New Faculty Orientation

Research Hall with cherry blossoms on Fairfax campus

View the sample schedule for New Faculty Orientation 2023. 

New Faculty Orientation will be held on Monday, August 19th and Tuesday, August, 20th 2024. Registration forthcoming. 

Orientation sessions cover a wide variety of topics, including an introduction to Mason's campus culture, the inside scoop from colleagues on being new to Mason, and hands-on workshops to enhance your teaching skills (for both online and in-person classes). 

To ensure a smooth transition to the Mason community, all new full-time faculty members are expected to participate in this program. 

All orientation materials and session information will be hosted in Blackboard, via myMason. 

For information on myMason/Blackboard, start with these resources: 

  • Getting Started for Employees with ITS: Start here to set up your Mason email, activate Patriot Pass, log into myMason, and more. Access to these features may depend on when you and/or your department have completed onboarding with Human Resources and Payroll. 

    • Please note: After activating your Patriot Pass, it may take up to two (2) days to be able to log into myMason/Blackboard. 
  • Getting Started with Blackboard and myMason: Once you are able to log into myMason, use this page to access quick guides, videos on Blackboard training and innovative teaching, and support resources for troubleshooting. 

Attendees at prior orientations said...

"Thank you so much for your incredible work! It was great to get to know the new colleagues and Mason students. It is really a lot so I highly appreciate the Blackboard course."

"I felt more at home as a faculty at Mason and it was great to have a cohort of folks all at the same stage across tenure-track, term, and other positions. It ran smoothly, was varied, well-catered, and had a nice balance of encouraged mingling and also directed talks and workshops."

"I was very impressed with the dynamic speakers and qualities each presenter had to share about their area. It was a very positive representation of GMU."