GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

'George Mason University', also known as 'GMU' or simply 'Mason', is a public university in the United States. It is located in Northern Virginia, with its main campus in Fairfax, Virginia and additional campuses in Arlington and Prince William County. The university is also in the process of opening two more campuses by 2009, one in Loudoun County, and another in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. George Mason is the second largest university in Virginia behind Richmond's Virginia Commonwealth University^[2].
Named after American revolutionary, patriot and founding father George Mason, the university was founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1957 and became an independent institution in 1972. Although relatively young, George Mason is a dynamic university that has gained a national reputation for innovation, entrepreneurship, and cutting-edge research in a number of fields.
The University garnered national attention during the 2006 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament when its little-known basketball team advanced to the Final Four, the first mid-major team to do so since 1979, attracting an unprecedented campaign of media coverage. "...Never before has a school [like GMU] with such little name recognition ascended so unexpectedly to the national stage," wrote Stefan Fatsis in ''The Wall Street Journal'' on March 30, 2006 [1].
Today, George Mason University is a well-known name, thanks to an NCAA Final Four appearance in 2006. In the June 26, 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated, journalist Bill Syken stated that: "Despite being the largest university in Virginia, with almost 30,000 students, George Mason is sometimes confused with George Washington University and James Madison University, more established neighboring colleges named for better-known founding fathers. Part of the school's image problem is that only about 4,000 of its students live on campus; the rest are commuters. Now, says school president Alan Merten, 'we no longer have to answer the question, What is George Mason University? We've become a household word.'"

Contents

History

Academics

Notable Faculty

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Economics

School of Public Policy

Rankings

Schools and Colleges

Campuses

Fairfax

History

Student life

Athletics

Libraries

Housing

Arlington

Prince William

Loudoun

Ras Al Khaimah

Athletics

Organizations

Media

Greek Life

Men's Fraternities

Interfraternity Council

National Pan-Hellenic Conference

Women's Fraternities & Sororities

Panhellenic Council

National Pan-Hellenic Conference

Multicultural Greek Council

Service/Honors Organizations

Closed/Inactive Organizations

Presidents past and present

Notable Alumni

Government

Media

Sports

Entertainment

Other

See also

References

External links

History

George Mason University is named after American revolutionary, patriot, and founding father George Mason.
The University traces its roots back to the 1950s when the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia passed a resolution, in January of 1956, to establish a branch college of the University of Virginia in Northern Virginia. In September of 1957 the new college opened its doors to seventeen students, all of whom enrolled as freshmen in a renovated elementary school building at Bailey's Crossroads. John Norville Gibson Finley served as Director of the new branch, which was known as 'University College'.

The City of Fairfax, Virginia, then the Town of Fairfax, purchased and donated 150 acres of land to the University of Virginia for the college's new location, which was referred to as the Fairfax Campus. In 1959, the Board of Visitors of UVA selected a permanent name for the college: 'George Mason College of the University of Virginia'. The Fairfax campus construction planning that began in early 1960 showed visible results when the development of the first forty acres of Fairfax Campus began in 1962. In the Fall of 1964 the new campus welcomed 356 students.
Local jurisdictions of Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church agreed to appropriate $3 million to purchase land adjacent to GMC to provide for a 600 acre Fairfax Campus in 1966 with the intention that the institution would expand into a regional university of major proportions, including the granting of graduate degrees.
On April 7, 1972 the Virginia General Assembly enacted legislation which separated George Mason College from its parent institution, the University of Virginia. Renamed that day by the legislation, GMC became George Mason University.
In 1979 GMU opened its law school in Arlington by acquiring the International School of Law, which was a private institution that had recently attained provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA). By 1981 the law school, now known as the George Mason University School of Law (GMUSL), gained full ABA accreditation.
Also, in 1979, the university moved all of its athletic programs to NCAA Division I. Enrollment that year passed 11,000. The university opened its Arlington campus in 1982, two blocks from the Virginia Square-GMU station in Arlington. In 1986 the university's governing body, the Board of Visitors, approved a new master plan for the year based on an enrollment of 20,000 full-time students with housing for 5,000 students by 1995. That same year university housing opened to bring the total number of residential students to 700.
Through a bequest of Russian immigrant Shelley Krasnow the University established the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study in 1991. The Institute was created to further the understanding of the mind and intelligence by combining the fields of cognitive psychology, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence. In 1992, GMU's new Prince William Institute began classes in a temporary site in Manassas, Virginia. The Institute moved to a permanent 124-acre site located on the Rt. 234 bypass, ten miles south of Manassas, by the year 1997, and is now known as the Prince William Campus. The university graduated more than 5,000 students that following spring.
While George Mason University is relatively young, particularly compared to established research universities in Virginia, it has grown rapidly, reaching an enrollment of 29,889 students in 2006, and is the second largest university in the state of Virginia, exceeded only by Virginia Commonwealth University. According to a 2005 report issued by the university, enrollment is expected to reach 35,000 students by 2011 with more than 7,000 resident students.[2]
In 2002 Mason celebrated its 30th anniversary as a University by launching its first capital campaign with a goal to raise $110 million. It concluded by raising $142 million, $32 million more than their goal. The George Mason University logo, originally designed in 1982, was updated in 2004.

