Campus News

Understanding what anti-racism, diversity and inclusion mean for George Mason University was just one of the goals of Monday’s Freedom and Learning forum hosted by President Gregory Washington. Ensuring a common definition of the terms helps create meaningful dialogue, and helps the Mason community understand the work of the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force.

We are halfway through the fall semester, and by all accounts, we have passed one of the biggest hurdles facing universities: George Mason University has successfully reopened our campuses, kept our community safe, and delivered on our educational mission despite the pandemic. This has been challenging work for everyone in our community, and I want to applaud the efforts to make Mason a model for success.

Members of the George Mason University community learned about leadership and activism from world soccer champion, double Olympic gold medalist and author Abby Wambach at Mason Reads on Monday afternoon.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam praised George Mason University for keeping its coronavirus numbers low during a visit to the Fairfax Campus on Tuesday where he announced a refinancing plan for colleges and universities.

U.S. colleges and universities in the coming years will lead the reeducation of a workforce displaced by COVID-19, George Mason University President Gregory Washington said recently in a Chronicle of Higher Education webinar.

We are fewer than two weeks from the start of the Fall semester and soon will be welcoming many of our faculty, staff and students back to George Mason University’s campuses. We do so with a mix of excitement that accompanies every fall return to campus – and trepidation, because this is 2020 and the pandemic has changed just about everything.

At his first planning conference with the Board of Visitors, George Mason University President Gregory Washington outlined his ambitious framework for the university, including a mission to “reposition, restore and reinvent” Mason to achieve success in the post-COVID era.

President Washington is creating the President’s Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence, and giving its members some big assignments. This task force will have a broad focus, with particular areas of emphasis including short-term and long-term improvements.

Preparation is underway for what may be the greatest campus-wide challenge the George Mason University community has ever taken on – our safe return to campus.

Gregory Washington spent his first day as George Mason University’s eighth president meeting virtually with students, faculty, staff, and alumni live on GMU-TV, sharing with each group his ambitious vision for the university, at one point saying, “If you want to be a big institution, you’ve gotta be big in the big things.”