Graduation

With her kids in school and ambitions to become a nurse practitioner, the George Mason nursing student is charting her path with purpose

Community Health student Paris Stephens shares how her undergraduate research experience on cancer care interventions bridges the connection between her commitment to lead ethical research initiatives and her dedication to becoming a more skilled public health practitioner.

Rocío Rodríguez Morales, MSW ‘25, a first-generation student, found support and community at George Mason as she forged a new career path with her third degree.

Melissa Perry, ScD, MHS, Dean of George Mason’s College of Public Health, will graduate this spring with her Costello MBA—her third graduate degree, earned while serving as a full-time dean, raising two children, and leading one of the largest and fastest-growing public health programs in the region.

Growing up, George Mason University senior Haila Salaheddine was not a big fan of going to the dentist. “I was initially very fearful of the dentist. When I was living in Lebanon, there wasn’t really preventative care for oral hygiene,” said Salaheddine, a community health major.

Miller is director of health services at USMC headquarters and vice chief, BUMED, Reserve Policy and Integration for the United States Department of Navy. She will speak at the College Degree Celebration at EagleBank Arena on May 17 at 2 pm.

Sinoxolo “Susan” Favor was doing public health work in her native South Africa long before she enrolled in the College of Public Health at George Mason University. Now Favor is graduating from this spring with a BS in community health from the first college of public health in Virginia.

Figueroa serves as the Chief of Staff to United States Senator Laphonza Butler and is the former Director of the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services He will speak at the College Degree Celebration at EagleBank Area on May 11 at 2 pm.

Samantha Harrison, who graduated this spring with a bachelor’s degree in community health with a global health concentration, says that discovering the community health degree provided her with a comprehensive way to achieve her ambitions to bring equity to communities through well-being. 

McKenzie Lauber is graduating from George Mason University this month with a bachelor of social work degree and a minor in criminology.