President

I’m pleased to say that our community continues to do a remarkable job of showing how to thrive during this pandemic. A crisis can be an opportunity to learn and lead, and we have done both.

George Mason University is looking at ways to provide education to experienced workers who were displaced as a result of the economic downturn associated with the coronavirus pandemic, President Gregory Washington told the Board of Visitors Thursday.

We are nearing the end of a remarkably successful fall semester, especially considering where we started and what we’ve been through. Just five months ago, our greatest challenge was figuring out how we could deliver a Mason education to a record number of students during a global pandemic. Now, in two weeks, we will graduate a class at winter commencement that includes more than 4,600 graduates and more than 5,000 when counting students earning certificates.

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.

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.