Spotlight on Graduates
CNHS Senior Named Virginia Nursing Student of the Year
Caring more about her colleagues and promoting her profession than being in the spotlight explains why College of Nursing and Health Science (CNHS) senior Monique Sheaffer was honored as the Nursing Student of the Year by the Virginia Nursing Students Association (VNSA). Sheaffer, president of George Mason's Student Nurses' Association, says, "It's our award; I couldn't have done it without my board."
Nominees for the award were submitted to VNSA by its members from colleges and universities statewide. Sandy Diaz, VNSA president, says Sheaffer was nominated for her leadership role and proactive efforts in George Mason's chapter. CNHS faculty member Ana Stoehr, who serves as a liaison between VNSA and the Virginia League for Nursing, explains that the award represents the student who stands above all others in the state.
"She is the best," Stoehr says. "She is a role model for our juniors and seniors, and I think she will be the same for her peers once she is in practice."
Sheaffer feels the best thing about the award is that it brings attention to the university and nursing. "It gets George Mason out there," she says. "Our board members work hard to support the students and to grow into an effective unit that promotes nursing. I am proud to call them colleagues." She also credits the CNHS faculty for her honor. "I cannot imagine a better group of teachers and mentors."
On a personal note, she sees this honor as a starting point, a stepping stone to bigger and better things. "The recognition enhances and refines my commitment and affirms that I'm on the right path. Nursing is what I am called to do."
As she receives her undergraduate nursing degree this month, Sheaffer already is immersed in graduate studies through a bridge program offered to CNHS honor students. She begins her professional nursing career in July in Inova Fairfax Hospital's neurosciences unit. Her goal is to work with older patients.
Sheaffer passionately believes that nurses can make a difference. "We have to promote health care and taking care of each other - it's not an option. The work doesn't consume me, it fuels me."
- By Patty Snellings
Physics Major Programs Management System
Steve Richardson's passion is physics, but the senior is also an outstanding computer programmer. His part-time job in the Instructional Resource Center (IRC) as a lab assistant gave him experience developing a management system that has been licensed to George Washington University through the Office of Technology Transfer (see related story on page 4).
Richardson worked with former IRC employee Cynthia McCourt on developing the WEMS (short for Workshops/Walk-ins/ Events/Equipment/Evaluation Management System). Richardson says, "My first real experience doing this kind programming was at the IRC. With all the resources available there, I started writing practice web pages and databases. I later took the beginning C++ programming classes and have also done some programming for my physics research projects."
"Steve has a real talent in programming," McCourt says. "We were extremely lucky he was there when we were working on the system."
When George Washington expressed interest in WEMS, Richardson helped revamp the system into a generic format. "I liked being able to watch the program as it progressed through all the stages of development, from collecting requirements to designing the database and writing the code, and now to licensing the system to another university. I really got the big picture of how this type of system is created," Richardson says.
Richardson, whose hometown is Fairfax, plans to earn a Ph.D. in physics and has been accepted at Cornell University, although he hasn't yet decided to go there. "I like helping people learn physics, so I may go into teaching, but I also like to see new things developed. Perhaps I'll do [research and development] in industry and teach some on the side."
- By Robin Herron
Communication Grad Is Senior of the Year
Cassandra Pingree was named Senior of the Year by the Alumni Association for her integrity, high ethical standards, and leadership qualities during the Celebration of Distinction in April. Pingree, who in 2001 received the Kevin Athari Scholarship, will graduate with a bachelor's degree in communication with a concentration in journalism and a minor in electronic journalism this May.
Pingree not only studied communication and journalism, she practiced it through
her involvement in a number of media groups on campus. She worked in nearly every
capacity on the Broadside staff - writer, copy editor, assistant style
editor, and editor in chief - and represented the newspaper at several national
conventions. She has also been a disc jockey on WGMU, a "Broadside Sports
Wrap-Up" camera personality and technical director, and a creator of the Broadside
Newshour on the Mason Cable Network scheduled to begin in Fall 2002.
"I know definitely that I want to report the news," says Pingree, " in either print or broadcast journalism or both. I aspire to start out on a local level and then progress to a national level, and eventually write a book and screenplay in my off time."
Pingree has always set her sights high, and her achievements have been felt
throughout the university. She organized the Broadside Alumni Reunion with
University Relations and the Alumni Affairs Office; founded Patwagon, a service
designed to revitalize George Mason student life on the weekends, working with
University Life, Intercollegiate Athletics, and the Orientation Office; and created
an online off-campus housing forum and list service for students, faculty, and
staff in conjunction with the offices of Admissions, Housing and Residence Life,
and University Relations.
