WTOP: George Mason University celebrates 50th anniversary by looking to the future

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George Mason University, Virginia’s largest public research university, turns 50 in 2022 and is celebrating an impressive array of stats it has racked up over the half-century, including:

  • An enrollment of 39,000 students, representing 130 countries.
  • More than $200 million in George Mason-sponsored research in 2020.
  • A student employment rate of 80% within six months of graduating.
  • A No. 9 ranking among public institutions for innovation in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 rankings of best colleges, and No. 18 nationally.
  • Six GMU programs in the top 100 best colleges rankings, including engineering, which rose 16 spots in the past year.
  • The first university in the country to offer doctoral programs in conflict resolution, information technology, bioinformatics and computational social science.
  • No. 1 in Virginia for ethnic diversity.

But Gregory Washington, the university’s first Black president, knows that George Mason might not have the same name recognition as other area universities — and that the competition for recognition is fierce.

“The biggest challenge … is just getting above the noise in the community,” he told WTOP.

Get the full story at WTOP.com