This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at George Mason University chapter.
First and foremost, we at Her Campus GMU want to welcome returning and new Patriots back from winter break! We would also like to give you thefirst report about a programming department change within University Life’s
Office of Student Involvement with hopes that this information may shed light on
a great opportunity for you to get involved on campus this semester.
Over winter break, the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) made some
major changes. In addition to hiring a new professional staff member, Chuck
Thiel, as the new Programming Coordinator, the office merged its two popular,
student-run programming entities Program Board (PB) and Weekends At Mason
(WAM). This new programming entity is known as Patriot Activities Council
(PAC) and now handles all the programming aspects of PB and WAM. Prior to
this merge, PB’s student staff members were responsible for programming
Mason’s traditional events such as “Patriots Day” and “Mason Day,” as well as
other series programming and concerts. WAM, on the other hand, was a product
of an older PB series event “Every Freak N’ Friday.” WAM was created to both
entice Mason’s commuter students to stay on campus during the weekend and to
establish programming that entertained the students who remained on campus
during the weekend. Both Mason’s on and off-campus populations have grown
and with that came the need for more programming. By combining WAM and
PB, the OSI feels as though they are able to better cater to a growing student
population with an ever growing need for diverse on-campus programming.
PAC will now be responsible for all of the bigger traditional programming
such as WAM’s “HIV and Aids Fashion Show”, “Drag Show”, and “Winter
Welcome Week”, and PB’s “Mason Day”, “Patriots Day”, and “Homecoming”. The
student programmers are also in charge of planning all of the smaller
programming such as “De-stress Fest Week” and “Halloween Week”. PAC is also
responsible for creating new series and traditional events for the Mason
community to enjoy. Like PB, PAC will also be holding weekly committee
meetings that are open to every Mason student.
What Makes PAC different from PB and WAM?
Even though both WAM and PB collaborated with other University Life
departments and student organizations, PAC is excited to collaborate with
departments and organizations. Collaborating on events is important to PAC
because they see the value and positive effect working outside of traditional silos.
They believe by collaborating with other offices and organizations, they
can produce mutually beneficial and rich relationships that can positively impact
fellow Patriots and the Mason community.
Another differentiating aspect of PAC is that they are now providing training for
their committee members which will result in the committee members having a
better understanding of how to plan events. Although it is not a requirement
for every committee member to go through the training to be a PAC volunteer
and help with events, it will be necessary for those individuals who wish to be a
part of PAC’s Programmers In Training (PIT) Crew. As a PIT Crew member, the
committee member will be able to take programming into their own hands. PIT
Crew training will come from various sessions about event planning, facilitated
by OSI professional Staff and PAC’s executive board. After attending the various
sessions the PIT Crew members will be given more programming responsibilities
than regular PAC volunteers. PIT Crew members will also be granted special opportunities such as working backstage
at concerts. In addition to acquiring first hand program experience and event
planning knowledge, the PIT Crew members will be able to apply for an executive
board position within PAC when the applications become available mid-spring
for the following year.
As of now, PAC is only having one committee meeting a week, and it will be
on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm in the Office of Student Involvement in the Hub, Suite
2300. If you are interested in getting more involved on campus, make
sure you visit their website pac.gmu.edu or follow them on Facebook or twitter
@GMU_PAC. Their first committee meeting will be next week on Tuesday,
January 29th. One PAC Lead student Directors, Julie Melnyk, states “at
this meeting, we will be going into a further explanation of the changes within
PAC as well as the new opportunities for our committee members. We will also
be jumping right into planning and promoting Homecoming week! We love
seeing new faces, and we can’t wait to meet all of our new members!” PAC is also looking for a new graphic designer!