Author: Eleftharia Giannopoulos

Now Hiring: Student Peer Mentors!

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date January 7, 2021

The 2020 Election

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date October 27, 2020

As we prepare for this upcoming election, the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment acknowledges the high emotion and critical stakes for our interconnected communities. As a staff team, we have sat with our own uneasiness, nervousness, and exhaustion as we engage in conversations and collective action that center our lives and futures. Voting is a powerful tool for civic engagement and change. If you have the privilege to vote, we ask that you go to the polls. There are people and communities that do not have such privileges, and it is on US to move in solidarity with these communities by utilizing our privilege.

Remember, there are three ways you can vote this year!

Vote by Mail or Drop Box
In-Person During Early Voting
In-Person on Election Day

For more information on ways to vote on or around campus visit https://go.gmu.edu/MasonVotes. Voting out-of–state? Check out vote.org for your state’s voting details.

Take time to review candidates and ballot issues:

Understanding the issues on your ballot may be confusing or overwhelming. Plan to spend at least 30 minutes looking up candidates online, reviewing ballot issues or locating a sample ballot for your political party. Remember, elections are about more than just the President, but also connect with issues in our local and state communities!

Our full-time staff team is available to meet with students one-on-one for processing and support. Staff availability is as follows:

Amber Holton-Thomas (she/her/ella)

November 4th-7th (Anytime for 15 minute blocks. If you need more time, choose 2 blocks that are back to back)
Schedule a meeting here.

Lex Lewis-Semien (she/her)

November 4th (12 – 6pm )
Schedule a meeting here.

Brandi Blake (She/her)

November 4th (open 12 – 5pm for 20 min blocks)
Schedule a meeting here.

Crystal Davidson (She/her)

November 4th and 5th (open 4–8pm for after-hour availability – 30 min blocks)
Schedule a meeting here.

Josh Kinchen (he/him)

November 4th-24th 2020 (open select times for 30 min blocks)
Schedule a meeting here.

LuLu Gezá Kelemen (they/them)

November 4th & November 5th 1-6pm (20 minute blocks each)
Schedule a meeting here.

Dr. Van Bailey (he/they)

November 4th (open 10:30am-12:00pm – 30 min blocks)
Schedule a meeting here.

David Corwin, Women and Gender Studies, (they/them)

November 4th from 3-4pm, November 5th from 1-4pm (All appointments can be in person or via Zoom; 30 minute blocks)
Schedule a meeting by emailing dcorwin@gmu.edu.

As a community, we will offer post-election holding spaces for dialogue and gathering for students. The following spaces and times available are:

FirstGen Students

November 6th | 2-4pm via Zoom and 5-7pm via Zoom

LGBTQ+ Students

November 5th | 3–4pm via Zoom
November 9th | 5–6pm via Zoom
November 16th | 7–8pm via Zoom

Coalition groups and student organizations affiliated with our department (QSLC, BLACC, APAC, HLLA, UndocuMason, NAIA, STEP and SWANA affiliated student organizations), will be directly contacted by our team with upcoming meeting dates and times.

Uncategorized

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date October 5, 2020

[Statement Made: Sept 25, 2020]

Greetings Patriot Family,

196 days ago, on March 13, 2020, our national and global community, learned of the murder of Breonna Taylor, a Louisville, Kentucky native serving the community as a first responder; her life was snatched away in a “botched police raid”. Months passed before any internal investigation of wrongdoing by the officers involved was completed, or job sanctions enacted. Continual injustice unfolded upon our nation as we heard on September 23, that only one of the three police officers involved in her murder was indicted on a lesser charge of putting other surrounding lives in danger and not for the life that they extinguished without cause.

This week, the system chose to look the other way. But we will not!

University Life’s Office for Coalition Building and Diversity Education (CBDE) and Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment (CCEE) at George Mason University, contends acts of social injustices through police involved violence must be called out as destructive, and bear the consequences of that destruction in our courts of law. We acknowledge these acts of injustice are emblematic of systemic racism that has existed for generations. These are deep-rooted national issues; We know that these realities affect our campus community, as well.

