Alumni News

INTS Assoc. Prof. & SMSC Interim Director Dr. Elizabeth Freeman praises INTS and SMSC '17 Alumni Ashley Fortner on her work with the National Zoo and their newest addition, Asian Baby Elephant Linh Mai.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to honor Casey Klemmer, MAIS '23, with the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award in women and gender studies. Klemmer is a humanitarian aid worker and LGBTQ rights advocate supporting refugees in Samos, Greece. Klemmer has worked across Europe and on the border in Greece, Serbia, and Morocco, providing psychosocial support and essential services to displaced communities.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to honor Zavin Smith with the 2025 School of Integrative Studies/Bachelor of Individualized Studies Distinguished Alumni Award. Smith is a dedicated professional with a robust background in higher education advancement.

INTS graduates are making their mark within the CHSS Alumni Chapter! The 2025-26 Executive Board of Directors for the CHSS Alumni Chapter has been announced. Kevin Turner (INTS, BA '03) is their new Historian. Cheryl Kelly (INTS. BA '09), Karla Canizalez (INTS, BA ' 17), and Zavin Smith (INTS, BA ' 00) are Directors at Large. Congratulations INTS Alumni!

Interdisciplinary Studies alumni Mischa Geracoulis' first book Media Framing and the Destruction of Cultural Heritage: News Narratives about Artsakh and Gaza was published in April as a part of the Routledge Focus on Media and Humanitarian Action series. 

“Occupying All Sides of the Desk: A Feminist Methodological Approach to Teaching, Research, and Mentoring” has been accepted in the Journal of Feminist Scholarship. This piece focuses on Dr. David Powers Corwin’s research collaboration with Lindsay Lowry, (an INTS student with a WGST concentration alum), Angelica Lovelace (an INTS with a Social Sciences for Education alum and former WGST center mentor), and Siri Lalukota (an Oakton High School alumn and now UCLA student).

The School of Integrative Studies is proud to announce that Assistant Professor Janet Ha Poirot was honored by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences with the 2024 CHSS Distinguished Alumni - Faculty award.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to honor Brian Kearney, BA Integrative Studies '02, with the 2024 Distinguished Alumni award in School of Integrative Studies/Bachelor of Individualized Studies. Kearney is the chief executive officer at Kearney & Company, P.C., the largest certified public accountant firm in the United States focused exclusively on federal financial management.

Diane Wood Cameron came to Mason as a transfer student and didn’t know what she would do for a career. During her time at Mason, arts administration was popping up as a career, and very few schools had a degree in it. The BIS program allowed her to create a major where she could combine her love of the arts (she was an artist), her experience as a fundraiser, her love of talking to people, her strong writing skills, and her background in non-profits.