Academics

Over the last decade George Mason University has gained national distinction in a range of academic fields, including public policy, information technology, economics, the fine and performing arts, law, conflict resolution, and, most recently, the biosciences.
The George Mason University School of Law is ranked 34th in the United States, and the Industrial/Organizational Psychology graduate program is consistently ranked in the top ten in the nation. The university has additional strength in the basic and applied sciences with critical mass in proteomics, neuroscience and computational sciences. Research support comes to Mason faculty from such agencies as the National Institutes of Health, NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Likewise, the Center for Secure Information Systems is designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the National Security Agency.
Mason is also home to the Center for History and New Media whose various history websites attract more than one million visitors each month.
Mason's Center for Global Education's Study Abroad program has been rated as one of the top twenty programs in the United States, offering dozens of programs ranging from one-week spring break programs to full year programs.
Mason was awarded $25 million, in 2005, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, for construction of a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory at the Prince William Campus in Manassas.

Notable Faculty

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

★ Paul Posner, former Director of Federal Budget & Intergovernmental Relations at the Government Accountability Office

★ Mary Catherine Bateson, daughter of American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, former Clarence J. Robinson Professor in Anthropology and English, now Professor Emerita

★ Roger Wilkins, Pulitzer Prize winner for coverage of the Watergate scandal (along with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein while he was working at ''The Washington Post.'')

★ Richard Norton Smith Presidential historian & Former director of five presidential libraries[3].

Department of Economics

★ Peter Boettke

★ Donald J. Boudreaux

★ James M. Buchanan, Nobel Prize-winning economist (1986)

★ Bryan Caplan

★ Tyler Cowen

★ Robin Hanson

★ Russell Roberts

★ Vernon Smith, Nobel Prize-winning economist (2002)

★ Alex Tabarrok

★ Gordon Tullock

★ Richard E. Wagner

★ Walter E. Williams

School of Public Policy

★ Richard Florida, nationally recognized academic and author of the of the Creative Class"

★ Stephen Fuller, Director, Center for Regional Analysis

★ Jack Goldstone, leading scholar in public and social policy

★ Kenneth Reinert

★ Mark Rozell, noted expert on Virginia and Washington Metropolitan politics

★ Frank Sesno, award winning author and current CNN special contributor

★ Michael K. Fauntroy, specialist in African American politics

★ Kenneth Button

Rankings

Mason has achieved many prestigious rankings in recent years, including:

★ Third Tier of National Universities (of four tiers), according to US News and World Report

★ 2nd most diverse university in the nation, by the Princeton Review, with students from all 50 states and more than 135 countries.

★ 8th in the world Political Economy, 30th in Public Economics by econphd.net.

★ 8th in the nation basketball team for 2005-2006, by ESPN/''USA Today''.

★ Top 20 in the nation Study Abroad program

★ 34th in the nation law school, by ''US News & World Report''.

★ 51st in the nation doctorate program in history by ''US News & World Report''.

★ 47th in the nation graduate Public Affairs program by ''US News & World Report''

★ 66th in the nation graduate education program for 2006 by "US News & World Report"

★ 99th in the nation undergraduate business program for 2007 by ''US News and World Report''.

