Gala Dinner Welcomes New ICAR Students, George Mason President
ICAR's annual Welcoming Dinner for entering students was a multiple-purpose event this year-and a great success. More than 150 guests (ICAR faculty, students, staff, alumni, advisory board members, and friends) donated $50 each to establish a new graduate research assistantship at the Institute. In addition to renewing old friendships and greeting incoming students, they heard an address by George Mason's new president, Alan G. Merten, and welcomed President Merten and his wife, Sally, to the community.
The site of the September 6 gala, Gunston Hall, was the former home of patriot George Mason at Mason Neck, Virginia. In their after dinner remarks, Ph.D. candidates Tracy Breneman and Mara Schoeny, cocaptains of Graduate Students in Conflict Studies, noted the contradictions inherent in Gunston Hall. They pointed out that the former plantation was owned by a slave holder who was the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a bill that played a major role in obtaining approval for the U.S. Bill of Rights. "ICAR teaches us to recognize and deal with serious contradictions like this," said Schoeny.
ICAR Director and Lynch Professor Kevin Clements served as master of ceremonies. In addition to describing ICAR's current work and mission, Clements announced that an anonymous donor has made a major gift to the Institute, the John Burton Endowment, for the purposes of establishing student scholarships and supporting faculty research. To the audience's delight, Clements then played auctioneer, auctioning off a set of books, secured through the good offices of Ph.D. student Linda Harned, which were donated to ICAR for fund-raising purposes.
Welcoming remarks were offered by student organization leaders Breneman and Schoeny, ICAR's Conflict Resolution Alumni Chapter President Christopher Koomey, and ICAR Advisory Board Chair James Hobson. Professor Richard Rubenstein provided a refreshingly comedic look at "the Spirit of ICAR," roasting more than a few of the faculty and some other key figures who have contributed to the development of the ICAR personality and character. President Merten concluded the program by presenting his vision of George Mason-in-the-making: a great university driven by ideals of leaming and service, and intimately linked to local, regional, national, and global communities.
Our guests appeared to enjoy themselves greatly. The main reason for this, we suspect, was their delight in discovering so many old and new friends devoted to a common purpose. President Merten stated later that he hoped the dinner would serve as a model for other organizations and departments of the university. The Institute is most grateful to the Advisory Board for helping to make this a successful event and board members Mariann Laue, Lester Schoene, Valerie Clements, and ICAR's Administrative Officer, Joan Drake.