We recognized that the outcome of the indictment in Breonna Taylor’s murder is disappointing and some you may be experiencing a range of emotions. We encourage you to center your mental and spiritual well-being in this moment and seek assistance, if needed. Students we encourage you to connect with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) if you need someone to speak and process your thoughts.

Together, we will #SayHerName and acknowledge that Breonna Taylor’s life matters and the other lives of those who identify as Black and have been unjustly taken matter. We are also committed to you, your well-being, and the mission to actively address racism and anti-blackness through collaborative efforts and activism. In the coming days, our units will work with others to address the well-being of our students and campus community as we work through the range of emotions that we may be experiencing during this time.

This moment – and others — will continue to impact us months from now, and we challenge our campus community to confront bias, prejudice, discrimination, racism and other forms of systematic injustices in your world and area of influence, e.g., Facebook, chatrooms, Instagram, classrooms, departments, and in your local community. It is important above all things to acknowledge one another and take action when needed; there is no liberation without accountability! There is no liberation without collective community care.

If we all dedicate ourselves to the principles of truth, racial healing and transformation, we can collectively bring about the necessary changes in thinking and behavior that will propel our country forward as a unified force where racial biases and violent police interaction will become a distant voice in the past.

Please know the staff in CBDE and CCEE are here for you and if you need to talk to us, or share ideas, don’t hesitate to email us at cbde@gmu.edu and ccee@gmu.edu.

In Solidary,

Van Bailey, EdD (he/they).,
Assistant Dean/Director| Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment

Hamal D. Strayhorn, M.Div (he/him/his).,
Director | Coalition Building and Diversity Education

Announcements

Introducing CCEE

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date September 29, 2020

We are incredibly excited to announce that the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Multicultural Education & LGBTQ+ Resources is now the Center for Culture, Equity, and Empowerment! This change in direction helps us better reflect the populations we serve and missions we hold as a department.

Why the name change?

The diversity portfolio was growing in University Life and we knew an organizational re-shaping was necessary. We wanted to be clear in centering the student experience. Our department centers the student experience through cultural-celebrations, ally-ship and identity development, and culturally-specific leadership development. While, confronting bias and diversity education are important aspects of equity work, we were learning student needs were greater than our current capacity and organizational structure.

As we continue to move the needle towards inclusive excellence, we are working hard towards creating equitable access to resources for all students. Celebrating students’ cultural heritages is also a vital aspect of our work, and we felt strongly it should have representation in our name. Engaging in cultural equity enables us to make space for people to see the multitude of cultural heritages across campus. Working alongside and in community with students, our goal is to continue to improve their quality of life and experiences. A major aspect of social empowerment is working within communities, doing one’s own self-work in understanding identity and privilege, and then utilizing aspects of privilege to create change. Self-efficacy and the ability to realize ones’ own cultural wealth is directly tied to student success and empowerment.

What else has changed?

Along with our name, we updated our office’s structure to include 3 service areas:

Student Access and Equity (SAE): Supports campus and student engagement for students who are historically underrepresented in higher education and their allies while specifically centering college students who identify as first generation and students, students who are undocumented, and students who are protected by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or hold Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Student Engagement for Racial Justice (SERJ): Supports and serves communities of color who have been historically marginalized in higher education. SERJ is charged with raising awareness and visibility of racial and ethnic identity through educational programs, cultural celebration and ceremonies, and promoting equitable practices in the university setting.
LGBTQ+ Resources: Support to LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff; including advising, advocacy, referral, education and training, group and workshop facilitation, and leadership development.

These areas serve as resources to those in the Mason Community who seek to meaningfully engage and interact with people of different identities and intersections to co-create an equitable campus environment.

What’s next?

Stating October 5th, you’ll start to see changes to our identity system, website, and social media profiles.

