Episodes

Friday Feb 18, 2022
Charles Chavis: The truth will set you free
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Friday Feb 18, 2022
Charles Chavis, an assistant professor of conflict resolution and history at George Mason University, and director of African and African American studies at Mason, talks about his new book that explores the lynching of a young Black Man in Salisbury, Md., and how understanding his story and the Black experience in the United States can help find ways to fight anti-Black violence. Chavis also pushes for a National Truth and Reconciliation Program to give the country the chance to reset and “deal with the truth.”

Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Foods you can lose to climate change
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Ted Dumas, an associate professor of psychology, is an experienced researcher who is ringing alarm bells about the damage from climate change. His book, “If Food Could Talk: Stories From 13 Precious Foods,” explains how foods such as coffee, chocolate, bananas and avocados could soon disappear for good. Dumas tells Mason President Gregory Washington how the book came about, how these foods can be saved – a pooping bear in Japan might provide a way to save cherries – and how the book was almost entitled “The Last Chocolate Kiss.”

Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Reimagining Santa Claus
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Want to listen to a conversation with real holiday spirit? Thalia Goldstein, an associate professor of applied developmental psychology, tells George Mason University President Gregory Washington about how kids benefit socially and emotionally from finding out Santa Claus isn’t real. As for finding out herself as a child, Goldstein, whose research focuses on the effects of pretend play and theater on children’s social and emotional skills, says she’s still disappointed.

Friday Nov 19, 2021
The real story of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving
Friday Nov 19, 2021
Friday Nov 19, 2021
John G. Turner, a professor of religious studies at George Mason University talks with Mason President Gregory Washington about the real history of Thanksgiving. Were the Pilgrims religious refugees who established democracy and the holiday in New England, or invaders who betrayed their native allies and even enslaved them? Turner also gets to the bottom of the age-old Thanksgiving question: light meat or dark? A fascinating discussion with lots to digest.

Wednesday Nov 10, 2021
Hakeem Oluseyi calls his education ”a matter of life and death”
Wednesday Nov 10, 2021
Wednesday Nov 10, 2021
Hakeem Oluseyi tells George Mason University President Gregory Washington how he went from a life of crime to being one of the world’s renowned astrophysicists. The Visiting Robinson Professor at Mason also describes what aliens might look like – think a two-foot tall Incredible Hulk – and tells a remarkable tale of how working as a hotel janitor, and eating room-service leftovers to survive, made him understand that his education was “a matter of life and death.”

Wednesday Oct 13, 2021
How sustainability is good business
Wednesday Oct 13, 2021
Wednesday Oct 13, 2021
Lisa Gring-Pemble thinks business can be a force for good in society. And the co-director of George Mason University’s Business for a Better World Center and co-founder of the university’s Honey Bee initiative is an outspoken champion of that sensibility. Gring-Pemble tells Mason President Gregory Washington how and why business should address world challenges. She also describes how business can drive sustainability success and shouldn’t be measured simply by profits but how it affects the environment and the communities in which we live.

Thursday Aug 26, 2021
Talking immigration, DREAMers, the border wall ... and margaritas
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
Thursday Aug 26, 2021
For Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a nationally recognized expert on the dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, the border region is like a third country. The George Mason University professor talks to Mason President Gregory Washington about the wonders and dangers of the border region, and why we must be honest about the causes of illegal immigration while stopping politics from driving decision-making.

Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
At the nexus of policing and society
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
Wednesday Jul 28, 2021
For Cynthia Lum, a professor of criminology, law, and society at George Mason University, the realities of policing don’t always match what the public thinks of policing. That disconnect doesn’t allow a discussion about the most effective approaches to curbing use-of-force discrepancies. Lum, a former Baltimore City cop, tells Mason President Gregory Washington about how evidence-based policing is part of an overall strategy to fight crime that includes being respectful to the communities with which they work.

Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
Spencer Crew: At the intersection of museums and social justice
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
Wednesday Jul 14, 2021
George Mason University history professor Spencer Crew, the first African American to lead a major Smithsonian museum, tells Mason President Gregory Washington about the evolving role museums play in society, and how the Black community in the United States, and those who work with it, are trying to be the conscience of the nation.

Saturday Jun 26, 2021
Concussion discussion
Saturday Jun 26, 2021
Saturday Jun 26, 2021
Shane Caswell, co-director of George Mason University's Sports Medicine Assessment Research and Testing Laboratory tells Mason President Gregory Washington about his research that could change how concussions are diagnosed and treated, how Mason students are working in the community as athletic trainers, and what the latest science says about concussions and CTE.