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911��’s student parent and caregiver meetups earn national recognition

Katarina Benson — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:55:03 +0000

911��’s student parent and caregiver meetups earn national recognition Katarina Benson Wed, 04/01/2026 - 20:55

More than 30% of 911�� students who participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) this year reported spending time caregiving each week—for children, siblings, parents, or other family members. That’s a significant portion of the student body navigating coursework alongside responsibilities that many campus programs weren’t built to acknowledge. University Life’s Contemporary Student Services (CSS) unit is working to change that.

Student parent and caregiver events provide important community. Photo provided

CSS’s monthly Student Parent and Caregiver Meetups are designed to foster connection and build support networks; research shows these activities are linked to increased student retention and success. CSS was recognized with the NASPA Adult Learner and Students with Children Knowledge Community’s Outstanding Undergraduate Student Parent Program award for these meetups.

The NASPA award honors innovative approaches to supporting the specific needs of student parents in higher education. “Supporting student success means recognizing those realities and meeting students as learners and caregivers at the same time,” said Joisanne Rodgers, CSS director. “Each student and staff member involved gives care, time, support, to ensure that 911�� student parents and caregivers have a place to gather, be in community, and know they belong and matter.”

911�� alumna Veronica Vassar, MA Higher Education and Student Development ’25, said, “This space was one of the biggest contributors to my sense of belonging at 911��.”

The meetups, conceived of and hosted by CSS associate director Shyama Kuver, began as virtual gatherings during COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020. By fall 2022, the initiative had grown into an in-person program, co-led by undergraduate student parent and FamilyU Fellow Valeria Fernandez. After her fellowship, Fernandez continued her work with CSS as a contemporary student ambassador, helping grow the program alongside Caroline Simpson, then CSS coordinator and now New Student and Family Programs assistant director.

When Fernandez graduated, undergraduate student parent and CSS Ambassador Chathrini Sirisena stepped into the leadership role. Today, the meetups continue to flourish thanks to CSS student ambassadors Mahjabeen Rahman and Kaitlyn La; Ryne Kimlick, an undergraduate student parent and CSS peer mentor; and Maria Garin Jones, CSS coordinator.

That continuity—students carrying the work forward for other students—speaks to what the program has built over the years.

Some attendees of the student parent and caregiver meetings. Photo provided

“As a student parent, being there with others just like me was so meaningful,” Sirisena said. “That feeling of not being alone in the experience is so important, and I am grateful we have been able to create that for our student parents.”

For Kuver, the recognition reflects something she has believed since the beginning. “The CSS meetups were my first program implementation at 911��,” she said. “I believe in their importance and in their evolution. I believe in the spirit and necessity of horizontal support networks for our student communities.”

911�� is also a proud recipient of the FamilyU Seal, a national certification recognizing the important work done every day to help student parents pursue their education, access economic mobility, and thrive.

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Working Moms Support Group Celebrates its 20th Anniversary

lclarkg — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 14:47:05 +0000

Working Moms Support Group Celebrates its 20th Anniversary lclarkg Wed, 03/22/2023 - 10:47

Heather Aleknavage at the Working Moms Support Group 20th anniversary celebration. Photo by DeRon Rockingham

They say it takes a village to raise a child. But sometimes, parents are left wondering when that village is going to show up.

In 2003, Heather Aleknavage was a new mom doing her best to manage parenting and the demands of her job as an administrative professional at 911��. It wasn’t easy.

“My son, Jeb, was born with a congenital heart defect and had to have surgery when he was 10 days old,” said Aleknavage. “When I returned from maternity leave, sleep deprived with a still-recovering infant, I was really struggling to keep it together.”

These challenges drove Aleknavage to seek support from others who could relate to her experiences. But most local support groups at that time were geared toward stay-at-home moms. No such group existed on campus, either—so Aleknavage decided to change that.

With support from others at Mason, Aleknavage founded the Working Moms Support Group, which celebrated its 20th anniversary on February 23. The group supports Mason faculty and staff through all stages of their parenthood journeys. Membership has ebbed and flowed over the years, and meetings usually include about a dozen attendees. The network is large, though—the group’s contact list includes nearly 200 employees. Aleknavage, now the office manager and human resources coordinator in the Office of Sponsored Programs, still leads the group today.

Working Moms Support Group 20th Anniversary event. Photo by DeRon Rockingham

It takes courage to seek out that “village”

Before starting the group, Aleknavage presented her idea to other employees at a Staff Senate meeting. Stacey Remick-Simkins, program coordinator in the English Department, was chair of the Staff Senate at the time.

"Heather was on the forefront of advocacy for mothers who were working [on campus] full-time and juggling the challenges of work,” said Remick-Simkins. “Her leadership on behalf of working moms continues to be as relevant and important as it was many years ago.”

Others on campus rallied behind the idea. Nancy Hanrahan, associate professor of sociology, was director of the Women’s Center and the Women’s Studies Program at the time (now the Women and Gender Studies Program and Center). Hanrahan was thrilled when Aleknavage approached her with the idea of starting a support group for working moms.

The group needed a place to hold its meetings, which the Women and Gender Studies Center provided—and still does today. The center offered a visible space for the group to convene, which Hanrahan said was important in drawing attention to a constituency that was often overlooked.

"There's often a culture of 'leaving motherhood at the door' when you arrive at work, and that isn't how life really works," said Hanrahan. She hoped that the group would help people build bridges between their working lives and home lives.

