Looking at today's George Mason University, one of Virginia's larger
higher educational institutions with over 35,000 students, faculty,
and staff, it is difficult to believe that it began in a humble eight-room
elmentary school with 17 students in September 1957. Mason has come
a long way in a short fifty years - from a tiny branch college of the
University of Virginia to a major university. Though George Mason's
history as a traditional institution of higher learning begins in 1957,
its owes much of its early history to its ancestor, the Northern Virginia
University Center, which is still in existence today. The creation of
the NVUC and the subsequent movement to create a branch college of the
University of Virginia in Northern Virginia helped put together a cast
of characters, such as C. Harrison Mann, Jr.; J.N.G. Finley; Clarence
Steele, and Lorin Thompson, just to name a few, who played important
parts in later stages of Mason history. Below is a brief narrative of George Mason University's
history, accompanied by supporting documents. Please follow desired
links to view each document in detail. 1949-1953 In early 1949 Colgate W. Darden Jr., President of the
University of Virginia, contacted C. Harrison Mann, Jr.; an Arlington
lawyer and UVA alumus and asked him to organize an exploratory
committee of local citizens to find support for higher education in
Northern Virginia. At the committee's first meeting Clarence Steele,
another Arlington resident, who was employed by the Bureau of Public
Roads, was elected chairman of this committee. In March of 1949 Steele
met with George B. Zehmer and Professor John Norville Gibson Finley of
the University of Virginia's Extension Division and a group of
interested citizens to issue a formal request to Darden for the
creation of an extension office in Arlington to serve the needs of the
northern Virginia community. The new Northern Virginia University Center (NVUC) was
established in rooms at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA
with Finley as its first director in September 1949. Later that year
Steele was elected Chairman of the newly created Advisory Council to
NVUC/UVa. He was charged with the task of creating enthusiasm for the
project, advising the new center, and securing funding for the
continuation of the project. Over the next few years the new center
grew along with the surrounding community. During the 1951-1952
academic year the total number of classes offered grew to 89 with an
enrollment of 1,192 students. 1954-1956: With the continually rising enrollment it soon became
clear that a larger higher education institution was needed to service
the increasingly growing population of the Northern Virginia region. In
1954 discussions began between Zehmer and Darden on the
possibility of developing a two-year branch college in Northern
Virginia to provide higher education for traditional college-age
students in the area. Darden immediately began to seek legislative
approval for the plan and also convinced the Board of Visitors that a
permanent advisory body was needed in northern Virginia to work with
Finley in the planning and developmental stages of the proposed branch
college. Later that year, the Virginia Advisory Legislative
Committee, which was composed of members of both houses of the Virginia
General Assembly, conducted a study on higher educational opportunities
in the Commonwealth and published the report: The Crisis in
Higher Education in Virginia and a Solution. The report
recommended the establishment of two-year branches of the larger
institutions in Virginia in areas of the state where no such facilities
existed, giving college-aged men and women an option to stay in state
for at least the first two-years of their education. A contibutor to
the report, Dr. Lorin A. Thompson from the University of Virginia,
later became Chancellor of George Mason College in 1966 and the first
president of George Mason University in 1972. C. Harrison Mann, Jr. and George Zehmer participated in
the VALC's report as subcommittee members. A recording of a 1956 speech
by Mann illustrates his support for the Committee's measure. As per the recommendations of the VALC report, the
Virginia General Assembly passed Resolution Number 5 establishing a
two-year branch of the University of Virginia in northern Virginia in
1956. Once established, the University College of the
University of Virginia, as it was originally named, began a
search
for a permanent location.
Progress was slow as many offers and donations of land and space from
all over the northern Virginia area were made. Planning for the long
term future was a
priority in choosing a location that would allow for growth while
helping the development of the region in general. 1957-1963 With classes slated to begin in the fall of 1957
President Darden announced the temporary leasing of an old elementary
school building at Bailey's Crossroads which would house the new
University College until a permanent location could be chosen and
suitable facilities constructed. In early August of 1957 the Bailey's
Crossroads location was occupied, and classes began on September 23
with an initial enrollment of 17. It served as the home of the college
for the next seven years as the search for a permanent site was
continued. In 1959, after much discussion, a new permanent location
was chosen for the new 2 year extension school. Located just south of
the town of Fairfax the donation of land was formally presented to the
Rector and Board of Visitors of UVa by John C. Wood, Mayor of the Town
of Fairfax. The deed was recorded on February 10, 1959 in the Town of
Fairfax Virginia. In November 1959, the Board of
Visitors voted on a new permanent name for University College:
George Mason College of the University of Virginia (GMC) was chosen.
