Category: Speakers

Emily Buck is the Washington News Bureau Chief for RFD-TV, a pay television channel that features programming devoted to rural issues, concerns and interests. 
Emily grew up on her family’s beef and tobacco farm in Tennessee. She showed livestock and was active in 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), including serving as State FFA President. Before joining RFD-TV she was Congressional staff, working to advance grassroots policy issues for Tennesseans. Now, she works with USDA, Congress, and the White House to provide the news rural America needs.

Nicholas Wu is a congressional reporter at POLITICO.  He previously covered Congress for USA TODAY, where he started at the outlet’s breaking political news team. He’s covered both of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trials, COVID relief battles, the fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection, and more on Capitol Hill. He’s a graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in public policy and minored in American Studies and East Asian Studies.

Alison Bethel is Vice President of Corps Excellence at Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project that places emerging journalists in newsrooms across America.  Previously, she was Executive Director of the Society of Professional Journalists, where she was only the second woman and the first person of color to serve in that capacity in SPJ’s 110 years. Bethel has more than 35 years of experience as an award-winning reporter, bureau chief, senior editor and media trainer. She has worked in senior-level positions at The Boston Globe, The Detroit News, Legal Times and the Nassau Guardian in The Bahamas. From July 2016 to May 2017, Bethel  served as a visiting professor of print and investigative journalism for the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media in Bangalore. She also spent a year in Accra, Ghana, for the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Journalists, as a Knight International Journalism Fellow, helping Ghanaian journalists improve their reporting skills in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election. She also worked at The Miami Herald, The Los Angeles Times, Poughkeepsie Journal and the now-defunct State Times in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 2009, she joined the International Press Institute, based in Vienna, Austria, as Deputy Director before becoming the Institute’s executive director a year later. She was the first woman and the first person of color in IPI’s 60-plus-year history to hold the position. The next year, she was named one of the 60 most influential black women in Europe by the nonprofit Black Women in Europe. In 2018, she was awarded the President’s Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Bethel is a co-founder of the Media Institute of the Caribbean and acts as an advisor/consultant for the antillean.org news website in Barbados. She is also an advisory board member for Journalism & Women’s Symposium, a member of Journalism’s Strategic Committee, a board member of Southern Foodways Alliance and an advisory board member for the International Center for Media Ethics. She holds membership with the National Association of Black Journalists and the organization Christian Women in Media.

Keirsten Robinson is a WJMC and George Mason alumna who currently works as a digital political strategist.  She graduated with a BA in Communication with concentrations in journalism and public relations and minored in both political communications and American government. During her time at Mason, Keirsten was a staff writer for the Fourth Estate and an anchor for Mason Cable News. In her current role, she creates digital media content for political campaigns and organizations. Most notably, she contributed to President Biden’s 2020 campaign as well as the 2 Georgia Run-Off Elections. In her free time she enjoys traveling the world, trying new food, and attending as many concerts as possible!

Taj Kokayi is a senior Film & Video Studies major at George Mason University, with a concentration in directing and a minor in theater performance.  He has worked on many film productions, including award-winning student films and a feature length documentary with an Oscar-nominated director. Two years in a row, he has been recognized for his commitment to representing the Black community through film with the Black Artist of the Year & the Social Media Activist of the Year Awards at George Mason’s Black Excellence Gala. And he was named this year’s Homecoming King for Black Mason Royalty. His film Woken From a Dream was an official selection at 11 festivals across the world, and won 5 awards, including Best Student Film, Best Experimental Film, and Best VFX. Taj is also currently a Finalist for the prestigious Princess Grace Award, and received a grant from the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program for his thesis film More Than A Damsel.

Taj has also received scholarships from the Alumni Association and Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and made the Dean’s List three years in a row.

In the spring of 2019, he spent a semester abroad in Spain expanding his studies to international journalism, film, and media. When he is not working on film productions, he is active in helping advance diversity on campus. During the 2019-2020 academic year, he served as a public relations chair for two of the largest Black student organizations on his campus, BSA and the Black, African-Heritage and Caribbean Coalition. And last summer, he helped organize the Black Lives Matter Peaceful March that took place on campus. He has also served as the founding directing representative for the Film at Mason Student Advisory Council and as a video producer for University Life.

Khan is a 20+ year DC radio veteran.  Having started as an intern which eventually turned into a spot as an on-air personality at the Legendary 99-1 HFS, Khan then went across town to iHeartRadio’s DC101 as a weekend/swing DJ. Focusing primarily on the alternative rock format, Khan has worked to engage audiences, build a rapport with the listeners and educate students on the industry of radio. During college, he was the promotions and public affairs director as well as a DJ of various specialty shows at WWVU-FM (U92) at West Virginia University. In his free time, he works as the Associate Director of Undergraduate Student Affairs in the College of Science at George Mason University.

Katie Urban currently works on the Corporate Communications team at Capital One, specializing in public relations, earned media engagement, and influencer strategy for Capital One’s flagship consumer credit cards.  Prior to joining Capital One, Katie worked at Arlington-based real estate developer CRC Companies, where she developed marketing and communications strategies to assist with property lease-ups, win new business, and recruit new talent to the firm.

In college, Katie interned at Conde Nast for Glamour Magazine in New York City and at the NBC News affiliate in Charlottesville, Virginia. She also was an editor and columnist for The Cavalier Daily.

Katie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and American Studies from the University of Virginia and a Masters in Professional Studies in Corporate Communications and Public Relations from Georgetown University.

Alan Byrd began his tenure as Dean of Admissions at George Mason University in November 2020. With over 20 years of experience in enrollment management and community engagement, Dr. Byrd has a long, successful track record of leading, planning, and coordinating student recruitment and retention initiatives. He brings a team-oriented, data-driven recruitment approach to Mason that prioritizes exceptional service and commitment to student success.

Prior to Mason, Dr. Byrd was the chief enrollment officer at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He led UMSL to several new milestones for enrollment growth, diversity of the student body, the academic profile of incoming students, and graduation rates. Removing financial barriers for students was central to his work in St. Louis, where he developed innovative financial aid programs such as the “UMSL Grant” and “Finish Your Degree Scholarship” that reduced the average student loan debt at graduation by 12% and earned UMSL national recognition as a top 100 institution for social mobility according to U.S. News & World Report. 

Dr. Byrd received his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at UMSL. He earned a B.A. in Communication and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Southeast Missouri State University.

Sarah Westwood is a political and investigative reporter for the Washington Examiner.  Previously, she was a White House reporter for CNN. She was a Robert Novak journalism fellow at the Fund for American Studies and is a graduate of the National Journalism Center fellowship program. Sarah attended George Washington University.