Her career as a student has been marked by her role as a leader as well as a dedicated volunteer, tutoring at Oakview Elementary school, volunteering and participating in the AIDS Walk, and taking notes for a fellow student through the Disability Resource Center and Communication Department.
- By Michelle Nery
Marketing Senior Organizes Successful Career Forum
Andito Lloyd, who helped to organize a Career Forum this March with American University, George Washington University, and the Washington metropolitan American Marketing Association (AMA), will graduate this May with a bachelor's degree in Marketing. The event began last year to offer marketing students and professionals networking and recruitment opportunities to make up for the lack of on-campus recruitment for marketing positions. "The Career Forum was one of the biggest tasks I've taken on," says Lloyd. "I worked with students from several universities, recruited members of the business community, and handled the logistics and marketing."
Lloyd, vice president of Communications for the George Mason AMA chapter, worked for three months planning and executing the event with the president of the chapter, Wendy Liu. "I was very impressed in particular with our student representatives Andito Lloyd and Wendy Liu," says Laurie Meamber, assistant professor in the School of Management, "who not only recruited panelists, but recruited students, organized carpools, created flyers, served as moderators, organized resume writing workshops with Career Services, created a bound book of students' resumes to hand out to business professionals, and sent out thank you cards to all those business people who served as panelists."
Lloyd has set high goals for the future. She has already been offered a full-time position at the public relations firm where she is interning in addition she's received two offers from other firms. She plans to work for one year and then pursue a joint master's degree in business administration and law. "Long-term, I'd like to do a specialized form of consulting work particularly for medium-sized companies in the services industry," says Lloyd. "The services industry is growing and there are a lot of opportunities."
- By Michelle Nery
Conducting Graduate Student Achieves Olympic Dream
Karin Hendrickson, who will receive her master's in instrumental conducting from George Mason this May, crafted the official 2002 Olympic Torch Relay theme song, "Carry the Flame," for this year's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The song made its debut at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park and was played in 110 community celebrations along the 46-state torch relay route leading to the opening ceremonies. Aretha Franklin recorded the song for a CD release, which was also part of a live pre-Olympic kickoff television special.
Music and sports have been dual themes throughout Hendrickson's life with one common thread - a desire to inspire people. "Much of ŚCarry the Flame' comes from sitting down and coming to terms with having to give basketball up. I realized that even if I wasn't a superstar basketball player, I could still find a way to inspire other people," Hendrickson says.
That desire to inspire people led Hendrickson to pursue a master's in instrumental conducting. "I was always fascinated as a kid by the person who got to stand in front of the orchestra. I was very curious as to what they were doing and how everything worked. I was also amazed by what seemed to be such an exchange of energy between people during a performance. I think this is what sparked my early interest in conducting," she says.
While at George Mason, she served as the assistant conductor of the George
Mason Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra and conducted the opera performances
of Dido and Aeneas in April 2001. One of her proudest moments at George
Mason was "being part of one of the only Leonard Bernstein MASS productions done
in the entire United States this year, and as far as we know, the only production
done by a university in the last 10 years." Although her plans are uncertain,
Hendrickson is "sure many good laughs will be involved!"
- By Michelle Nery
Nurse Makes Peace Building Career Move
This May will mark the culmination of a plan nearly 29 years in the making when Julie A. Lynch, an emergency department nurse and pastoral minister, receives her master's in conflict resolution from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR). "My husband and I have been married for 29 years, we have four grown sons, and it was my design to raise them and then go back for a master's degree in a field that interested me," says Lynch.
Lynch, who has a bachelor's of science degree in nursing, originally trained as a mediator during the late 1980s. "After practicing mediation for several years, I decided to make peace building and peace making a career choice. I wanted to understand more about the dynamics of conflict and how they affect a practitioner using processes of conflict resolution," she says.
While pursuing her master's degree, she worked with the Piedmont Dispute Resolution Center in Warrenton, Va., where she trained peer mediators in the local schools and adults in workplace conflict resolution skills, and moderated conferences between youth offenders and their victims with the center's Restorative Justice Program. At ICAR, Lynch was on the Applied Practical Theory Team that worked on a multicultural intergenerational project with Fairfax Human Services and the Area Agency on Aging. The project brought together 31 elders from six different ethnic groups to share their reflections about life in Fairfax County.
Lynch hopes to teach violence prevention in the future, possibly serving as a conflict manager in a school system or a health care setting. She also is interested in international relations work, having traveled to Colombia with another master's student, Beatriz Vejarano, and having worked with the Latin American Caribbean Working Group at ICAR.
- By Fran Rensbarger
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