Campus News

After more than 10 years of fundraising and a few years of construction, the Center for the Arts Concert Hall opened on October 6, 1990, with award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch serving as host on opening night.

In 2006, Robert DeNiro and Matt Damon came to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts to promote their film “The Good Shepherd” in a special taping of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews.

Mason’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), known as “The Patriot Battalion,” began in 1982 and frequently conducts training with other universities throughout the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Mason alumni John Whalan, Elaine "Chipper" Petersen, and Bob Veenstra built the university's first telescope and observatory with $200 in start-up funds from the Physics Department.

The largest graduating class of any Virginia public university this year, Mason's Class of 2022 had the distinction of graduating as part of the university’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Did you know that up until the 2004 Commencement George Mason University graduation gowns were black? The university moved to green gowns in 2004, thanks to the work of a Traditions Committee.

On April 7, 2022, George Mason University celebrated its 50th anniversary as an independent public university. That day and the week of events surrounding it illuminated Mason as a university that is altogether different.

On 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.

In January, Nikyatu Jusu, assistant professor of directing and screenwriting in Mason’s Film and Video Studies Program, had her first feature film, “Nanny,” premier at the Sundance Film Festival, where she was awarded the Grand Jury Prize.

On Nov. 24, 1985, George Mason University women's soccer defeated North Carolina 2-0 to claim the first-ever NCAA National Championship at Mason.