Uncategorized

Ivan Gonzales

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date January 26, 2018

Ivan Gonzales-Maguiña was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He is from Peruvian descent. Specifically of Amerindian, Afro-Peruvian, and European descent. He was a Student Transition Empowerment Program (STEP), 2017 Scholar.

Ivan is a freshman, currently undeclared, but pursuing a major in Civil and Infrastructure Engineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship and possibly System Engineering. He has interests in robotics, music, and swimming. He is involved on campus as an Intern for F1RST Gen Mason and a member of the Aguilas Mentoring Program, as well as other volunteering opportunities that come up on and off campus.

Ivan has a passion for building and improving, his aspiration is to start up his own international infrastructure consultancy & implementation corporation. His motivation is to bring up the infrastructure of developing countries so that they can better thrive and provide equal opportunities to as many citizens as possible.

Contact Ivan at 571-707-9631 or e-mail: odime@gmu.edu with the text “Attn: Ivan” in the subject line

Uncategorized

Michelle Allen

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date September 25, 2017

Michelle Allen is an academic, educator, and higher education practitioner. Michelle joins the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Multicultural Education (ODIME) as an Assistant Director of Programming. Her primary responsibilities include planning large scale diversity events, fostering opportunities for collaborative programming and research across functional areas, and supporting relevant student organizations in support of campus wide multicultural programming ventures.

Michelle earned her Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from Savannah State University and Masters of Education in Higher Education Administration from Georgia Southern University. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Georgia Southern University’s Curriculum Studies Ed.D program; her cognate is Critical Race Feminism, Intersectionality, Cultural Studies, and Black Queer Studies.

She is a native of Atlanta, GA with a passion for education and diversity. Her work experiences range from companies like Nike and ExxonMobil to working in Student Affairs in Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment and Multicultural Education. Outside of work, she expresses her love of music as a DJ; her favorite genres of music are Hip-Hop, Indie Soul, Country, Afro Beats, and Power ballads. She also loves cooking and binge watching HGTV.

MBTI: ENFJ

Gallup StrengthsQuest: Strategic, Individualization, Achiever, Input, Competition

Contact Michelle at 703.993.2700 or MAllen26@gmu.edu

Culture Lifestyle Travel

Inspiration from the Pre-Fall Collection

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date August 26, 2016
No Comments on Inspiration from the Pre-Fall Collection

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Culture Lifestyle Travel

Get The Look: Trip to the Maldives

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date August 16, 2016
No Comments on Get The Look: Trip to the Maldives

Get the look egestas, ante et vulputate volutpat, eros pede semper est, vitae luctus metus libero eu augue. Morbi purus libero, faucibus adipiscing, commodo quis, gravida id, est. Sed lectus. Praesent elementum hendrerit tortor. Sed semper lorem at felis. Vestibulum volutpat, lacus a ultrices sagittis, mi neque euismod dui, eu pulvinar nunc sapien ornare nisl. Phasellus pede arcu, dapibus eu, fermentum et, dapibus sed, urna.

Morbi interdum mollis sapien. Sed ac risus. Phasellus lacinia, magna a ullamcorper laoreet, lectus arcu pulvinar risus, vitae facilisis libero dolor a purus. Sed vel lacus. Mauris nibh felis, adipiscing varius, adipiscing in, lacinia vel, tellus. Suspendisse ac urna. Etiam pellentesque mauris ut lectus. Nunc tellus ante, mattis eget, gravida vitae, ultricies ac, leo. Integer leo pede, ornare a, lacinia eu, vulputate vel, nisl.

Suspendisse mauris. Fusce accumsan mollis eros. Pellentesque a diam sit amet mi ullamcorper vehicula. Integer adipiscing risus a sem. Nullam quis massa sit amet nibh viverra malesuada. Nunc sem lacus, accumsan quis, faucibus non, congue vel, arcu. Ut scelerisque hendrerit tellus. Integer sagittis. Vivamus a mauris eget arcu gravida tristique. Nunc iaculis mi in ante. Vivamus imperdiet nibh feugiat est.

