Meet the members of the Provost Search Committee. The committee was selected to represent as many constituents as possible while still maintaining a manageable size. We are committed to a transparent and inclusive process. Please participate in the coming opportunities to engage and provide input as we move through the search timeline.
Melissa Broeckelman-Post
Professor and Basic Course Director, Department of Communication
President, Faculty Senate
Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post is a Professor and the Basic Course Director in the Department of Communication and is the President of the Faculty Senate. Dr. Broeckelman-Post has served on George Mason University’s Faculty Senate since 2014 and has participated in dozens of committees and initiatives, including co-chairing the Mason Core Committee, the Task Force on Reimagining Faculty Roles and Rewards, and the Nominations Committee. She is a co-founder of the Laboratory for Writing and Communication and was the 2021 recipient of the John Toups Medal for Excellence in Teaching, George Mason University’s highest teaching honor.
Sharnnia Artis
Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Chief Diversity Officer
Dr. Sharnnia Artis is the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Chief Diversity Officer at George Mason University. Before coming to Mason, Artis served as Assistant Dean of Access and Inclusion in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and the Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, one of the most diverse engineering programs in the nation. Artis has been creating programs to improve diversity and inclusion in the engineering and computing fields for most of her career.
Supriya Baily
Professor, College of Education and Human Development
Supriya Baily is an activist, a scholar, and an educator. Currently, she is a Professor of Education at George Mason University, focusing social justice issues in education, the marginalization of girls and women in educational policy and practice, and the role of teacher education to address educational inequity. She serves also as the Co-Director for the Center for International Education and is currently the immediate Past-President of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). She has co-edited four books, published numerous articles and book chapters, and has secured nearly $2m in collaborative grant partnerships.
Adam Bart
Associate Vice President of Development for Schools and Colleges
Adam is a seasoned professional with 29 years of higher education development experience. As the Associate Vice President of Development for Schools & Colleges at George Mason University, he excels in principal and major gift fundraising, campaign strategy, stewardship, and team leadership. Adam played a significant role in shaping Mason’s $1 billion comprehensive campaign and coordinating deans' campaign retreats. Prior to George Mason, he held influential positions at prestigious institutions in Southern California, notably contributing to USC's $7 billion capital campaign. In 2022, Adam relocated to the DMV area, aligning his values with his professional pursuits.
Lisa Billingham
Professor and Director of Choral Activities, Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, College of Visual and Performing Arts
Dr. Lisa Billingham is the Director of Choral Activities at George Mason University. As a Certified Laban Movement Analyst her research focuses on choral conducting pedagogy.
Dr. Billingham is active as a choral clinician and has presented research in Italy, Brazil, and Kenya. Her Carnegie Hall debut with the University Chorale and tour of Nairobi, Kenya have been artistic highlights at Mason.
As an active member of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Billingham serves as co-chair for the Organizations and Operations Committee and member of Senate Executive Committee. She represents the College of Visual and Performing Arts on several university-wide committees.
Guadelupe Correa-Cabrera
Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University. Her areas of expertise are Mexico-US relations, organized crime, immigration, border security, social movements and human trafficking. She is author of Los Zetas Inc.: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico (University of Texas Press, 2017; Spanish version: Planeta, 2018). Her newest book (co-authored with Sergio Chapa) is entitled Frontera: A Journey across the U.S.-Mexico Border (Texas Christian University Press, 2023). Professor Correa-Cabrera is Past President of the Association for Borderlands Studies (ABS). She is co-editor of the International Studies Perspectives (ISP) journal.
Kim Eby
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development
A community psychologist by training, Dr. Kim Eby’s professional and scholarly interests include issues surrounding leadership, organizational development and change, collaboration and community building across a variety of contexts, and violence and gender. In her current position, Kim is responsible for all matters pertaining to Mason faculty’s professional well-being, development, and success, including providing support for faculty career development, recognizing faculty excellence, cultivating academic leadership, and implementing policies and practices that support faculty at Mason. She has collaborated with campus leaders on multiple institution-wide strategic, curricular, and faculty and leadership investments. Currently, Kim is the Chair-Elect for the Committee on Faculty Affairs, which is part of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ (APLU) Council of Academic Affairs.
William Gautney
Assistant Master Electrician, Center for the Arts
Chair, Staff Senate
Will Gautney is the Assistant Master Electrician at the Center for the Arts and the current Chair of the Staff Senate. This is his first year as the Staff Senate Chair, third year serving on the senate, sixth year full time at Mason, and eleventh year working with the Center for the Arts in some capacity. While his duties as a Staff Senator have him helping to inform, educate, and advocate for all staff, he also gives extra attention to the voice of wage and non-traditional schedule employees.
