One of the many great things about our university being located near Washington, D.C., is that our students do not have to look far to find jobs. The National Capital Region has everything – including about 100,000 George Mason graduates.
We love it when those graduates come back for Homecoming, Alumni Weekend, sporting events, performances and many other happenings on our vibrant campus. So we thought it would only be fair that we bring George Mason to them in Washington, D.C. for a change. And boy, are we so glad we did!
Provost David Wu and I enjoyed an evening with hundreds of alumni at the fabulous National Postal Museum. Most of the guests live and work in and around the National Capital Region and relished the opportunity to get together with fellow alumni right after work.
The talent and intellect in the room spoke volumes about this university. We have graduates in high-level positions in government, finance, technology, education, science, media, non-profits and so many other fields.
But we all shared common ground, because we all have been changed by Mason and we all care about Mason. With that in mind, I made a simple request of each of the alumni on hand (and I make the same request of each alumnus and current student reading this):
Tell our story.
Let everyone know what George Mason University is about. Tell about our research into the most pressing issues of our time. Tell about our quick ascension to becoming one of the top 200 research universities in the world. Tell about our diversity, our recent graduates earning the highest starting median salaries in Virginia, our return on investment, our largest freshman class in school history.
Tell friends, family and colleagues about the number of opportunities that the university can provide, not only here in the Washington area, but around the world.
Our alumni will forever be a part of the Mason story. And Mason will forever be a part of theirs. We all left the museum Thursday night knowing that we can best tell the Mason story by telling it together.