In This Story
George Mason University’s Board of Visitors voted in May to elevate Schar School of Policy and Government professor J.P. Singh to the position of Distinguished University Professor. In making the announcement, Mason provost Mark R. Ginsberg pointed out that the title is the highest academic rank bestowed on members of the Mason faculty.
Singh, who teaches in the Schar School’s Global Commerce and Policy master’s program, is also the Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow with the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. He is codirector of the Center for Advancing Human-Machine Partnership (CAHMP) at Mason and the author or editor of 10 books, including 2020’s Cultural Values in Political Economy (Stanford University Press) and 2022’s The Cultural Relations of Negotiating Development: Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies at the British Council.
Recent awards include a $1.39 million grant from the Department of Defense’s Minerva program (as principal investigator), a Fulbright-Nehru Professional Excellence award, the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Schar School, and distinguished scholar in international communication from the International Studies Association. Previously, Singh taught at the University of Edinburgh, Georgetown University, American University, the University of Mississippi, and Scripps College.
New Fellowships
Mahmut Cengiz, an associate professor with the Schar School’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC), has been named an El Centro Fellow by Small Wars Journal (SWJ), an international media outlet that focuses coverage on “small wars,” including those in Latin America. El Centro Fellows are experts in the region and support SWJ’s approach to advancing discussion and awareness in the field through dialogue and publishing.
Cengiz recently has been applying his expertise in transnational crime and terrorism to columns published by SWJ and elsewhere showing the dangerous relationship between Middle Eastern governments and drug cartels in South America.
Danyale Kellogg, a doctoral student in the Schar School’s biodefense program, has been awarded a Boren Fellowship by the Defense Language and National Security Education Office (DLNSEO), the unit within the Department of Defense that provides strategic direction, policy development and programmatic oversight to government military, combat, and defense agencies.
As a Boren Fellow, Kellogg will study Mandarin in Taiwan next year.
Alumna News
Rosa Cruz, a 1993 graduate of the bachelor’s in international relations program, has been named chief of staff for the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the agency at the forefront in implementing housing policy that promotes and preserves homeownership and creating innovative community development initiatives in the state.
Cruz previously served as vice president of communications for the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation (AAEDC) in Annapolis. She provided guidance and oversight on program initiatives and communication strategies that helped AAEDC attract and retain businesses in Anne Arundel County. Prior to her time at AAEDC, she served in communications positions for various Maryland state agencies, including the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and the Governor’s Press Office.
Her professional experience also includes serving in television news production for several media outlets on the East Coast including ESPN, Fox News’ D.C. bureau, and local news stations in Baltimore, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia.
Cruz is the co-chair of the Professional Development Committee of the Maryland Economic Development Corporation as well as a board member. She also serves as the president of the board of directors of the Chesapeake Arts Center in Brooklyn Park, Maryland.