President Unveils Six-Year Plan at Universitywide Convocation

By Daniel Walsch

George Mason University will formally launch the new academic year for the entire campus community with the 2001 Convocation: The Next Six Years, Sept. 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the Johnson Center multipurpose room.

This first-of-its-kind event was created to provide faculty, staff, and students with an official start to the 2001-02 academic year and to enhance a sense of community among all. This gathering replaces the president's annual fall address to the faculty, which had been scheduled for Sept. 4.

President Alan Merten will present faculty, staff, and students with his vision of the university--present and future--and, along with Provost Peter Stearns, unveil Plan 2007, a comprehensive look at where George Mason will be six years from now.

"For George Mason, the new academic year brings with it a number of significant challenges and opportunities for us to face as we move forward on our path to greatness," Merten says. "In order to be successful, we must be unified. In order to be unified, we must be bound by the same vision. Our objective with 2001 Convocation is to capture that spirit and reaffirm those ties that bind us all."

In addition to inviting current faculty, staff, and students, invitations are being extended to members of the board of visitors and the George Mason Foundation's board of trustees, retired faculty and staff, and leaders within the university's alumni association.

Looking ahead, this new academic year is not without its challenges, Merten says. He notes the recent unprecedented budget impasse between the General Assembly and the governor as one major hurdle that will dominate his agenda for the coming year. However, Merten says George Mason has enjoyed a number of significant successes during the past academic year "that show we are on track to achieving our goal of becoming the university that is central to the economic and social development of the Northern Virginia-Washington, D.C., region."

George Mason is in a strong position for the upcoming academic year because of its many accomplishments, including the recruitment of outstanding scholars in economics, bioinformatics and information technology; achieving national rankings for law, psychology, nursing, education, public policy, creative writing, and history; earning full reaccreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; being named as a potential site for the 2012 Olympics; and having both the men's and women's basketball teams participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association postseason tournaments.

According to the president, among the overriding goals facing the university this year are working to correct its funding shortfall and recruiting top-quality leaders for the School of Management, College of Nursing and Health Science, and School of Computational Sciences. Additional goals include expanding George Mason's federal research support, acquiring additional state funding, and beginning the construction of academic buildings on all three campuses.