Mason Media Blog

Photo courtesy of the Dramatists Guild of America

Welcoming some of the nation’s most successful dramatists, including Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee and Academy Award winner Stephen Schwartz, Mason’s Theater of the First Amendment will host the conference, “Playwrights in Mind: A National Conversation.”

The conference opens on Thursday, June 9 at 3 p.m. and continues through Sunday, June 12 at noon at the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel on the university’s Fairfax Campus.

Sponsored by the Dramatists Guild of America, the event will include a series of educational workshops, as well as keynote speeches and roundtable discussions that will engage dramatists at any stage in their careers. In addition, new play readings will take place throughout the day by some of the nation’s leading playwrights, librettists and composers.

The conference will feature keynote speakers Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.; Todd Lincoln, artistic director of New Dramatists in New York City; and Julia Jordan, an award-winning playwright.

“This conference will help further the mission of Theater of the First Amendment which is dedicated to discovering, developing and launching new, thought-provoking plays,” says Kevin Murray, managing director of Theater of the First Amendment. “We are very excited to welcome dramatists at any stage in their careers, as well as members of the community, to come together to discuss some of the successes and challenges of our craft and how best to navigate in the years ahead.”

The conference concludes with Theater of the First Amendment’s First Light Discovery Program, which provides playwrights with an opportunity to continue to develop new plays while working with professional directors, dramaturges and actors. The workshop culminates in public staged readings with audience feedback.

For registration information and a complete schedule of events, visit the website.

More information can be found here.

The new telescope was lifted in pieces over Research I by crane and lowered into the observatory tower. Photo by Evan Cantwell, Creative Services.

This past weekend, Optical Guidance Systems helped George Mason University install a Ritchey-Chretien 32″ diameter telescope that will be the largest on-campus telescope in the region. A crane lifted the largest pieces of the telescope as high as nine stories over the building and into the observatory tower in Research I on the Fairfax Campus.

The telescope will be fully functional this fall, and will allow faculty and students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy to conduct research in planetary and atmospheric studies.

In the fall, the community will also be able to take advantage of this technology with night-time observing sessions twice a month, weather permitting. Professor Harold Geller will lead these community sessions, as well as conduct educational observing programs for local K-12 school children.

Educational and Outreach Uses of the Telescope:

• In-service professional development for teachers
• Community groups and organization tours
• School observing sessions
• Public night observing sessions
• Summer science camps

Research Uses of the Observatory and Telescope:

Even within the light-polluted skies of Fairfax, researchers can:

• Search for planets beyond our solar system
• Conduct studies of stellar surfaces and interiors with a high resolution spectrograph
• Search for supernovae
• Study planetary atmospheres

Continuing its commitment to support veterans who have served the nation, Mason will join a newly expanded Yellow Ribbon Education Enhancement Program for the 2011-2012 academic year.

The initiative, which Mason is offering in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is aimed at expanding higher education funding for post-9/11 servicemen and women.

In previous years, Mason and the Office of Military Services has provided tuition assistance to help up to 25 qualifying veterans who enroll as graduate students. These students received a $500 tuition discount from the university that was matched by $500 from VA.

Under the newly expanded Yellow Ribbon Program, the first 50 qualifying veterans pursuing undergraduate and graduate level degrees will be eligible, with the exception of the School of Law.  These students will receive a $1,000 tuition discount that will be matched by $1,000 from VA.

To qualify for the Yellow Ribbon Program, veterans must meet several service requirements determined by VA such as having served an aggregate period of active duty after Sept. 10, 2001, of at least 36 months or have been honorably discharged from active duty for a service connected disability and served 30 continuous days after Sept. 10, 2001. Acceptance into the Yellow Ribbon Program for eligible students will be on a first come, first served basis.

Mason’s Office of Military Services serves more than 1,000 active duty, reserve, National Guard and veteran students, offering assistance and information regarding issues such as veteran services and academic counseling, as well as information about the many benefits they are entitled through state and federal government programs. The office also assists veterans in adapting to collegiate life from military life, connecting them with each other and supporting them as they pursue their studies at Mason.

More information about the Yellow Ribbon Program can be found on the VA website.