The Board of Visitors of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, has extended the contract of President Gregory Washington through June 30, 2031. Dr. Washington, the university’s first Black president, was previously set to serve through June 30, 2027.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, George Mason University enrolls more than 28,000 undergraduates and 11,000 graduate students. Black students represent 13 percent of the undergraduate population.
“Since 2020, President Washington has successfully led George Mason University through historically turbulent times — navigating the COVID pandemic while simultaneously growing enrollments, improving rankings, and transforming our greatest challenges into opportunities for Virginia and the nation,” said university rector Michael J. Meese. “He has delivered tremendous results in what matters most: record-high enrollments, graduation rates, student well-being and success, faculty excellence, research activity, state appropriations, and private donations. We are thrilled that Dr. Washington will continue to lead George Mason as we are increasingly recognized as the model for exceptional university education both now and in the future.”
Before his historic presidential appointment, Dr. Washington served as dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Earlier in his career, he was director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment and interim dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University.
Speaking to his contract extension, Dr. Washington said, “If you set out to create a new kind of university from scratch, built purely to respond to today’s societal priorities and the emerging educational demands of the next century, that university would look a lot like George Mason. I am at just the right university at just the right time, and I am energized to continue the work.”
Dr. Washington holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering, all from North Carolina State University.
