The Office of Strategic Communications, within the Office of University Branding, manages two outlets for faculty/staff announcements at George Mason University:
- Around Mason, the weekly faculty/staff announcements, are included in The George every Tuesday. Mason departments may submit announcements to share information and opportunities with the faculty/staff community.
- Campus Notices and Building Notices provide more urgent notification to faculty/staff regarding building maintenance, construction/traffic advisories, significant event impacts, or network disruptions. Depending on the nature of the alert, the email message may be sent to building-specific faculty/staff, or to the entire faculty/staff listserv.
Additional faculty/staff listservs are managed for Mason Square via masonsq@gmu.edu, and the SciTech Campus via scitech@gmu.edu.
Around Mason
Around Mason is a weekly digest of general faculty/staff announcements. They are included in The George every Tuesday.
Only announcements are listed in Around Mason. Announcements involve general updates about occurrences, changes, or services that impact the Mason community
Submit a faculty/staff announcement for Around Mason using the online submission form.
Submit requests by close of business on Wednesday for inclusion in the following week’s edition of Around Mason.
Each announcement can be published in Around Mason for a maximum two (2) weeks per semester. They do not need to be consecutive weeks. It is the responsibility of the sender to request/specify which dates the announcement is requested to be published.
Format of the Announcement:
- Length must not exceed 100 words. Announcements over the word limit will be returned to the sender or edited by Strategic Communications staff.
- Plain text only. Requests will be edited for clarity, general format, and grammar. The Office of Strategic Communications reserves the right to edit text in all announcements.
- No attachments (.pdf, .doc, .pub). Flyers will not be accepted as announcements.
- Include a web link for additional information.
- Charts and forms may be put on a George Mason website and you may include the link to this information within the announcement. The Office of Strategic Communications will not create and host a website for your announcement. Individual offices and departments are responsible for hosting and maintaining their own website links.
Around Mason will not publish the following types of announcement requests:
- Items for sale
- Recruiting for vacant positions
- From sources outside of George Mason
Campus Notices and Building Notices
Note: Campus/Building Notices and Mason Alerts are different. Sign-up at ready.gmu.edu to receive Mason Alert messages regarding campus-wide or university-wide announcements impacting operating hours or emergencies.
Requests for Campus Notices and Building Notices are submitted to the Office of Strategic Communications via email to efiles@gmu.edu. For example, Facilities may submit a request about building maintenance, or Information Technology Services may submit a request related to network interruptions. These are just a couple examples of the types of Campus and Building Notices that may be sent to faculty/staff.
Campus Notices and Building Notices are only sent to faculty and staff with a Mason email address.
There are three categories of alert announcements:
- Building-Specific – Data from People Finder is used to populate the email recipients.
- Campus-Specific – Faculty and staff on the Mason Square or the Science and Technology Campuses.
- University-wide – A listserv including all students, faculty, staff, contractors, and/or affiliates may be used to distribute messages affecting the entire university community.
Campus/Building Notices may include building maintenance, unexpected road closures or construction, significant events, and significant computer network disruptions affecting accessibility. Messages including short notice outages (power, water, heating, etc.) will be sent to email addresses of affected building occupants.
To Submit a Campus Notice/Building Notice Request
Include the following information in the email:
- Subject line: Campus/Building Notice: [Type of Alert Message]
- University Department: Department or Office sponsoring the announcement
- Nature of the notice/message
- Building(s)/ Location(s) affected
- Contact person, phone number, and email for follow-up questions
Format of the announcement:
- Plain text only
- No attachments
- Include a web link for additional information, if possible
Note: The Office of Strategic Communications reserves the right to edit announcements for clarity, grammar, formatting, and to conform with editorial style guidelines.