Schools and Colleges

Research at GMU is organized into centers, laboratories, and collaborative programs.^[3]
As of 2006, the following research centers are part of various GMU colleges, or in some cases, span multiple colleges:

★ College of Humanities and Social Sciences ★ ★ Center for Biomedical Genomics ★ ★ Center for Child Welfare ★ ★ Center for Cognitive Development ★ ★ Center for Economic Education ★ ★ Center for Field Studies ★ ★ Center for Global Ethics ★ ★ Center for History and New Media ★ ★ Center for Justice Leadership and Management ★ ★ Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics ★ ★ Center for Social Science Research ★ ★ Center for the Study of Genomic Liver Diseases ★ ★ Center for Telecommunications and Media Research ★ ★ Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence ★ ★ James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy ★ ★ National Center for Biodefense ★ College of Education and Human Development ★ ★ Center for Advancement of Public Health (CAPH) ★ ★ Center for Education Policy ★ ★ Center for International Education (CIE) ★ ★ Center for Language and Culture ★ ★ Center for Outdoor Education (Hemlock Overlook) ★ ★ Center for Recreation and Tourism Research and Policy ★ ★ Center for Restructuring Education in Science and Technology ★ ★ Diversity Research and Action Center ★ ★ Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities ★ ★ Mathematics Education Center ★ ★ National Center for Public Safety Fitness ★ New Century College ★ ★ Center for Field Studies ★ ★ Center for Service & Leadership ★ College of Nursing and Health Science ★ ★ Center for Health Policy, Research, and Ethics ★ College of Visual and Performing Arts ★ ★ Center for Arts and Wellness ★ Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution ★ ★ The Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution

★ Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study ★ ★ Adolescent and Adult Learning Research Center ★ ★ Center for Neuroeconomics and Law ★ ★ Center for Neural Dynamics ★ School of Computational Sciences ★ ★ Center for Earth Observing and Space Research ★ Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering ★ ★ Center for Air Transportation Systems Research ★ ★ Center for Computational Statistics ★ ★ Center for Distributed and Intelligent Computation ★ ★ Center for Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence ★ ★ Center for Image Analysis ★ ★ Center for Secure Information Systems ★ ★ E-Center for E-Business ★ ★ Learning Agents Center ★ School of Law ★ ★ Center for Neuroeconomics and Law ★ ★ Center for Technology and Law ★ ★ Law and Economics Center ★ School of Public Policy ★ ★ Center for Aerospace Policy and Management ★ ★ Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy ★ ★ Center for Global Policy ★ ★ Center for Regional Analysis ★ ★ Center for Science and Technology Policy ★ ★ Center for Transport, Policy, and Logistics ★ ★ International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology ★ ★ Mason Enterprise Center ★ ★ Policy Analysis Center ★ ★ State Economic Development Center ★ ★ The Societal Dynamics Research Center ★ College of Science ★ ★ Bioinformatics and Computational Biology ★ ★ Chemistry and Biochemistry ★ ★ Climate Dynamics ★ ★ Computational and Data Sciences ★ ★ Earth Systems and Geoinformation Sciences ★ ★ Environmental Science and Policy ★ ★ Geography ★ ★ Mathematical Sciences ★ ★ Molecular and Microbiology ★ ★ Physics and Astronomy ★ School of Management ★ ★ Accounting ★ ★ Management ★ ★ Finance ★ ★ Information Systems & Operations Management ★ ★ Marketing ★ ★ Technology Management ★ ★ Executive Education

In addition, GMU's Office of the Provost includes the following research centers:

★
★ Center for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

★
★ Center for Global Education Study Abroad(CGE)

★
★ Center for Global Studies(CGS)

★
★ Center for Social Complexity

★
★ Center for Teaching Excellence

★
★ Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science

★
★ Mercatus Center

Campuses

Fairfax

The Fairfax Campus is the largest campus with approximately eighty buildings spread over 677 acres in Fairfax, Virginia. The campus is located at . Fairfax also has the largest student population of the campuses, with approximately 17,000 students regularly attending classes.
The Fairfax campus is served on the Washington Metro by the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU station on the Orange line. A 15 minute shuttle in addition to the CUE bus, free for students with a Mason ID card, serves the students through routes from the Metro station to the University.

History

In the early 1960s four buildings were constructed around a lawn in Fairfax which include the East Building, West Building, Krug and Finley Hall. The first four structures, today dubbed "The Original Four," "around a lawn" were understood as a clear reference to the buildings around The Lawn of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. In addition, in the words of the architects, the architecture of the buildings was meant to reflect Jeffersonian influence through the use of red brick with buff colored mortar, white vertical columns, and sloped shingled roofs.
Master plans were developed to incorporate further development, which saw new additions such as Fenwick Library and Lecture Hall. By 1979 master plan development was handled by the firm of Sasaki & Associates, which continued to work alongside the university in the years that followed. Student housing first became available in 1977. The 1980s saw the biggest expansion with new buildings being added on each year including the Patriot Center.

Recent years have seen the most activity on campus. Innovation Hall, a new academic building began usage in 2003. Housing units (Liberty Square, Potomac Heights) were opened in 2004 to accommodate an unprecedented amount of demand from students. The fall of 2005 saw the number of residential students surpass 4,100. The Sandy Creek parking deck and Research I, a four-story 100,000 square-foot facility that includes faculty offices and instructional and research laboratories, opened in 2006. The latter includes a semi-detached tower that will house the Astronomy Department’s rooftop telescope.
The university unveiled an ambitious plan in 2005 for the largest development to date on campus; the Northeast Sector. Work has begun and buildings are scheduled to open in phases, but all should be completed by 2008. Planned and executed as a design-build effort, the 450,000 square-foot mixed-use development consists of:

★ Five multistory residence buildings, at 5 to 6 floors each, supporting a total of 1,030 beds.

★ Exhibition-style dining facility with a capacity to seat over 500 diners.

★ Fitness center with cardio, weight training, and indoor basketball and racquetball courts.

★ Retail operations that will include a coffee house/convenience store and wood-fired pizza and pasta restaurant.

★ Various recreation and office spaces.

Student life

The George W. Johnson Learning Center, more commonly known as the Johnson Center or JC, is the central hub on campus, completed in 1995 and named after University President of 18-years, George W. Johnson. Located in the center of campus, the $30 million, 320,000 square-foot building was built as the first of its kind building on any American campus, acting both as a main library and a student union. The ground floor includes a buffet style restaurant, the campus radio station, a coffee shop, 300-seat movie theater, and Dewberry Hall. The main floor includes the campus bookstore, a large food court with several fast food restaurants, and the ground floor of the library. The second and third floors of the Johnson Center are primarily used by the library, with multiple group meeting rooms, computer labs, and a full service restaurant located on the third floor.
The Johnson Center serves as the center for student life with many activities and productions sponsored by Program Board and Student Government. In 2004 during the Democratic Primaries, Senator John Kerry, the eventual Democratic Nominee for President, visited George Mason University and gave a speech on the floor of the Johnson Center. In 2007, with the help of then-College Democrats President Erick M. Sanchez^[4], shortly after announcing on his website that he would establish a presidential exploratory committee, Senator Barack Obama gave a speech at the "Yes We Can" rally at the Johnson Center atrium. The next week he formally announced his intentions of running for president.
George Mason University is also served by two additional student unions, the oldest "Student Union I" or "SUB I" is home to the offices of several activities and groups including the Broadside, as well as the Health Department, the university game room, a Damon's Grill and a Chick-fil-A. Student Union II is home to the School of Management, the main buffet-style restaurant, the university mail room, group meeting rooms and ballrooms.
The Center for the Arts includes a 2,000-seat Concert Hall built in 1990. The concert call can be converted into a more intimate 800-seat theater. Most ''Center for the Arts'' events take place here, including operas, orchestras, ballets, and musical and theatrical performances. The Box Office, which distributes tickets for all performances, is located in the Grand Atrium. The Terrace gallery on the third floor also includes an outdoor patio. Students who are enrolled at least half-time receive free admission to most performances at the Center for the Arts.
To help foster a small college atmosphere on George Mason's large and diverse Fairfax campus, the University has created several living/learning community programs, each of which offers undergraduates special opportunities to enrich their academic and social experience. These programs include Mason Topics, New Century College and the Honors Program in General Education.

Athletics

The Patriot Center is a 10,000 seat arena for the Men's and Women's basketball team. The Patriot Center is also host to over 100 concerts and events throughout the year, annually attracting major performers like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Ricardo Arjona, REM, Linkin Park and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The arena was built in 1986, and is being added onto and renovated at a cost of $10 million, to be completed in October 2007. The renovations will include the concord area, main storage, food service facilities, offices for basketball coaches, basketball team rooms and lockers.
The fieldhouse, located across Ox Road, contains an indoor track, weightrooms, saunas, basketball courts and an indoor practice facility. Adjacent to the field house are many outdoor practice and recreation fields for baseball, softball, soccer, and tennis.
The 68,000 square-foot Aquatic and Fitness Center opened in 1998 at a cost of $11 million. The center includes an Olympic size swimming pool containing eight 50-meter lanes, twenty-two 25-yard lanes, two movable bulkheads, and a diving area equipped with two 1-meter and two 3-meter spring boards, a Warm-water recreational pool, Locker rooms, a whirlpool, a coed sauna, and a family changing room. It also offers Wet and dry classrooms, a 3,500 square-foot fitness gallery, containing treadmills, stair climbers, exercise bikes, elliptical trainers, Cybex-strength training equipment, and free weights.

Libraries

Fenwick Library was originally built in 1967, with additions in 1974, a tower in 1983, and renovations in 2005-2006. It was named for Charles Rogers Fenwick, one of George Mason's founders. Fenwick Library is the main research library at George Mason. Its resources include: most of the university's books, microforms, print and bound journals, government documents, and maps. Electronic resources include networked and stand-alone CD-ROMs, the libraries' online catalog, a number of databases available through the libraries' membership in various consortia, and Internet access. Another important collection of research materials housed in Fenwick is the Government Documents collection. This collection includes both federal and Virginia state documents. Both sets of documents contain items from the administrative, legislative, and judicial branches of government, and constitute an invaluable source of primary source materials for students and faculty in political science, public policy, sociology, business and other fields.There is also a special GIS center in Fenwick Library which conducts GIS drop-in sessions every week.
George Mason is a member of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, granting it access to resources of thirteen other libraries in the Nation's capital.

Housing

Fairfax is the only campus of George Mason University with on-campus student housing. There are nine housing areas housing approximately 4,000 students: President's Park, DUCC (Dominion Hall, University Commons and Commonwealth Hall), TAP (Townhouses, Student Apartments, Patriots Village) and YRC (Liberty Square and Potomac Heights). A tenth housing area is currently under construction to house an additional thousand students. About 5,000 more students live off campus in housing adjacent to the University. All on-campus housing includes free local phone service, free voice mail, cable TV, high speed internet, central air-conditioning and heating, furniture, and common bathrooms and lounges.

President's Park opened in 1989 and is the largest housing area, with more than 1,000 students living in two, three, or five person dorm rooms. President's Park is exclusively for freshman. There are thirteen residential buildings, all named after past U.S. Presidents: Adams, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kennedy, Lincoln, Madison, Monroe, Roosevelt, Truman, Washington, Wilson, and Eisenhower in the center, with a diner, movie theater, vending areas, study lounge, and TV lounge. In addition, free laundry service is available in Adams, Harrison and Lincoln Halls. There are also basketball and sandpit volleyball courts in the area.
Dominion Hall, University Commons and Commonwealth Hall, or DUCC, houses approximately one-thousand students, including some freshmen, sophomores and primarily upper-class students. Dominion and Commonwealth Hall were built in 1981 and are five-story buildings offering double-occupancy suite-style rooms for upperclassmen. University Commons was built in 1986 and is comprised of eight buildings: Amherst, Brunswick, Carroll, Dickenson, Essex, Franklin, Grayson, and Hanover in the center. Hanover features a commons area, TV-lounge, laundry area, and a common kitchen.
Townhouses, Student Apartments, Patriots Village, or TAP, houses approximately 1,000 upperclassmen. The townhouses and student apartments became available in 1987, and Patriots Village which has modules from 1984 through 1988. There are 35 two-bedroom townhouses located 1/8th of a mile north of the campus on State Route 123 (Ox Road), which include a living/dining room, full-sized kitchen, two full bathrooms, free laundry services with a washer and dryer, full furnishings, and all utilities paid for. Student Apartments were renovated in 2002 and are located inside Patriot Circle, just west of the main quad. They are comprised of nine three-story buildings of one, two, and three-bedroom units. Apartments include a kitchen, bathroom, and living and dining areas. Patriots Village consists of dozens of permanent modulars located outside of Patriot Circle, just east of Ox Road, offering modular and suite-style units. The modular units are designed for seven residents in two double rooms and three single rooms and contain a common living room, study area, and two bathrooms. The suite style units are designed as a double bedroom connected to a single bedroom with a shared full bathroom.
York River Corner, or YRC, includes Liberty Square and Potomac Heights, built in 2003. YRC houses approximately 1,000 upperclassmen combined, with about 500 at each development. Both are fully furnished apartments in two, four, or six-person units. Each apartment has at least one bathroom for every two students, a full kitchen, including a refrigerator, electric stove and oven, microwave oven, garbage disposal and dishwasher, and a living area. YRC apartments are rented out on nine and twelve-month leases.

