SPP’s New Faces, New Roles – 2010
by Jocelyn Rappaport
With the arrival of a new academic year, the School of Public Policy (SPP) proudly introduces its newest faculty, staff, and alumni officers. Some names are new to the SPP community; others are familiar, although now in new professional roles.
New Faculty
John S. Earle became professor of public policy and economics in August 2010. He has taught at the Central European University, Stanford University, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the University of Vienna. In addition, he has been an affiliated researcher with the Institute for International Studies at Stanford, the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics, the Institute for the Study of Labor, the William Davidson Institute, the Center for Advanced Studies in Vienna, and the Brookings Institution.
Professor Earle's research focuses on firm-level and worker-level effects of public policies, particularly under conditions of structural and institutional change. He has written extensively on labor markets, political economy, firm performance, privatization and corporate governance, entrepreneurship, industry dynamics, organizational practices, and the consequences of restructuring for employees. His approach is comparative, institutional, and interdisciplinary, and much of his work develops and analyzes large microdatabases for multiple economies in Central and Eastern Europe.
His publications include more than 50 articles in refereed scholarly journals, such as the Journal of Political Economy, Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Labor Economics, Labour Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Research in Labor Economics, American Political Science Review, Academy of Management Journal, European Economic Review, Lancet, and Corporate Governance. He has also published four books and numerous chapters in edited volumes, as well as articles and reports for policymakers and broader audiences.
Professor Earle's policy experience includes stints at the Council of Economic Advisers, the Congressional Budget Office, and the U.S. Geological Survey, and policy advising and consulting with the World Bank, OECD, USAID, and the Russian-European Center for Economic Policy. He also is director of the Labor Project at the Central European University and president-elect of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies.
He received a PhD and MA in economics from Stanford University and bachelor degrees in economics and piano from Oberlin College and Conservatory.
Sonia Ketkar is assistant professor at SPP and an affiliate with its Center for Emerging Market Policy and the Mason Enterprise Center. Professor Ketkar received a PhD in international business administration from Temple University and a bachelor's and master's degree in commerce from the University of Pune in India. Her research interests include firm survival, foreign exits, subsidiary strategy, entry mode, and outsourcing.
Professor Ketkar belongs to Beta Gamma Sigma, an international honor society for academic achievement in business. She is a reviewer for the Journal of International Management and the Journal of International Marketing.
In 2009, she received the Faculty Development and Research Award from Towson University, where she was an assistant professor of international business. Her professional experience also includes consulting for TowsonGlobal, an international incubator based in Maryland, and working for Bridge News (now Thomson Reuters) in Mumbai, India.
Edmund Zolnik is assistant professor in SPP. His major areas of expertise are community and regional development, safe and sustainable transportation, and multilevel modeling. Professor Zolnik is involved in numerous research projects supported by federal agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the Economic Development Administration, and the General Services Administration. He is also involved in research projects supported by the following local agencies: Loudoun County, Parking and Transportation Services at George Mason University, and Inova Health System.
Prior to joining SPP, Professor Zolnik was a member of the faculties of the Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science at Mason and the Department of Geography at Binghamton University in New York. He received a PhD and an MA, both in geography, from University of Connecticut and a BS in psychology from Fairfield University.
International Scholars
Angela Martini is a career official in the European Commission, Brussels, working on asylum and immigration policy. She holds degrees from the University of Rome and the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. She is the Visiting European Union (EU) Fellow in SPP for the fall 2010 semester. During the term, Martini will carry out research comparing U.S. and EU refugee resettlement policies, with a view to identifying best practice and possible areas of cooperation. She also is teaching the master's program course the European Union: Meeting the Challenges of Asylum, Migration, and Immigration, which focuses on the EU's efforts to implement an area of freedom, security, and justice against the background of an aging society, global insecurity, and mounting external migratory pressure.
Dariusz Gora-Szopinski is a Fulbright Scholar with SPP conducting research in the area of political science with a focus on American neoconservatives and their impact on Polish political life. Gora-Szopinski is an assistant professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, where he is a member of the faculty of Political Science and International Studies, and the Socrates/Erasmus exchange coordinator. Gora-Szopinski is at SPP through November 2010, and his sponsor is Mark Rozell.
Lei Guo, a visiting research scholar with SPP until February 2011, is conducting research on public-sector economics and government budgets. He is an associate professor at the School of Public Finance and Administration, and the director of the Department of Public Administration, Shandong University of Finance, China. Kingsley Haynes is his sponsor.
Xiaoling Liu, a professor at the College of Marxism, Hunan University, Changsha, China, is a visiting research scholar with SPP until January 2011. She is conducting research on the Chinese Communist Party and the ideology in China. She proposes to study the ideology and soft power in a developed country. Her sponsor is Jack Goldstone.
