Mariam Aburdeineh

Isidore Nsengiyumva, only four years old at the time, was in the fields with his father and older brother in Burundi, when suddenly they heard the sound of motors and guns. Troops involved in the country’s civil war attacked their village, and rapidly, their lives were changed.

“We hid in a bush, and when the noise of the guns and fighting subsided, we went back and found our home burned,” Nsengiyumva said. “That’s when my dad decided it was no longer safe.”

Virginians will head to the polls on Nov. 2 to cast their vote for the state’s next governor. Once the results are in, campaign experts will be ready to analyze what went well—and what didn’t—with After Virginia Votes, a post-election discussion, held at George Mason University on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m.

Since returning to George Mason University earlier this year, Schar School Professor Michael Fauntroy has been ready to hit the ground running. He founded the new Race, Politics, and Policy Center that will officially launch on Nov. 1st—and said there’s a lot to be on the lookout for.

A cultural immersion trip in 2008 brought Charles Davidson (PhD ’19) inside the walls of San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia. What he saw there not only changed his life, he said, but ignited a spark of inspiration that led to peacebuilding efforts around the world.

With thousands of people and countless opportunities, there’s a lot to take in at Virginia’s largest public research university. To help George Mason University students find community and boost their on-campus experience, Housing and Residence Life created Learning Communities (LC), where students with common interests live and learn together during the academic year.

Democracy Lab is one of the newest LCs. More than 60 freshmen from the Schar School of Policy and Government are enrolled for its inaugural year.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus on Tuesday to speak to students on the importance of voting, in commemoration of National Voter Registration Day.

Before appearing to hundreds of students gathered on Wilkins Plaza, the vice president spoke to Assistant Professor Samuel Frye’s integrative studies class, “Community, Culture and Change,” as a surprise guest speaker.

George Mason University is the most diverse and most innovative institution in Virginia according to the latest rankings by U.S. News & World Report for its 2022 Best Colleges List, reflecting the university’s mission of providing access to excellence. Six programs made the top 100, including engineering, which rose 16 spots in the past year.

David Rehr said he has spent his entire life thinking about how government can be more efficient and effective.

That's a key reason he co-founded Mason’s RPA Initiative, in partnership with global software company UiPath, in January.

As a child, Nathaniel Socks said he was restless, and could often be found tapping his hands on nearby objects. His mom enrolled him in drum lessons in second grade, he said, which led to his favorite hobby—one that taught him valuable life lessons.

“I got to see how if you put in hard work and dedicate yourself to something really hard, how cool the product can be,” the incoming George Mason University freshman said. “That was one thing that really got me into drumming—you can see the progression of practicing.”

George Mason University has implemented several strategies to keep the campus community safe this fall during the evolving pandemic. Due to the ongoing risk of COVID-19, the university is requiring all students, faculty and staff to participate in mandatory routine COVID testing, regardless of vaccination status. Earlier in the pandemic, the testing was voluntary.