Congratulations to our 2024 Carter School Distinguished Alumni, Caroline Morin, BA '10!
This award recognizes graduates who represent the Carter School and Mason at the highest levels of excellence, thrive in their professional and personal endeavors, and create positive change in their local and global communities.
Caroline Morin-Gage, BA ’10 received the Distinguished Alumni award. Caroline is a DEI consultant, specializing in training and facilitation. She is an organizer and facilitator with broad-ranging experience across a range of issues, from housing justice to cash bail to voting rights. Her experience includes policy, nonprofit leadership, and community organizing. Morin-Gage earned a J.D. from New England School of Law.
Congratulations to 2024 George Mason University Senior of the Year, Celine Apenteng, BA '24!
The only student award presented by the Mason Alumni Association, the Senior of the Year Award recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions to Mason and the community by an undergraduate senior.
Celine Apenteng, BA ’24, is Senior of the Year and currently pursuing a master’s degree in international security and expects to graduate in May 2025. As an undergraduate, she served as vice president in Student Government, speaker of the Student Senate, a member of the President’s Student Advisory Board, and co-chair of the Student Advisory Council for the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Over the past year, Apenteng interned at the White House in the Office of Public Engagement and for the U.S. Department of State. She also works with the Carter School’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race to promote a more informed dialogue on the intersections between historical memory, justice, and racial reconciliation.
Congratulations to Kimiko Lighty recipient of 2024 Alumni Service Award
Kimiko Lighty, MAIS ’10, received the Alumni Service Award. She is the founding executive director of Restorative Arlington (RA). An innovator in peace building and conflict resolution techniques, Lighty has been involved with RA since the initiative began in 2020. She led the design and implementation of RA’s Heart of Safety Restorative Justice Conferencing Program, a diversion program serving Arlington’s public schools, legal system, and community, and continues to serve as a strategic advisor to the organization. In partnership with the non profit Doorways, RA has been awarded a five-year $1.5 million grant award from the federal Office on Violence Against Women to address harms resulting from intimate partner violence, dating and domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault.
Carter School Distinguished Alumni of the Year
Past Recipients
2024 –
2023 – Joseph “Jay” Yarsiah, MS ‘14
2022 – David Cunningham, MS ‘01
2020 – Lewis Dabney, MS ‘99
2019 – Leila Peterson, MS ‘99
2018* – Min Zaw Oo, MS ’02, PhD ’10
2017 – Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah, MAIS ’96, PhD ’06
2016 – Maya Kapsokavadis, ‘09
2015 – Tatsushi Arai, PhD ’05
2014 – Ibrahim Sharqieh, PhD ’06
2013 – Susan Shearhouse, MS ’88
2012 – Craig Zelizer, PhD ’04
2011 – Mary Wade, PhD ’05
2010 – Lisa Schirch, MS’94, PhD’99
2009 – Mohammed Abu-Nimer, PhD’93
* In 2018, the Mason Alumni Association celebrated its 50th anniversary and recognized 50 Alumni Exemplars. Min Zaw Oo, MS ’02, PhD ’10 of the Carter School was among this distinguished group.
Alumni Service Award
Past Recipients
Graduate of the Last Decade (G.O.L.D) Award
The G.O.L.D. Award recognizes graduates of the last 10 years who have made significant contributions to their profession, and/or their community already, and who have significant promise for continued leadership, service to their community, and future career success.
2022 – Raquel Gonzalez, ’07, MS ‘12