We’ve taken a look through our past to see how Mason, which began as a branch of the University of Virginia, became the largest public research university in the commonwealth.
Every week, we’ll share a historical image or photograph that tells a part of our amazing story.
May 6, 2022On May 21, 1983, George Mason University awarded its first doctoral degree, a doctor of arts in education, to Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, a teacher at nearby West Springfield High School.
April 29, 2022On Nov. 24, 1985, George Mason University women's soccer defeated North Carolina 2-0 to claim the first-ever NCAA National Championship at Mason.
April 22, 2022The first Mason Day took place four years before the university’s first Commencement, and it’s been the event to look forward to ever since.
April 14, 2022On June 10, 2010, Mason opened the Biomedical Research Laboratory (BRL) on the Science and Technology Campus in Prince William County. Here, Mason researchers have been able to advance their groundbreaking work on the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases.
April 7, 2022On April 21, 2015, Mason held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse and served greenhouse-grown food as a part of the celebration.
March 31, 2022On February 14, 2009, Mason student Ryan Allen, competing under his drag queen persona of Reann Ballslee, was crowned Ms. Mason at the Homecoming basketball game in front of a near sold-out crowd.
March 24, 2022Mason's International Week found its start in the 1970s as International Night with an evening of performances in the Lecture Hall on the Fairfax Campus.
March 18, 2022On October 17, 1986, the media descended upon George Mason University when economist James M. Buchanan won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on public choice theory.
March 10, 2022On April 1, 2006, thousands of George Mason University community members gathered in the Johnson Center to cheer on the men's basketball team as they took on University of Florida in the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis.
March 4, 2022On Sept. 3, 2010, during Welcome Week, more than 1,200 George Mason University students showed up to break the Guinness World Record for the world's largest dodgeball game.
February 25, 2022In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Homecoming at George Mason University centered around soccer and was held in the fall. Here you see Homecoming King Archie Kao, BA Speech Communication '92, with Homecoming Queen Christina Bartlow and President George Johnson.
February 18, 2022On Friday, April 7, 1972, Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton Jr. signed into law Virginia General Assembly Bill H 210, which separated George Mason College from the University of Virginia.