Talk:George Mason University

I oppose the removal of information about notable faculty and notable alumni.

Every US-based university that has a Wikipedia article has information about their notable alumni and faculty, it’s the same style of information contained in The George Washington University, Georgetown University, American University, University of Virginia, University of Maryland, College Park, etc. articles, it should not be seen as anything different when applied to the George Mason University article because it’s common practice throughout Wikipedia articles on US-based universities. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.174.255.57 (talk) 20:29, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Except what you're continually trying to add reads like a university brochure rather than an encyclopedia article.   –Skywatcher68 (talk) 14:31, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

The notable faculty and alumni topics in the George Mason University article looks nothing like a university brochure. At least among the Wikipedia articles on most other universities in the region, the proposed edits to this article are one of the most conservative and downplayed mentions of notable alumni and faculty.

Please compare the following form on George Mason University with examples provided:

“George Mason University’s close proximity to Washington, D.C. and its location in Northern Virginia has garnered notable faculty from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) at the Antonin Scalia Law School such as justices Bret Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas as well as members of the United States Intelligence Community at the Schar School of Policy and Government including General Michael Hayden - Director of the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) and Andrew McCabe - Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in addition other tenured faculty and professors of professional practice (clinical professors) as well as notable alumni have gained experience as U.S. federal government agency executives, diplomats, journalists, authors, judges, politicians, public administrators, and work in local industries like technology, aerospace and defense, consulting, public policy, economics, and national security.”

• Example 1 - [[The George Washington University]:

The university's alumni, faculty, and affiliates include 16 foreign heads of state or government, 28 United States senators, 27 United States governors, 18 U.S. Cabinet members, five Nobel laureates, two Olympic medalists, two Academy Award winners, and a Golden Globe winner.[13] GW has over 1,100 active alumni in the U.S. Foreign Service and is one of the largest feeder schools for the diplomatic corps.[14]

George Washington University alumni have included many current and past political figures, both in the United States and abroad. 16 GW alumni have served as foreign heads of state or government (4 currently serving as of 2019). Many alumni have held U.S. Cabinet positions, including former Attorney General William Barr, former acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. GW is one of the schools with the most alumni that have served in the U.S. Congress.[189] Notable recent GW alumni members of congress include Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader for most of the Obama Presidency), Elizabeth Warren (2020 presidential candidate), Eric Cantor (House Majority Leader, 2011–2014), and Robert Byrd (President pro tempore of the Senate under President Bush and President Obama). Alumni have served as governors of 19 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and Guam, among others. Some alumni serving in President Trump's White House include current White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp and White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley. Other prominent U.S. politicians include Senator J. William Fulbright, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, former CIA Director Allen Dulles and his brother, former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Also, current Premier of Bermuda Edward David Burt (youngest in history) and current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bhutan Tshering Wangchuk are GW alumni. Former associate director for National Preparedness at the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), John Brinkerhoff was a GW alumni.

In business, Lee Kun-hee (MBA), Chairman of Samsung who is credited with transforming the company into one of the largest electronics manufacturers, Scott Kirby (MS), CEO of United Airlines, Kathy J. Warden (MBA), President and CEO of Northrop Grumman and John F.W. Rogers (BA), Executive Vice President, Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Board of Goldman Sachs. Notable company founders include Robert A. Altman (JD), co-founder of ZeniMax Media, Elaine Wynn, co-founder of Wynn Resorts, and Tom Cortese, co-founder of Peloton.

Science and technology alumni include Julius Axelrod (PhD), Nobel Laureate and medical researcher, Ralph Asher Alpher, National Medal of Science laureate, physicist and "father" of the Big Bang theory, Jack Edmonds, noted computer scientist and mathematician and one of the creators of combinatorial optimization, Walter O. Snelling, who first identified propane and researched how propane could be liquefied and used as a viable energy resource, Charles Browne Fleet, inventor of ChapStick. In addition, 7 NASA astronauts are alumni, including Charles Camarda and Serena Auñón-Chancellor.

In arts, entertainment and media, writer and filmmaker William Peter Blatty (MA), author of The Exorcist, which he adapted for the screen and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Emmy winning actors Alec Baldwin and Kerry Washington are also alumni, while filmmaker and Palme d'Or recipient David Lynch, Oscar winning actor Jared Leto and portrait painter Ned Bittinger attended the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Journalism alumni include Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald, CNN commentators Dana Bash and Chuck Todd as well as NBC News reporter Kasie Hunt.

