Emily Sharer, Candidate for Director of Communication
Graduate Degree Program: Doctoral student, Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (full-time student)
Expected Date of Graduation: May 2025
Campus of Academic Department: Fairfax
Campus(es) of Classes, Work, and/or Residence: Fairfax & Mason Square (Arlington)
Biography and Candidate Statement
I am currently a PhD student within the Psychology department, but I find that my research isn’t the most interesting thing about me, despite how excited I get about the topic. I grew up on a ranch in Texas with a lot of cows, and have always loved animals, so I normally talk at length about my Texas Longhorns as an introduction. For the sake of saving time, please just know that I will insist on showing pictures of my favorite cows and that’s the type of person I am. I’m in my first year of research, but I have completed a prior degree at Mason, so I have spent a few years actively getting involved across campus; during this prior degree, I did event programming at the Mason Square campus, handling communication and social media for University Life as well. I’m involved in CESP as a student fellow, and have consistently made an effort to get to know individuals from all walks of life and across all campuses here at Mason, because everyone has a unique story – and I love stories. In my free time, I absolutely love hiking, farmers markets, and taking way too many pictures of my friends, but on campus I can normally be found in the library. Even though my research is in human factors, I have a wide range of interests, including environmental law, politics, and computer science – though I’m not great at the last one. I would love to be the Director of Communications for GAPSA, and I think I’d be great at it, too! I’ve handled communications for international organizations such as D2020, an offshoot of the BBC that focused on election night coverage, and have been involved in student engagement and events since I started university through organizations such as the campus activities board at my undergraduate university, and serving as a college representative for my university when I studied abroad. Engagement, marketing, and communications are all skills in my wheelhouse, but community engagement is also a passion of mine, and I find that communications is the baseline of all of it. While I currently represent the Psychology PhD student within GAPSA, I am eager for a larger role that allows me to work with more individuals across campus. I love people – and I enjoy social media a little too much sometimes – but at the end of the day I’ll be happy to help wherever I can, not just within my role.
Availability and Commitment to the Time and Expectations of the Position
Absolutely! I thrive when I’m busy, but aside from classes (in the Fall 23 semester, I’ll only be taking proposal credits in the Spring 24 semester) I don’t have any commitments with hard dates or deadlines I cannot work around.