In his most recent study, Caswell, associate professor of athletic training and director of the Sports Medicine Assessment, Research and Testing (SMART) Laboratory in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development, and his colleagues at MedStar Health Research Institute and the Fairfax County Public Schools found that the new mandate helped to reduce not only the number of eye injuries, but also the number of face and head injuries among players.

Funded by U.S. Lacrosse, the study titled “Effectiveness of the Women’s Lacrosse Protective Eyewear Mandate in the Reduction of Eye Injuries” and published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine, also compared concussion rates and overall injury rates among female lacrosse players before and after the rule change.

The researchers worked with approximately 9,430 female scholastic lacrosse players in 25 public high schools in Fairfax County, Va. Data was gathered for each of the high schools over a consecutive 10-year period – four years before the mandate (2000-2003) and six years after the mandate (2004-2009).

The researchers observed that the total number of eye injuries decreased from 22 before the mandate to five after the mandate. In addition, head and face injuries also decreased significantly after the eyewear mandate – from 33 injuries to 21 injuries.

One of their concerns, notes Caswell, is that the change in equipment might result in more aggressiveness on the field. However, the researchers found that the mandate did not have this effect because the overall injury rate stayed the same throughout the course of the study.

Surprisingly, there was a significant increase in the rate of concussions among female lacrosse players – 38 concussions occurred before the mandate compared to 86 concussions after the mandate.

Caswell and his colleagues say they aren’t worried about this finding. In fact, he says, the increase may reflect the increased awareness and diagnosis of concussions across all scholastic sports.

WHO: George Mason University’s Academy of International Sport

WHERE: George Mason University
Johnson Center
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030

WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 8 a.m. through Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m.

WHAT: Welcoming researchers and practitioners from around the world, George Mason University’s Academy of International Sport will host the conference, “Sport and the Global South: Linking Theory and Practice.”

The conference opens on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 8 a.m. and continues through Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the Johnson Center on the university’s Fairfax Campus.

Although sport is played around the world, infrastructure and limited opportunities make it difficult for the development of sport programs to be established in the nations of the Global South. The conference will address major issues facing sport in the Global South and the prospects for sport in the Global South during the 21st century.

The conference includes a series of roundtable discussions on topics such as historical perspectives on sport and the Global South and women and sport in the Global South. In addition, several paper sessions will be held throughout the conference and will focus on varying subjects including politics, policy and interventions of sport in the Global South and discourses of race and gender in South Africa.

Delegates from countries such as Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, South Africa, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago will be in attendance, as well as representatives from several universities in the United States and from the U.S. Department of State.

The Academy of International Sport is housed in the School of Recreation, Health and Tourism in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development. The Academy promotes international dialogue and understanding through sport to advance social justice, sustainable development and economic opportunity through the vehicle of sport. In addition, the Academy works to raise funds and awareness of youth sport programs around the world in developing countries.

For more information about the conference and a full schedule of events, visit the website.

WHO: George Mason University’s School of Management

WHERE: The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner
1700 Tysons Boulevard
McLean, VA 22102

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

WHAT: As part of the second annual Symposium on Business Globalization, Mason’s School of Management will bring together leaders in the field of cyber security to discuss managing cyber threats in a global economy. The event will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 18, from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in McLean, Va.

Keynote speakers Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and acclaimed author, and General Michael Hayden, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Distinguished Visiting Professor in Mason’s School of Public Policy, will discuss the growing need for companies and organizations to protect themselves from the threat of cyber attacks.

The symposium will also include panel discussions on topics such as securing the cloud and cyber threats to states and governments. In addition, a panel discussion titled “2011 Global State of Information Security Survey” will be presented by David Burg, principal in PwC’s advisory practice.

Zakaria is the host of “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on CNN, editor-at-large at Time magazine, and a regular columnist for the Washington Post. As an international bestselling author, Zakaria is widely respected for his ability to spot economic and political trends around the world. His columns and stories cover a wide variety of subjects ranging from globalization and emerging markets to the Middle East and America’s role in the world.

As former director of the CIA, General Hayden was responsible for overseeing the collection of information concerning the plans, intentions and capabilities of America’s adversaries; producing timely analysis for decision makers; and conducting covert operations to thwart terrorists and other enemies of the U.S.