Arlington

The 5.2 acre Arlington campus was established in 1979 by the Virginia General Assembly for the newly founded law school. In 1980, graduate and professional programs were also offered in the building, a converted Kann's department store. Since then the school has grown to offer a multitude of graduate degrees. In 1996, Arlington's campus began its first phase in a three phase campus redevelopment project. In 1998, Hazel Hall was completed to house the law school, the Mercatus Center, and the Institute for Humane Studies. The second phase, to be completed in 2007 is underway for a 250,000 square-foot building to house the School of Public Policy, the College of Education and Human Development, the School of Information Technology and Engineering, the School of Management, the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, the School of Computational Science, the College of Visual & Performing Arts and academic and student supports services. Arlington's campus is projected to reach an enrollment of 10,000 students by the completion of its redevelopment.
The Arlington campus is served on the Washington Metro by the Virginia Square-GMU station on the Orange line. The station is located approximately two blocks west of the campus.

Prince William

George Mason's Prince William campus opened On August 25, 1997 in Manassas. It is located on 124 acres of land. The campus offers a high-tech/bio-tech and emphasizes bioinformatics, biotechnology, forensic biosciences educational and research programs in addition to computer and information technology. The campus also offers creative programs of instruction, research, and public/private partnerships in the Prince William County area.
Prince William offers: a M.A. in New Professional Studies in Teaching, M.A.I.S. with a concentration in Recreation Resources Management, B.S. in Administration of Justice, Undergraduate programs in Health, Fitness, and Recreation Resources, Graduate programs in Exercise, Fitness and Health Promotion, and Nontraditional programs through Continuing and Professional Education in Geographic Information Systems and Facility Management.
Prince William also boasts the 300-seat Verizon Auditorium, the 110,000 square foot Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center, and an 84,000 square foot, $40 million Performing Arts Center scheduled to open in 2008. Other buildings on the Prince William campus include: The Occoquan Building, which houses various academic, research, and administrative resources, Bull Run Hall, a 100,000 square foot building which opened in the fall of 2004, and Discovery Hall, which was completed in 1998 at a cost of $20.4 million.

Loudoun

In the fall of 2005, the university opened a temporary site in Loudoun County, Virginia. Several months later, it announced the acquisition of 133 acres of land to build a fourth suburban campus that is scheduled to open in 2009. Planning for the new campus is moving along briskly: in January of 2006, the university received preliminary approval of its plans from Virginia's State Council for Higher Education.
Mason's current Loudoun site offers four graduate programs: Master's in Business Administration, Masters and doctoral programs in the College of Education and Human Development, Graduate Degree in Nursing, and a Master of Science in Telecommunications. It also offers five undergraduate programs: minor in Business and Management, certificates in the College of Education and Human Development, BS in health science, minor in Information Technology, and an introductory course in Social Work. Other graduate level courses, such as those offered by the Department of Information and Software Engineering, are periodically taught at the site.
As Mason's presence in Loudoun grows from a small branch of the university into a major satellite campus, it will increasingly offer the same services available to students attending George Mason University's Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William campuses.

Ras Al Khaimah

George Mason has recently opened a new campus in the Ras Al Khaimah emirate of the United Arab Emirates. It is in the process of building a permanent campus across the Emirates Highway at the Umm Al Quwain-Ras Al Khaimah border to be opened in 2009. Currently, the campus is located at the former Higher Colleges of Technology for Men campus in the Al Burairat area of Ras Al Khaimah. The current campus includes a full fledged library, Canteen, students center, Indoor basketball, tennis, volleyball and badminton court. The gymnasium is fully equipped with the finest equipment. The future campus is state of the art, with the finest architecture and plan, and the campus will also include UAE's best international school and another university. It is about 5 kilometres distance from Ras Al Khaimah. The faculty on campus is highly educated and trained according to american standards. This university is the only American university campus in the country.
The Ras Al Khaimah campus is currently offering three undergraduate degree programs, BS in Biology, BS in Business Administration, BS in Electronics and Communications Engineering. All credits earned at the campus will be fully transferable to George Mason University in the United States. The certificates issued at the Ras Al Khaimah campus, will have no mention of Ras Al Khaimah, it will be a pure George Mason University degree.