Though often overlooked, as the humorous letter from Finley to the New
York Times subscription manager below illustrates, Mason was
one of colonial and revolutionary Virginia's leading citizens and the
author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Constitution of
Virginia. His home, Gunston Hall, is located nearby in Fairfax County. By the summer of 1960 the
firm of Saunders and
Pearson Architects of Alexandria, Virginia rendered the first master
plan for the Fairfax Campus. In August of 1963, after six years of
branch status and classes at Bailey's Crossroads, GMC broke ground at
the site of the new Fairfax Campus. Construction began four days later
on the first four buildings which will be named; North, South, East and
West. In October 1963 the Gunston
Ledger, the first student newspaper, began publication. In
December John Finley decided to retire after guiding the new
institution from its inception in 1949. Robert H. Reid, formerly Dean
of Kendall College in Illinois was named as Finley's successor as
Director of George Mason College. 1964-1972 By August 1964 the new Fairfax campus was
nearly
complete and students and faculty actually assisted the movers in the
transfer of material and
equipment from Bailey's Crossroads to the new facilities. In September,
the campus opened to an enrollment of 356 students, and on November 12,
Virginia Governor Albertis S. Harrison gave the keynote address at its
dedication. In 1966, only two years after the opening of the new
Fairfax facilities the Virginia General Assembly authorized George
Mason College to become a four-year degree-granting college giving it a
long-range mandate to continue to expand into a regional university of
major importance, including the granting of graduate degrees. The first
four BA degree programs were: Biology, Business and Public
Administration, English, and History. Over the next year the student
population increased to 1,128 with a faculty of eighty- three. With
former UVa professor, Lorin A. Thompson as its new Chancellor, George
Mason College was growing and becoming its own institution. It would
not be long before it would become independent. George Mason College granted its first bachelors degrees
in 1968 to a graduating class of 52 students. This was a major
milestone as it had only recently moved into its new facilities 4 years
before. During this same year two major planning documents were
authored. One, an academic plan, included specific recommendations for
growth through the 1976-77 academic year and general recommendations
through 1985. The other, a new campus master plan, offered an early
look at the future shape of Fairfax Campus. In 1969 Governor Mills E.
Godwin, Jr. signed a deed conveying to George Mason College 415
additional acres of land acquired by the Board of Control. This
addition brought the school to its existing boundaries. In January of 1972 the UVa Board of
Visitors recommended separation of George Mason College from the
University of Virginia and the Virginia General Assembly and enacted
legislation, H 210, which separated George Mason College from its
parent institution, the University of Virginia, effective April 7,
1972. Governor A. Linwood
Holton, Jr., signed the bill creating George Mason University on April
7. Thus April 7th is recognized at George Mason every year as
"University Day." In the fall of 1972 the enrollment was 4,166. 1973-1977: This period in George Mason's history is characterized
by the expansion of the brand-new university's academic
programs, physical plant, and infrastructure under
Vergil H. Dykstra, who became president of the University in July of
1973. During this period 15 new undergraduate and 7 new graduate
programs were created. Buildings critical to the growth of academics
and student life at Mason, such as Student Union I and the
Fenwick Library Tower (both in 1974), Robinson Hall (1975), and the
first student housing on campus (1977) began to sprout up. After Dr.
Dykstra left in April 1977, Dean Robert Krug became interim president.