Leaders of academic institutions include William Greenleaf Eliot co-founder of Washington University in St. Louis, Derek Bok (AM), president of Harvard University, Scott Cowen (MBA), president of Tulane University and John T. Wilson, president of University of Chicago.

Well known athletes and sports personnel include Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach (BA, MA), winner of nine NBA championships as a head coach with an additional seven as a general manager for grand total of 16 NBA championships. Many players have been drafted into NBA such as Yinka Dare and Yuta Watanabe. Other notable athletes include WNBA star Jonquel Jones, NFL Hall of Fame running back Tuffy Leemans, and Olympic medalist Elena Myers. Several alumni have owned sports teams including Ted Lerner, owner of the Washington Nationals, Abe Pollin, owner of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals, Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox.

Notable GW faculty include Tom Perez, former Chair of the Democratic National Committee; two current Supreme Court Justices, Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson; George Gamow, developer of the Big Bang theory; Edward Teller, "father of the hydrogen bomb"; Vincent du Vigneaud, Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner; John Negroponte, first Director of National Intelligence; Thomas Buergenthal, former President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Masatoshi Koshiba, Nobel Prize in Physics winner; Scott Pace, current Executive Secretary of the National Space Council; Amitai Etzioni, former President of the American Sociological Association; Marshall Warren Nirenberg, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner; Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize winner; Abba Eban, former Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly; Dana Perino, former White House Press Secretary; and Ferid Murad, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner.

Other faculty have included Frank Sesno, CNN former Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief and Special Correspondent; James Carafano, Heritage Foundation national security and homeland security expert; Leon Fuerth, former national security adviser to Vice President Al Gore; James Rosenau, political theorist and former president of the International Studies Association; Steven V. Roberts, American journalist, writer and political commentator and former senior writer at U.S. News & World Report; Nancy E. Gary, former dean of Albany Medical College, Executive Vice President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Dean of its F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Roy Richard Grinker, anthropologist specializing in autism and North-South Korean relations, Edward P. Jones, who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2004, novelist Herman "H.G." Carrillo, historian Jessica Krug, Dagmar R. Henney, Mohammad Nahavandian (economics), chief of staff of the President of Iran since 2013, and Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (MBA), president of Togo since 2005, Blake R. Van Leer, president of Georgia Tech, Colonel and Civil Rights advocate.

• Example 2 - Georgetown University:

Notable alumni include 28 Rhodes Scholars, 41 Marshall Scholars, 33 Truman Scholars, 543 Fulbright Scholars, eight living billionaires, two U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and two U.S. Presidents, as well as international royalty and more than a dozen foreign heads of state. Georgetown has educated more U.S. diplomats than any other university, as well as many American politicians and civil servants.

Georgetown graduates have found success in a wide variety of fields, and have served at the heads of diverse institutions both in the public and private sector. Immediately after graduation, about 73% of undergraduates enter the workforce, while others go on to additional education, as of 2017.[273] Georgetown graduates have been recipients of 28 Rhodes Scholarships,[274] 41 Marshall Scholarships,[275] 33 Truman Scholarships,[276] 15 Mitchell Scholarships,[277] and 12 Gates Cambridge Scholarships.[278] Georgetown is among the nation's top producers of Fulbright Scholars, with 429 over its history, and produced more than any other institution in the 2019–2020 academic year.[279] Georgetown is also one of the top-ten yearly producers of Peace Corps volunteers as of 2016.[280] Graduates of the McDonough School of Business have the highest starting salaries, at $70,606, and alumni in general have a median starting salary of $61,681 with a median mid-career salary of $129,500.[273][281] Georgetown also ranks among the top ten U.S. colleges for median graduate income.[282][283]

Government and International relations are the top two most popular undergraduate majors across every college at Georgetown, and many students go on to careers in politics.[284] Former President of the United States Bill Clinton is a 1968 graduate of the School of Foreign Service. World leaders have attended. Georgetown educated more U.S. diplomats than any other university,[285] including former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Director-General of the Foreign Service Marcia Bernicat.[286] Many alumni have served as foreign ministers in many countries.[287]

In the 118th U.S. Congress, eight alumni serve in the United States Senate, and twenty in the House of Representatives.[288] Current congressional alumni include Hakeem Jeffries, House minority leader, and Dick Durbin, Senate majority whip.[289] 25 alumni have served as U.S. state governors, including for some of the largest states such as Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Pat Quinn of Illinois. On the U.S. Supreme Court, alumni include former Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and former Chief Justice Edward Douglass White.[290][291] Hoya Battalion, the school's ROTC program, was ranked as the best in the country in 2012 for preparing cadets for military service,[292] and graduates have gone on to hold leadership roles in defense and national security on both the domestic and international level.[293][294]

