George Mason University is setting the gold standard for the modern, public university. Its dynamic culture and innovative academic programs prepare Mason’s hard-working students for 21st century careers. Its commitment to teaching excellence combines with cutting-edge research that enriches the academic experience and is literally changing the world. Mason is affordable, yet offers high value. Ideally located in the National Capital region, students enjoy terrific cultural experiences and access to the most sought-after internships and employers in the country.
George Mason University is innovative and entrepreneurial in spirit and uses its multi-campus organization and location near our nation’s capital to attract outstanding faculty, staff, and students. George Mason will:
Educate the new generation of leaders for the 21st century—men and women capable of shaping a global community with vision, justice, and clarity.
Encourage freedom of thought, speech, and inquiry in a tolerant, respectful academic setting that values diversity.
Provide innovative and interdisciplinary undergraduate, graduate, and professional courses of study that enable students to exercise analytical and imaginative thinking and make well-founded ethical decisions.
Nurture and support a highly qualified and entrepreneurial faculty that is excellent at teaching, active in pure and applied research, capable of providing a broad range of intellectual and cultural insights, and is responsive to the needs of students and their communities.
Maintain an international reputation for superior education and public service that affirms its role as the intellectual and cultural nexus among Northern Virginia, the nation, and the world.
Facts and figures
The university was founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1957 and became an independent institution in 1972.
It offers a total of 208 degree programs.
The university’s more than 1,300 full-time instructional and research faculty members are experts in a broad range of fields.
The majority of the university’s more than 33,000 students are from Virginia; however, all 50 states and Washington, D.C., as well as 130 countries, are represented in the student body.
Mason is a distributed university, with regional campuses in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William counties, and instructional sites in Loudoun County, Herndon, and Front Royal. Each Mason campus has a distinctive academic focus that plays a critical role in the economy of its surrounding region.
George Mason University Foundation
Established in 1966, the George Mason University Foundation Inc. works to advance the aims and purposes of the university. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of the university.
The foundation assists Mason in generating private support and manages, invests, and administers private gifts, including endowment and real property. The foundation is governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees that is led by a chair. The foundation president and chief financial officer report to the Executive Committee of the Foundation Board and work with the vice president of development and alumni affairs to support the private resource needs of the university.
Research Focus
At Mason, research extends beyond disciplinary and academic boundaries to reveal depth and breadth in a number of research communities of practice. To foster interdisciplinary research explorations and to facilitate access to both individuals and centers of expertise, our Research Focus profiles these communities.