General Hayden is currently a member of the Chertoff Group, which provides business leaders and local government officials with high-level, strategic thinking to help keep America safe. In this position, General Hayden uses his broad geographic and political knowledge to brief clients on intelligence matters worldwide, including developments in cyber security, which may affect their businesses.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit the website. To register for the event, click here.

Timpani

Fred Begun, who served as the principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) from 1951 – 1999, has donated his entire library of musical scores and individual timpani parts to the university. The collection includes copious notes from composers and conductors during his tenure with the NSO, as well as autographed timpani parts. The School of Music hopes to have the collection in its possession by the end of the year.

“As one of the great musicians of his generation, we are honored that Mr. Begun has chosen Mason to donate his collection of materials used during his musical career,” says John Kilkenny, faculty member and percussion area coordinator in the School of Music. “This collection includes a wealth of personal musical advice that will be an invaluable resource to current and future students in the School of Music.”

Begun began his professional musical career on the timpani – also known as a kettledrum – in 1951 after graduating from the Juilliard School of Music. Throughout the years, he has appeared under the batons of conductors such as John Barbirolli, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos and Mstislav Rostropovich. He also holds the distinction of having given three world premiere concerto performances for timpani. His book, “21 Etudes for Timpani,” is used in music conservatories throughout the world.

To honor Begun’s legacy and commitment to performance and education, the School of Music and the College of Visual and Performing Arts developed a program that will offer more educational opportunities for students. The program is composed of the following elements:

• The percussion studio in the de Laski Performing Arts Building will be named the “Fred Begun Percussion Suite.”

• Scholarships named for Begun will be offered to outstanding percussion majors at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

• A Visiting Artist series will offer percussion majors the unique opportunity to work with world-renowned guest performers and educators. Guests will be in residence for one or two semesters each year.

For more information about Begun’s donation and the educational programs, contact Kilkenny at 571-286-2796 or jkilken1@gmu.edu.

Susan Shields

Mason dance professor Susan Shields was featured in a great article in the Washington Post. In the article, she talks about her successful career as one of only a handful of female freelance choreographers in the industry.

Shields has created works for some of the best contemporary ballet companies, including Washington Ballet, Boston Ballet II, and most recently, Ballet West. Her work on Ballet West, “Grand Synthesis,” we be presented on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 8:30 p.m. at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. Shields’s piece will be among other works by renowned choreographers George Balanchine and Jiri Kylian.

Before becoming a professor in Mason’s School of Dance, Shields enjoyed a long performance career with Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. When she came to Mason in 1997, Shields tried her hand at choreography – in between touring with dance legend Mikhail Baryshnikov’s company, White Oak Dance Project.

Some of her earliest pieces were first staged on Mason dancers. Since then, her career as a choreographer has taken off, and as the article notes, she has created her own “style that fuses formal balletic technique with modern shapes and movement.”

Suzanne E. Smith

Associate  professor of history Suzanne E. Smith‘s book, “To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death” is one of three finalists for the nonfiction award in the 2011 Library of Virginia Literary Awards.

The Library of Virginia Literary Awards are given to outstanding Virginia authors in the areas of poetry, fiction, nonfiction (and, in the case of nonfiction, also by any author about a Virginia subject), and literary lifetime achievement. These are juried awards and winners in each category receive a cash prize and an engraved crystal book. Past winners include Barbara Kingsolver, Annette Gordon-Reed, Debra Nystrom, Lisa Spaar, Carrie Brown, Helon Habila, Deborah Eisenberg, Wesley Hogan, Scott Nelson, Melvin Ely, James I. Robertson Jr., Charles Wright, Constance Merritt, and R. T. Smith.

Smith’s book explores African American funeral directors’ reputations as both community leaders and con artists and how these two images created a tension that worked to create a legendary, sometimes notorious, status for funeral directors in African American culture.

Smith’s research interests include the relationship of popular culture, music and art to social protest; the study of film and collective memory; and the history of death in America. Her first book, “Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit,” examined Motown and its relationship to the black community of Detroit and the civil rights movement.

Smith has also contributed to various public history projects, including the film “Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring” for the American Experience series on PBS, and the series, “I’ll Make Me A World: African American Arts in the Twentieth Century,” from Blackside Productions. She has a PhD in American Studies from Yale University.

The 14th Annual Literary Awards Celebration will be held the evening of Saturday, October 15, 2011. All finalists for the awards series, as well as a complete list of nominees, is available here.

A new class this year, Global Health Perspectives on Alcohol, will accomplish all of these goals and more. Housed in the College of Health and Human Service’s newly formed Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, the course will “investigate the impact of beer and wine in health and society from a global perspective,” according to the catalog.

In addition to a planned visit to the King Family Winery in Crozet, Va., other field trips will also be scheduled. They hope to hold many of the classes in downtown Fairfax, where the department is leasing the location of the old Metro Silver Diner.

“There will be a wine-tasting component and a beer-tasting component—we’ll try to understand the processes from a chemical point of view,” says Gabriella Petrick, associate professor in Nutrition and Food Studies. “In other words, what goes on in a winery or brewery?”

Associate professor Gabriella Petrick

And that’s just the half of it. Students will also learn the trends of beer and wine consumption and production in the Western world from a historical perspective, including studying Prohibition. Other areas of the world will also be covered, like alcohol consumption in Australia or the making of banana beer in Africa. Some readings will focus on the archaeological and early historical evidence of wine and beer production.

From a global health standpoint, students will investigate the issue of alcohol abuse and explore different cultural attitudes toward wine and beer consumption. But students will also evaluate research on the possible health benefits of wine and beer.

“People actually drank more 50 to 100 years ago in the United States,” says Petrick. “So we will be looking at the so-called ‘taboo’ of alcohol in this country.”

Interested in brushing up on your booze knowledge? Spots are still available for the fall semester. Contact Petrick here for more information. Prerequisites include that students must be at least 21 years old and have taken basic chemistry and/or microbiology.

Mason pre-service teacher Jeness Vignoe works with elementary students at the Math Carnival. Photo by Courtney Baker

What’s your average on the Popcorn Drop contest? How does an artist, architect or ice cream shop owner use math daily?

These are just some of the questions that were explored during E=MC²: Enrichment in Mathematics Computing and Creativity, a two-week summer math camp for elementary students that took place in late July.

Throughout the program, students from Annandale Terrace Elementary School in Annandale, Va., and Westlawn Elementary School in Falls Church, Va., had the opportunity to learn about mathematics, technology and problem solving in a creative environment.

A unique aspect of the camp is that it allowed pre-service teachers from Mason to work collaboratively with mentor teachers at Mason’s Professional Development Partnership Schools. The pre-service teachers participated in professional development programs to learn more about teaching mathematics to a diverse population of students.

With their mentor teachers, the pre-service teachers planned daily lessons, gained valuable teaching experience and observed the techniques of the elementary teachers.

“There is a lot of controversy on how to best prepare our teachers for diverse classrooms,” says Jennifer Suh, assistant professor of mathematics education in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD).

“I believe that this type of partnership between the university and local schools that weaves course work into clinical experiences puts Mason at the cutting-edge of demonstrating best practices in enriching mathematics education to diverse learners.”

Mason pre-service teachers Deanna Andrews and AnneMarie Thomas play a mathematics game with students. Photo by Courtney Baker

The camp culminated with a Math Carnival and Kidz Biz Expo. During the Math Carnival, the elementary students invited their family and friends and taught them mathematics games that involved probability and number sense.

The Kidz Biz Expo gave students an opportunity to learn about financial literacy, such as starting a business with a loan, making a profit and building mathematical power.

The camp was jointly supported by CEHD’s Elementary Education program and the Math Science Partnership (MSP) Center at Mason. The MSP Center, which was established by Suh and Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, associate professor of mathematical sciences in Mason’s College of Science, supports student learning in grades K-8 and professional development for math teachers. The MSP Center is funded by a grant from the Virginia Department of Education.

Members of George Mason University’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) invite you to join them for a poster session and luncheon at the Hylton Performing Arts Center on Mason’s Prince William Campus on Monday, August 15, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

A student completes lab work under the direction of a Mason faculty mentor as part of the Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program.

