Mason Now: Power the Possible

Scholarships

Celebrating Our Champions: An evening honoring faculty and staff donors

Katarina Benson — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 19:33:46 +0000

Celebrating Our Champions: An evening honoring faculty and staff donors Katarina Benson Mon, 03/30/2026 - 15:33

91��’s Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations recognized the contributions of its champions—George Mason’s faculty and staff donors—with an evening of thanks. The March 18 Celebrating Our Champions event focused on the generosity and support that faculty and staff offer the university while serving George Mason students. “I know that you care about students, but you all have taken it a step further,” said George Mason President Gregory Washington. “You have decided to give back to the very institution that you serve every day. That is profound.”

Nena Rogers (left) received the 2026 Spirit of Giving Award. Photo by Sean Kelley

The annual event reflects the importance of faculty and staff engagement with the university. “Your participation strengthens a legacy of generosity that connects our past, our present, and our future,” said Trishana E. Bowden, president of the 91�� Foundation and vice president for advancement and alumni relations. “Tonight is about a tradition where we recognize a staff and a faculty member for their philanthropy in the many years they give to our institution.”

The Luminary Award honors faculty donors whose philanthropy, advocacy, and commitment serve as an example for the community. This year, it was awarded to Keith D. Renshaw, a professor of psychology and senior associate provost for undergraduate education. Described as a respected colleague, Renshaw was recognized as a collaborator, a mentor, and a friend.

“I truly believe it is hard to find a more compelling place than 91��,” said Renshaw. “I take very seriously the responsibility that comes with this award. I will continue to support all that I can and to inspire others to support as much as they can, because it is hard to find another place that is more deserving of that support than George Mason.”

Keith Renshaw (center) received the Luminary Award. Photo by Sean Kelley

Nena Rogers, BS ’89, MA ’19, deputy athletics director for student services and performance, received the 2026 Spirit of Giving Award, which recognizes a staff member who embodies the university’s philanthropic spirit. A former student-athlete herself, Rogers was noted for having the ability to see the possibilities and strengths hidden within her students, for the benefit of not only the athletic programs at George Mason but the athletes themselves.

“To me, the spirit of giving is simple. It’s believing in someone’s future. It’s extending a hand toward opportunity,” said Rogers. “Together, we know that the investments we make today will shape the leaders of tomorrow.”

Because of faculty and staff members like Renshaw and Rogers, students at George Mason not only thrive for a semester, but for years to come. “My experience here has been invaluable,” said Madison Preis, a criminology major who received support from the Stay Mason Fund and spoke at the event. “There’s truly nothing like it. I want to say from the bottom of my heart thank you, thank you because you’re enabling our futures and supporting our dreams.”

This new annual tradition, launched last year, aims to convey George Mason’s gratitude to its faculty and staff, both on campus and through philanthropic support for its students and programs. Their advocacy and commitment champion the university’s mission now and into the future.

Power the Possible

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Faculty and Staff News

Mason Athletics

Military Veterans and Families Initiative (MVFI)

Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra will headline this year’s ARTS by George!

ckearney — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:22:51 +0000

Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra will headline this year’s ARTS by George! ckearney Mon, 03/16/2026 - 12:22

91��’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) announces the ARTS by George! benefit event, headlined by acclaimed actor and musician Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. ARTS by George! takes place on Saturday, October 3, on George Mason’s Fairfax Campus.

Jeff Goldblum. Photo by Pari Dukovic

The event raises vital support for student scholarships in visual arts, dance, music, theater, game design, film, and arts management, as well as for the Mason Community Arts Academy, Green Machine Ensembles, and the Great Performances at Mason season at the Center for the Arts. Tickets and sponsorships are available for purchase on the event website.

Goldblum’s storied career spans nearly six decades of award-winning work as a starring actor in film, television, and theater. He recently co-starred as the Wizard of Oz, alongside Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, in the global box office smash Wicked and its sequel Wicked: For Good. He has also produced film and television projects and is an Academy Award-nominated director for his short feature film, Little Surprises.

Goldblum’s many film credits include The Big Chill, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Fly, Independence Day, Jurassic Park, and Thor: Ragnarok. He has received Emmy nominations for his work on Will & Grace and for the National Geographic/Disney+ series, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, which he also executive produced. Onstage, he has starred in Broadway’s The Pillowman, the Off-Broadway production of Domesticated, as well as the London production of Speed-the-Plow.

Goldblum launched the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra 30 years ago. Since then, he and his band have performed for audiences throughout the United States and around the world. The group has released four albums with Decca Records, featuring guest artists that include Gregory Porter, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Fiona Apple, Freda Payne, Haley Reinhart, Imelda May, and Maiya Sykes. On June 5, 2026, Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra are set to release Night Blooms, the companion album to Still Blooming, under Universal’s recently relaunched Fontana label, featuring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Charlie Puth, dodie, Haley Reinhart, Melody Gardot, Scarlett Johansson, and others.

ARTS by George! begins at 5 p.m. in the de Laski Performing Arts Building with CVPA students and faculty collaborating in a series of showcases and exhibits in art, music, dance, theater, film, and more. At 8:30 p.m., Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra headline a performance in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall. The concert will feature contemporary arrangements of jazz classics and American Songbook standards, brought to life with Goldblum’s signature improvisation and charm.

