Education: GREGORY WASHINGTON

When Washington started as GMU’s president in July 2020, he made history as its first Black leader, joining during a particularly challenging time, after the COVID-19 pandemic moved classes online.

Under Washington’s leadership, Mason has seen enrollment increase, and the university is expanding in Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties, as well as at its South Korean campus. With more than 39,000 students, GMU is not only the state’s largest public university, but its most diverse, according to U.S. News & World Report.

GMU is currently undertaking the $168 million expansion of its Arlington campus, including a research, learning and business center that will play a prominent part in the state’s Tech Talent Investment Program. GMU has pledged to produce more than 2,000 additional undergraduates and 5,000 postgraduates in computer science and engineering over the next two decades as part of the state initiative that attracted Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 in Arlington.

Washington earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University. He later went on to serve as dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine.