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This is the National Society of Black Engineers Week, with festivities taking place all week.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed legislation that approves George Mason �鶹���� for the highest level of institutional management autonomy granted to Virginia public colleges and universities, a milestone achievement for Mason, the state’s youngest public research institution.

George Mason �鶹���� was named a “Voter Friendly Campus” as the result of a campus-wide strategy to increase voter turnout. Mason is one of more than 231 colleges and universities across 37 states and the District of Columbia to earn this designation.

In the next installment of the Office of the Provost’s Mason Vision Series, Mason epidemiologist Amira Roess will address “COVID-19: A Vision for Future Response.”

Mason's Employee of the Month program is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month of highlighting the achievements of Mason’s staff. The program has recognized the hard work of 360 Mason employees since its inception in 1991.

There is one more week to give your feedback for the recommendations from the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. The feedback form is open through close of business Friday, March 19.

Mason Lighting the Way: Creston Lynch

Allison Redlich, a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and a colleague at Central Michigan �鶹���� have received a collaborative National Science Foundation grant of $385,000 to study wrongful convictions within the U.S. criminal justice system.

The eastern region of Ukraine has been an intense battleground since 2014, when Russia controversially annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and invaded the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. Though a ceasefire was called, it has been violated daily. More than 10,000 people have died and roughly 1.6 million are registered as internally displaced people (IDP).

But a step toward hope and peace may be on the horizon, thanks to George Mason �鶹����’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, and their new project funded by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.