Education 2023: GREGORY WASHINGTON

A first-generation college graduate, Washington became the first Black president of Virginia’s largest and most diverse public university in 2020.

Trained in mechanical engineering at North Carolina State University, Washington was elected in February to the National Academy of Engineering. He was previously dean of the University of California, Irvine’s Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Under his leadership, Mason last year established the state’s first College of Public Health at its Fairfax campus. GMU also is undertaking a major expansion of its Arlington campus, breaking ground last year on its $250 million Fuse at Mason Square building, where the Institute for Digital InnovAtion and School of Computing will be housed. GMU has pledged to produce an additional 2,000 undergraduates and 5,000 postgraduates in computer science and engineering over the next two decades as part of a state tech talent initiative.

In May, the university received a $50 million bequest from late Loudoun County businessman Donald G. Costello to endow business school scholarships. Additionally, Attain Partners CEO Greg Baroni and his wife, Camille, donated $7 million to the business school’s Center for Government Contracting, now named for the couple.