:: University Timeline
1949-1950
SEPTEMBER
The Northern Virginia University Center (NVUC), essentially an adult education extension of the University of Virginia (UVa) at Charlottesville, opened under the direction of John Norville Gibson Finley. Its office is adjacent to the Vocational Education Building of the Washington-Lee High School located at 1200 Quincy Street, Arlington, Va. This program is a predecessor of George Mason University as we know it today. The NVUC Report for 1950-1951 states that there were eleven courses with a total enrollment of 588 students.
1950-1951
According to the Progress Report of the Northern Virginia University Center, 1952, the Center organizes 44 classes in the academic year and enrolls a total of 665 students for the year 1950-1951. Classes offered were Accounting, Education, Engineering, Composition, Foreign Affairs, French, Math, Physics, Social Work, Sociology, and Speech.
1951-1952
The Progress Report notes that during the year 1951-1952, total number of classes offered is up to 89 with an enrollment of 1,192 students.
1954
JANUARY
Discussion between George B. Zehmer, Director of the UVa Extension Division, and UVa President Colgate W. Darden, Jr. on the development of a two-year branch college of UVa in Northern Virginia takes place. In a letter of January 5, 1954 to Darden, Zehmer details important factors involved in this undertaking. Later in the year, several offers are made by area landowners to UVa for the location of the future college.
1955
APRIL
The Board of Visitors of UVa authorizes the establishment of a two - year branch college to serve Northern Virginia.
DECEMBER
Legislation to create a two - year branch college in Northern Virginia is introduced into the Virginia State Legislature.
1956
JANUARY
Virginia State Legislature approves House Resolution #5 establishing a branch college of UVa in Northern Virginia.
1957
SEPTEMBER
George Mason College's formal history as an institution unto itself begins when seventeen students enroll as freshmen in a renovated elementary school building at Bailey's Crossroads. John Norville Gibson Finley, Director of the University of Virginia Northern Virginia Center, also serves as Director of the new branch, which is known as University College.
1958
DECEMBER
City of Fairfax, then the Town of Fairfax, purchases and donates 150 acres of land to the University of Virginia for the college's new location, which is referred to as the Fairfax Campus.
1959
FEBRUARY
Donation of land is formally presented to the Rector and Board of Visitors of UVa by John C. Wood, then Mayor of the Town of Fairfax. The Deed is recorded on February 10, 1959 in the Town of Fairfax Virginia.
DECEMBER
Board of Visitors of UVa selects a permanent name for the college: George Mason College of the University of Virginia (GMC). The two-year school now bears the name of the Master of Gunston Hall and the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which served as a model for the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.George Mason was from Northern Virginia, hence his name for the new college was entirely appropriate.
1960
JUNE
GMC formally separates from the Northern Virginia Center. Lee H. Potter is selected as George Mason College's first dean.
1962
APRIL
Campus planning begun early in 1960 shows visible results when the first forty acres of Fairfax Campus begins.
1963
GMC's first Master Plan takes shape, calling for eventual construction of nineteen buildings and projected peak enrollment of 2,500 non-resident, full-time students on the Fairfax Campus.
AUGUST
Senator Charles R. Fenwick, who guided enabling legislation for GMC through the Virginia General Assembly, turns the first spade-ful of earth during Ground-breaking at the new Fairfax Campus. Construction begins four days later.
DECEMBER
J.N.G. Finley, GMC's first director, retires. Robert H. Reid, formerly Dean of Kendall College in Illinois, is named as Finley's successor.
1964
JANUARY
Robert H. Reid assumes office as Director of GMC.
MAY
UVa President Edgar F. Shannon, appoints a fourteen-member Advisory Committee to advise GMC officials on the educational needs of Northern Virginia and to plan the course of GMC's development.
AUGUST
Moving Day - The first stage of GMC's new Fairfax Campus is nearly complete.
SEPTEMBER
New Fairfax Campus welcomes 356 students. The Campus has four united buildings, which take their designations from the four points of the compass: North, South, East, and West.
NOVEMBER
Governor Albertis S. Harrison gives keynote address at GMC's new Fairfax Campus dedication.
1966
FEBRUARY
February 10, 1966 - George Mason College Foundation (later George Mason University Foundation) established with the signing of Articles of Incorporation. The first president is John C. Wood. (The title of president is changed to chairman in 1993.)
MARCH
General Assembly authorizes GMC to become a four-year degree-granting college giving it a long-range mandate to expand into a regional university of major proportions, including the granting of graduate degrees. First four BA degree programs are: Biology, Business and Public Administration, English, and History.
JUNE
Lorin A. Thompson becomes GMC's first Chancellor, coming from UVa's Graduate School of Business Administration. In addition to teaching, he has more than twenty years of experience in planning as head of UVa's Bureau of Population and Economic Research.
GMC first summer session is launched with 225 students.
NOVEMBER
Local jurisdictions of Fairfax County, Arlington County, and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church agree to appropriate $3 million to purchase land adjacent to GMC to provide for a 600 acre Fairfax Campus.
1967
FEBRUARY
Two new BA degree programs, Chemistry and Mathematics are added.
SEPTEMBER
Student population increases to 1,128; faculty members increase to
eighty- three.
Two new buildings open: first phase of the College Library and the
Lecture Hall.
DECEMBER
Fenwick Library opens. Lt. Governor Fred G. Pollard is speaker at library dedication.
1968
JANUARY
Final academic plan is readied with specific recommendations for growth through 1976-77 and general recommendations through 1985. The plan calls for the college to offer degrees in twenty-six fields to 6,400 students by the end of 1976-77.
APRIL
New degree programs added: BS - Biology, BS Ed - Elementary Education, BA - French, BA - Physics, BA - Spanish.
The Alumni Association is founded.
JUNE
First graduation, June Ninth. Fifty-two students receive Bachelor's of Arts degree
DECEMBER
New degree programs: BA - Economics and BA - Psychology added.
1969
JULY
Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. signs deed conveying to GMC 415 of the 422 acres of land acquired by the Board of Control.
1970
FEBRUARY
New degree programs: MS - Biology, BS - Chemistry, M Ed - Elementary Education, BS, MS Mathematics, BS - Physics, BA - Psychology.
JUNE
Governor Linwood Holton signs deed conveying last seven acres of the 422 acres acquired by the Board of Control.
JULY
Groundbreaking for Health and Physical Education Building.
SEPTEMBER
First Master's degree programs offered with an enrollment of 135 students.
1971
FEBRUARY
New degree programs: BS - Buisiness, BS, M Ed - Secondary Education, BA German, BA - Government and Politics, MA History, MAT - Teaching History, BS - Law Enforcement, BA - Philosophy, and BS - Social Welfare.
MAY
LeRoy R. Eakin Chair of Business Administration, Mason's first endowed faculty chair begun with a $25,000 donation by local businessman, LeRoy R. Eakin, Sr.
OCTOBER
Dedication of new Arts and Sciences Building, later named Thompson Hall.
DECEMBER
GMC receives its first independent accreditation from the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges.
1972
FEBRUARY
Ground-breaking for University Union, later called Student Union I.
MARCH
Virginia General Assembly , enacts legislation, H 210, which separates George Mason College from its parent institution, UVa, effective April 7, 1972.
GMC's name is changed to George Mason University.
JULY
College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Professional Studies, and the Graduate School are established.
SEPTEMBER
New degree programs added: MBA - Business Administration, M Ed - Guidance and Counseling, BS Ed - Health and Physical Education, BA - Music, MA - Psychology, M Ed - School Supervision.
1973
JULY
Vergil H. Dykstra becomes President of George Mason University. He comes to the University from the State College of New York, where he served as an administrator and faculty member.
SEPTEMBER
Office of Extended Studies is created.
1974
MARCH
Opening of Student Union I Building.
SEPTEMBER
First tower of Fenwick Library is opened.
New degree programs: BA - American Studies, BA - Art, BS, MA - Economics, BS Ed - Early Childhood Education, MA - English, BA - European Studies, BA - Latin American Studies, BA, BM - Music History and Musicology, BS - Nursing, BS - Public Administration, M Ed - Reading, M Ed - School Adminstration, MA - Spanish.
