Access to Excellence Podcast

By George Mason University

What's Access to Excellence Podcast about?

George Mason University’s Access to Excellence podcast brings you the university’s most compelling research and stories. Hosted by Mason President Gregory Washington.

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Access to Excellence Podcast episodes:

04.22.2024
What will become of the Amazon?
Jeremy Campbell, associate director for strategic engagement in George Mason University’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth, says that at its current pace the vast Amazon rainforest, in five to 10 years, could pass a tipping point in which it could...
03.25.2024
Catherine Read, mayor of Fairfax City, Va., is outspoken, unfiltered
Catherine Read is the first woman and first George Mason University alum to be mayor of Fairfax City, Va., the university’s hometown, and she isn’t shy about touting an institution she says helped teach her how to think critically. Want...
02.16.2024
A view from the pulpit
With oratory flair, Rev. Jeffery Johnson, pastor at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Fairfax, Virginia, and Dr. Vernon Walton, pastor at First Baptist Church in Vienna, Virginia, guide us through some of the history and aspirations of the Black community...
01.11.2024
Where the bodies are buried
Forensic research on human donors is not for the faint of heart, Mary Ellen O’Toole, director of the Forensic Science Program in George Mason University’s College of Science, admitted to Mason President Gregory Washington. But the university’s new outdoor research...
12.01.2023
Are we headed for an internet apocalypse?
Peter Becker, a professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department in George Mason University’s College of Science, talks with Mason President Gregory Washington about how a predicted major increase in solar storm activity could be a prelude to an “internet...
11.10.2023
The critical importance of shared humanity
Melissa Perry, dean of George Mason University’s College of Public Health, is an ardent proponent of virtual reality and AI as tools to help solve the nation’s health challenges. But, as she tells Mason President Gregory Washington, a technology overload...
09.08.2023
The tension between war, justice, and peace
Karina Korostelina, a professor of conflict analysis and resolution in George Mason University's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, conducts research with global implications that not only applies to countries and groups in conflict but societies...
08.04.2023
Nikyatu Jusu is elevating the horror genre
Nikyatu Jusu, an assistant professor of directing and screenwriting in George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, talks to Mason President Gregory Washington about her movie “Nanny,” which won the grand prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival,...
07.05.2023
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe: ’I don’t have any regrets’
Andrew McCabe, the former deputy and acting director of the FBI, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University, gives a masterclass on the indictment of Donald Trump under the Espionage Act, and goes deep with Mason President Gregory...
06.02.2023
The metaverse, crypto, and the evolution of the internet
What exactly is the metaverse? Some say it is the future of the internet — a broad shift in how we interact with technology, including new and more ways to collaborate in virtual worlds. Others say it creates even more...
04.28.2023
Everything is business
Business is at the heart of everything. So says Ajay Vinzé, dean of Mason’s School of Business. In a conversation with George Mason University President Gregory Washington, Vinzé joined Paula Sorrell, associate VP for innovation and economic development at Mason,...
02.15.2023
Black Dance: Housing the past and the present
Lawrence Jackson says colonialism brought an end to authentic African dance. But the associate professor of dance at George Mason University, who in 2011 co-authored and edited a special edition on Black dance in the Journal of Pan African Studies,...
01.25.2023
Missy Cummings: Artificial intelligence is artificial and not intelligent
Missy Cummings, one of the country’s first female fighter pilots and director of George Mason University's Autonomy and Robotics Center, calls herself a tech futurist, charged with making tech work better and safer. In a conversation with Mason President Gregory...
12.13.2022
Describing history through the eyes of ordinary people
Helon Habila, a professor of creative writing at George Mason University, and an acclaimed international author, has never shied away from important issues. In a fascinating discussion, Habila, the author of four novels, tells Mason President Gregory Washington about his...
11.16.2022
The absurd fallacy of a hierarchy of human value
When Gail Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity and a senior scholar in George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, talks about “ensuring a future,” she’s really talking about creating a system of equity...
10.18.2022
Are the midterm elections the most consequential in our time?
Are the midterm elections the most important in our time? Maybe, maybe not. Jennifer Victor, associate professor of political science in George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government, and Mason president Gregory Washington wrestle with that, and you...
09.06.2022
His sound is renowned
Dr. Michael Nickens, an associate professor of music in George Mason University’s Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, tells Mason President Gregory Washington how he transforms from his mild-mannered persona into Doc Nix, the flamboyant leader of the...
07.25.2022
What it means to build peace
Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, talks to Mason President Gregory Washington about the keys to effective peacebuilding, whether it concerns the war in Ukraine, gun violence or local issues. And...
06.15.2022
Cori Bush: Action must be the reaction
Rep. Cori Bush, Missouri's first Black congresswoman, talks to George Mason University President Gregory Washington about the importance of the class she is teaching this summer at Mason. A pastor, teacher, nurse, and a Black Lives Matter activist in Ferguson,...
05.20.2022
Russia’s war in Ukraine tied to corruption, organized crime
Louise Shelley, a University Professor and director of Mason’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center explains to Mason President Gregory Washington the connections between the war in Ukraine and Russian corruption and organized crime, and how criminals and terrorists take...
04.19.2022
Promoting a scientific worldview
Jim Trefil, a physicist and Robinson Professor at George Mason University, explains to Mason President Gregory Washington the importance of a scientific worldview. The author of more than 50 books and one of the developers of the modern theories about...
03.15.2022
On Ukraine, Russia, China, and a very messy world
Larry Pfeiffer, director of George Mason University’s Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security, explains to Mason President Gregory Washington about Vladimir Putin’s real agenda in Ukraine. He also details why the war in Ukraine matters to...
02.18.2022
Charles Chavis: The truth will set you free
Charles Chavis, an assistant professor of conflict resolution and history at George Mason University, and director of African and African American studies at Mason, talks about his new book that explores the lynching of a young Black Man in Salisbury,...
01.12.2022
Foods you can lose to climate change
Ted Dumas, an associate professor of psychology, is an experienced researcher who is ringing alarm bells about the damage from climate change. His book, “If Food Could Talk: Stories From 13 Precious Foods,” explains how foods such as coffee, chocolate,...
12.08.2021
Reimagining Santa Claus
Want to listen to a conversation with real holiday spirit? Thalia Goldstein, an associate professor of applied developmental psychology, tells George Mason University President Gregory Washington about how kids benefit socially and emotionally from finding out Santa Claus isn’t real....
11.19.2021
The real story of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving
John G. Turner, a professor of religious studies at George Mason University talks with Mason President Gregory Washington about the real history of Thanksgiving. Were the Pilgrims religious refugees who established democracy and the holiday in New England, or invaders...
11.10.2021
Hakeem Oluseyi calls his education ”a matter of life and death”
Hakeem Oluseyi tells George Mason University President Gregory Washington how he went from a life of crime to being one of the world’s renowned astrophysicists. The Visiting Robinson Professor at Mason also describes what aliens might look like – think...
10.13.2021
How sustainability is good business
Lisa Gring-Pemble thinks business can be a force for good in society. And the co-director of George Mason University’s Business for a Better World Center and co-founder of the university’s Honey Bee initiative is an outspoken champion of that sensibility....
08.26.2021
Talking immigration, DREAMers, the border wall ... and margaritas
For Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a nationally recognized expert on the dynamics of the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration, the border region is like a third country. The George Mason University professor talks to Mason President Gregory Washington about the wonders and dangers...
07.28.2021
At the nexus of policing and society
For Cynthia Lum, a professor of criminology, law, and society at George Mason University, the realities of policing don’t always match what the public thinks of policing. That disconnect doesn’t allow a discussion about the most effective approaches to curbing...
07.14.2021
Spencer Crew: At the intersection of museums and social justice
George Mason University history professor Spencer Crew, the first African American to lead a major Smithsonian museum, tells Mason President Gregory Washington about the evolving role museums play in society, and how the Black community in the United States, and...
06.26.2021
Concussion discussion
Shane Caswell, co-director of George Mason University's Sports Medicine Assessment Research and Testing Laboratory tells Mason President Gregory Washington about his research that could change how concussions are diagnosed and treated, how Mason students are working in the community as...
06.08.2021
COVID-19 mental health crisis is the second pandemic
COVID-19 presented individuals with many challenges. Some were obvious, such as how to continue one’s education through distance learning. But some were not as clear cut, such as dealing with anxiety, depression and grief. Robyn Mehlenbeck, director of George Mason...
05.14.2021
Gail Christopher: On racial healing and overcoming a legacy of separation
A false story has been told in this country about people of color, social change agent Gail Christopher says, and it’s time to tell the truth about the “bad idea” of the hierarchy of human value. Dr. Christopher, executive director...
05.04.2021
With Emergent Ventures, Tyler Cowen puts money where his mind is
Emergent Ventures, which looks for big and unique ideas, has raised $60 million and funded 200 projects. Mason economist and co-founder Tyler Cowen says the grants are “something you can win that’s not about connections.” Push ideas, he said. “Make...
04.21.2021
Climate change and the misinformation war
There are those who still don’t believe in climate change or that it is manmade. As Earth Day approaches, public health scientist Ed Maibach, director of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication, speaks about overcoming climate change misinformation,...
03.29.2021
The coronavirus as Rubik's Cube -- Part 2
Epidemiologist and public health expert Saskia Popescu talks COVID-19 from policy to the front lines, including fractures in our critical infrastructure and what she tells Mason President Gregory Washington is the false dichotomy between public health and the economy. A...
03.10.2021
The coronavirus as Rubik's Cube -- Part1
How hard was it to get things aligned to fight COVID-19? In the first of a two-part series exploring the pandemic and its effects, Mason epidemiologist Amira Roess explains what we know about the virus and how the U.S. response...
02.21.2021
Doing the work: Anti-racism, inclusion and disrupting inequality
How are anti-racism efforts building on college campuses? How will Mason affirm its core values and mission of inclusion? President Gregory Washington speaks with Wendi Manuel-Scott and Shernita Parker, co-directors of Mason's Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force about the...
02.17.2021
'It's important who tells the stories'
In this fascinating conversation, President Gregory Washington speaks with Kevin Clark, director of original animation for preschool programming at Netflix, about how technology and economics are helping fuel the rich entertainment content highlighting people of color, and how that programming...
01.29.2021
Creating a safer return to campus
On Jan. 22, Mason President Gregory Washington spoke with Mason scientists Lance Liotta and Virginia Espina, who head the university’s effort to push the boundaries of technologies that are keeping its three university campuses safe from COVID-19. That includes a...
01.13.2021
The climate change imperative
Fighting climate change is a global imperative, and the consequences of inaction could be dire. But Mason's Andrew Light, who helped negotiate the Paris Agreement on climate, tells Mason President Gregory Washington that for the go-getters, opportunity awaits.
12.16.2020
Into the eyes of a murderer
What's it like to interview a mass murderer? Professor Mary Ellen O'Toole, a former FBI profiler, fills us in on that and Mason's new Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory, which will be one of only eight in the U.S....
12.02.2020
Election projection
How did the election play into our national identity? How did Donald Trump mold the Republican Party in his image? How can we reform the Electoral College? Mason President Gregory Washington speaks with Schar School Dean Mark J. Rozell on...
11.03.2020
60 seconds to nuclear war
Professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Martin J. Sherwin discusses his new book about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and tells a terrifying, and not well-known, story of how close we came to nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
10.14.2020
We all have skin in the game
Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, assistant professor in the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, explains how using our democratic freedoms will help overcome racism in America.
09.27.2020
Would a Trump election loss benefit the Republican Party?
Schar School Dean Mark J. Rozell provides an unbiased analysis of the stakes heading into the presidential debates -- with some debate history thrown in as well.
08.31.2020
The U.S.'s approach to immigration is like 'policy formaldehyde'
Mason's Justin Gest, an expert on immigration and the politics of demographic change, explains why the U.S., from the outside looking in, appears to be a "closed angry giant."
08.19.2020
Is the U.S. experiencing a third Reconstruction?
Mason's Charles Chavis, a historian of the early civil right movement, puts the current protests for racial justice in historical context.
07.29.2020
Investigating the Olympic Spirit
Did you know the torch relay began at the 1936 Berlin Games? With this summer’s Tokyo Olympics on hold, Mason Olympic scholar Chris Elzey examines the Games as an athletic, cultural and political event.

