Curious about how Mason Libraries can support you in your research and instruction? Have questions about various services or resources? Join us this semester for Faculty Fridays with the Libraries, a virtual workshop series catered to your research and library-related instruction needs. In these workshops, we will introduce you to the tools, services, and people that will help you be a more efficient and organized researcher and instructor! You can view all of our upcoming workshops – from Google Scholar to Academic Publishing, and more – and register at https://go.gmu.edu/facultyfridays.
Category Archives: Faculty
Emily Green and Amaka Okechukwu Named 2021-22 Fenwick Fellows
FAIRFAX, VA – September 15, 2021: Dean of Libraries and University Librarian John G. Zenelis is pleased to announce the award recipients for the 2021-22 Fenwick Fellowships: Emily H. Green, Associate Professor of Music History, College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Amaka Okechukwu, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Amaka Okechukwu 
Emily Green
Professor Green’s applied research project, Musical Practices of Early Black Virginians, seeks to document, present, and teach the early performance practices of free and enslaved Black musicians in Virginia. Green’s research will contribute to filling the gap currently existing between contemporary renditions of early songs and historically informed music practices, with a particular focus on colonial and antebellum Virginia. The project’s goals include creating an open-source website with resources for educators, publishing research for the academic community, developing courses for Mason students, and offering musical performances in the region. Professor Green’s Fenwick Fellow year will focus on the research and website creation, with the goal of offering coursework and concerts in the year following her fellowship.
Professor Okechukwu’s digital humanities project, Black Belt Brooklyn: Mapping Community Building and Social Life during the Urban Crisis, aims to map, illustrate, and historicize Black practices of resistance, mutual-aid, institution building, and vitality in Central Brooklyn during the 1970s and 1980s. With this project, Okechukwu’s goal is to push scholarly and popular understandings of the period of urban decline, particularly those conclusions generated about Black agency and cultural responses to urban decline. Her research offers a nuanced interpretation grounded in oral history, archival, visual, and spatial evidence of Black life. By creating a digital humanities project, Professor Okechukwu seeks to make her research more accessible and immersive, bringing viewers into a fuller picture of the social and political life in an urban Black community during the late twentieth century.
Dean Zenelis commented, “Each year the Fenwick Fellows program receives a number of creative and innovative proposals from Mason faculty members, and I am grateful for the work of the review committee in selecting this year’s recipients. It is rewarding to read in the proposals of this year’s fellows of their intent to work with two important centers within the Libraries – the Center for Mason Legacies and the Digital Scholarship Center. The breath of the research offered in these proposals – from applied musical research to digital humanities scholarship – is reflective of the Libraries’ range of collections and expertise. We look forward to hearing about the project results next year when Professors Green and Okechukwu share their findings.”
As is customary for recipients of the Fenwick Fellowship, Professors Green and Okechukwu will present on the outcomes of their projects in Spring 2023 at the annual Fenwick Fellow Lecture hosted by the University Libraries.
ABOUT THE FENWICK FELLOW PROGRAM: The Fenwick Fellowship is awarded annually to one or two Mason tenured, tenure-track, or multi-year appointment term faculty members to pursue a research project that uses and enhances the University Libraries’ resources while advancing knowledge in their fields. The winning proposals are recommended to the Dean of Libraries and University Librarian by a six-member selection committee including three instructional faculty members and three librarians, with one of the Associate University Librarians serving as administrative coordinator. The recipients are provided with a fully equipped and furnished research office in Fenwick Library and an award of $5,000 to support the recipient’s research project. The term for the fellowship is one academic year.
Libraries seek Fenwick Fellowship proposal judges
The Office of the Dean of Libraries and University Librarian is seeking three instructional faculty, including former Fenwick Fellows, to evaluate the 2021 Fenwick Fellowship proposals this summer. The exact time frame will be determined once the review committee is formed; however, the goal is that the Fellow selection process be completed by the first week in August. Ideally, we seek individuals from the university’s various schools and colleges (especially those that have been under-represented on the review/selection panel in the past), to work alongside three librarian evaluators.
The Fenwick Fellowship is awarded annually to a George Mason faculty member to pursue a research project that uses and enhances the University Libraries’ resources while advancing knowledge in his/her field. Up to two Fellowships of $5,000 each may be awarded for research materials and assistance; program guidelines include funding for a second fellowship for a project proposal that specifically aligns with the Libraries’ initiatives in the area of digital scholarship.
Judging proposals will not take up much of your time. This year faculty members are requested to review the applications and then virtually attend or call into a meeting lasting no more than one hour to choose the winning proposal(s). Please contact your subject librarian (https://library.gmu.edu/subject-librarians) if you would like to be considered or if you have any questions.
Libraries Survey on Journal Article Access
The University Libraries is conducting a survey to learn about Mason researchers’ journal usage and access needs. As journal costs outpace library budgets, the Libraries has been forced to shift some journals from a subscription-based model to an alternative access model, in which articles are available via Open Access or Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
The survey is available here and will remain open until Thursday, April 29, at 11:59 p.m. The survey is anonymous, unless you specifically request a follow-up email from the Libraries. Survey responses will be used within the Libraries only, to inform journal subscription and renewal decisions.
If you have any questions about this survey, email Dr. Helen McManus, Head, Collections Strategy, at hmcmanus@gmu.edu.
To learn more about the Libraries’ recent efforts to further sustainable collection practices, visit our Sustainable Collections site.
2021-22 Fenwick Fellows Program Announced
The University Libraries will begin accepting applications for this year’s Fenwick Fellow competition on Thursday, April 1. The Fellowship is awarded annually to eligible Mason faculty members to support a research project that uses and enhances the Libraries’ resources while advancing knowledge in his or her field.
Up to two Fellowships of $5,000 each may be awarded. The program guidelines include funding for an additional fellowship for a project proposal that specifically aligns with the Libraries’ initiatives in the area of digital scholarship. For the full announcement and application details, visit the program site.
The application deadline is Tuesday, June 1, 2021, and the awardee(s) will be announced at the start of the Fall academic term. In the Spring term following the completed fellowship, the University Libraries sponsors a public lecture in which the Fellows present the results of their research.
For additional information, contact Debra Hogan, Executive Specialist to the Dean of Libraries and University Librarian, at dhogan1@gmu.edu.