Nushi’s December graduation requirement. As part of FAVS’ “Senior Showcase” of films, “BINI” will be accompanied by a “making of” documentary, also directed by Nushi (and filmed by Mason senior Logan McKennah Brown via a Sony F7 camera award from FAVS sponsor Sony). The Kosovar cast of “BINI,” as well as the Kosovar ambassador to the United States, Vlora Çitaku, will also be on hand.

Graduation

For these graduates it's a December to remember

Mohammed SaffouriFilm and Video Studies

Trinidad LaraAnthropology

Fatiha TabibipourGovernment and International Politics

Cory JackEconomics

Syed AbbasBiology, Neuroscience

Topics

Mason honors 2020 graduates with a virtual celebration featuring Stacey Abrams

Class of 2019: Making the most of the Mason experience

Mason film major returns to Kosovo to document his family's displacement

Mohammed Saffouri
Film and Video Studies

Trinidad Lara
Anthropology

Fatiha Tabibipour
Government and International Politics

Cory Jack
Economics

Syed Abbas
Biology, Neuroscience