What's Access to Excellence Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Access to Excellence Podcast episodes:

What will become of the Amazon?

Catherine Read, mayor of Fairfax City, Va., is outspoken, unfiltered

A view from the pulpit

Where the bodies are buried

Are we headed for an internet apocalypse?

The critical importance of shared humanity

The tension between war, justice, and peace

Nikyatu Jusu is elevating the horror genre

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe: ’I don’t have any regrets’

The metaverse, crypto, and the evolution of the internet

Everything is business

Black Dance: Housing the past and the present

Missy Cummings: Artificial intelligence is artificial and not intelligent

Describing history through the eyes of ordinary people

The absurd fallacy of a hierarchy of human value

Are the midterm elections the most consequential in our time?

His sound is renowned

What it means to build peace

Cori Bush: Action must be the reaction

Russia’s war in Ukraine tied to corruption, organized crime

Promoting a scientific worldview

On Ukraine, Russia, China, and a very messy world

Charles Chavis: The truth will set you free

Foods you can lose to climate change

Reimagining Santa Claus

The real story of the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving

Hakeem Oluseyi calls his education ”a matter of life and death”

How sustainability is good business

Talking immigration, DREAMers, the border wall ... and margaritas

At the nexus of policing and society

Spencer Crew: At the intersection of museums and social justice

Concussion discussion

COVID-19 mental health crisis is the second pandemic

Gail Christopher: On racial healing and overcoming a legacy of separation

With Emergent Ventures, Tyler Cowen puts money where his mind is

Climate change and the misinformation war

The coronavirus as Rubik's Cube -- Part 2

The coronavirus as Rubik's Cube -- Part1

Doing the work: Anti-racism, inclusion and disrupting inequality

'It's important who tells the stories'

Creating a safer return to campus

The climate change imperative

Into the eyes of a murderer

Election projection

60 seconds to nuclear war

We all have skin in the game

Would a Trump election loss benefit the Republican Party?

The U.S.'s approach to immigration is like 'policy formaldehyde'

Is the U.S. experiencing a third Reconstruction?

Investigating the Olympic Spirit

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