George Mason has always been All Together Different.
April 7, 2022 marked 50 years from the day that Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton signed legislation to separate George Mason College from the University of Virginia to better meet the educational needs of Northern Virginia. This signature set in motion a half-century of progress that has fueled Northern Virginia’s transformation from a bedroom community of Washington, D.C., to one of the most dynamic regions in the country.
George Mason opened its first campus in Fairfax in 1964 on 150 acres from the City of Fairfax. By 1968, it graduated the first class of 52 students. By 1971 Mason was offering and awarding graduate degrees.
From left, Student Government President James Corrigan, Governor Linwood Holton Jr., Mason Chancellor Lorin A. Thompson, Mason Advisory Board President John Wood, and Student Senator Anne O'Grady.
George Mason's History
- February 22, 2023
- December 1, 2022
- November 22, 2022
- October 10, 2022
- October 7, 2022
George Mason Trailblazers
Celebrate George Mason Trailblazers—faculty, staff, students, and alumni—who helped make a difference in our community and beyond.
Related Stories
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Podcasts and Videos with leading Mason voices
Access to Excellence
Join George Mason University President Gregory Washington as he invites experts, change-makers, innovators, and thought leaders from within the Mason community to engage in meaningful conversations about the greatest challenges of our time.
Listen to episodes of Access to Excellence
Our Future, Transformed
Hosted by George Mason President Gregory Washington, this YouTube series features faculty experts speaking about some of the most debated and significant topics of our day with an audience of Honors College students. Experts in the first season discuss the key solutions to key issues, including water policies in the West, police reform, problems at our Southern border, clean energy, and getting more women into STEM fields.
Watch Our Future, Transformed episodes
And George Mason is not slowing down
For a while, George Mason carried the tagline "Where Innovation Is Tradition" because it has always done things differently. Whether it was buying a law school, creating an engineering school focused on information technology, or merging dining facilities with a library to get funding for a new building (that's the Johnson Center by the way), George Mason's done what it's had to do to keep moving forward.
George Mason is at an inflection point, as we celebrate the accomplishments that got us here and and focus on the university we are becoming, the students we are graduating, and the world we are helping to shape.