George Mason University (GMU) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most p ...

, United States. Located in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

near

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, the university is named in honor of

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

, a

Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, often simply referred to as the Founding Fathers or the Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colon ...

. The university was founded in 1949 as a northern branch of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. It became an independent university in 1972, and it has since grown into the largest public university by student enrollment in Virginia. It has expanded into a

residential college A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship ...

for

traditional student A traditional student is a category of students at colleges and universities. Traditional students are contrasted with non-traditional students. In the United States, it is used to refer to undergraduate Undergraduate education is educatio ...

s while maintaining its historic commuter student-inclusive environment at both

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and

post-graduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

levels, with an emphasis on combining modern professional education with a traditional

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

curriculum. The university operates four campuses; the flagship campus is in

Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...

. Its other three campuses are in Arlington, Front Royal, and Prince William County. It also operates a retreat and

conference center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

in Lorton and an international campus in

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

, South Korea. It is

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Since the university's founding, two of its

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

professors have received the

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

: James M. Buchanan in 1986 and

Vernon L. Smith Vernon Lomax Smith (born January 1, 1927) is an American economist who is currently a professor of economics and law at Chapman University. He was formerly the McLellan/Regent's Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona, a professor of ...

in 2002.

History

20th century

In 1949, the

created an extension center to serve mid-career working

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

s and non-traditional students near urban centers in the

suburbs of

The extension center offered both for credit and non-credit informal classes in the evenings at various pre-existing venues. The first for credit classes offered were: "Government in the Far East, Introduction to International Politics, English Composition, Principles of Economics, Mathematical Analysis, Introduction to Mathematical Statistics, and Principles of Lip Reading." By the end of 1952, enrollment was 1,192 students. George Mason

A resolution of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

in January 1956 changed the extension center into University College, the

branch of the

. John Norville Gibson Finley served as director. Seventeen freshmen students attended classes at University College in a small renovated elementary school building in Bailey's Crossroads starting in September 1957. In 1958 University College became George Mason College. The City of Fairfax purchased and donated of land just south of the city limits to the University of Virginia for the college's new site, which is now referred to as the Fairfax Campus. In 1959, the

Board of Visitors In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual co ...

of the University of Virginia selected a permanent name for the college: George Mason College of the University of Virginia. The Fairfax campus construction planning that began in early 1960 showed visible results when the development of the first of Fairfax Campus began in 1962. In the Fall of 1964 the new campus welcomed 356 students. In 1966, in the

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

delegate James M. Thomson, with the backing of the University of Virginia, introduced a bill in the General Assembly to make George Mason College a four-year institution under the University of Virginia's direction. The measure, known as H 33, passed the Assembly easily and was approved on March 1, 1966, making George Mason College a degree-granting institution. During that same year, the local jurisdictions of Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the cities of

and Falls Church agreed to appropriate $3 million to purchase land adjacent to Mason to provide for a Fairfax Campus with the intention that the institution would expand into a regional university of major proportions, including the granting of graduate degrees. In 1972, Virginia separated George Mason College from the

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

and renamed it George Mason University. In 1978, George W. Johnson was appointed to serve as the fourth president. Under his eighteen-year tenure, the university expanded both its physical size and program offerings at a tremendous rate. Shortly before Johnson's inauguration in April 1979, Mason acquired the School of Law and the new Arlington Campus. The university also became a doctoral institution. Toward the end of Johnson's term, Mason would be deep in planning for a third campus in Prince William County at Manassas. Major campus facilities, such as Student Union Building II, EagleBank Arena, Center for the Arts, and the Johnson Learning Center, were all constructed over the course of Johnson's eighteen years as University President. Enrollment once again more than doubled from 10,767 during the fall of 1978 to 24,368 in the spring of 1996. In 1996, Alan Merten, dean of the

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management The Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management is the graduate business school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League research university in Ithaca, New York. Established in 1946, Johnson is one of six List of Ivy League business schools ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

was appointed the university's president. He believed that the university's location made it responsible for both contributing to and drawing from its surrounding communities—local, national, and global. George Mason was becoming recognized and acclaimed in all of these spheres. During Merten's tenure, the university hosted the World Congress of Information Technology in 1998, celebrated a second

Nobel Memorial Prize The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

-winning faculty member in 2002, and cheered the

Men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team in their

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

appearance in 2006. Enrollment increased from just over 24,000 students in 1996 to approximately 33,000 during the spring semester of 2012, making Mason Virginia's largest public university.