Meruyert Narenova is a Fulbright Scholar with SPP until June 2011. He is professor and advisor to the president/docent, University of International Business, Kazakhstan. Narenova is researching U.S. strategies and priorities in regional trade agreements. Jack Goldstone is his sponsor.
Yuliya Zabyelina is a visiting research scholar, conducting comparative research on transnational crime with SPP's Transnational Crime and Corruption Center. She is with SPP until November 2010. Zabyelina is a PhD candidate in international studies at the University of Trento, Italy. Her sponsor is Louise Shelley.
Xiuyan Zhang, a professor at the Department of Management Science and Engineering, Business School of Jilin University, China, is a visiting research scholar with SPP until August 2011. Her research includes forecasting methods, modeling, decision support, and quantitative economics. Zoltan Acs is her sponsor.
New Students
SPP is proud to welcome almost 300 new students to our dynamic, rigorous, and respected certificate, master's, and PhD programs. In addition, 30 nondegree students are enrolled. The class, reflecting Mason's global diversity, consists of 24 international students from 16 countries, including Bosnia, Burkina Faso, Columbia, India, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, South Korea, and Turkey.
For the fourth year in a row, SPP is offering the Seymour Martin Lipset Scholarship, which honors one of SPP's founders and a preeminent scholar in the field of political sociology. The following 10 new master's students received the scholarship: Richard Bean, Sasidaran Gopalan, and Juhani Platt from the International Commerce and Policy program, and Jonathan Buono, Brandon Ehrhardt, Reaz Mehdi, Matthew Stack, Kevin Sweeney, Adam Tewell, and Stephen Thompson from the Master of Public Policy (MPP) program.
The school also is honored to have been chosen by the International Research and Exchanges Board for the third year in a row as host institution for the Muskie Fellowship program. In 1992, the U.S. Congress established the Muskie program to foster economic and democratic growth in Eurasia. The program supports promising students from Eurasian countries to study at the graduate level in various fields. This year, we welcome from Tajikistan Muhammad Bodurbekov, who is studying in the MPP program. For more information, visit http://www.irex.org/programs/muskie/index.asp.
New Staff
Christopher Anclien made the transition in July from SPP administrative assistant to administrator/human resources and planning assistant. Anclien earned a BA in mathematics from American University and a JD from Mason.
Jenny Henderson joined SPP in August as assistant to the associate dean for research. She earned an MBA from Le Moyne College and a bachelor of technology in equine science from Morrisville State College.
Shannon Williams Hettler is the new assistant director of PhD Student Services. Shannon received her master's degree from Mason's Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 2004. During her graduate studies, she was the internship coordinator at Mason's Center for Global Education.
Janet Kenny recently became SPP assistant director of graduate admissions (joining Stephanie Floyd) after having served as SPP graduate admissions assistant. She received a BA in history at Northeastern University in 2007 and is studying in Mason's MPP program. She reports to Tennille Haegle, SPP director of graduate admissions, who now heads the SPP Admissions Office.
Rachel Tulinski-McGhee, previously SPP Fiscal Services Administrative Assistant, is now the SPP Finance Assistant. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in English-creative writing from University of Central Florida.
Heather Wright joined SPP in May as its assistant director of career development. Wright works with Duane Bradshaw, director of career development and alumni relations, to provide a full range of career services to students and alumni. She has a master's in community counseling from Marymount University. As part of her practicum, she provided career advising to Mason students at University Career Services, and she taught a career exploration course at Mason.
New Alumni Officers and Liaison
The officers elected to the SPP Alumni Chapter Board for the July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, term are David Lee (ICP '08), president; Mikael Pyrtel (ICP '09), vice president; Tendai Kennedy Kavu (ICP '08), secretary; and Adam Tabaka (ICP '07), treasurer.
For more information, contact the SPP Alumni Chapter at sppalum@gmu.edu, and visit the SPP Alumni Chapter web page.
Mark J. Rozell is the new alumni/faculty liaison. He serves as a bridge between SPP faculty and alumni and arranges cooperation on projects and programs of mutual interest and benefit.
New Construction
Just more than a year ago, SPP held a New Digs Ceremony, marking the foundation of its new home, Founders Hall. SPP's new home on the Arlington Campus will provide an auditorium, a multipurpose room, a library, computer labs, classrooms, faculty offices, and additional parking in an underground garage. The facility also includes a welcomed public plaza. Move-in is planned to begin in late December 2010.
Our Community Continues to Grow and Connect…
We encourage you to communicate in person and through our virtual community venues. Connect with us at the following links: events, newsletter and magazine, web announcements, SPP in the Media, faculty and student Publications, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the Admissions Blog.