Athletics

Main articles: George Mason Patriots

The school's sports teams are called the Patriots. The university's men's and women's sports teams participate in the NCAA's Division I, and are members of the Colonial Athletic Association, or CAA. The school's colors are green and gold. George Mason has two NCAA Division I National Championships to its credit: 1985 Women's Soccer and 1996 Men's Indoor Track & Field.
George Mason University was catapulted into the national spotlight in March 2006, when its men's basketball team qualified for the Final Four of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament by defeating the Michigan State Spartans, the defending champion North Carolina Tar Heels, the Wichita State University Shockers, and the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies (UConn). Their "Cinderella" journey ended in the Final Four with a loss to the eventual tournament champion Florida Gators by a score of 73-58 [5]. As a result of the team's success in the tournament, the Patriots were ranked 8th in the final ESPN/USA Today Poll for the 2005-06 season. ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''Baltimore Sun'', and ''USA Today'' featured the story on their front pages.
The Patriots, who had never won an NCAA tournament game before 2006, became the first team from the CAA to crash the Final Four and were the first true mid-major conference team since 1979 to do so (that year, the Larry Bird-led Indiana State Sycamores as a #1 seed, and the Penn Quakers as a #9 seed both reached the Final Four). The Patriots also tied LSU as the lowest-seeded team to reach the Final Four (both did it as #11-seeds; LSU did it in 1986).

Organizations

George Mason offers more than 200 clubs and organizations, including 16 fraternities, 15 sororities, 24 International-student organizations, 25 religious organizations, a student programming board, student government, club sports, and student media. Mason also offers an Army ROTC program, called the The "Patriot Battalion."
Mason's club sports include:

★ Bowling ★ Crew ★ Equestrian ★ Fencing ★ Field Hockey ★ Football ★ Ice Hockey ★ Kumdo/Kendo ★ Men's Lacrosse

★ Rugby ★ Trap and Skeet ★ Synchronized Swimming ★ Ultimate Frisbee ★ Underwater Hockey

^[5]

Media

Mason offers two official print publications, the ''Broadside'', the student newspaper, and the ''Mason Gazette'', the University-published newspaper.
Mason also operates a Campus radio station, WGMU. The radio station offers music, entertainment, news, and public affairs relating to the University.
The Mason Cable Network offers entertainment and information on the public-access channel 89. It is currently the #1 student run cable network at George Mason.
Mason also offers the following publications:

★ GMU Review, a literary journal

★ Hispanic Culture Review, bilingual literary journal

★ Phoebe, Graduate literary journal

★ So to Speak, a feminist literary journal

★ Expulsion, a student run independent newspaper

★ GMView and Senior Speak, an annual yearbook publication and video.

Greek Life

Men's Fraternities Interfraternity Council ★ Alpha Epsilon Pi (Gamma Mu, 2007) ★ Chi Psi (Alpha Omega Delta, 2003) ★ Delta Chi (Colony, 2007) ★ Kappa Alpha Order (Epsilon Phi, 1989) ★ Kappa Sigma (Kappa Phi, 1970) ★ Phi Kappa Sigma (Gamma Xi, 1989, 2006) ★ Phi Kappa Theta (VA Gamma Mu, 1992) ★ Phi Sigma Kappa (Xi Septaton, 1995) ★ Pi Kappa Alpha (Kappa Theta, 1995) ★ Pi Kappa Phi (Zeta Epsilon, 1986) ★ Sigma Phi Epsilon (VA Mu, 1980) ★ Sigma Chi (Iota Xi, 1989) ★ Tau Kappa Epsilon (Mu Omega, 1970) ★ Theta Chi (Eta Chi, 1982) National Pan-Hellenic Conference ★ Alpha Phi Alpha (Iota Alpha, 1986) ★ Kappa Alpha Psi (Mu Mu, 1985) ★ Omega Psi Phi (Eta Delta Delta, 1988) ★ Phi Beta Sigma (Rho Tau, 1989)

Women's Fraternities & Sororities Panhellenic Council ★ Alpha Omicron Pi (Gamma Alpha, 1978) ★ Alpha Phi (Eta Lambda, 1988) ★ Alpha Xi Delta (Iota Alpha, 1997) ★ Chi Omega (Chi Kappa, 1970) ★ Gamma Phi Beta (Epsilon Pi, 1990) ★ Zeta Tau Alpha (Theta Chi, 1980) National Pan-Hellenic Conference ★ Alpha Kappa Alpha (Omicron Iota, 1982) ★ Delta Sigma Theta (Omicron Rho, 1983) ★ Sigma Gamma Rho (Mu Omega, 1992) ★ Zeta Phi Beta (Zeta Omicron, 1992) Multicultural Greek Council ★ Kappa Phi Lambda (2004) ★ Lambda Pi Chi (Mu, 1999) ★ Lambda Theta Alpha (Delta Epsilon, 2005)

