Dear Patriots,
Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your break and are looking forward to the spring semester on our campuses as much as I am.
There are more of us than ever geared up for the spring semester at the university that serves more students and families than any public university in our state. George Mason students have registered for more than 420,000 credit hours, an increase of 3.5% over last year. Undergraduate applications for admission are up 11%. And we have a record new enrollment of more than 300 from our ADVANCE program.
That spring bump is no blip. For fall 2025, new freshman applications are up about 5%. We also continue to grow our innovative direct admissions program. The university has extended nearly 10,000 direct admissions offers for the fall, a process by which high school seniors from select areas are offered admission before submitting an application. Of those who have received such an offer, 20% have applied.
The academic experience that George Mason provides, and our commitment to blazing new pathways to a degree for students of all backgrounds, are a testament to the work our faculty and staff do each day serving our students. On behalf of all 40,000+ of them, I thank you.
In addition to local and regional recognition, we’re getting national attention. Just this week, U.S. News & World Report issued its 2025 Best Online Programs rankings. Across disciplines, George Mason advanced its standing in nearly every online master’s degree program in which it was included, and led the state in several. These impressive online rankings are another indication of how we support students where they are. That includes our veterans – our programs for them fared particularly well in the rankings. We’re proud of that.
We have so much to look forward to in the coming months. Here are a few items in particular worth highlighting:
- We are committed to examining artificial intelligence across research, academics, and partnerships to better comprehend AI and its many applications and implementations at our university and beyond. These efforts, as announced in the fall, will be led by Professor Amarda Shehu, our inaugural chief AI officer. As an indication of our growing expertise in AI, and George Mason’s tradition of innovation, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) will partner with the university to host the Mason-SCHEV AI in Education Summit on the Fairfax Campus on May 20-21.
- Each year, we look forward to celebrating our outstanding faculty with our Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence. The nomination deadline is Feb. 10. These awards, honoring faculty at all stages of their careers, are the university’s highest recognition of faculty achievement in the categories of teaching innovation, research and scholarship of consequence, diversity and inclusion, and social impact in our community and around the world.
- We encourage alumni to connect with the university, and with each other, when we celebrate Homecoming from Jan. 31 to Feb. 8. The week of activities includes our men’s basketball game Feb. 8 vs. Rhode Island, the only team to beat us in Atlantic 10 Conference play this season. The George Mason men have a 15-5 record and are in first place in the league. Our women’s basketball team, with a 15-3 record, is one game out of first place in the conference. Come out to EagleBank Arena and cheer on your Patriots! Patriot pressure is real and it’s truly a team effort (as our “revolutionary rivals” from George Washington University found out in our thrilling double-overtime victory on Jan 18.)
- We continue to add assets to our campuses to serve students, faculty and staff, and the greater community. The Life Sciences and Engineering Buildingon the Science and Technology Campus will house highly specialized instructional labs and classrooms. The Activities Community Wellness Building that we broke ground on last spring on the Fairfax Campus will promote student well-being. And last month we celebrated the commercial launch of Fuse at Mason Square, the state-of-the-art tech education and research hub that will advance opportunities for students, researchers, entrepreneurs, industry, and other community partners to work together to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in our region and expand the tech talent pipeline for our graduates and employers.
This promises to be an eventful spring semester for our university community. Again, I thank you all for your outstanding work to educate and support our students, and each other.
Go, Patriots!
Gregory Washington
President