:: University Seal

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1963 Design by Richard Sparks

In the Spring of 1962, George Mason College's Student Assembly (SA) asked Richard Sparks, a GMC student to design the college seal. The SA formed a committee to provide Sparks with suggestions; their only specific suggestion was to name Sparks as the designer. He based his design on the George Mason family seal; mainly adopting the castle and motto, "Pro Patria Semper." The college name, location, and outer circle were added a few months later.

1963 design by Richard Sparks

1965 Design by "Andy" Anderson

In 1965, the SA held a referendum to the school seal. Sudents were asked to choose between two seals - the seal designed by Sparks at the request of the SA in 1962 and another design created by "Andy" Anderson. Sparks' design was approved by the student body, but no further action was taken to get approval from Charlottesville. The Gunston Leger (11/13/64) reported that Sparks' design "... having little in common with George Mason College, besides being too symbolic for a seal's purpose, was discarded in order that new ideas may be found to conform with the ideas, and surroundings, of the new George Mason College." Anderson was asked to design this second seal. His design was accepted by the SA but still did not become the offical college seal. The voting results were nullified due to low voter turn-out and a large number of requests for more choices by professional artists. No further action would be taken on this issue until GMC became a four year college in 1966.

1965 design by "Andy" Anderson

1967 Design by Moor and McDaniels

Two different seal designs by J.E. Moor of GMC's Art Department and E.A. McDaniels of GMC were combined and presented to the student body for approval in the Spring of 1967. This seal was voted down by a nearly two-thirds margin. The seal consisted of two images: a likeness of George Mason to signify GMC and the Rotunda representing UVa. The founding date, 1957, was located below the image of Mason. The outer perimeter of the seal consisted of four arches containing the names of both GMC and UVa.

1967 Design by Moor and McDaniels

1972 Gephart and Anderson's Designs

The push for an offical college seal once again gained momentum in 1972. William Gephart, who at that time was the Director of the Office of Development, and John C. Anderson, a GMC student, presented twenty different designs to GMC. Students, faculty, and administrative personel voted and the five designs that received the most votes were submitted to the Board of Visitors for final selection.

1977 "Official Decorative Emblem"

The seal that was accepted by the Board of Visitors in 1972 never received offical approval . In 1976, Alumni Association president, Jay Jarvis, requested the Board of Visitors to offically approve the seal. At this time, the unoffical seal was not being used by then President Virgil Dykstra nor Publication Coordinator Robert Hickey. In 1977, resolution was passed by the Board of Visitors making the unofficial seal the "official decorative emblem" of the University. Even with this offical resolution, the seal did not appear on any printed material from the University's Publication Office.

1977 "Official decorative emblem"

Official University Seal

The Board of Visitors in 1980, approved an official University seal. The design was proposed by the University Awards Committee. This committee was represented by the student body, alumni, faculty, and the Board of Visitors. The Awards Committee thought the 1977 decorative emblem was too intricate and could not be used to create a compressed seal for official university documents. The Board of Visitors did agree to maintain the decorative emblem's official status and continued to use it as in the past.