Progress for working parents

Benefits and support structures for working parents continue to evolve. The Working Moms Support Group has played a vital role in these efforts at Mason. The group has advocated for telework/flextime options, parental leave, lactation spaces, the expansion of child care options on campus, and more.

“They were instrumental in getting a standardized parental leave policy—with an accompanying work relief plan—approved for instructional faculty,” said Adrianne Jones, faculty/staff engagement coordinator in Human Resources. “Before the policy was introduced, nine-month faculty had to individually negotiate with their deans and the amount of leave allowed varied greatly across the schools. I think it’s fair to say the group has created a supportive community for working mothers and has led the way to make Mason a more family-friendly institution.”

The group has also partnered with the Working Dads Group and advocated for student parents at Mason. "The number of student parents who have indicated an interest in joining [us] has grown tremendously since our group was founded in 2003,” Aleknavage said. “Their needs mirror those of faculty and staff, and they are driven to continue their education while raising their children."

Celebrating 20 years of support

The group recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Jaime Lester, one of the group’s long-time members, served as guest speaker. Lester most recently was associate dean of faculty affairs and strategic initiatives in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and a professor in the Higher Education Program.

The group does far more than providing direct support for its members, Lester said. It has served as a grassroots advocacy group for working parents at Mason.

"The Working Moms Group continues to play an essential role in making the needs of parents at Mason more visible,” Lester said. “From catalyzing the creation of additional leave for faculty and staff to advocating for more lactation rooms in new buildings, the group is an exemplar of bottom-up change for Mason and beyond."

Helping parents during the pandemic and beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to parenting. Julia Tungli, instructional technologist with Information Technology Services, arrived at Mason in December 2019, shortly before the pandemic began. She was returning to work after spending a few years as a stay-at-home parent.

Tungli found out about the Working Moms Support Group before she arrived. “I was nervous about the new job, but I was more nervous about juggling work life with parenthood,” said Tungli. “Just knowing there was a group gave me comfort.”

In 2020, the Working Moms Support Group shifted to virtual meetings while many faculty and staff worked from home. “Working Moms has always been time I’ve taken for myself,” Tungli said. “My kids were there for a couple of meetings, but I tried to set aside the time to decompress and [engage] with my fellow working moms.”

Tungli’s children are four and six years old now, and she predicts that she will remain an active member of the Working Moms Group for years to come, “until parenthood isn’t at the front of my mind in everything I do,” said Tungli. “So maybe another couple of decades?”

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Former Mason students use Generation Hope grants to help student parents and their children

ckearney — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:56:29 +0000

Former Mason students use Generation Hope grants to help student parents and their children ckearney Mon, 08/01/2022 - 12:56

Colleen Forsee. Photo provided

Colleen Forsee attended 911�� for two years studying public administration, while caring for the child she had when she was 15. While Forsee has not yet graduated and instead focuses her time on raising five children, she still recalls how challenging it was to be a young college student with a child. Forsee wanted to find a way to help other parents navigate child-rearing and going to college.

Forsee received a $500 grant from Generation Hope to create nature kits to encourage outdoor play and foster parent-child engagement in natural settings. Forsee’s seven kits, filled with weaving material, playdough, games and seeds to grow pea plants, can be found in various locations on the Fairfax Campus, including Student Union Building (SUB) I.

“I wanted to provide student parents and their children with fun activities that helped bring a busy family back to the natural setting,” Forsee said. “Spending time outside is a good emotional regulator.”

Forsee and Mason alumna Carla Rocha are two out of 12 winners of Generation Hope’s “Our Campus, Our Voice” initiative, which challenged people to come up with ways to create more family-friendly college campuses.

Carla Rocha. Photo provided

Rocha, who graduated from Mason in 2019 with a degree in integrative studies, stocked 13 child activity kits with toys, books, coloring materials and other child-friendly supplies that are also available throughout the campus.

“It’s important for student parents to feel that they belong at the university, and this is one way to help,” said Rocha, who attended Mason as a single parent. “I wanted to help student parents feel like they could bring their children with them while they went around campus or studied. I wanted them to know that they were welcome at Mason.”

Generation Hope is a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to helping young mothers and fathers become college graduates while readying their children for early education. Generation Hope also advocates nationally with student parents and tries to address the financial and emotional hurdles standing in the path of them pursuing a college degree.

Mason alumna Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder and chief executive of Generation Hope, said the “Our Campus, Our Voice” challenge is a “wonderful opportunity for student parents to show us what they and other student parents need in educational spaces” to make them more child-friendly.

Colleen Forsee’s kits are filled with weaving material, playdough, games and seeds to grow pea plants. Photo provided

“There are so many barriers to student parents, so we thought the challenge was a way for us to live out our values and lean on their expertise,” said Lewis, who graduated from Mason in 2006 with a master’s degree in public policy. “The projects have all been so innovative, and we are hoping college leaders take note of what student parents think is needed on campuses.”

“It’s amazing that our student parent alumni and former students are taking the time to give back to current student parents through developing and distributing these kits,” said Kerin Hilker-Balkissoon, director of Mason’s Educational and Career Pathways in the College of Science and chair of the Student-Parent Task Force. “Mason’s collaboration with Generation Hope goes back many years, and we’re excited to continue to partner with them to be more welcoming and supportive of student parents.”

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911����’s student parent and caregiver meetups earn national recognition

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911��’s student parent and caregiver meetups earn national recognition