1975
SEPTEMBER
Dedication of Robinson Hall, named for Clarence Johnston Robinson. Dedication address by Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. The facility houses the College of Professional Studies and seven academic departments.
New degree programs: BA - Dramatic Arts, M Ed - Special Education, BA - Geography, BS - Medical Technology.
1976
New degree programs: BS - Fire Administration and Technology, BIS Individualized Studies, BA - International Studies, MPA - Public Administration.
MARCH
Ground-breaking for first student housing complex.
1977
APRIL
Dr. Robert C. Krug becomes Mason's president upon resignation of president Dykstra. Vice President for Academic Affairs, Krug, has been with the University since 1965.
JULY
School of Business Administration is established.
OCTOBER
First student housing complex is completed. Houses 498 students in apartment-style units.
1978
New degree program: BS - Social Work.
JUNE
Ground-breaking for an addition to Robinson Hall, with eigthteen classrooms, twenty-four laboratories, 100 faculty offices, and a 500-seat theater.
JULY
Dr. George W. Johnson becomes Mason's president. He comes from Temple University in Philadelphia where he has been Dean of the College of Liberal Arts for ten years.
SEPTEMBER
Enrollment climbs to 10,767, with 594 faculty members in eighteen graduate programs and forty-one undergraduate programs.
OCTOBER
A revised master physical plan and a ten-year academic plan are approved by Mason's Board of Visitors . Highlights of the physical design through 1988 include facilities to accommodate 16,000 students with varied on-campus living quarters for 4,000. The design also includes major expansion of athletic, food, and other service facilities by 1981. The academic plan calls for expansion into a select number of doctoral programs beginning in 1980, a broadening of offerings in the liberal arts and sciences, and new professional and master's level programs.
1979
New degree programs: MS - Geographic and Cartographic Sciences, JD - Law, MSN - Nursing.
JANUARY
Office of Extended Studies becomes Division of Continuing Education.
MARCH
Virginia General Assembly elevates George Mason University to doctoral status and creates the School of Law by a merger with the International School of Law.
APRIL
Inauguration of George W. Johnson as Mason's president. Mason's first formal presidential inauguration is held on the seventh anniversary of George Mason's achievement of university status.
1980
New degree programs: BS - Accounting, BA - Area Studies, BS - Computer Science, BS - Decision Sciences, DA Ed - Education, BS Ed - Industrial Education, BS - Finance, BS - Management, BS - Marketing, DPA - Public Administration, BA - Speech, BA - Theatre.
MARCH
Construction begins on student housing for an additional 500 students.
APRIL
Ground-breaking for Academic IIIA, designed to house classrooms and faculty offices.
JULY
Robinson Hall II completed. School of Business Administration and the departments of Economics, Sociology and Philosophy and Religion move in.
AUGUST
Accreditation of the School of Law by the American Bar Association.
Dedication of the School of Law with graduation ceremony featuring noted jurist, Leon Jaworski, as guest speaker.
SEPTEMBER
Construction begins on Student Union II; it will contain a bookstore, and four dining and conference rooms.
First doctoral programs begin: Doctor of Public Administration and Doctor of Arts in Education.
DECEMBER
Construction begins on the new Field House located on the West Campus across Route 123.
1981
New degree programs offered: BA - Anthropology, BS - Computer and Electronics Engineering, MFA Creative Writing, BS Ed - Vocational Eduation, MA - Foreign Languages, BS - Geology, BA - Speech Communication.
Conflict Management Group, forerunner to the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, established.
JANUARY
First time off-campus graduate courses are offered at Mason's Metro Campus in Arlington.
MARCH
Outdoor track completed, located on West Campus.
SEPTEMBER
Dormitory style housing completed for 500 students.
NOVEMBER
First arts festival and fundraiser - The Barter Gala - held. Later renamed The Arts Gala.
1982
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) established.
AUGUST
Ground is broken for $16 million, 10,000 seat sports and entertainment arena, to be called the Patriot Center.
