40 Fun Facts About George Mason University

George Mason, the Founding Father GMU is named for, refused to sign which document in 1787?

The Constitution had no bill of rights, so Mason became one of just three delegates at the Philadelphia convention who would not sign.

Which top-seeded team did 11th-seeded George Mason beat in overtime to reach the 2006 Final Four?

UConn fell 86–84 in the regional final, making the Patriots the first Colonial Athletic Association team ever to reach a Final Four.

George Mason graduate Rhea Seehorn played attorney Kim Wexler for six seasons in which AMC drama?

Better Call Saul came long after her student days at George Mason, where she studied art and was first introduced to theater.

Students rub which part of the George Mason statue on GMU's main campus for good luck before exams?

His left toe gets rubbed so often that the bronze has been reinforced to withstand the constant contact.

George Mason engineering graduate Anousheh Ansari was the first woman to pay her own way to where?

The space station seat opened up in 2006 when the man she was backing up failed a medical, and the X Prize for private spaceflight carries her family's name.

Which late Supreme Court justice has George Mason's law school been named for since a 2016 gift?

Antonin Scalia had died only weeks earlier, and the renaming came with $30 million in gifts to the school.

Which US national team star's parents, Mark and Kelley, both played college soccer at George Mason?

Christian Pulisic's father Mark played for the Patriots from 1986 to 1989 and was voted into the program's Hall of Fame in 2012.

Which former vice president was announced in 2025 as a professor at GMU's Schar School of Policy?

Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman, was due to start teaching in the spring 2026 semester.

Which major American college sport has George Mason never played at NCAA varsity level, only as a club?

Football was studied seriously, but cost and compliance worries steered the Board of Visitors away, and a club team has played since 1993.

In which country did George Mason open a campus in 2014, in the planned city of Songdo?

South Korea hosts Mason Korea in Incheon, where classes are taught in English and graduates earn the same diploma as students at home.

George Mason began in 1949 as a northern branch of which older school, gaining independence in 1972?

The University of Virginia opened it as an evening extension center for working adults, and one of the first for-credit courses taught lip reading.

Which city bought 150 acres and donated the land for George Mason's permanent main campus?

Fairfax gave a site just beyond its city limits, and the campus opened in 1964 with four buildings and 356 students.

Which two colors do George Mason's teams wear, the main colors of the Patriot mascot's colonial outfit?

Green and gold fan gear even dressed the campus statue of George Mason during the 2006 Final Four run.

George Mason professors James Buchanan and Vernon Smith each won a Nobel Prize in which field?

Economics brought the prize to Buchanan in 1986 for his public choice theory and to Smith in 2002 for testing markets in the laboratory.

George Mason's school for conflict analysis and resolution was renamed in 2020 for which former president?

Jimmy Carter shares the honor with his wife Rosalynn; the school began in 1981 as a small center for conflict analysis.

Which eventual national champion ended George Mason's Cinderella run in the 2006 Final Four?

The Florida Gators won 73–58 and went on to take back-to-back national titles with the same starting five.

Which coach led George Mason to the 2006 Final Four, then took Miami there in 2023?

Jim Larrañaga coached the Patriots from 1997 to 2011 and had 13 straight winning seasons in the job.

George Mason graduate Hala Gorani joined which news network in 1998 and anchored from London?

CNN hired her after a spell at Bloomberg Television; as a student she had written for George Mason's campus newspaper.

George Mason runs a conservation school near Front Royal in partnership with which famous organization?

The Smithsonian runs its conservation biology institute on the site, a former Army horse depot, and Mason students moved in during 2012.

What do George Mason student groups compete to paint on the Quad outside Fenwick Library?

Benches line the walkways there, and with hundreds of student groups on campus the competition for one is stiff.

Michael Hayden, a retired general who taught at GMU's Schar School, directed the NSA and which other agency?

The CIA job followed six years running the NSA, and Hayden later joined George Mason as a visiting professor of policy.