Now concluding its fifth year, ASSIP provides the opportunity for high school juniors, seniors and college undergraduates interested in exploring science and medicine to gain hands-on research experience. This summer, the 48 local high school and undergraduate students put in eight 40-hour weeks at Mason’s Prince William and Fairfax Campuses as they worked alongside their dedicated faculty mentors—33 in all—from disciplines such as chemistry, biochemistry, proteomics, genomics, neuroscience, biodefense, bioinformatics, computer science, nanotechnology, physics and environmental science.

Through regularly scheduled meetings with their mentors, as well as program-wide lab safety training, career workshops and guest speaker seminars, students receive exposure to levels of science that many aspiring researchers will not see until they enter the workforce. Investigations this summer include global challenges such as cancer, HIV, tuberculosis, biothreat agents and Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more about the program here.

The poster session will highlight the students’ work with their faculty mentors. Featured speakers include Alan Merten, president of George Mason University; Dr. Lance Liotta, co-director, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at Mason; and Annalise Schoonmaker, a three-time participant in the Aspiring Scientists program.

When: Monday, August 15, 2011
Poster Session: 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Awards Ceremony and Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Where: Hylton Performing Arts Center
10960 George Mason Circle
Manassas, VA 20110

More: This event is open to media. For more information and to RSVP, please
contact Leah Fogarty at 703-993-8781 or email her at lfogart1@gmu.edu.

Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the United States, yet Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam still happily hawk their wares to youngsters. To combat this conundrum, a working group of federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, issued a voluntary set of guidelines last spring aimed at curbing commercials that market unhealthy foods to children.

But now those voluntary guidelines are facing opposition in Congress. Some Republicans are requesting further research by the FTC into the potential costs and impacts of the guidelines before implementing them, according to an Associated Press story.

Mason associate professor Michael Mink, who has been studying what he calls “nutrition messages on TV,” thinks the FTC guidelines are a good next step. In his research, h­­e is currently analyzing the nutritional value of foods marketed during children’s shows but has also studied the nutritional value of foods marketed during primetime television. He’s found that commercials have a bias toward foods that are high in sugar, fat and sodium.

“Our research found that a 2,000-calorie diet consisting of foods advertised during primetime television would contain 25 times the daily recommended servings of sugar and 20 times the daily servings of fat, less than half a day’s servings of dairy, fruit and vegetables,” says Mink.

“This same diet would oversupply 8 nutrients, including sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat, while undersupplying 12 other nutrients, including fiber, iron and vitamins A, D and E,” he continues.

This study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, also found that the diet advertised on television was very similar to the diet of most Americans. “So it is very possible that televised food ads are an important influence in the common American diet,” says Mink. “Since the average American will see about 15,000 food ads every year, any bias toward unhealthy foods in these ads will very likely have an impact on consumer behavior.”

Mink is now evaluating commercials aired during Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons—prime TV viewing time for children—and has found an even greater imbalance.

“Preliminary results show that a 2,000-calorie diet consisting of these foods would provide 100 times the daily recommended servings of sugar and 2.5 times the daily servings of fat, but less than a third of the day’s supply of vegetables, meat, dairy, and fruit,” Mink says.

“In fact, the observed food ads did not contain a single serving of fruit. Likewise, this diet would supply less than half the day’s supply of 11 different nutrients,” he says.

As to the argument that the government is overstepping its boundaries by making these voluntary guidelines, Mink points out, “The role of government is to protect the public from harm. There is plenty of research to show that the foods advertised on television are often nutritionally imbalanced and that televised food ads do influence nutrition behavior. Together, this research suggests a serious public health risk.”

Mink also points out that many other countries—including the United Kingdom, France and parts of Scandinavia—have already restricted food advertising or outlawed marketing junk food to children. “We are just taking a single step in a direction where many countries have taken major strides,” says Mink.

To speak with Mink about his ongoing research about junk food marketing or his comments on the fervor surrounding the voluntary FTC guidelines, contact Media Relations Manager Leah Kerkman Fogarty at lfogart1@gmu.edu or 703-993-8781.