Finance and economics are the third and fourth most popular undergraduate majors,[284] and almost a quarter of graduates start careers at consulting or financial services firms.[273] The university is among the top ten alma maters reported by current Wall Street banking employees as of June 2020 according to surveys of LinkedIn data.[295] Citigroup was the most commonly reported employer,[296] and their former CEO Charles Prince is a graduate of the Law School. Five undergraduate alumni own professional sports teams, making Georgetown the most popular undergraduate university for major North American sports franchise owners.[297]

Over 80% of theater major graduates go onto careers in that industry.[298] Georgetown alumni have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Edward R. Murrow Award, and Peabody Award, including The Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus and NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro.[299][300]

Example 3 - University of Virginia:

The university's alumni, faculty, and researchers have included several U.S. presidents, heads of state, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rhodes Scholars, Marshall Scholars, and Fulbright Scholars. Some 30 different governors of U.S. states have attended the university, as have numerous U.S. senators and members of Congress. UVA has produced 56 Rhodes Scholars, eighth most in the United States, while its alumni have founded companies such as Reddit, CNET, VMware, and Space Adventures.

Faculty were originally housed in the Academical Village among the students, serving as both instructors and advisors, continuing on to include the McCormick Road Old Dorms, though this has been phased out in favor of undergraduate student resident advisors (RAs). Several of the faculty, however, continue the university tradition of living on Grounds, either on the Lawn in the various Pavilions, or as fellows at one of three residential colleges (Brown College at Monroe Hill, Hereford College, and the International Residential College).

The university's faculty includes a National Humanities Medal and National Medal of Arts winner and former United States Poet Laureate, an awardee of the Order of Isabella the Catholic,[219] 25 Guggenheim fellows, 26 Fulbright fellows, six National Endowment for the Humanities fellows, two Presidential Young Investigator Award winners, three Sloan award winners, three Packard Foundation Award winners, and a winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[220] Physics professor James McCarthy was the lead academic liaison to the government in the establishment of Suranet, and the university has also participated in ARPANET, Abilene, Internet2, and Lambda Rail. On March 19, 1986, the university's domain name, VIRGINIA.EDU, became the first registration under the .edu top-level domain originating from the Commonwealth of Virginia on what would become the World Wide Web.[221]

Larry Sabato has, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, become the most-cited professor in the country by national and regional news organizations, both on the Internet and in print.[222] Civil rights activist Julian Bond, a professor in the Corcoran Department of History from 1990 to 2012, was the chairman of the NAACP from 1998 to 2009 and was chosen to host the Nobel Laureates conference in 1998.

As of December 2014, the University of Virginia has 221,000 living graduates.[131] According to a study by researchers at the Darden School and Stanford University, UVA alumni have founded over 65,000 companies which have employed 2.3 million people worldwide with annual global revenues of $1.6 trillion.[131] Extrapolated numbers show companies founded by UVA alumni have created 371,000 jobs in the state of Virginia alone.[131] The relatively small amount that the Commonwealth gives UVA for support was determined by the study to have a tremendous return on investment for the state.[131]

Rhodes Scholarships are international postgraduate awards given to students to study at the University of Oxford. Since the scholarship program began in 1904, UVA has had fifty-five Rhodes Scholars,[223] the most of any university in the American South, eighth-most overall, and third-most outside the Ivy League (behind Stanford University and the United States Military Academy (West Point)).[224]

Eight NASA astronauts and launch directors are UVA alumni: Karl Gordon Henize, Bill Nelson, Thomas Marshburn, Leland Melvin, Jeff Wisoff, Kathryn Thornton, Patrick Forrester; and Michael Leinbach.

The Pulitzer Prize has been awarded to eight UVA alumni: Edward P. Jones, Ron Suskind, Virginius Dabney, Claudia Emerson, Henry Taylor, Lane DeGregory, George Rodrigue, and Michael Vitez.

Government leaders include 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson (who attended before transferring), former Special Counsel and FBI Director Robert Mueller; NATO Secretary General Javier Solana; U.S. Speaker of the House Robert M. T. Hunter; widely known United States Senators Harry Byrd, Robert F. Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy; first African American Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court Leroy Hassell; Delaware Court of Chancery Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster; United States Supreme Court Justices Howell Edmunds Jackson, James Clark McReynolds, and Stanley Forman Reed; President of the Supreme Court of Israel, Asher Grunis; and Premier and President of the First Republic of China, Yan Huiqing.