SEPTEMBER
New degree programs: PhD - Evironmental Biology and Public Policy, PsyD - Applied Psychology, PhD - Economics, MS - Computer and Electronics Engineering, MS - Operations Research and Systems Management; MS - Applied Physics, MS - Information Systems, and MS - Computer Sciences and Administration.
OCTOBER
George Mason University receives funding for the Holbert L. Harris Chair in Economics.
1983
New degree program: BS - Park, Recreation, and Leisure Studies.
MAY
First doctoral degrees conferred to Carolyn Kreiter-Kurylo (Education) and David Wright Kreutzer (Economics).
JULY
Center for Study of Public Choice comes to George Mason from Blacksburg, Virginia. Center Director, James Buchanan, appointed to the Holbert L. Harris Chair in Economics.
SEPTEMBER
PAGE (Plan for Alternative General Education) Program begins at George Mason.
OCTOBER
Fenwick Library tower completed.
1984
New degree programs: MS - Applied Physics, MA - Music, MS - Physical Education, MA - Sociology, MS - Systems Engineering.
JULY
Three new technology departments established: the departments of Computer and Information Sciences; Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Systems Engineering. New departments established in School of Business Administration: Accounting and Business Legal Studies; Decision Sciences; Finance/Real Estate and Urban Development, Management; and Marketing.
A bequest from the late Clarence Robinson allows George Mason University to appoint faculty of distinguished scholars in the liberal arts and sciences. Robinson Professors are outstanding scholars dedicated to undergraduate teaching, whose scholarship concern broad, fundamental intellectual issues. They chose to come to George Mason University from senior positions at prestigious universities to become involved in educating undergraduate students.
1985
MARCH
Board of Vistors approves two new schools: the School of Nursing, and the School of Information Technology and Engineering, which incorporates Computer and Information Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Systems Engineering.
New Faculty Handbook adopted.
MAY
First commencement held in new Patriot Center.
Nursing School Established.
SEPTEMBER
Ph.D. in Information Technology begins.
George Mason University makes its television debut on Media General's Channel 8.
NOVEMBER
The Women's Soccer Team wins NCAA Championship, defeating four-time champion North Carolina 2-0.
1986
New degree program: D.N.Sc - Nursing.
FEBRUARY
The School of Law receives full approval from American Bar Association. School was accredited in 1980.
First Fulbright Fellow at George Mason University .
OCTOBER
James Buchanan, Director, Center for Study of Public Choice, receives Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Prize awarded on December 10, 1986.
Raymond "Hap" Spuhler (baseball) Field dedicated.
Residence Halls, Dominion and Commonwealth, and University Commons completed. Houses 500 students.
MAY
The Board of Visitors approves a new master plan based on an enrollment of 20,000 full-time students with housing for 5,000 students.
1987
APRIL
Mason celebrates its Fifteenth Anniversary.
MAY
George Mason University graduates 2,771: 2,004 BAs, 585 MAs, 168 Law; fourteen Ph.Ds. First Honorary of Doctor of Law Degree awarded to James Buchanan and First George Mason Medal awarded to attorney, John T. Hazel.
AUGUST
Science and Technology Building, Phase I, completed.
SEPTEMBER
Arts Center, Phase I, completed.
1988
New degree programs: MS - Accounting, BA - Classical Studies, BS Ed - Middle Education, BS Ed - Technology Education, MS - Applied and Engineering Physics, BS - Systems Engineering.
FEBRUARY
Early Identification Program for minority junior high school students begins.
APRIL
Academic III building renamed David J. King Hall.
MAY
Mason graduates 2,938 students: 2,080 BAs, 678 MAs, and 180 Law Degrees.
First group of Mason Scholars selected, each representing a Virginia congressional district.
1989
New degree programs: DA - Community College Education, PhD - Conflict Analysis and Resolution, MS - Statistical Sciences, MA - Telecommunications.
1990
New degree programs: M Ed - Curriculum and Instruction, PhD Nursing, MA, MFA - Visual Information Technologies.
MARCH
Judge Robert Bork joins the faculty of the School of Law.