21st century

Following Merten's retirement in 2012,

Ángel Cabrera Ángel Leopoldo Cabrera (; born 12 September 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer who has played on both the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is known affectionately as ''"El Pato"'' in Spanish ''("The Duck")'' for his waddling gait. He is a ...

was appointed the university's sixth president on July 1, 2012. In a resolution on August 17, 2012, the board asked Cabrera to create a new strategic vision that would help Mason remain relevant and competitive in the future. The drafting of the Vision for Mason, from conception to official outline, created a new

mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation ...

that defines the university. On March 25, 2013, Cabrera held a press conference to announce the university's decision to leave the

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

to join the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

(A-10). The announcement came just days after the Board of Visitors' approval of the university's vision document that Cabrera had overseen. Mason began competition in the A-10 during the 2013–2014 academic year. ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

'' listed Mason as one of the "Great Colleges to Work For" from 2010 to 2014. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' listed Mason as one of the "Top Workplaces" in 2014. The WorldatWork Alliance for Work-Life Progress awarded Mason the Seal of Distinction in 2015. The

AARP AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those 50 and older. The organization, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., said it had more than 38 ...

listed Mason as one of the Best Employers for Workers Over 50 in 2013.

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

established a chapter at the university in 2013. In 2018, a

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

lawsuit revealed that conservative donors, including the Charles Koch Foundation and

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

, were given direct influence over faculty hiring decisions at the university's law and economics schools. GMU President Ángel Cabrera acknowledged that the revelations raised questions about the university's academic integrity and pledged to prohibit donors from sitting on faculty selection committees in the future. Cabrera resigned his position on July 31, 2019, to become president of

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Following Cabrera's resignation, Anne B. Holton served as interim president until June 30, 2020. On February 24, 2020, the Board of Visitors appointed Gregory Washington as the university's eighth president, and he assumed that role on July 1, 2020. Washington is the university's first African-American president. On March 23, 2020, George Mason shifted to exclusively online instruction during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Hybrid instruction occurred during the Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Fall 2021 semesters during which the university offered a combination of online and in-person instruction. Mild unrest occurred on George Mason's campus in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attack of

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the resulting

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. Statements denouncing

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

were made by the Office of the President. An encampment on nearby

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

's campus was organized in part by George Mason students.

Campuses

George Mason University has four campuses in the United States, each of which is located in Virginia. Three are in the

suburbs of the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the National Capital Region, Greater Washington, or locally as the DMV (short for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia), is the metropolitan area comprising Washing ...

, and one is in Virginia's

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

. The university also has one campus in South Korea, in the

Songdo International Business District Songdo (), officially known as Songdo International Business District (Songdo IBD), is a smart city built on of reclaimed land along Incheon's waterfront, southwest of Seoul, South Korea. It is connected to Incheon International Airport by a r ...

. Between 2005 and 2009 the university had a campus at

Ras al-Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah (; ), often referred to its initials RAK, is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the U.A.E. The city had a population of 191,753 in 2025, and is the sixth-most populous city in UAE after Dubai, Abu ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. The Blue Ridge campus, just outside Front Royal, is run in cooperation with the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Fairfax

The university's flagship Fairfax Campus is situated on of land, in George Mason, Virginia, just south of the City of Fairfax in central Fairfax County. The national capital of

is approximately from campus. Notable buildings include the student union building, the Johnson Center; the Center for the Arts, a 2,000-seat concert hall; the Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building; Exploratory Hall for science, new in 2013; an astronomy observatory and telescope; the Art and Design Building; the newly expanded Fenwick Library, the Krasnow Institute; and three fully appointed gyms and an aquatic center for student use. The stadiums for indoor and outdoor track and field, baseball, softball, tennis, soccer and lacrosse are also on the Fairfax campus, as is Masonvale, a housing community for faculty, staff and graduate students.

George Mason statue and Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial

The bronze statue of

on campus was created by Wendy M. Ross and dedicated on April 12, 1996. The 7 foot statue shows George Mason presenting his first draft of the

Virginia Declaration of Rights The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to reform or abolish "inadequate" government. It influenced a number of later documents, including the United States Declaratio ...

which was later the basis for the U.S. Constitution's

Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pri ...

. Beside Mason is a model of a writing table that is still in the study of

Gunston Hall Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian architecture, Georgian Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, Mason Neck, Virginia, United States. Built between 1755 and 1759 by George ...

, Mason's Virginia estate. The books on the table, volumes of Hume, Locke, and

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

, represent influences in his thought. In 2021, an Enslaved People of George Mason Monument designed by Perkins & Will was installed near the George Mason Statue. The memorial includes panels describing the lives of two of the enslaved at

: Penny, who was gifted by Mason to his daughter, and James, Mason's personal attendant.

Arlington

The Arlington Campus, named Mason Square in 2022, is situated on in Virginia Square, an urban environment on the edge of

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

's Clarendon business district and from downtown Washington, D.C. The campus was founded in 1979 with the acquisition of a law school. In 1998, Hazel Hall opened to house the

Antonin Scalia Law School The Antonin Scalia Law School is the law school of George Mason University, Virginia's largest public research university. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and east-northeast of George Mason University's ...

; subsequent development created Van Metre Hall (formerly Founders Hall), home of the

Schar School of Policy and Government The Schar School of Policy and Government (SSPG and formerly the George Mason University School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs or SPGIA) is the public policy school of George Mason University, a public research university in th ...

, the Center for Regional Analysis, and the graduate-level administrative offices for the School of Business. Vernon Smith Hall houses the

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

, the

Mercatus Center The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. The Mercatus Center is located at the George Mason University campus, but it is privately funded and its employees are independent of the university. It ...

, and the

Institute for Humane Studies The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a non-profit organization that promotes the teaching and research of classical liberalism in higher education in the United States. IHS offers funding opportunities, programs, and events for faculty and g ...

. The campus also houses the 300-seat Van Metre Hall Auditorium. A new building, Fuse at Mason Square, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Transportation

Virginia Sq-GMU station entrance pylon at night

The campus is served by the

Washington Metro The Washington Metro, often abbreviated as the Metro and formally the Metrorail, is a rapid transit system serving the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ...

's Orange Line at the Virginia Square–GMU station, a campus shuttle service, and Metrobus route 38B. The rail station is located one block west of the campus. Arlington Rapid Transit or ART Bus routes 41, 42, and 75 also provide service at this location. The campus offers one electric vehicle charging station, five disabled permit automotive parking locations, three bicycle parking locations, and one

Capital Bikeshare Capital Bikeshare (also abbreviated CaBi) is a bicycle-sharing system that serves Washington, D.C., and certain counties of the Washington metropolitan area, larger metropolitan area. it had 700+ stations and more than 5,400 bicycles. The memb ...

location.

Science and Technology campus

The Science and Technology campus opened on August 25, 1997, as the Prince William campus in

Manassas, Virginia Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of ...

, on of land, some still currently undeveloped. More than 4,000 students are enrolled in classes in

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and Bioinformatics software, software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

, information technology, and forensic biosciences educational and research programs. There are undergraduate programs in health, fitness and recreation. There are graduate programs in exercise, fitness, health, geographic information systems, and facility management. Much of the research takes place in the high-security Biomedical Research Laboratory. The 1,123-seat Merchant Hall and the 300-seat Verizon Auditorium in the Hylton Performing Arts Center opened in 2010. The 110,000-square-foot Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center is operated by the Mason Enterprise Center. The Mason Center for Team and Organizational Learning stylized as EDGE is an experiential education facility open to the public. The Sports Medicine Assessment Research and Testing lab stylized as SMART Lab is located within the Freedom center. The SMART Lab is most known for its

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

research. On April 23, 2015, the campus was renamed to the Science and Technology Campus. In 2019, the university engaged in a feasibility study of creating a medical school at the Prince William Campus.

Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation

The campus in

Front Royal, Virginia Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was estimated at 15,400 as of 2023. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to beco ...

, is a collaboration between the

and the university. Open to students in August 2012 after breaking ground on the project on June 29, 2011, the primary focus of the campus is global conservation training. The Volgenau Academic Center includes three teaching laboratories, four classrooms, and 18 offices.

Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park (often ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its ...

is visible from the dining facility's indoor and outdoor seating. Living quarters include 60 double occupancy rooms, an exercise facility, and study space.

Mason Korea

Opened in March 2014, Mason Korea is located in the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, a site designed for 850,000 people. It is located from

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

and a two-hour flight from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and is connected to the

Seoul Metropolitan Subway The Seoul Metropolitan Subway () is a urban rail transit, metropolitan railway system consisting of 23 rapid transit, Medium-capacity rail transport system, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines located in northwest South Korea. T ...

. The Commonwealth of Virginia considers the Songdo campus legally no different from any other Mason campus: Mason Korea's first commencement class graduated in December 2017. Students can take seven bachelor's degree courses in Mason Korea. Students from Mason Korea earn the same diploma as home campus students, with English as the language of instruction.

Academics

Mason offers undergraduate, graduate master's, law, and doctoral degrees with an emphasis on combining modern practice-based professional education with a comprehensive traditional

curriculum. The student-faculty ratio is 17:1; 58 percent of undergraduate classes have fewer than 30 students and 30 percent of undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students.

Rankings

In 2024, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked George Mason tied at #109 out of 436 National Universities, tied at #52 in Top Public Schools, #156 in Best Value Schools, tied at #98 in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs at schools where doctorate not offered, tied at #114 in Nursing, tied at #93 in Economics, tied at #20 in Co-ops/Internships, tied at #70 in Best Colleges for Veterans, #25 in Most Innovative Schools, and tied at #82 in Top Performers on Social Mobility.

Undergraduate admissions

In 2024, the university accepted 90% of its undergraduate applicants, and did not consider high school class rank or require standardized test scores for admission. Those admitted had an average 3.68 high school

GPA Grading in education is the application of standardized measurements to evaluate different levels of student achievement in a course. Grades can be expressed as letters (usually A to F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), percentages, or as num ...

. For those submitting scores the average student had an

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

score of 1250 (38% submitting scores) or an average ACT score of 28 (3% submitting scores).

Student statistics

Between 2009 and 2013, George Mason saw a 21% increase in the number of applications, has enrolled 4% more new degree-seeking students, and has seen the percentage of undergraduate and graduate applications accepted each decrease by 4%. Law applications accepted increased by 10%. Mason enrolled 33,917 students for fall 2013, up 956 (+3%) from fall 2012. Undergraduate students made up 65% (21,990) of the fall enrollment, graduate students 34% (11,399), and law students 2% (528). Undergraduate headcount was 1,337 higher than fall 2012 (+7%); graduate headcount was 262 lower (−2%); and law student headcount was 119 lower (−18%). Matriculated students come from all 50 states and 122 foreign countries. As of fall 2014, the university had 33,791 students enrolled, including 21,672 undergraduates, 7,022 seeking master's degrees, 2,264 seeking doctoral degrees and 493 seeking law degrees. As of 2023, the university enrolled 40,185 students, making it the largest university by head count in Virginia.

Academic affiliations

Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area The Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area (CUWMA) is a nonprofit educational association of 20 colleges and universities in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Department o ...

(CUWMA) *

National Sea Grant College Program The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific ...

(Sea-grant) * Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) *

(SI) –

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) is a unit of the Smithsonian Institution located on a campus located just outside the town of Front Royal, Virginia. An extension of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the SCBI has played ...

(SCBI) * State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) *

Transatlantic Policy Consortium The Transatlantic Policy Consortium (TPC) is a network of 42 North America and European higher education institutions that conduct education, training, and research in the field of public policy and public administration. Its ostensible mission is ...

(TPC) * Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC)

Research

George Mason University hosts $149 million in sponsored research projects annually, as of 2019. In 2016, Mason was

among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Mason moved into this classification based on a review of its 2013–2014 data that was performed by the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University. The research is focused on health, sustainability and security. In health, researchers focus is on wellness, disease prevention, advanced diagnostics and biomedical analytics. Sustainability research examines climate change, natural disaster forecasting, and risk assessment. Mason's security experts study domestic and international security as well as cyber security.

Centers and institutes

The university is home to numerous research centers and institutes. * Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine * Center for Clean Water and Sustainable Technologies (CCWST) * Center for Climate Change Communication (4C) * Center for Collision Safety and Analysis * Center for Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, Computing and Intelligence (C4I) * Center for Humanities Research * Center for Location Science * Center for Neural Informatics * Center for Peacemaking Practice * Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship * Center for Regional Analysis * Center for Social Complexity * Center for Study of Public Choice * Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, and Plasticity (CN3) * Center for Well-Being * Institute for Advanced Biomedical Research * Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science * Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study *

* National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases *

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM), formerly the Center for History and New Media (CHNM), is a research center specializing in digital history and information technology at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax County, V ...

* SMART Lab (Sports Medicine Assessment, Research & Testing) * Stephen S. Fuller Institute * Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security * Center for Security Policy Studies * Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy * Center on Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise * Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) * Center for Energy Science and Policy * National Security Institute * Center for Government Contracting * Global Antitrust Institute * Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution * Center for the Study of Gender and Conflict Resolution * Peace and Conflict Studies Center Asia (PACSC Asia) * Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution * Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation

Student life and community relations

Traditions

Students have often decorated the George Mason statue on the Fairfax campus for events. Some have rubbed the statue toe to bring good luck. Many pose with the statue for graduation photographs. Between 1988 and 1990 Anthony Maiello wrote the original ''George Mason Fight Song'', which was edited by Michael Nickens in 2009. Each spring, student organizations at Mason compete to paint one of the 38 benches located on the Quad in front of Fenwick Library. For years, student organizations have painted those benches that line the walkway to gain recognition for their group. With more than 300 student organizations, there is much competition to paint one of the benches. Painting takes place in the spring.

Housing

George Mason University has around 40 residence halls in the Fairfax campus, 22 of which are used specifically for freshmen. Many halls are named after famous Virginia regions and terms.

Freshmen Housing

* Commonwealth Hall – A suite-style hall with a capacity of around 240 students. * Dominion Hall – A suite-style hall with a capacity of around 240 students. * Presidents Park – A traditional-style complex of twelve halls, with a total capacity of around 1000 students. These halls are Adams, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kennedy, Lincoln, Madison, Monroe, Roosevelt, Truman, Washington, and Wilson. * Taylor Hall – A traditional-style hall with a capacity of around 300 students. * The Commons – A traditional-style complex of seven halls, with a total capacity of around 500 students. These halls are Amherst, Brunswick, Carroll, Dickinson, Essex, Franklin, and Grayson.

Upper-Class Housing

* Eastern Shore – A suite-style hall with a capacity of around 200 students. * Blue Ridge and Sandbridge – Two connected suite-style halls with a total capacity of around 400 students. * Piedmont and Tidewater – Two connected suite-style halls with a total capacity of around 350 students. * Whitetop – A suite-style hall with a capacity of around 300 students. * Hampton Roads Hall – A suite-style hall with a capacity of around 450 students. * Angel Cabrera Global Center – A suite-style hall with a capacity of around 300 students. * Liberty Square – An apartment-style hall with a capacity of around 500 students. Liberty Square is split into five wings, lettered A-E. * Rogers Hall – An apartment-style hall with a capacity of slightly over 300 students. * Northern Neck – An apartment-style hall with a capacity of slightly over 300 students. * Potomac Heights – An apartment-style hall with a capacity of around 500 students. * The Townhouses – Apartments located 1/8 from the Fairfax campus, with a total capacity of around 100 students.

Graduate Housing

* Beacon Hall – An apartment-style hall with a capacity of around 200 students.

Student organizations

Student organizations can have an academic, social, athletic, religious/irreligious, career, or just about any other focus. The university recognizes 500 such groups. Mason sponsors several student-run media outlets through the Office of Student Media. * '' Fourth Estate'': Website and weekly student newspaper, available on Mondays * '' Phoebe'': A journal that annually publishes original works of literature and art *

WGMU Radio WGMU Radio is a college radio station located on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University in Virginia, United States. It broadcasts a range of music, sports, news and talk. Location The office is located at The HUB, and the studios an ...

: Broadcasts a wide array of music, talk, sports, and news programming. WGMU is also the flagship station for George Mason's men's and women's basketball teams, part of the Go Mason Digital Network.

Greek life

Mason has 42 fraternities and sororities recognized by the university, with a total Greek population of about 1,800. Mason does not have a traditional "Greek Row" of housing specifically for fraternities, although recruitment, charitable events—including a spring Greek Week—and other chapter activities take place on the Fairfax Campus.

Athletics

Division I teams

The

George Mason Patriots The George Mason Patriots are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing George Mason University (GMU), located in Fairfax, Virginia. The Patriots compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of th ...

are the athletic teams of George Mason University located in Fairfax, Virginia. The Patriots compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. About 485 student-athletes compete in 22 men's and women's Division I sports – baseball, basketball, cross-country, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. Intercollegiate men's and women's teams are members of the National Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, the Atlantic 10, the

Eastern College Athletic Conference The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 15 sports (13 men's and 13 women's). It has 220 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from ...

(ECAC), the

Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States. The EIVA Tournament champion receives ...

(EIVA), the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL), and the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (IC4A).

Intramural club sports

In addition to its NCAA Division I teams, George Mason University has several club sports.

Performing arts

The Mason Players is a faculty-led student organization that produces six productions per year.

Cultural capital, political influence, and controversy

According to '' U.S. News & World Report'' University Rankings, George Mason University is ranked #1 in

Social Mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given socie ...

among universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and nationally ranked #72 in Top Performers on Social Mobility. ''The New York Times'' Top U.S. Colleges with the Greatest Economic Diversity ranking ranks the university at #19 for advancing social mobility for its students and alumni and having

socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status (SES) is a measurement used by economics, economists and sociology, sociologsts. The measurement combines a person's work experience and their or their family's access to economic resources and social position in relation t ...

diversity through

cultural capital In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, social capital, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as ...

. The university is also ranked No. 8 in the nation for

Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and protecting rights enshrined in the

First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents Federal government of the United States, Congress from making laws respecting an Establishment Clause, establishment of religion; prohibiting the Free Exercise Cla ...

according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), FIRE also posits that the majority viewpoint of the student body leans politically liberal in the sense of

modern liberalism in the United States Modern liberalism, often referred to simply as liberalism, is the dominant version of liberalism in the United States. It combines ideas of civil liberty and Social equality, equality with support for social justice and a mixed economy. Modern l ...

, although the political ideologies of

libertarianism in the United States In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of Conservatism in the United States, conservatism and Modern liberalism in the United States, liberalism in the United S ...

and

conservatism in the United States Conservatism in the United States is one of two major political ideologies in the United States, with the other being liberalism. Traditional American conservatism is characterized by a belief in individualism, traditionalism, capitalism, ...

are also visible on campus with the university stating that it strives for "comprehensive ideological balance," evidence including but not limited to the university being "home to both the

and the

," named after a conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice (

Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual an ...

