Meet the Patriot Connect team members supporting you and the George Mason community as we adapt to Patriot Connect Release 1: Student Success and continue into Release 2: Recruitment and Admissions. Discover their roles, what motivates and inspires them, and a fun fact or two.
Get to know Tahisha Mayfield!
Name:
Tahisha Mayfield
Role at George Mason University:
Senior Project Manager, Project & Process Management, University Life
Role on the Patriot Connect Team:
Interim Director of OCM
Q: What does being on the Patriot Connect Team mean to you?
A: The opportunity to work in community for our community is so satisfying. The partnership amongst our workstream teams, Product Build Team, Change Champion network, business units, colleges and schools, executive sponsorship collaborative, our students, and our Accenture implementation partner with this initiative has been amazing. Despite how intense the work of this transformation effort can be at times, I’ve never experienced this much job satisfaction from a project before.
Q: What excites you the most about Patriot Connect?
A: I’d have to say seeing students enjoy using the system. I recall recently visiting a doctor’s office where a George Mason student happened to work. When the student asked me what I did for a living, I mentioned being employed at George Mason and working on this project called Patriot Connect. He enthusiastically responded, “I know Patriot Connect! I really like it! It’s so much better than Navigate.” Of course, I began beaming with pride. Talk about your work paying off!
Q: How do you see Patriot Connect helping you and your team?
A: I happen to be embedded in a team that does user experience research with both students and the faculty and staff who support them. We explore, analyze, and document student journeys across multiple processes and systems. The implementation of Patriot Connect and the data we’ll be able to collect from it over time will help us recommend improvements for integration points across key areas of engagement to enhance students’ experience at George Mason.
Q: Who do you want to give a special shoutout to on the Patriot Connect team and why?
A: My favorite person on the program is Stephanie Bluth. Her presence just makes everything better. Her positive mindset, approachability, willingness to learn anything, and solution-focused approach is wonderful—a true team player. Also, my admiration and respect for Kimberly Shumadine grows daily. She’s our resident comedian who keeps us laughing at ourselves and helps us release tension. She and her team also tend to “stand in the gap” in many ways to support the program, and I want to openly celebrate their unifying spirit and resilience. Finally, the preliminary process work done by the Project & Process Management team in University Life was critical to the initiation of this effort. This team led the effort to document the individual advising appointment processes of each college and school, as well as the student success coaching process. Additionally, they collected an initial set of core student interface preferences and developed multiple student personas with corresponding journeys to clarify the nuances of various student needs.
Q: What is your favorite spot on campus?
A: The fountain in Wilkins Plaza. It’s a wonderful place to find inspiration and hope. Listening to the fountain while looking over at the meditation garden is a way for me to steal a moment of stillness and rejuvenation between meetings on campus.
