Damian Cristodero

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial to be dedicated

Colleen Rich — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 16:08:11 +0000

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial to be dedicated Colleen Rich Mon, 03/28/2022 - 12:08

It was the summer of 2017, and five George Mason University students and three faculty members were beginning their research into the children enslaved by George Mason IV, the university’s namesake.

Wendi Manuel-Scott, a professor of integrative studies and history, and one of the faculty members on the project, recalled how the students at one point “began to talk about how it would be awesome if years from now they came to campus and there’s a plaque that honors the enslaved people held by George Mason.”

As it turned out, they got much more than a plaque, as what was the Enslaved Children of George Mason project led to the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, a focal point of how the university is addressing its identity as it relates to a complicated Patriot.

“The purpose of the project was to raise awareness about George Mason IV, the man, the patriot and the slaveholder,” Manuel-Scott said. “Our goal was to focus on expanding our community’s understanding of Mason, and to focus on the people he owned and what they thought about freedom.”

The memorial on the Fairfax Campus (see the video) is the centerpiece of the newly renovated Wilkins Plaza, named for the African American civil rights leader, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and beloved Mason professor.

One panel is dedicated to to Penny, an enslaved girl given by Mason to his daughter. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

It will be dedicated at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 4, as part of the university’s 50th anniversary celebration.

“I started that project the summer after my sophomore year, and it sounded cool to have research that maybe would contribute to a memorial on campus," said Mason alum Kye Farrow, BA History ’19, MS Management ’20. "But it was really difficult at the time to see how it would get there. So, yes, still today, I'm absolutely amazed the work we did went to the product that's there today."

Other students on the project were Alexis Bracey, BA Global Affairs ’19; Ayman Fatima, BS Systems Engineering, BA Government and International Politics ’21; Farhaj Murshed, BS Statistics ’20; and Elizabeth Perez-Garcia, BS Criminology, Law, and Society ’19.

It was important each student came from a different academic discipline, Manuel-Scott said.

“Each brought a different way of seeing and thinking, and a different way to analyze and explore records,” she said. “That interdisciplinarity created a richness in terms of the project.”

Mason faculty Gabrielle Tayac and Wendi Manuel-Scott gather water from the Potomac River to use in the fountain on Wilkins Plaza. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

The project was launched by Manuel-Scott; Benedict Carton, a faculty member in History and Art History; and Mason alum George Oberle, Mason’s history librarian and a term faculty member in the Department of History and Art History.

All are leaders in the Center for Mason Legacies, an interdisciplinary and collaborative research center established by the University Library and College of Humanities and Social Sciences that encourages student research to preserve and examine the legacy of George Mason IV and the people he enslaved.

The Enslaved People of George Mason project “shows that Mason is striving to be an exemplar institution in relation to the idea of promoting student inquiry and being open to where that goes and takes us, even if it’s not always a happy story,” Oberle said.

The memorial includes the iconic statue of Mason. A new pedestal includes four quotes which highlight the different aspects of his life, including the penning of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the foundation of the U.S. Bill of Rights. But Mason also enslaved more than 100 people at his Gunston Hall plantation and did not free any upon his death.

Memorial panels are also dedicated to Penny, an enslaved child given by Mason to his daughter, and James, Mason’s personal attendant. A fountain contains stones in a pattern that symbolize an African custom of gathering and prayer.

To acknowledge an altar that was constructed next to the Potomac River by the enslaved at Gunston Hall, and to acknowledge that the land on which the university was built was originally inhabited by indigenous people, water from the Potomac River will be poured into the fountain.

“It’s a way to interconnect the worlds, between the place of enslavement, the place of difficulty, but also a place that’s life-giving,” said Gabrielle Tayac, an associate professor of public history at Mason, and a Piscataway tribal citizen. “To pour the water into the fountain that recalls those connections and all of those hopes and dreams and memories the people had, it’s a way of awakening and blending those intentions.”

Said Carton: “Our project sought to guide students’ sense of moral duty, as they branched out to discover hidden histories. This duty is focused on reconstructing the everyday humanity of enslaved people whose lives had deep meaning, despite the cruelties of enslavement.”

“The moral duty,” he said, “is in the learning.”

Topics

Campus News

Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial

Masonat50

Center for Mason Legacies

Wilkins Plaza

Campus Improvements (Construction)

diversity

DEI

Construction kick-off on Arlington Campus the ‘start of something big’

Colleen Rich — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 19:12:52 +0000

Construction kick-off on Arlington Campus the ‘start of something big’ Colleen Rich Mon, 01/03/2022 - 14:12

Concept rendering by Mason Innovation Partners / EYP

The first steps of the construction project that will reshape and reimagine George Mason’s Arlington Campus are scheduled to begin this week, weather permitting.

“This is the start of something big for Mason,” Carol Kissal, Mason’s senior vice president for administration and finance. “And when it’s done, it will have fundamentally changed our campus, as well as the broader Arlington community.”