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Culture Lifestyle Travel

Paris Hilton: Wedding Shoot at Singapore

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date August 16, 2016
No Comments on Paris Hilton: Wedding Shoot at Singapore

Wedding egestas, ante et vulputate volutpat, eros pede semper est, vitae luctus metus libero eu augue. Morbi purus libero, faucibus adipiscing, commodo quis, gravida id, est. Sed lectus. Praesent elementum hendrerit tortor. Sed semper lorem at felis. Vestibulum volutpat, lacus a ultrices sagittis, mi neque euismod dui, eu pulvinar nunc sapien ornare nisl. Phasellus pede arcu, dapibus eu, fermentum et, dapibus sed, urna.

Culture Food Lifestyle Travel

Markup: HTML Tags & Formatting

Post author By Eleftharia Giannopoulos
Post date August 16, 2016
No Comments on Markup: HTML Tags & Formatting

Headings

Header one

Header two

Header three

Header four

Header five

Header six

Blockquotes

Single line blockquote:

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

Multi line blockquote with a cite reference:

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.

Steve Jobs – Apple Worldwide Developers’ Conference, 1997

Tables

Employee	Salary
John Doe	$1	Because that’s all Steve Jobs needed for a salary.
Jane Doe	$100K	For all the blogging she does.
Fred Bloggs	$100M	Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? So Jane x 1,000.
Jane Bloggs	$100B	With hair like that?! Enough said…

Definition Lists

Definition List Title: Definition list division.
Startup: A startup company or startup is a company or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.
#dowork: Coined by Rob Dyrdek and his personal body guard Christopher “Big Black” Boykins, “Do Work” works as a self motivator, to motivating your friends.
Do It Live: I’ll let Bill O’Reilly will explain this one.

Unordered Lists (Nested)

List item one
- List item one
  - List item one
  - List item two
  - List item three
  - List item four
- List item two
- List item three
- List item four
List item two
List item three
List item four

Ordered List (Nested)

List item one
1. List item one
  1. List item one
  2. List item two
  3. List item three
  4. List item four
2. List item two
3. List item three
4. List item four
List item two
List item three
List item four

HTML Tags

These supported tags come from the WordPress.com code FAQ.

Address Tag

1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
United States

Anchor Tag (aka. Link)

This is an example of a link.

Abbreviation Tag

The abbreviation srsly stands for “seriously”.

Acronym Tag (deprecated in HTML5)

The acronym ftw stands for “for the win”.

Big Tag (deprecated in HTML5)

These tests are a big deal, but this tag is no longer supported in HTML5.

Cite Tag

“Code is poetry.” —Automattic

Code Tag

You will learn later on in these tests that word-wrap: break-word; will be your best friend.

Delete Tag

This tag will let you ~~strikeout text~~, but this tag is no longer supported in HTML5 (use the <strike> instead).

Emphasize Tag

The emphasize tag should italicize text.

Insert Tag

This tag should denote inserted text.

Keyboard Tag

This scarcely known tag emulates keyboard text, which is usually styled like the <code> tag.

Preformatted Tag

This tag styles large blocks of code.

.post-title {
	margin: 0 0 5px;
	font-weight: bold;
	font-size: 38px;
	line-height: 1.2;
	and here's a line of some really, really, really, really long text, just to see how the PRE tag handles it and to find out how it overflows;
}

Quote Tag

Developers, developers, developers… –Steve Ballmer

Strike Tag (deprecated in HTML5)

This tag shows strike-through text

Strong Tag

This tag shows bold text.

Subscript Tag

Getting our science styling on with H₂O, which should push the “2” down.

Superscript Tag

Still sticking with science and Isaac Newton’s E = MC², which should lift the 2 up.

Teletype Tag (deprecated in HTML5)

This rarely used tag emulates teletype text, which is usually styled like the <code> tag.

Variable Tag

This allows you to denote variables.

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First Generation Student Student Peer Mentors

STEP Peer Mentors

Undocumented Student Peer Mentors

Questions?

Student Group Meetings

Justice for Breonna Taylor