Enrollment jumped from 4,200 - 9,600. 1978-1996: George Johnson became president in July 1978 and, under
his tenure, George Mason University greatly increased its stature as a
higher education institution in the state of Virginia. Enrollment
climbed from 9,600 to 23,000. The University merged with the
International School of Law in Arlington to form the the George Mason
University School of Law in 1979. The Metro Campus
began operation in 1981, and the the Robinson Professor Program in
1984. The School of Information Technology
and Engineering - the first in the nation - was formed in 1985. George
Mason economist James Buchanan won the Nobel
Prize for Economics in 1986. The Krasnow Institute for
Advanced Study was launched in 1991, and the Center for History
and New Media in 1994. The George Johnson
Learning Center, which combined classroom, technology, library, dining
services, merchandising, and academic offices was completed in the
spring of 1996. 1996-2007: With
"excellence" as its watchword with regard to programs and services, Mason
has been gradually building a reputation nationally and
internationally. Since 1996 the
enrollment has jumped from 23,000 - to nearly 30,000. After
the retirement of President George Johnson, Alan Merten of Cornell
University became president in July 1996. Prince
William Campus opened in 1997. George Mason formed a
partnership with the American Type Culture Collection, housing it on
the Prince William Campus in 1998. That same year it hosted the World
Congress of Information Technology on the Fairfax Campus, and joined
the the advanced computer networking consortium, Internet2. In 2001
Mason started the National Biodefense Center at the Prince William
campus, and Mason Economics professor, Vernon L. Smith, won the Nobel
Prize for Economics (the second Mason faculty member to do so)
in 2002. The astonishing George Mason Men's Basketball team
made a history making run to the 2006 NCAA Final Four, only losing in
the tournament to the national champion, the University of Florida. Ras
al Khaimah Campus in the United Arab Emirites, conceived in 2005 is the
University's newest campus. With students from over
140 countries, Mason is of the most diverse institutions of
higher learning in the in the United States.
Letter: Clarence Steele to UVa President
Colgate W. Darden (April 4) and reply (April 5), 1949 Progress
Report on the Northern Virginia University Center, 1952 
Photograph:
J.N.G. Finley
Photograph:
J.N.G. Finley and Ruth Frank, December 22, 1953
Letter:
George B. Zehmer to Colgate Darden, January 5, 1954
Sound
Recording: C. Harrison Mann, Jr. Speech to University of Virginia
Alumni, ca. 1956 Resolution:
Virginia House of Delegates Joint Resolution No. 5, January 11, 1956
Letter:
J.N.G. Finley to Colgate W. Darden, August 2, 1957
Photographs:
Bailey's Crossroads Campus, from the Richard Sparks Photograph
Collection
Telegram:
Mayor Leroy Bendheim to Colgate Darden, October 15, 1958 Letter:
Colgate Darden to J.N.G. Finley, June 16, 1959
Deed:
George Mason College Fairax Campus, February 10, 1959 Letter:
J.N.G. Finley to Subscription Manager, The New York Times, July 26, 1962
View of
Stage I Construction, George Mason College of the University of
Virginia, Saunders & Pearson Architects, 1960
Memorandum:
From J.N.G. Finley to faculty and staff of George Mason College, 1963
and personal note written by Joseph Vaughan to Robert Reid, 1963
Photograph:
Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Fairfax Campus, August 1, 1963
Building
C., Construction, March 14, 1964 The
Gunston Ledger,Vol. I, No. I, October 15, 1963
Film: Tour of George Mason
College Campus, July 1964
Film:
Moving out of Bailey's Crossroads [August 27-28, 1964]
Aerial
Photograph of George Mason College Fairfax Campus, 1964
Photograph:
Dedication, George Mason College November 12, 1964
Program:
George Mason College Commencement, June 9, 1968
Photograph:
First graduating class, June 9, 1968
Educational
Plan of George Mason College of the University of Virginia, January 1968
Photograph:
Signing Ceremony, H-210, April 7, 1972
Memorandum:
President Dykstra to faculty and staff, December 6, 1976 Re: Names for
Campus Roads Program:
George Mason University School of Law, Dedication, August 23, 1980 Press
Release: New School of Information Technology approved at George Mason
University, 1985 Press
Release: Appointment of George Mason University's first Robinson
Scholars, 1985
Invitation
to the dedication of the George W. Johnson Center April 12, 1996
Video: No Ivy Grows Here (1996)
Photograph:
Alan G. Merten Invitation and
Program to the Inaugural Ceremony for President Alan Merten, April 2-4,
1997 Mason Gazette
Article: "Professor Wins Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences",
October 10, 2002 NCAA
2006 Washington Regional Champion Trophy, 2006 Article:
Mason Gazette "George Mason University to Open First International
Campus in the United Arab Emirates," February 28, 2005
Video: 50 Years in 2 Minutes , 2007