Cameron Harris
Instructional Associate Professor, Donald G. Costello College of Business
Assistant Chair, Business Foundations
Cameron J. Harris, Ph.D. is Instructional Associate Professor, Assistant Area Chair in Business Foundations, and Faculty Fellow for Inclusive Excellence in the Donald G. Costello College of Business. He serves as Faculty Fellow in the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning, on the Mason COACHE Leadership team, and faculty representative to the Mason Board of Visitors: Academic Programs Diversity and University Community Committee. Cameron earned a BA Integrative Studies from Mason and master’s and doctoral degrees in Higher Education & Student Affairs and Higher Education Administration from Indiana University.
Jimmy Hazel
Member, Board of Visitors
Jimmy Hazel, named Board of Visitors development committee chair in 2016, is a 1984 graduate of the George Mason University School of Law. Upon graduation, he clerked for United States District Court Judge, Albert V. Bryan, Jr. and then joined the Hazel/Peterson Companies. In 1989 he moved to Richmond to help start a new lobbying firm in the state capitol, The Vectre Corporation. He was later recognized by the Richmond Times Dispatch as one of the top ten lobbyists in Virginia. He joined Williams Mullen Government Affairs as its CEO and had an office in Tyson’s Corner where he represented many Northern Virginia interests with a focus on technology issues. In 2002, he joined the administration of Governor Mark R. Warner as an advisor on economic development and technology and served as the Governor’s lobbyist. After his time with the Governor’s office he left his lobbying career behind and helped to start several family businesses.
Mr. Hazel has been actively involved at George Mason University since his graduation from law school. He previously served on the Board of Visitors from 1994 to 2002 and is a past president of the Mason Alumni Association. Mr. Hazel established the Hazel History and New Media Endowment in 2001, the Virginia E. Hazel and Art History Junior Faculty Award in 2004, and the Hazel Scholars Endowment in 2011. He served on the George Mason Foundation Board of Trustees for 12 years and is a past Chair of the Foundation. He chaired the successful Faster Farther Campaign, which closed at approximately $700 million; $200 million more than the original goal.
Mr. Hazel has served on many statewide boards and chaired several of them. These include the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, where he served for 10 years and chaired the Agency for three years. Other boards include the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, The Virginia Historical Society, The Virginia Public Safety Foundation, Virginia Free, The Wildlife Foundation of Virginia, Virginia 21, and the Potomac Science Center.
Sharon Heinle
Vice President of Finance
Sharon L. Heinle is the Vice President of Finance for George Mason University. Ms. Heinle leads the Fiscal Services division in supporting both daily operations and strategic priorities while maintaining strong internal controls over financial data and assets. Ms. Heinle joined Mason in January 2020 as the AVP & Controller, after 12 years in progressive roles at the George Washington University and working in the Not-For-Profit (NFP) and public accounting industries. Ms. Heinle is a licensed CPA and received her BSBA from Georgetown University. She has served on NACUBO’s Accounting Principles Council, the AICPA's NFP Expert Panel, and received NACUBO’s 2021 Daniel D. Robinson Accounting Award.
Rachelle Holmes Perkins
Associate Professor of Law,
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Programming, Antonin Scalia Law School
Rachelle Holmes Perkins is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Programming and an Associate Professor of Law at George Mason University's Scalia Law School. She also has served on the University’s Academic Assessment Council, Faculty Senate, Inclusive Excellence Council, QEP Committee, and Faculty Annual Evaluations Working Group. Professor Perkins joined the law faculty in 2008 after serving as a Transactional Studies Research Fellow at Columbia Law School. Prior to her fellowship at Columbia she worked as a tax associate with King & Spalding, LLP, in Washington, DC and with Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York. Professor Perkins’ research focuses on the intersection of social, budgetary and enforcement issues and the tax code, and her articles have appeared in journals including the Columbia Journal of Tax Law, the Kansas Law Review, and the BYU Law Review. Her teaching includes courses in corporate tax, federal income tax, international tax, and professional responsibility. Professor Perkins completed the Fostering Inclusion and Diversity Certificate Program at the Yale School of Management (2020) and the Academic Leadership Academy at Penn State (2018). Professor Perkins received her BS in Mathematical Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her JD from Columbia Law School.
Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm
Dean, College of Science
Dr. Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm is the Dean of the College of Science at George Mason University. He is a hydrologist and water resources engineer with research interests in modeling of surface and groundwater systems, climate-hydrology-vegetation interactions, remote sensing applied to hydrologic cycle processes and water quality, and modeling of the water-energy-food nexus. He has been a Principal Investigator in over $300M research sponsored by NASA, NOAA, NSF, USDA, USAID, the World Bank and other agencies, and has worked as a research and consultant in water resources projects in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe for over 25 years. Prior to coming to Mason, he has served on the faculty at Northeastern University, the University of Miami, Florida International University, and the University of Maryland. He also spent 5 years as a civil servant at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. Fernando is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Massachusetts and Florida.
