School of Education

Fred Bemak remembers all the hugs and tears. They inevitably come, he said, when his Counselors Without Borders team is on location helping hundreds—sometimes thousands—of people healing from the emotional scars of a disaster. “It’s the person who is grabbing and hugging you, thanking you for being there,” the George Mason University professor said. “That’s huge.” For 13 years Counselors Without Borders has traveled the world into areas devastated by floods, wildfires and storms, offering culturally responsive humanitarian counseling in post-disaster situations. Read more...

Fred Bemak, a professor and academic program coordinator of George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development counseling and development program, is a recipient of a 2018 Oustanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Bemak, in the College of Education and Human Development, is one of 12 recipients selected from 83 nominees, and the 21st George Mason recipient since the award’s inception in 1987. Read more...

Until recently, there was no library at Montrose Alternative Learning Center, a school for students in grades K-10 with behavioral challenges, academic difficulties, or who would fit best in a less traditional learning environment. And it had been that way for quite a while. Read more...

Rachael D. Goodman is an associate professor in the counseling and development program at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also president of Counselors for Social Justice. Read more...

Christina Cherry, a senior human development and family science major, and Jasmine Felder, a master's student concentrating in counseling and development, say their research helps give a voice to families facing displacement through gentrification. Read more...

Mirella Saldaña Moreno found out that she was the Virginia School Counselor Association (VSCA) Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year while sitting in the parking lot at George Mason, checking e-mails before heading into work. Read more...

Counseling student, Lauren Intili is awarded the Virginia School Counselor Association (VSCA) Outstanding Graduate student of the year.

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For Mason PhD student Ricardo Sanchez, international aid is part of the job. Since he joined Counselors Without Borders in 2013, Sanchez has been selected to travel to his native Peru, South Dakota, and Puerto Rico as a graduate counselor to assist with post-disaster emergency situations. Read more...