George Mason won its first NCAA team title in 1985 by beating which women's soccer dynasty 2–0?

North Carolina had beaten the Patriots 4–0 in the 1983 final; this time a record crowd of 4,500 watched the upset on Mason's own field.

George Mason's furry former mascot took its name from which estate, the Founding Father's Potomac home?

Gunston Hall, finished in 1759, is now a museum, and the mascot that borrowed its name was retired in 2008 for a colonial Patriot.

George Mason's first 17 freshmen met in 1957 in what kind of renovated building at Bailey's Crossroads?

An elementary school building housed what was then called University College, two years before the George Mason name was made permanent.

Why did George Mason reorder the words in its law school's new name soon after announcing it in 2016?

The acronym was crude enough to draw instant public attention, so School of Law became Law School and the awkward initials disappeared.

Which Supreme Court justice's 2019 hiring as a visiting GMU law professor prompted a student petition?

Brett Kavanaugh's appointment drew a petition with 10,000 signatures, and the university responded by funding two more Title IX coordinators.

Anne Holton, a governor's daughter who served as George Mason's interim president, married which senator?

Tim Kaine met her at Harvard Law School, and she led the university between presidents from 2019 to 2020.

Which bank's name has George Mason's 10,000-seat arena, opened as the Patriot Center, carried since 2015?

EagleBank took over the naming rights in July 2015, three decades after the arena opened for Patriots basketball.

Which conference did George Mason join in 2013, becoming league rivals of VCU and George Washington?

The Atlantic 10 move ended more than three decades in the Colonial Athletic Association, which the Patriots had helped to found.

George Evans, George Mason's three-time conference Player of the Year, was a veteran of which conflict?

The Gulf War came first for Evans, an Army reservist; only David Robinson has matched his three conference player of the year awards.

For a 2008 George Mason course on historical hoaxes, students invented Edward Owens, a fake Chesapeake Bay what?

The pirate fooled some media outlets and academics before the class owned up; a later hoax on Reddit was debunked in about an hour.

George Mason graduate Dayton Moore was general manager of which baseball team when it won the 2015 World Series?

The Kansas City Royals hired him in 2006; he had earned two degrees at George Mason and coached Patriots baseball as an assistant.

George Mason ran a branch campus from 2005 to 2009 at Ras al-Khaimah in which Middle Eastern country?

The UAE emirate of Ras al-Khaimah hosted the campus, which closed after only four years.

Which Wichita billionaire's foundation gave George Mason millions, with papers later showing a say in hiring?

Charles Koch's foundation and other donors had a voice on some faculty selection committees, a practice the university's president pledged to end after a 2018 records lawsuit.

Which free citation manager was created at George Mason's Center for History and New Media?

Zotero takes its name from an Albanian verb meaning to master, and EndNote's owner once sued the university over it.

Which author of The End of History and the Last Man was a George Mason public policy professor in the 1990s?

Francis Fukuyama held a named chair at George Mason from 1996 to 2000, a few years after his 1992 book made him famous.

Ángel Cabrera left George Mason's presidency in 2019 to lead which Atlanta university, his alma mater?

Georgia Tech had awarded the Madrid-born Cabrera his master's and doctorate before he ran George Mason for seven years.

George Mason runner Abdi Bile won the 1987 world 1500 metres title for which East African nation?

Somalia had never had a world champion before Bile, who also won two NCAA 1,500-metre titles in a Patriots vest.

Which guard from George Mason's 2006 Final Four team returned as the Patriots' head coach in 2023?

Tony Skinn was hired by his alma mater in March 2023 after assistant jobs at Seton Hall, Ohio State and Maryland.

George Mason's men ended Arkansas's long run of NCAA titles in 1996 by winning the championship in which sport?

Indoor track brought the Patriots their first title in the sport, and no school but Arkansas had won the men's crown since 1983.