innovative classes

George Mason University adjunct professor Jennifer Lewis created two special topics courses in George Mason’s Environmental Science and Policy Department (ESP)—EVPP 490 Conservation Storytelling and EVPP 490/505 Media Production for Environmental Science and Policy.

A project in a health administration graduate course, taught by Associate Professor Renee Geschke, built AI literacy and deepened students’ understanding of how AI influences leadership, communication, and team dynamics in health care.

When students step into AVT 496 Intro to VR for the Artist, they’re not just walking into another studio course—they’re entering entirely new worlds of their own making. George Mason University’s School of Art launched the course this spring, marking its first-ever deep dive into virtual reality (VR) as an artistic medium. 

Gabrielle Tayac, an associate professor in the Department of History and Art History in the College of Humanities of Social Sciences, has received a grant from NPS to lead Phase Two of Tribal Nations and the Revolutionary War, a community-driven research project that will examine the Revolutionary War and its aftermath from the perspectives of tribal nations.

George Mason University will launch the Space Forward Frontiers Seminar Series in spring 2026, a one-credit, in-person course developed with Northrop Grumman and the College of Engineering and Computing that is open to students of all majors interested in the space industry.

George Mason graduate student Kevin Landry turned his passion for honeypots into a hands-on classroom project, leading his team to build a customized cyber trap that attracted real-world attackers and gave students an eye-opening look at cloud security.

This fall, George Mason University’s dance studios buzzed with excitement as School of Dance students prepared for and performed José Limón’s 1958 original composition Missa Brevis, alongside professional dancers from the Center for the Arts artists in residence Limón Dance Company.

Students in Tawnya Azar’s HNRS 260 Society and Community Engagement course are focused creating awareness campaigns around hunger and food scarcity. The class aims to empower students through writing and collaborative efforts, fostering a critical examination of the challenges surrounding food access and inspiring tangible solutions. 

Not often can you take a course where you receive top-level instruction for how to prepare for a career, while also having the opportunity to give back to the world around you; but that is exactly what students in Costello’s BUS 303 class experienced this past spring semester when they planned and hosted multiple “Humanitarian Happy Hours.”

When George Mason University English professor Eric Gary Anderson steps into the classroom to teach ENGL 419 Popular Horror, he’s not just talking about things that go bump in the night—he and his students are exploring what makes people seek out horror in the first place.