Masonat50

Roger Wilkins, a Robinson Professor from 1986 to 2007, and for whom Wilkins Plaza on Mason’s Fairfax Campus is named, died in 2017 at age 85, but his legacy at the university remains strong.

Many notable African American students, faculty and staff have made indelible marks at George Mason University. As we acknowledge Black History Month, and celebrate Mason’s 50th anniversary, here are just a few:

As part of an effort to research and record local history, Mason graduate and undergraduate students, along with faculty, have begun documenting Black students who attended Mason and the Black communities that once existed in Fairfax County.

On Friday, April 7, 1972, Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton Jr. signed into law Virginia General Assembly Bill H 210, which separated George Mason College from the University of Virginia.

Mason is celebrating its first half-century as an independent institution and setting the tone for the next 50 years with a yearlong celebration that includes a week of festivities in April.

In celebration of the university's 50th anniversary, Mason was recognized by the Virginia General Assembly for "extraordinary efforts to promote educational access and excellence in the Commonwealth."

George Mason University, Virginia’s largest public research university, turns 50 in 2022 and is celebrating an impressive array of stats it has racked up over the half-century. But Gregory Washington, the university’s first Black president, knows that George Mason might not have the same name recognition as other area universities — and that the competition for recognition is fierce.

George Mason University’s School of Business has been engaging students globally since the mid-1990s. Since then, students have participated in more than 100 global residencies around the globe.

Robinson Professor James Trefil, who is the third Mason faculty member to reach the milestone of 50 years of service, taught at the University of Virginia for more than a decade before joining Mason’s then brand-new Robinson Professor Program in 1987.