Thirty U.S. state or U.S. territorial Governors have graduated from UVA, including fifteen Governors of Virginia,[i] and fifteen Governors of other U.S. states and territories as well.[j]

UVA's alumni ranks also include others who have achieved widespread fame: computer science pioneer John Backus; polar explorer Richard Byrd; scientists Walter Reed, Stuart Schreiber, Daniel Barringer, Richard Lutz, and Francis Collins; artists Edgar Allan Poe and Georgia O'Keeffe; musicians Stephen Malkmus and Boyd Tinsley; self-made billionaire Paul Tudor Jones; national news anchors Katie Couric and Brit Hume; actors Tina Fey and Ben McKenzie; Team USA Olympic team captains John Harkes, Dawn Staley, and Claudio Reyna; NBA All-Star MVP Ralph Sampson and the NBA's eighth ever 50–40–90 shooter Malcolm Brogdon; two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champions Becky Sauerbrunn, Emily Sonnett and Morgan Brian; and voice actor Sam Riegel.

Example 4 - University of Maryland, College Park:

Notable alumni include House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer;[158] Google co-founder Sergey Brin;[159] The Muppets creator Jim Henson;[160] The Wire creator David Simon;[161] former NFL Quarterback Norman "Boomer" Esiason; CBS host Gayle King; journalist Connie Chung; and Seinfeld co-creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David.[162] Prominent alumni in business include Ed Snider, former chairman of Comcast Spectacor and former owner of the Philadelphia Flyers; journalist Jim Walton, former president and CEO of CNN; Kevin Plank, founder and executive chairman of the athletic apparel company Under Armour; Chris Kubasik, former president of Lockheed Martin; and Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Journalist Carl Bernstein, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for his coverage of the Watergate scandal, attended the university but did not graduate.

Attendees within the fields of science and mathematics are Nobel laureates Raymond Davis Jr., 2002 winner in Physics; Herbert Hauptman, 1985 winner in Chemistry, and Fields Medal winner Charles Fefferman. Other alumni include George Dantzig, considered the father of linear programming; late NASA astronaut Judith Resnik, who died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger during the launch of mission STS-51-L; and NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin.

Several donors have distinguished themselves for their sizable gifts to the university. Businessman Robert H. Smith, who graduated from the university in 1950 with a degree in accounting, gave over $45 million to the business school that now bears his name and to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which bears his wife's name.[163] Construction entrepreneur A. James Clark, who graduated with an engineering degree in 1950, donated over $45 million to the college of engineering, which also bears his name.[163] Another engineering donor, Jeong H. Kim, earned his Ph.D. from the university in 1991 and gave $5 million for the construction of a state-of-the-art engineering building.[164] Philip Merrill, a media figure, donated $10 million to the College of Journalism.[165] Robert E. Fischell, physicist, inventor, and holder of more than 200 U.S. and foreign medical patents[166][167][168] donated $30 million to the A. James Clark School of Engineering,[169] establishing the Fischell Department of Bioengineering. Brendan Iribe, a co-founder of Oculus VR, donated $31 million to the university in 2014 towards a new computer science building and scholarships.[170]

All of these examples, and many more throughout the United States as a whole, let alone this specific region, have notable alumni and notable faculty sections that are far more closer to a university brochure than any of the proposed edits to this article. Arbitrarily and Capricious enforcement of this standard with respect to this article or any other article in this class of topics is unethical and uncalled for.

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. Some or all of the changes weren't supported by neutral, independent, reliable sources. Consider re-submitting with content based on media, books and scholarly works.

Not done: The changes are not supported by neutral, independent, reliable sources. Please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made.  Its unclear who made the edit request above the request template, also the requested edit needs to be below the request template. I'm assuming the next section is the request. Shadow311 (talk) 20:20, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Section Heading Title: Notable faculty and alumni

Text:

George Mason University’s close proximity to Washington, D.C. and its location in Northern Virginia has garnered notable faculty from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) at the Antonin Scalia Law School such as justices Bret Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas as well as members of the United States Intelligence Community at the Schar School of Policy and Government including General Michael Hayden - Director of the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) and Andrew McCabe - Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in addition other tenured faculty and professors of professional practice (clinical professors) as well as notable alumni have gained experience as U.S. federal government agency executives, diplomats, journalists, authors, judges, politicians, public administrators, and work in local industries like technology, aerospace and defense, consulting, public policy, economics, and national security.

