United States
George Mason University
George Mason University
United States
United States
United States
George Mason University (GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father of the United States.
The university was founded in 1949 as a northern branch of the University of Virginia. It became an independent university in 1972, and it has since grown into the largest public university in Virginia by student enrollment. It has expanded into a residential college for traditional students while maintaining its historic commuter student-inclusive environment at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels, with an emphasis on combining modern professional education with a traditional liberal arts curriculum.
The university operates four campuses; the flagship campus is in the Fairfax, Virginia, area. Its other three campuses are in Arlington, Front Royal, and Prince William County. It also operates a retreat and conference center in Lorton and an international campus in Incheon, South Korea. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Two of the university's professors have received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics: James M. Buchanan in 1986 and Vernon L. Smith in 2002.
In 1949, the University of Virginia created an extension center to serve mid-career working professionals and non-traditional students near urban centers in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. 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.
A resolution of the Virginia General Assembly in January 1956 changed the extension center into University College, the Northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia. 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 150 acres (60 hectares) 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 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 40 acres (16 hectares) of Fairfax Campus began in 1962. In the Fall of 1964 the new campus welcomed 356 students.
In 1966, in the Virginia General Assembly, Alexandria 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 Alexandria and Falls Church agreed to appropriate $3 million to purchase land adjacent to Mason to provide for a 600-acre (240-hectare) Fairfax Campus with the intention that the institution would expand into a regional university of major proportions, including the granting of graduate degrees.
George Mason University has four campuses in the United States, each of which is located in Virginia. Three are in the Northern Virginia suburbs of the Washington metropolitan area, and one is in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The university also has one campus in South Korea, in the Songdo International Business District of Incheon. Between 2005 and 2009 the university had a campus at Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. The Blue Ridge campus, just outside Front Royal, is run in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution.
The university's primary Fairfax Campus is situated on 677 acres (274 hectares) in central Fairfax County. The campus lies just south of the City of Fairfax, and approximately 20 miles (32 km) from Washington, D.C.. The City of Fairfax covers a small piece of the university grounds. The Fairfax Campus opened in 1964 with four buildings.
Notable buildings include the 320,000-square-foot (30,000 m2) student union building, the Johnson Center; the Center for the Arts, a 2,000-seat concert hall; the 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m2) Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building; Exploratory Hall for science, new in 2013; an astronomy observatory and telescope; the 88,900-square-foot (8,260 m2) 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.
The bronze statue of George Mason on campus was created by Wendy M. Ross and dedicated on April 12, 1996. The 71/2 foot statue shows George Mason presenting his first draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights which was later the basis for the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights. Beside Mason is a model of a writing table that is still in the study of Gunston Hall, Mason's Virginia estate. The books on the table, volumes of Hume, Locke, and Rousseau, 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 Gunston Hall: Penny, who was gifted by Mason to his daughter, and James, Mason's personal attendant.
The Arlington Campus, named Mason Square in 2022, is situated on 5.2 acres (2.1 hectares) in Virginia Square, an urban environment on the edge of Arlington County, Virginia's Clarendon business district and four miles (6.4 km) 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; subsequent development created Van Metre Hall (formerly Founders Hall), home of the Schar School of Policy and Government, 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, the Mercatus Center, and the Institute for Humane Studies. The campus also houses the 300-seat Van Metre Hall Auditorium. A new building, Fuse at Mason Square, was completed in 2025.
Mason offers undergraduate, graduate master's, law, and doctoral degrees with an emphasis on combining modern practice-based professional education with a comprehensive traditional liberal arts 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.
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.
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. For those submitting scores the average student had an SAT score of 1250 (38% submitting scores) or an average ACT score of 28 (3% submitting scores).
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.
George Mason University hosts $149 million in sponsored research projects annually, as of 2019. In 2016, Mason was classified 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.
The university is home to numerous research centers and institutes.
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 the benches. Painting takes place in the spring.
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.
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; the 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; the halls are Amherst, Brunswick, Carroll, Dickinson, Essex, Franklin, and Grayson
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