The action won’t be dramatic at first, said Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities, but will ramp up over time, given that the scope of the $235 million renovation includes construction of an approximately 400,000-square-foot building on the site of the old Kann’s department store that will support Mason’s School of Computing and other innovative ecosystems.

Construction fencing will be reconfigured, primarily by the driveway of the FDIC building. There will also be some excavation for sheeting and shoring, and preparation of the site for the new building with relocation of an existing underground storm pipe.

A water line and electric line will be relocated, and drilling for “soldier beams” to support the sheeting and shoring will begin, perhaps later in the month, Pinskey said.

“There may be some noise. You may feel some vibrations,” Pinskey said. “But it’s all safe and done in compliance with rules and requirements. The reality is, the end result will be worth it.”

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Another section of the Core Campus Project set to open

Melanie Balog — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 18:48:26 +0000

Another section of the Core Campus Project set to open Melanie Balog Wed, 10/27/2021 - 14:48

A large area of green space anchored by a new amphitheater is scheduled to open this week in the center of George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.

The removal of fencing along a good portion of the north side of Wilkins Plaza will provide access to the space, which marks another major milestone in the Core Campus Project.

“I am thrilled,” said Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities. “Having the amphitheater is a big deal as an expanded area for student engagement in the center of campus, which we really haven’t had before.”

The amphitheater will have wall seating, tables, chairs, event power sources and accessible Wi-Fi.

The green space will include some of the 35 overcup oak trees that are being planted to replace the trees that were taken out to make room for the expanded plaza. The trees are in grassy areas, as opposed to being surrounded by concrete, as were the trees there previously.

Some of those trees were repurposed to create the wood benches in Horizon Hall.

“As they mature they won’t get root-bound, which is what happened to the trees before,” Pinskey said. “We’re improving what is there to make them last longer.”

Completion of the Core Campus Project is expected by the Spring 2022 semester, when work on Harris Theatre, a meditation labyrinth, and a dining patio next to SUB I are finished.

The Core Campus Project, which includes Horizon Hall, the redesigned Wilkins Plaza and the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial, has already changed the energy in the center of the campus, Pinskey said.

“You walk around the center part of the campus and it’s always populated by students, faculty and staff, sitting at the tables and on the benches, or sitting on the wall of the fountain,” she said. “It really has provided a whole new outdoor feature that didn’t exist before in a way that it does today.”

A view of the amphitheatre on the north side of Wilkins Plaza. Photo by Cathy Pinskey

Topics

Core Campus Project

Campus News

Construction

Campus Improvements (Construction)

George Mason statue moved to its new home (video)

Colleen Rich — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 09:00:13 +0000

George Mason statue moved to its new home (video) Colleen Rich Fri, 06/12/2020 - 05:00

The iconic statue of George Mason on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus was moved on June 15 to its new (temporary) home on Holton Plaza. Check out a video of the move.

The move is necessary to make room for reconstruction of the area of Wilkins Plaza adjacent to Robinson B, which itself will be demolished after the opening of Horizon Hall, expected for the spring 2021 semester.

The Mason statue will return to its usual place on Wilkins Plaza in late summer 2021.

The Mason clock, a gift from the Class of 1999 that was moved into storage in December 2018 to facilitate the expansion of Wilkins Plaza, is expected to make its reappearance in July, slightly north and east of its former location near David King Hall.

“Things are moving along pretty well although productivity has been reduced over the past several months due to COVID,” Cathy Pinskey, program director at Mason Facilities, said of the Core Campus Project, which is transforming the center of the Fairfax Campus.

Moving the Mason statue is fairly straightforward, Pinskey said.

After it was loosened from its base, the statue was picked up by a forklift, strapped onto a flatbed truck for safety and shuttled to Holton Plaza.

There it was be placed on a newly constructed base.

Once the statue returns, it will be part of the memorial on Wilkins Plaza dedicated to the Enslaved People of George Mason.

That memorial, designed by landscape architects with Perkins & Will, in association with a diverse team of Mason faculty, staff and students, intertwines the narratives of two of Mason’s slaves: Penny, a 10-year-old girl, and James, Mason’s personal manservant.

At the base of the Mason statue will also be four quotes from Mason that explains his important and complex role in American history as the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and a slaveowner.

New academic building has a name: Horizon Hall

Damian Cristodero — Fri, 22 May 2020 09:30:00 +0000

New academic building has a name: Horizon Hall Damian Cristodero Fri, 05/22/2020 - 05:30

Horizon Hall, under construction as shown in this May 20 photo, is the cornerstone of the Core Campus Project, which is transforming the Fairfax Campus. Photo courtesy of Mason Facilities.

When Debra Lattanzi Shutika talks to students and prospective students at George Mason University, she emphasizes how a humanities degree will broaden their horizons.

That is why the chair of the English Department in Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) believes Horizon Hall is the perfect name for the new academic building that is scheduled to open on the Fairfax Campus in January 2021 .

“Horizon Hall,” she said, “absolutely gets at the expansive possibilities of a humanities degree.”