Reference: see Wikipedia article George Mason University references for this same information is found through out the article but was omitted from the text because it was originally ment to be a paragraph in the lead (according to Wikipedia consensus the lead doesn’t have to have a high level of citations if the subject is already mentioned throughout the body and sufficiently cited there). Out of an abundance of caution, I will bring in additional references beyond what has already been provided in the body of the article.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.174.255.57 (talk) 19:18, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

—— Requested by Skywatcher68 on behalf of 129.174.255.57 .
 Not done: According to the page's protection level you should be able to edit the page yourself. If you seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details.GrayStorm^{Talk Contributions} 15:49, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

This request should have been made using the COI edit request rather than semi-protected template, and therefore GrayStorm's well intended response was unintentionally inappropriate. I have reverted the IP user's edit as the wording is still not neutral, or a helpful summary for the lead. As a summary it does not need so many references, but nor should it be listing so many people by name. Rather than the flowery "garnered" language what about the straightforward "Notable alumni have included" that nearly all the other articles given as examples have? Melcous (talk) 21:36, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

The edit is NOT promotional. This is in line with other articles on universities in the United States. See talk page for justification. Also this edit was following the recommendations set forth by the Wikipedia Administrator “Melcous” on the talk page. Please compare the following to the previously mentioned examples, this is the least promotional Wikipedia article on universities in the United States in terms of how notable alumni and notable faculty are mentioned in the article.

Exhibit:

Notable faculty have included 2 Nobel Prize winners, 3 justices of the United States Supreme Court, several members of the United States Intelligence Community - including directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and National Security Agency (NSA) -, in addition to other tenured faculty, professors of professional practice (clinical professors), and notable alumni that have gained experience as U.S. federal government agency executives, diplomats,  journalists, authors, judges, politicians, public administrators, and work in local industries like technology, aerospace and defense, consulting, public policy, economics, and national security.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

The section is mistitled, because the proposed edits are blatantly promotional, as this editor has been warned more than once TEDickey (talk) 17:46, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

If you believe that this is promotional content similar content should be removed from all other Wikipedia articles on universities and colleges. Your enforcement of this “rule” or “policy” is arbitrary and capricious. I call on all Wikipedians to equalize the enforcement of such rules in a uniform manner. All identical content should be removed.

“Removal of Promotional Content in accordance to Wikipedia Policy outlined in Talk:George Mason University#Removal of Notable faculty and alumni.”

According to User:Drmies:“Undid revision 1208989754 by 129.174.255.57 (talk) i can't follow that incredibly verbose thread but I see no consensus for this removal”

The first sentence of the law school section reads as follows: "The naming of the Antonin Scalia Law School after the late conservative United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the hiring of conservative United States Supreme Court Justices Bret Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas as professors, the allegedly “lavish treatments,” speaking gigs, and "all-experiences-paid" travel arrangements they received, its close ties with the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, and the extensive provision of professional development and continuing education programs, as well as speaking engagements for sitting judges of lower and appellate divisions - in particular dealing with the topic of law and economics - has brought on controversy on the university itself, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Federal Judiciary of the United States as a whole over the overt conservative political influence taking place at the law school and the university's growing influence over the U.S. judicial system."

3 points: 1. The sentence is quite long. Maybe it would be good to split it in two? 2. Shouldn't there be a source, esp. since some terms are put in quotation marks? 3. Are the justices actually "professors", rather than just lecturers or a similar term? 178.197.194.208 (talk) 10:12, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

I did a quick, extremely bland writeup of the two DOJ investigations. Someone may want to flesh it out more from the allegations and responses (especially on the first investigation) but I don't have time to write up that sort of blow-by-blow. The DOJ's news feed has far more interesting things going for it, like the bizarre nation-wide arrests of a disturbingly large number of people involved in some kind of international monkey genital torture video ring (yeah, I said WUT too) last month, but I figured the editors of this page might be interested if they hadn't seen the announcements already. A Shortfall Of Gravitas (talk) 17:36, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Especially about the law school's relationship with the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies as well as its provision of continuing legal education courses for federal judges. ~2026-21483-24 (talk) 19:09, 7 April 2026 (UTC)

It is poorly sourced and does not adhere to WP:NPOV. The WP:ONUS is on you to gain WP:CONSENSUS for inclusion. Marquardtika (talk) 13:46, 8 April 2026 (UTC)