) politically appointed by Republican Party U.S. President and a liberal U.S. President (

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

) and First Lady (

Rosalynn Carter Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; ; August 18, 1927 – November 19, 2023) was an American activist and humanitarian who served as the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. Throughout her decades of ...

) who were members of the Democratic Party, respectively.

Demographics

According to the

U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a United States Cabinet, cabinet-level department of the federal government of the United States, United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, havin ...

College Scorecard, 44% of students have taken on federal student loans, and in terms of socioeconomic diversity, 28% of students have received Pell grants reserved for low-income students. Among undergraduate students, 80% of students are enrolled full-time while 20% are enrolled part-time In terms of ethnic and racial demographics: American Indian/

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

people make up 0% of the student body and 0% of the full-time staff; Asian people make up 22% of the student body and 14% of the full-time staff;

Black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

make up 11% of the student body and 5% of the full-time staff; Hispanic and Latino people make up 17% of the student population and 3% of the full-time staff;

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

people make up 0% of the student body and 0% of the full-time staff;

non-resident alien In law, an alien is generally any person (including an organization) who is not a citizen or a national of a specific country, although definitions and terminology differ across legal systems. Lexicology The term "alien" is derived from the ...

people make up 5% of the student body and 8% of the full-time staff; people of two or more races/multiracial people make up 5% of the student body and 2% of the full-time staff; people of an Unknown ethno-racial demographic make up 3% of the student body and 3% of the full-time staff; and

White people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...

make up 36% of the student body and 65% of the full-time staff.

Koch Foundation funding and Economics department

George Mason University has been subject to controversy surrounding donations from the Charles Koch Foundation, in particular to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences' Department of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, which was seen as being allegedly influenced by

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

political thought, evidenced by the

political activities of the Koch brothers Charles G. (born 1935) and David H. Koch (1940–2019), sometimes referred to as the Koch brothers, have become famous for their financial and political influence in United States politics with a libertarian political stance, particularly the ...

. University documents revealed that the Koch brothers were given the ability to pick candidates as a condition of monetary donations. George Mason University altered its donor rules following the controversy.

Law school

The naming of the

after the late

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

United States Supreme Court Justice

, the hiring of conservative United States Supreme Court Justices Bret Kavanaugh,

Neil Gorsuch Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court ...

, and

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...

as professors, the allegedly "lavish treatments," speaking gigs, and "all-experiences-paid" travel arrangements they received, its close ties with the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, and the extensive provision of

professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing Praxis (process), praxis in addition t ...

and

continuing education Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...

programs, as well as speaking engagements for sitting

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

s of

lower Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

and

appellate In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

divisions – in particular dealing with the topic of

law and economics Law and economics, or economic analysis of law, is the application of microeconomic theory to the analysis of law. The field emerged in the United States during the early 1960s, primarily from the work of scholars from the Chicago school of econ ...

– has brought on controversy on the university itself, the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

, and the

Federal Judiciary of the United States The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...

as a whole over the overt conservative political influence taking place at the law school and the university's growing influence over the U.S. judicial system. The law school had also received some controversy due to its relationship with the overtly libertarian university-affiliated

think tank which is known to have received donations from a conservative political donor group known as The 85 Fund-Judicial Education Project headed by conservative legal activist Leonard Leo.

Public policy school

George Mason University's public policy school and political science department, the

, was the subject of some controversy over its relationship with former US intelligence agency personnel. In particular, the 2009 hiring of General Michael Hayden, former director of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA),

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

(NSA), and of Robert Deitz, former general counsel of the NSA, were controversial due to Hayden's and Deitz's intelligence careers which involved lawful but unpopular use of

mass surveillance Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by Local government, local and federal governments or intell ...

Historical hoaxes

The George Mason University's historical hoaxes were a group of

internet hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

es and a disinformation campaigns created by students as part of a class project for a course on "Lying about the Past" taught by

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

professor T. Mills Kelly, with the goal of creating an Internet deception that affected news media platforms.

