|
Return to: General Information
Mason is a distributed university, with regional campuses in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William counties, and instructional sites in Loudoun County, Herndon, and Front Royal. Each Mason campus has a distinctive academic focus that plays a critical role in the economy of its surrounding region. At each campus, students and faculty have access to all the university’s resources, while the duplication of programs and support services is minimized through the use of technology.
Fairfax Campus
Situated on 677 acres of wooded land, the Fairfax Campus offers a wealth of opportunities beyond the numerous academic programs and is the principal center for undergraduate residence and life. The resident student population is expected to grow to more than 5,800 during the next five years as new residential units are constructed.
The George W. Johnson Center, the first building of its kind in the country, fosters university-wide learning by integrating students’ curricular and extracurricular activities and strengthening relationships among university communities.
The Center for the Arts and the Patriot Center offer numerous opportunities to experience the arts, as well as sports and other entertainment. Professional artistic events presented on campus include music and dance from around the world and regional, national, and international visual art exhibitions. Free tickets are available to these events for full-time Mason students.
The Aquatic and Fitness Center provides state-of-the-art exercise equipment and competitive and recreational swimming to the university community and outside teams. The 120,000 square foot Recreation and Athletic Complex (formerly the PE Building) boasts three gymnasiums, two racquetball courts, two squash courts, and a two-story fitness gallery. Additional equipment and exercise space is also available in Skyline Fitness, adjacent to the residence halls.
Arlington Campus
The Arlington Campus, established in 1979, is located near Washington, D.C., on 5.2 acres of land. Mason’s most urban location, the Arlington Campus is situated conveniently in the Virginia Square neighborhood and offers easy access via Metro and key transportation routes. The Campus has a strong focus on professional and graduate training in law, public policy and conflict analysis and resolution. The Arlington Campus is home to the School of Law, the School of Public Policy and the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution , as well as programs in nonprofit management, arts management, business administration, and education. The Volgenau School of Engineering offers special certification courses in information technology through its TechAdvance Program through the Office of Continuing Professional Education. Additional continuing and professional education classes are also available on site. While most of the programs offered on the Arlington Campus are on the graduate and professional levels, some undergraduate courses are available.
The Mercatus Center, the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy, and the Institute for Humane Studies—independent initiatives affiliated with the university—can also be found on the Arlington Campus. In addition, the campus houses the Center for Global Studies; Center for Justice, Law, and Society; Center for Critical Infrastructure and Homeland Security; Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science; and Center for Regional Analysis.
Founders Hall, which opened on the campus in 2011, provides 256,000 square feet of space for academic and student support services. In addition, the building features a 300-seat auditorium, a public plaza, a large multipurpose room, and three levels of underground parking (443 additional parking spaces). These spaces enable the university to highlight and showcase much of the exciting work taking place at the Arlington campus - as well as throughout the university - through the hosting of conferences, meetings and other events. Once complete, the Arlington Campus will include 750,000 square feet of space and many new facilities to accommodate its projected 8,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.
Prince William Campus
The Prince William Campus, established in 1997, resides on 134 acres in Manassas, near the intersection of I-66 and the Prince William Parkway. The campus serves all of Northern Virginia and offers convenient access to the university for citizens of Prince William, Fauquier, and western Fairfax counties; the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park; and adjoining areas to the west and south. A major focus of the campus is research and academic programs in the life sciences, including biodefense and infectious diseases, cancer proteomics, genomics, medical education and bioinformatics. Graduate studies in Advanced Biomedical Sciences are offered for students preparing for medical school or careers in health professions. Programs in nursing, teacher education, information technology, health and fitness, recreation, exercise science, health promotion, parks and outdoor recreation, sport management, therapeutic recreation, tourism and events management, and athletic training also are offered on the campus. Professional certificate programs are available through the Office of Continuing Professional Education.
Campus resources available to all university students, faculty, and staff include a full-service library, large drop-in computer lab, information center, University Police, university bookstore, dining services, student lounge, shuttle bus service between the Fairfax and Prince William Campuses, and full complement of student and academic services. In addition, there are numerous opportunities to get involved in campus life through a variety of co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
Many campus facilities and services are available to serve university and community needs. The 300-seat Verizon Auditorium boasts innovative audiovisual technologies suitable for presentations, meetings, and ceremonies, along with lobby space for receptions and displays. The campus is also home to one of several Mason Enterprise Centers that support small business operations throughout the region.
The campus comprises seven buildings: two research facilities, two academic buildings, a student housing facility, a recreation and fitness center and a performing arts center. Graduate student housing with ground level retail space opened in fall 2012. A third research facility also under construction is scheduled to open summer in 2013. Through mutually beneficial partnerships with local government and area businesses, the campus has positioned itself to tap into the unique assets of the surrounding community while providing access to university resources and programs for students and citizens. The university’s Biomedical Research Laboratory (BRL) opened in 2010. This regional biocontainment facility, the largest of only 13 facilities of its kind in the nation, is funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and houses research on emerging infectious diseases and those caused by biological threat agents.
The 110,000-square-foot Freedom Aquatic & Fitness CenterTM offers state-of-the-art exercise equipment, group fitness programs, a full gymnasium with elevated track, and recreational and instructional swimming in a 50-meter competition pool, classrooms, and other meeting spaces. It is also home to EDGE, Mason Center for Team and Organizational Learning’s Challenge Course.
Prince William County, the City of Manassas, and Mason, along with the private sector, have joined to create the region’s first state-of-the-art performing arts center. The Hylton Performing Arts Center, opened in 2010, provides outstanding professional performances by artists from around the world in world-class venues. With resources for community arts groups; regional business, civic, and service organizations; county and city school students and teachers; Mason students and faculty, The Hylton Performing Arts Center educates, entertains, and enriches the community.
The Governor’s School @ Innovation Park began conducting dual-enrollment classes for high school guest matriculates at the Prince William Campus in 2010.
Instructional Sites
Mason in Loudoun, currently located in leased space in Sterling, Virginia, connects students and businesses in one of the nation’s fastest-growing areas to one of the commonwealth’s premier universities. Mason in Loudoun offers graduate level coursework in nursing, health science, education, information technology, and management, along with undergraduate general education courses. We also host a number of executive education events and Osher Lifelong Learning classes. Located near the Dulles Town Center, Mason in Loudoun offers students the same rights, privileges, and access as those on Mason’s Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William Campuses.
Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation (SMSC) was established as a partnership between the Smithsonian Institution and George Mason University to provide innovative education for current and future generations of global conservation professionals, leaders, and practitioners. Located in in Front Royal, the campus offers undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs for students and professionals.
The Office of Continuing Professional Education’s Herndon Training Center, located off the Dulles Toll Road and Route 28 at the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), provides a wide range of yearly open-enrollment seminars and workshops in its meeting facilities. CIT classrooms are fully electronic and include a groupware platform. The School of Management’s Executive MBA Program and the Volgenau School of Engineering’s TechAdvance Program along with a wide range of professional development programs on subjects such as management development, project management, human resources and government contracting are located here. |
Print-Friendly Page