Interior of the Mamava lactation pod.
A new sight now greets visitors to Fenwick Library’s first floor: a large blue compartment that sits just inside the doors facing the quad. This is a Mamava lactation pod, a private space that offers a clean, comfortable site for the needs of nursing parents at Mason, and it is there thanks to the generosity of two corporate friends of the university.
“This fills a community need,” emphasized Rose Pascarell, Mason’s vice president for University Life. “We want every student to feel welcome and respected as an individual and so we work to be responsive to individual circumstances.”
Sedulous Consulting Services, who donated the pod to Mason, is a cybersecurity engineering services firm, offering IT solutions and strategies to the government and private sectors. The company is one of Mason’s partners in Virginia’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, but for Sedulous’s president and chief executive officer Omar Dennis, the connection to Mason is personal: his son is a 2024 Mason graduate.
Sedulous originally invested in a Mamava pod for some of its own team members. When the company was later able to offer dedicated office space to those colleagues, it sought out an organization who could benefit from receiving the pod.
“I was talking to my son last year as he was about ready to graduate,” said Dennis. “I was asking how his friends were, and he kind of reminded me that there are people in school who are mothers. It’s not just traditional-age students; there are moms, dads, and nursing parents. So we thought it was a great idea to contact Mason.”
Student-parents are part of Mason’s diverse student body, and their unique needs are served by Contemporary Student Services (CSS) within University Life. Launched in 2019, CSS offers a community to students who bring to Mason more life experience than “traditional” college students, including adult learners, veterans, transfer students, students who commute to campus, and student parents.
“We know that nationally, one in five undergraduates is a student parent—in Virginia, that number is one in four,” said CSS director Joisanne Rodgers.
Working with the nonprofit Generation Hope, CSS launched a student-parent task force to consider issues confronting student-parents, including lactation facilities on campus.
“We found that while people do appreciate having the spaces that are there, there is need for more space in some areas of our campus that are not well-served,” said Adrianne Jones, a performance management and employee engagement specialist in Mason’s Human Resources office who helped administer a survey for the users of Mason’s lactation facilities.
Sharnnia Artis, vice president for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and chief diversity officer; Liza Wilson Durant, associate provost for strategic initiatives and community; James Villa, vice president and chief operating officer of Sedulous; Omar Dennis, president and chief executive officer at Sedulous; Joisanne Rodgers, director of Contemporary Student Services, University Life; Anne Osterman, dean of University Libraries; and Rose Pascarell, vice president of University Life). Photo provided.
Through the generous gift from Sedulous and its business partner, SYBA, the Mamava pod now resides in the lobby of Fenwick Library. Its central location on campus and ease of access will allow students—as well as faculty and staff members—to balance their work and family needs with greater ease and safety. And it raises awareness of contemporary students at Mason, reminding all of Mason Nation of the variety of life experiences that their fellow Patriots bring to their educational journey.
“This is a proof point of Mason seeing and recognizing the students who are virtually or physically on campus and in front of them,” noted Rodgers, “in the classrooms, in our programs, in the JC, in the library, anywhere on campus.”
Story by Anne Reynolds. Images provided.