The Mason Spirit

When Mason sociologist Angela J. Hattery published her research monograph Intimate Partner Violence in 2008, the acquisition editor at Westview Press approached her to write a textbook. “I was hesitant at first since I’d never written a textbook before, but I knew it was desperately needed in the classroom,” says Hattery, the associate director of the Women and Gender Studies Program. The result is her eighth book, The Social Dynamics of Family Violence, which she co-wrote with Earl Smith, Rubin Distinguished Professor of American Ethnic Studies at Wake Forest University.

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“Czars are a constitutional aberration,” says Mason policy professor Mark Rozell. “There is no official title of executive branch ‘czar’ in the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, or government manuals. Czars may in theory exist to merely provide advice to presidents, but the reality is that many of these officers have gone well beyond merely advising and often supervised statutory programs, administered a policy area, controlled appropriated funds, or regulated industries. White House and executive branch aides who exercise decision-making authority that has the force of law and are not confirmed by the Senate violate the U.S. Constitution.”

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Kathryn Jacobsen is an old hand at writing textbooks. After the success of this associate professor in the Department of Global and Community Health’s 2007 text Introduction to Global Health, she decided to tackle the world of research in Introduction to Health Research Methods (Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2011). An epidemiologist, Jacobsen explains that her…

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The stories in Right of Way (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2010)describe fictional Cleave Springs, a gentrifying neighborhood in the nation’s capital. These insightful stories introduce the neighborhood’s dazzling variety of characters—longtime survivors and new arrivals, preservationists and visionaries, black people and white people—as they navigate the complexities of diversity and change, and strive to realize…

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Prior to coming to Mason in 1997, anthropology professor David Haines worked for the federal government’s refugee resettlement program. A two-time Fulbright scholar, he has worked on and written about immigration issues for much of his career. In his most recent book, Safe Haven? A History of Refugees in America, Haines examines seven decades of…

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Self-Study Teacher Research: Improving Your Practice through Collaborative Inquiry Anastasia P. Samaras, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education Designed to help teachers plan, implement, and assess a manageable self-study research project, Self-Study Teacher Research: Improving Your Practice through Collaborative Inquiry (Sage Publications, April 2010), this textbook covers the foundation, history, theoretical underpinnings, and methods of…

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Organizational Learning at NASA: The Challenger and Columbia Accidents Julianne G. Mahler, Associate Professor of Government and Politics Organizational Learning at NASA: The Challenger and Columbia Accidents (Georgetown University Press, April 2009) thoroughly examines NASA’s loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. After offering an account of the processes that constitute organizational learning, Mahler…

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Real Stories of Nursing Research: The Quest for Magnet Recognition M. Maureen Kirkpatrick McLaughlin (PhD Nursing ’04), Adjunct Professor, School of Nursing, and Sally A. Bulla (PhD Nursing ’03) Real Stories of Nursing Research: The Quest for Magnet Recognition (Jones and Bartlett, 2010) demonstrates how direct care nurses in clinical settings can conduct nursing research…

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On the Trail of the D.C. Sniper: Fear and the Media Jack Censer, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences In On the Trail of the D.C. Sniper: Fear and the Media (University of Virginia Press, April 2010), Jack Censer uses the October 2002 Washington, D.C., sniper attacks to explore the shifting character of…

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Peter’s War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution Joyce Lee Malcolm, Professor of Law Peter’s War: A New England Slave Boy and the American Revolution (Yale University Press, December 2008) tells the story of a slave born in Massachusetts in 1763. Malcolm describes Peter’s life in rural New England, which became increasingly…

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