Service/Honors Organizations ★ Order of Omega ★ Alpha Phi Omega ★ Delta Sigma Pi (Mu Tau) ★ Psi Chi ★ Pi Sigma Alpha ★ Phi Alpha Delta ★ Alpha Epsilon Delta ★ Eta Kappa Nu ★ Gamma Theta Upsilon ★ Sigma Gamma Epsilon ★ Tau Beta Pi (Tau Beta Epsilon) ★ Lambda Pi Eta ★ Alpha Chi ★ Kappa Delta Pi ★ Omega Rho ★ Financial Management Association ★ Lambda Alpha Epsilon

Closed/Inactive Organizations ★ Phi Mu ★ Sigma Kappa ★ Sigma Nu (Lambda Beta, 1986) ★ Alpha Chi Rho ★ Chi Phi ★ Alpha Kappa Lambda ★ Beta Theta Pi

Presidents past and present

★ Lorin A. Thompson, (1966-73)

★ Vergil H. Dykstra, (1973-1977)

★ Robert C. Krug, (1977-1978)

★ George W. Johnson, (1978-1996)

★ Alan G. Merten, (1996-present)

Notable Alumni

Government

★ Anna E. Cabral, Treasurer of the United States (currently attending GMU Law School)

★ Sean Connaughton, U.S. Maritime Administrator

★ Kristine A. Iverson, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs

★ Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush

Media

★ Hala Gorani, News Anchor, CNN

★ Brian van de Graaff, WJLA-TV Meteorologist

★ Susan Rook, Former News Anchor, CNN & CNN Talkback Live

★ John Wilburn, Managing Editor, Houston Chronicle

★ Debora J. Wilson, President, The Weather Channel

★ Kevin Rollins, President, The Center for Liberty & Community

Sports

★ Shawn Camp, Relief Pitcher, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

★ Lamar Butler, Basketball Player

★ George Evans, Basketball Player

★ Mike Kohn, Olympic Athlete

★ Jai Lewis, Basketball Player

★ Dayton Moore, General Manager, Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations, Kansas City Royals

★ Rob Muzzio, Decathlon Champion, Olympic Athlete

★ J.J. Picollo, Director of Player Development, Kansas City Royals

★ Tony Skinn, Basketball Player

★ Chris Widger, Catcher, MLB (Free Agent)

Entertainment

★ Will Carter, Actor

★ John Driscoll, Actor

★ Donna DuPlantier, Actress/Dancer

★ Archie Kao, Actor,

★ Ryan Mulkay, Actor

Other

★ Muna Abu-Sulayman, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador

★ Anousheh Ansari, Space Tourist

★ Sibel Edmonds, Former FBI translator

★ Zainab Salbi, President, Women for Women International

★ Rebecca Wee, Poet

★ Mark Winegardner, Author

See also

★ ''Broadside''

★ Center for History and New Media

★ City-University-Energysaver

★ Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study

★ George Mason Patriots

★ George Mason University School of Law

★ Institute for Humane Studies

★ Mercatus Center

★ Patriot Center

References

1. Mason Endowment Hits Milestone at Million
2. http://research.schev.edu/enrollment/E2_Report.asp
3. Research and Scholarship from GMU's website
4. [4]
5. List of Club Sports

External links

★ George Mason University - Official Site

★ George Mason University School of Law

★ George Mason University School of Public Policy

★ George Mason University School of Management

★ George Mason University Industrial / Organizational Psychology Program

★ Official Mason athletics site

★ Broadside (student newspaper)

★ Mason UnLtd - Independent Video Media Broadcasting to the GMU Community

★ MasonStudents - GMU's Student Run Discussion Forum

★ Facts & Figures

★ Hemlock Overlook Center for Outdoor Education

★ Masonhoops.com (Basketball Fan Site)

★ WGMU Radio Site

★ Center for Global Education - GMU Study Abroad Office

★ Mason in Loudoun

★ Sasaki Associates

★
★ Hybrid satellite image/street map of Arlington campus from WikiMapia