The name was approved by the Board of Visitors at its May 20 meeting.

The new building, which will replace Robinson Hall A and B and is part of the Core Campus Project, will be a state-of-the-art, six story, 218,000-square-foot structure housing classrooms, conference rooms, community spaces, and a Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX) as well as many of CHSS’s departments and interdisciplinary programs.

Classrooms will accommodate 27 to 118 students and will be outfitted with an instructor computer and display capabilities, all with the goal of fostering discussion and active learning. Large windows throughout the building will maximize natural light in internal spaces like the six-story atrium as well as internal offices.

“It’s going to be such a fantastic building,” Mason Interim President Anne Holton said. “It’s right at the center of the Fairfax Campus. And with these fabulous state-of-the-art, high-tech classrooms, it will expand our active learning classrooms to further enhance the student experience while creating a vibrant, globally connected hub for intellectual exploration."

“The forward-looking vision of the university is so much about facilitating multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work,” CHSS Dean Ann Ardis said. “Populating the building with disciplines in the humanities and social sciences that haven’t always lived in easy proximity to one another on the Fairfax Campus can enable cross-disciplinary interactions and collaborations. And the atrium as well as the garden area adjacent to the Wilkins Plaza will be stunning new spaces for special events and receptions.”

But back to that name: Horizon Hall.

It fits so well, Ardis said, because so many humanities and social science majors are “discovery” majors.

For example, she said, high school curricula don’t typically include exposure to disciplines like anthropology, art history, linguistics or sociology. Many high schools also don’t offer opportunities to study critical languages like Korean, Arabic or Chinese.

“Students often discover their interests and aptitudes in CHSS majors and minors because they are introduced to these disciplines for the first time through Mason Core requirements,” Ardis said. “A lot of our majors grow over time. A college education opens a student’s horizons by introducing you to a far broader complement of disciplinary practices, methodologies and career opportunities.”

Lattanzi Shutika said she knows students who have graduated with English degrees who are working in tech, as publicists, teachers and writers.

“That’s the beauty of getting a degree in English,” she said. “It broadens your horizons.”

Core Campus Project moves into next phase

Damian Cristodero — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 10:30:00 +0000

Core Campus Project moves into next phase Damian Cristodero Fri, 11/30/2018 - 05:30

The Core Campus project enters a new phase over winter break with the removal of Robinson A to make way for a new, state-of-the art building. Photo provided.

The university is gearing up for the next phase of the Core Campus Project, which will transform the center of George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.

The Mason clock, a campus landmark and gift from the Class of 1999, is expected to be moved into storage next week, where it will remain for a year for safe-keeping. This will allow for the expansion of Wilkins Plaza, which will extend from its current end point near the Johnson Center to Southside Dining Hall.

In addition to the clock moving, the university will begin taking Robinson A down during the Winter Break and clear the grounds for construction of the new facility. The state-of-the-art, six-story, 218,000-square-foot building will offer maximum teaching and learning flexibility.

Also to be stored soon is the “Woman in Hammock” statue next to Robinson A.

The George Mason statue will be moved to Holton Plaza in November 2020 and returned to its home on Wilkins Plaza at the end of 2021.

Cathy Pinskey, program director for George Mason Facilities, said the clock will be crated and moved to a campus warehouse until its reappearance in November 2019 slightly north and east of its current location.

“It will be protected,” she said.

Pinskey said the university is working to minimize disruptions caused by the construction, including two unplanned utility outages that occurred during trenching

“We have put in some improved processes that we think are going to reduce the risk [of further outages],” she said.

That includes proactive talks with Dominion Energy to help better locate utility lines.

Pinskey also said that trenching will not be done during final exams.

For more information about the project and the latest construction timeline, visit construction.gmu.edu.

Core Campus Project website is live

Melanie Balog — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 20:57:12 +0000

Core Campus Project website is live Melanie Balog Wed, 08/29/2018 - 16:57

You’ve seen the construction fences around George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus, now check out the Core Campus Project website.

At construction.gmu.edu, you can learn the basics and specifics of the project that during the next four years will transform the center of campus into a vibrant, globally connected hub for intellectual exploration.

“It gives an interesting look at what the future is going to look like,” said Cathy Pinskey, program director in Mason’s Facilities department.

Central to the website is an overall project view that includes video representations and explainers of the mostly state-funded $170 million project, the centerpiece of which is the replacement of Robinson Hall with a state-of-the-art, 218,000-square-foot building that will be the defining center of academic life on campus.

There also will be added green space, an outside amphitheater, a larger and redesigned Wilkins Plaza and necessary upgrades to the university’s infrastructure.

The website has project timelines, an overall project map, frequently asked questions and a planner that explains what is coming in the project’s next two weeks.

“It’s a good place to get information about what is happening,” Pinskey said. “I see a lot of people looking at the signs and the banners around campus. So I would say visit the website regularly because it will be updated on a real-time basis throughout the duration of the project.”