Preston Williams

George Mason University on Friday afternoon honored its largest and most diverse graduating class in history with its 54th Spring Commencement.

Mason President Gregory Washington praised the Mason community for its collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it “as great of a team effort as I’ve ever seen in academia,” in remarks at a general faculty meeting Wednesday, which was televised on GMU-TV.

Washington, a self-described data geek, said he has been poring over graduation data, research funding, and other key performance indicators that show how Virginia’s largest and most diverse research university stacks up against the national competition.

Mason's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Evening of Reflection event on Thursday included a discussion between President Gregory Washington and a student panel about the opportunities they have to make changes to improve social justice and equity. Spirit of King award winners were also announced.

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.

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.

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.”