Rose Pascarell
Vice President, University Life
Pascarell’s work focuses on campus climate, student engagement, and student success. She oversees student support and services for Mason’s graduate and undergraduate, full-time and part-time, and residential and off-campus students.
With a focus on student access, success and overall well-being, her areas of oversight range from housing and student health; to international programs and recreation; to diversity initiatives and new student and family programs; to counseling and psychological services and student involvement. She earned a bachelor of arts in sociology, criminology, and conflict analysis at the State University of New York at Albany and her master of arts in sociology from George Mason University.
Keith Renshaw
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
Keith Renshaw is Mason’s Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education. As a Professor in Psychology, he has over 100 publications, 150 conference presentations, and $3M in extramural funding. He received Mason’s Teaching Excellence Award (2015), the American Psychological Association's Division of Military Psychology’s Distinguished Mentor Award (2021), and Mason’s Alumni Association Faculty Member of the Year award (2023). He has served as Faculty Senate Chair (2016-2019), Psychology Department Chair (2017-2023), faculty representative to the Board of Visitors (2015-2021) and to the GMU Foundation Board of Trustees (2019-2021), and Founder and Director of the Military, Veterans, & Families Initiative (2020-present).
Amira Roess
Professor, Global Health and Epidemiology, College of Public Health
Dr. Amira Roess is a professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at George Mason University's College of Public Health, Department of Global and Community Health. She is an epidemiologist with expertise in infectious diseases epidemiology, multi-disciplinary and multi-species field research and evaluating interventions to reduce the transmission and impact of infectious diseases. Dr. Roess currently oversees several longitudinal studies to understand emergence and transmission of zoonotic infectious diseases globally, including the emergence and transmission of Campylobacter (with support from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), MERS-CoV (with support from the US National Science Foundation), and the development of the microbiome during the first year of life.
Amarda Shehu
Professor, Computer Science
Associate Dean for AI Innovation, College of Engineering and Computing
Dr. Amarda Shehu is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Associate Dean for AI Innovation in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University, where she is also Associate Vice President of Research for the Institute of Digital InnovAtion (IDIA). She is a 2022 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Shehu’s expertise includes foundational AI and AI-enabled scientific discovery and advancement of the human condition. Shehu served as NSF Program Director in the Information and Intelligent Systems Division of the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering during 2019-2022.
Solon Simmons
Director, The Narrative Transformation Lab, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution
Solon Simmons is the director of The Narrative Transformation Lab (TNT Lab) at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, where he is leading efforts to develop cutting-edge narrative tools for use in practical applications in both adversarial struggles for justice and collaborative journeys toward peace. A sociologist by training, he is the author many books and articles on narrative and storytelling in peace and politics. Solon served as Interim Dean for the Carter School in 2013 and Vice President for Global Strategy for George Mason from 2014-2017, and is currently the Chair of the Faculty Matters Committee and Faculty Handbook Revision Committee.
Vikas Velagapudi
President, Graduate and Professional Student Association
Vikas Velagapudi is a dedicated and accomplished graduate student currently pursuing his Master’s in Computer Science at George Mason University. With a strong academic foundation, Vikas holds an Undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from KL University in India. As the president of the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA), Vikas is deeply committed to fostering a strong and inclusive academic environment. Recognizing the importance of a positive relationship between graduate students and the administration, he is determined to strengthen communication channels and collaboration, ensuring that the concerns and needs of graduate students are effectively addressed. With his unique perspective as an International student, he is determined to make a meaningful and lasting impact as the voice of the graduate student community at George Mason University.
Paul Wyche
Student Body President
Paul J. Wyche is a junior in the Honors College at George Mason University pursuing a B.S. in Cyber Security Engineering. He currently serves as Student Body President of GMU and is working toward holding the institution accountable to its promise of diversity and inclusion, whether that be in the classroom, dining halls, or any other space a student may be found.
Paul has been involved in many organizations on campus including Student Government as Speaker of the Student Senate in addition to Student Body President, Mason Recreation as a Swim Meet Manager and Head Lifeguard, Mason Ambassadors as a chair on the Executive Board, the Black Student Alliance, and Competitive Cyber Club.
After graduation, Paul plans to pursue a position within the D.C. area as a Cyber Security Analyst, with the goal of helping pave the path to a more digitally secure tomorrow.