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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 911���� 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.

“For some people, it will be tough to go back,” said Keith D. Renshaw, chair of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Psychology Department and director of the Military, Veterans and Families Initiative. “Many of us have spent the year with reduced human interactions. For people with anxiety, this has meant they’ve been able to turn off the technology when they needed to unplug.”

911���� 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.

Louie Al-Hashimi is driven by service. It started in high school, he said, when his history teacher encouraged him to get involved in community service and he began volunteering at a local food pantry, supporting road cleanup projects, and organizing school concerts for charity. “That, coupled with my studies, encouraged me to pursue public service,” said Al-Hashimi, who earned his master’s in public administration from 911���� in 2020. “Having the opportunity to build or facilitate a connection with other people—that’s what I’m drawn to.”

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.

Honors College student Brenda Henriquez has been named an Adobe Research Women-in-Technology Scholar, a program that recognizes outstanding undergraduate female students studying computer science.

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 University 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 911����’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.