Graduation and Alumni News

In 1995, Mason staff photographer Neil Adams took aerial photos of the Fairfax Campus from a Huey helicopter.

Mason alum Neil Adams talks about taking aerial photos of the Fairfax Campus from a helicopter in 1995.

University of Maryland Global Campus President Gregory W. Fowler, a George Mason University alumnus and national leader in online and hybrid education for nontraditional students, will be the featured speaker at Winter Commencement next month.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Alaleh Jenkins, BS Accounting ’97, immigrated to the United States as a teenager without speaking any English. As a student at George Mason University, she enrolled in basic English classes and quickly became fluent in English while also excelling in her other courses. Focused on academics as well as adjusting to and succeeding in a new country, she took advantage of Mason’s job fairs, landing a job at a major CPA firm after graduation.  “I got a lot of tough love at my first job and I will be forever grateful to my employer for pushing me out of my comfort zone,” Jenkins says.

The passage of Title IX in 1972 also marked the beginning of athletic opportunities for women at George Mason University. Mason's first women's sport—tennis—started its inaugural season in 1972-73.

The Fall 2022 Communication Career Forum, on October 25 at Mason’s Fairfax Campus, focused on helping students break into the industry and inspiring them to find purpose in their work.

When Mason alum Miriam Van Scott was working as a freelance writer in the mid-1990s, she was researching an article about the afterlife and realized what she needed was a compendium of all things related to the hell—so she wrote one.

For more than 30 years, the George Mason University Alumni Association has honored outstanding alumni, faculty members, and students at their annual Celebration of Distinction. The 2022 awardees include a diverse group of Patriots who exemplify service to others.

With the daytime dedicated to her nine-to-five job and evenings occupied with coursework, the financial support that Kaylene Green, BS Accounting & Legal Studies ’87, received from her employer was integral to her success. Now the president and CEO of Flagship Government Relations, Inc., she makes sure to return the favor, supporting the business students of her alma mater.

As an undergraduate, Doni Nolan, BA Biology ’14, had no visions of a future profession until she visited the greenhouse on George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus.

Schar School assistant professor Saskia Popescu is named a senior fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks. She’s also being celebrated by the university as a distinguished alumna.

Mason alum Andrew Joseph White, who graduated with an MFA in creative writing in May, published his first young adult (YA) book, Hell Followed with Us, an LGBTQ post-apocalyptic horror story, less than a month later in June 2022.