Retro Mason

During Orientation 1992, incoming students were able to register for classes using a bank of touchtone phones in the ballroom of Student Union II (now The Hub) and walk away with a printout of their fall semester class schedule.

In 1992, after incubating for 220 days in Robinson Hall on the Fairfax Campus, the very first Komodo dragon born in captivity outside of Indonesia hatched.

In 2007, Mason chemistry professor Abul Hussam won the $1 million Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability Gold Award from the National Academy of Engineering for his inexpensive water filtration system designed to remove arsenic from drinking water in his native Bangladesh.

Created in 1984, the Clarence J. Robinson Professors Program embodies Mason's commitment to making high-quality education accessible to undergraduate students.

When the concept of the George W. Johnson Center was first proposed—combining a library, computer labs, a bookstore, a bank, and dining facilities in one building—the idea was met with skepticism.

In September 2009, Smithsonian-Mason Semester students took a during a behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

The Student Apartments, Mason's first on-campus housing, opened in October 1977 and housed 498 students.

George Mason University was the first university to host the World Congress on Information Technology in June 21-24, 1998.

After more than 10 years of fundraising and a few years of construction, the Center for the Arts Concert Hall opened on October 6, 1990, with award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch serving as host on opening night.

In 2006, Robert DeNiro and Matt Damon came to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts to promote their film “The Good Shepherd” in a special taping of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews.