Associate Director for Undergraduate Education
Jesse Guessford received a B.S. in Music Education from West Chester University, a M.M. in Music Composition from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, and a D.M.A. in Music Composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Guessford has studied composition with Andrew Simpson, Zack Browning, Sever Tipei, Warren Burt, Vinko Globokar, and Lucas Foss. His music has been heard throughout North America including performances during the SEAMUS Nation Conference, in Europe at the Etchings Festival in Auvilar, France, and in Africa on South African Radio. Dr. Guessford has received numerous awards including the Subito Grant for Emerging Composers awarded by the American Composer’s Forum. As an Associate Professor in the School of Music at George Mason Univerisity, Dr. Guessford has focused on the scholarship of teaching with and about technology and the music of John Cage. Dr. Guessford is also co-founding director of MMT (Music, Motion, Technology), a dance and music collective based in Northern Virginia creating new evening length works involving dancers, musicians, and interactive audio and visual technologies.
Assistant Director of the Office of Student, Creative Activities, and Research
Karen is a native Bostonian. Trained as a marine biologist, she studies the ecology and behavior of crabs and crayfish, particularly the biology of invasive species and the impact of human activities on crustacean populations. She is also the co-author of an anatomy and physiology textbook for first-year students. Before coming to George Mason University Karen was an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and was their first Undergraduate Research Coordinator. She has mentored undergraduate students during her entire professional career and has been a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research as a biology representative for 20 years. Outside of work she sings barbershop bass, walks NoVA rail trails, and is a Red Sox and Patriots fan.
Mason Impact Student Support Specialist
Julia was born and raised in Washington DC. She is a graduate of Carleton College, where she majored in history, and has an M.Ed from Boston University. She taught high school social studies in Boston before transitioning to higher education at Mason. She assists with various OSCAR projects, primarily focusing on the Federal Work-Study RA program. Her favorite part of working at OSCAR is GMU students' intellectual curiosity.