George Mason University President Gregory Washington leads Virginia's largest and most diverse public university, with enrollment growing to nearly 40,000.
Dr. Washington launched his Mason presidency in July 2020 with a series of initiatives to create new academic and entrepreneurial pathways for all Virginians. He also opened or broke ground on academic facilities on all three Virginia campuses and established a task force to ensure fairness in university practices and policies.
Dr. Washington strengthened Mason’s commitment to access by creating the Mason Virginia Promise (MVP), a pathway to a Mason degree or help starting a business for any Virginian who aspires to either goal. MVP expands Mason’s national award-winning ADVANCE Program Partnership with Northern Virginia Community College to select community colleges throughout the state.
On Mason’s campus in Arlington, now known as Mason Square, Dr. Washington marshaled the largest public-private partnership in Mason’s history, Fuse at Mason Square. On the Fairfax Campus, Mason in November 2022 established the first College of Public Health in Virginia. And on the Science and Technology Campus in Manassas, the university developed partnerships to simultaneously break ground on the new Life Sciences and Engineering Building and the Innovation Town Center and University Village at Innovation projects.
Dr. Washington is the former engineering dean at Ohio State University and the University of California, Irvine. In February 2023, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest engineering honor in the country.