APRIL
The Forensics Team maintains the title of, "Number One Team on the East Coast," for the fifteenth consecutive year.
OCTOBER
Concert Hall completed.
1991
Graduate School of Education established.
JANUARY
Through a bequest of Russian immigrant Shelley Krasnow the University establishes the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study. The Institute strives to further the understanding of the mind and intelligence by combining the fields of cognitive psychology, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence.
1992
New degree programs: BS - Administration of Justice, E.M.B.A. - Buisiness Administration, PhD - Computational Sciences and Informatics, BS - Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems, M Ed - Education Leadership, PhD - Environmental Science and Public Policy, M.A.I.S. - International Transactions, PhD - Psychology, PhD - Public Policy, MS - Taxation, BS - Urban Systems Engineerng.
JULY
Mason's new Prince William Institute begins classes in a temporary site at Rt. 66 and Sudley Road in Manassas, Virginia. Institute moves to a permanent 124-acre site located on the Rt. 234 Bypass, ten miles south of Manasss, by the year 2000, and is known as Prince William Campus.
1993
New degree programs: BS - Earth Systems Science, BS - Health, Fitness, and Recreation Resources, BA - Russian Studies.
APRIL
Trap and Skeet team wins eighth straight national championship.
NOVEMBER
Harold Morowitz named Director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study.
1994
New degree programs: PhD Cultural Studies, PhD - Education, BA Study of the Americas.
1995
New degree programs: BA, BS - Integrative Studies
New Century College established.
University Learning Center (renamed George W. Johnson Center in 4/96) completed.
Enterprise Hall completed.
1996
APRIL
George W. Johnson Center dedicated.
Statue of George Mason unveiled.
JUNE
George W. Johnson retires after eighteen years as University President.
JULY
Alan G. Merten becomes President of George Mason University on July 1.
New degree programs: BA - Art History, BA, BFA - Art Studio, MS - Environmental Science and Public Policy, MS - Exercise, Fitness, and Health Promotion, BA - Interdisciplinary Studies, BA - Modern and Classical Languages, MA, MS - New Professional Studies, MBA - Nursing.
1997
APRIL
Alan G. Merten inaugurated as Mason's fifth President.
Mason celebrates twenty-five years as an independent institution.
1998
MAY
Largest graduating class to date, 5,066 students, graduate at George Mason University's 31st annual Commencement.
SEPTEMBER
Academic II opens at Prince William Campus. Houses Institute for Biosciences, Bioinformatics, and Biotechnology, American Tissue Type Collection.
OCTOBER
Aquatic and Fitness Center opens.
1999
MARCH
School of Law celebrates 20th anniversary and Arlington I dedicated.
MAY
5,205 students graduate: 2,925 received undergraduate degrees and 2,066 awarded master's or doctoral degrees. The School of Law is graduated 214 students. Age of oldest graduate: 67.
2000
School of Public Policy and School of Computational Sciences established.
AUGUST
Deborah Willis, Ph.D. candidate in the Cultural Studies program, has received a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship, known as a "genius grant," from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
2001
College of Visual and Performing Arts established.
New degree program in Enterprise Engineering and Policy
AUGUST
Ground broken for Academic IV.
SEPTEMBER
"Plan 2007" unveiled; projected enrollment growth to 30,000 by 2007.
November
Ground broken for Liberty Square (Housing V), new student residence halls.
2002
APRIL
Mason celebrates the 30th anniversary of its independence from the University of Virginia.
The University's first Capital Campaign was launched. The Campaign is designated for 2002-2005. Its goal is to raise $110 million in private support.
SEPTEMBER
George Mason is the sixth largest state agency in the commonwealth, according to the August 2002 edition of Virginia Business magazine. George Mason boasts 3,074 full-time workers, the magazine reports.
OCTOBER
George Mason University receives its second Nobel Prize. Dr. Vernon Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics along with Dr. Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University. Dr. Smith was given this award "for having established laboratory experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis, especially in the study of alternative market mechanisms." Dr. Smith is Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University, a research scholar in the Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science, and a Fellow of the Mercatus Center.
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