Sexual misconduct

In 2016 a male student won an appeal overturning his suspension for sexual assault. The Title IX process (which investigates sex discrimination) at George Mason University has continued to be subject to controversy. Following the hiring of

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh (; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oct ...

as a visiting professor in the law school in 2019, students circulated a petition demanding not only the removal of Kavanaugh, but to increase the number of

Title IX Title IX is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receiv ...

Coordinators on campus. The petition received 10,000 signatures and resulted in approval for funding for two more Title IX Coordinator positions. In 2018, Peter Pober was alleged to have committed sexual misconduct during his tenure as a Competitive Speech Coach. He retired while being investigated for misconduct.

Notable faculty and alumni

Faculty

File:Associate_Justice_Brett_Kavanaugh_Official_Portrait.jpg,

, U.S. Supreme Court Justice File:Associate_Justice_Neil_Gorsuch_Official_Portrait.jpg,

, U.S. Supreme Court justice File:Clarence_Thomas_official_SCOTUS_portrait.jpg,

, U.S. Supreme Court justice File:Vernon_L._Smith_2011.jpg,

, Nobel Prize winning economist File:James_Buchanan_by_Atlas_network.jpg, James M. Buchanan, Nobel Prize winning economist File:Vasily_Aksyonov_1980.jpg, Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist, poet, and anti-totalitarian dissident File:Walter_E._Williams_speaks_at_Texas_Tech_in_2013_(cropped).jpg, Walter E. Williams, John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and author File:Timothy_J._Muris.jpg, Timothy Muris, former chairman of the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

File:Francis_Fukuyama_2015_(cropped).jpg,

Francis Fukuyama Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, and international relations scholar, best known for his book '' The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992). In this work he argues th ...

, American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

political economist Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

scholar File:Michael_Hayden,_CIA_official_portrait.jpg, Michael Hayden, former Director of the

(CIA) and

(NSA) File:Andrew_McCabe_official_portrait.jpg, Andrew McCabe, former acting director of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI)

Alumni

File:Anna_Escobedo_Cabral,_official_Treasury_photo.jpg, Anna Escobedo Cabral, former

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as the custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage pr ...

File:Karl_Rove.jpg,

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...

, Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush File:Justin_Bour_2018.jpg, Justin Bour, American professional baseball player File:Ken_Cuccinelli_official_photo.jpg,

Ken Cuccinelli Kenneth Thomas "Cooch” Cuccinelli II ( ; born July 30, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Pa ...

, former

Attorney General of Virginia The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an Executive (government), executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a United State ...

and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security File:Kathleen_L._Casey_official_portrait.jpg, Kathleen L. Casey, Commissioner of the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

File:Archie-Kao-Esquire-2016_(cropped).jpg,

Archie Kao Archie Kao ( Chinese: 高聖遠) is an American actor and producer. He is best known to American audiences for series regulars roles on '' Chicago P.D.'', '' Power Rangers Lost Galaxy'' as well as long-running hit '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigat ...

, Actor File:GutenCarolynForonda1.jpg, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, former Poet Laureate of Virginia File:Christine_Fox.jpg, Christine Fox, former Acting

Deputy Secretary of Defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the s ...

File:Denise_Turner_Roth_GSA.jpg, Denise Turner Roth, former Administrator of

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

File:Abdiweli_Mohamed_Ali_-_2012-02-27_at_12-35-51.jpg, Abdiweli Gaas, former

Prime Minister of Somalia The prime minister of Somalia () is the head of government of Somalia. There have been 22 official prime ministers since the office was created in 1956. The first prime minister was Abdullahi Issa, who served prior to independence in the Trus ...

File:Mohammad_Khazae.jpg, Mohammad Khazaee, former Representative of the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* {{authority control 1949 establishments in Virginia Education in Arlington County, Virginia Education in Fairfax County, Virginia Education in Loudoun County, Virginia Education in Prince William County, Virginia George Mason Public universities and colleges in Virginia Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Universities and colleges established in 1949 Universities and colleges in South Korea