Meet the Graduate Division Team

In the Associate Director role here at Mason, Dr. Bluth (she/her/hers) provides direction for the expansion and development of graduate student training alongside Graduate Student Life and University Career Services offices spanning the University. Dr. Bluth comes to Mason with over 13 years’ experience in graduate student services, curriculum development, and mentoring and career programming. She joined Mason after serving as the Director of Graduate Student Success at Sam Houston State University in Texas.

Dr. Laurence Bray is the Senior Associate Provost for Graduate Education and leader of the Graduate Division at George Mason University.

Sora has recently joined the Graduate Division team at George Mason University. As a Graduate Program Assistant, she assists the team by working on the Graduate Teaching Academy and Communication Academy. Sora received her B.S. in Psychology from George Mason University in 2012 and is excited to be back as staff supporting the Graduate Division.

Parag Chitnis joined the Department of Bioengineering at George Mason University in 2014. He co-directs the Biomedical Imaging Laboratory, and is one of the founding member of the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-body Interactions. He also serves in several leadership and service roles. Dr. Chitnis is the Director of the Bioengineering PhD program. Here he oversees all administrative aspects of Bioengineering graduate program including admissions into the PhD program, approval of study plans, and proposal and dissertations exams. As an Administrative Faculty Fellow in the Provost Office, Dr. Chitnis has contributed to several university-wide initiatives to improve funding support for Mason graduate students, to create policies for safeguarding student rights, and most recently to develop a recommendations and an implementation plan for a new Graduate Division at Mason. For his contributions and services, Dr. Chitnis was selected as a State Finalist for the Outstanding Faculty Award (Rising Star Category) by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Joe joined the Mason community as a part-time temp in February, 2018. He was assigned to the Accreditation and External Reporting Office (AERO) to assist with preparation of a self-study accreditation report for all Mason student licensing programs. After that he briefly worked in Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to assist with externship and internship program tracking and databases. In July, 2019, Joe was assigned another part-time role for Office of Graduate Education, in the Office of the Provost. Since then, he has provided support and experience for the team in many roles. In March, 2021, Joe's role became permanent part-time staff. Prior experience in the academic world includes 12 years at the University of California, San Francisco, a leading university dedicated exclusively to the health sciences. During those years, Joe progressed in administrative roles within the Department of Psychiatry, the School of Medicine, and the Dean's Office of the School of Pharmacy. In 2015, Joe retired. He and his wife left California to return to the east coast, settling in the Northern Virginia.

Nicole joined the Graduate Division in the Office of the Provost in 2023 and assists with the internal graduate student support in finances, including fellowships, grants, scholarships, awards, and other forms of student support.