Mason Arts Board member Annie Bolger serves as event chair. Guests will enjoy a buffet dinner, immersive presentations by CVPA students and faculty, premium orchestra seating for the headlining concert by Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, an onstage toast and dessert reception following the concert including a special appearance by the artist, and free garage parking. Each ARTS by George! ticket includes a charitable donation directly supporting CVPA student scholarships and community arts programs. Since 2006, the event has raised more than $4.6 million for Mason Arts.

Subscribers to the Center for the Arts 2026–27 season can add tickets for the 8:30 p.m. performance to their subscription package beginning on May 28. Individual tickets to the 8:30 p.m. performance go on sale August 4 through the Center for the Arts website.

Join us at ARTS by George!

Topics

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Learn the impact of giving

Scholarships

George Mason Giving Day 2026: Asking Mason Nation to lace up for community impact

Katarina Benson — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:50:05 +0000

George Mason Giving Day 2026: Asking Mason Nation to lace up for community impact Katarina Benson Mon, 03/02/2026 - 09:50

April 2 heralds the return of George Mason Giving Day. This annual celebration of community and generosity is a 24-hour sprint where 91�� alumni, friends, faculty, staff, students, and families of George Mason come together in a network of support, where every gift makes a difference.

The yearly event has been known as Mason Vision Day in recent years; George Mason’s Office of Annual Giving has returned to the Giving Day title to emphasize the real impact of each gift. They hope this year’s Race Day theme will energize and inspire the university’s donor community to lace up and give.

“Giving Day is an event we look forward to with the same energy and anticipation that defines a race day,” said Elijah Rosenthal, director of annual giving. “Just as every runner plays a role in a race, every donor helps drive our shared progress toward a meaningful finish.”

The Office of Annual Giving has a goal in mind: “We want to surpass last year’s participation, hoping to welcome more than 2,000 donors this year,” said Rosenthal. The day will feature matching and challenge gifts, social media campaigns, and campus-wide involvement, including on-campus recognition for faculty and staff, and an evening alumni/community celebration.

Supporters can “warm up” before the event by pledging their pace at givingday.gmu.edu, where they can even make a gift before April 2, fueling the causes that are most important to them. “There are so many impactful initiatives at George Mason, and Giving Day is about the power of each donor to support the causes that they are passionate about, from academics to athletics, performing arts to research,” said Rosenthal.

Most of all, he added, it’s about racing toward George Mason’s future and crossing the finish line together.

Pledge Your Pace for Giving Day

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Love, Legacy, and the Arts: How Rick Davis and Julie Thompson are shaping the future of Mason Arts

ckearney — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 17:39:05 +0000

Love, Legacy, and the Arts: How Rick Davis and Julie Thompson are shaping the future of Mason Arts ckearney Thu, 01/15/2026 - 12:39

Dean Rick Davis and Center for the Arts Executive Director Julie Thompson joke that, even among their College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) colleagues, some people don’t realize that they are married. Now the proverbial cat is out of the bag.

College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean Rick Davis and Julie Thompson, executive director, Center for the Arts. Photo by Emily Rusch/CVPA

They’re not only married but were college sweethearts, meeting during their undergraduate days at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. The arts have played a role in their relationship from the start; Davis chuckled when recalling that their courtship even included a pre-requisite stint at The Troupe of American College Players, Thompson’s father’s summer stock theater in Colorado.

That was back in the 1980s, making it clear that long-term commitments are a hallmark of Thompson’s and Davis’s characters. Davis has been at 91�� for 34 years, serving as CVPA dean since 2015 and as executive director of the Hylton Performing Arts Center since August 2011. Thompson became the executive director for the Center for the Arts on the Fairfax Campus in 2007, but has served in other capacities at the university, including as a faculty member in the graduate Arts Management Program, for nearly 30 years.

They have recently ensured that their longstanding legacies will continue to enhance, nurture, and grow the arts at George Mason through a planned gift with multiple designations. The $700,000 estimated gift will support the Give Voice initiative for the renovation of the Center for the Arts; Center for the Arts programming; the Hylton Performing Arts Center Endowment; the William Reeder, Founding Dean Endowment in the Arts; and the establishment of the Rick Davis and Julie Thompson Theater Scholarship Endowment.

The main motivator for the gift is the renovation of the Center for the Arts on the Fairfax Campus, “something that Rick and I are emotionally involved in,” explained Thompson. “It’s been there for us all these years as well as for the college and the university.”

The Give Voice initiative is a $35M fundraising effort to renovate and modernize the Center for the Arts, seeking to improve and enhance the venue’s ability to support the needs of artists, audiences, and CVPA students and faculty. It will include technological and acoustical upgrades, improved accessibility and sightlines, additional aisles on the orchestra and balcony levels, a remodeled lobby, expanded teaching and rehearsal spaces, and more.

Davis invoked former university President George Johnson (1978-1996), who asserted that the arts are the front door to George Mason. “The arts pique the interest of the broader community and give them ways to interact with the university that they otherwise might not have had,” said Davis. The Center for the Arts is the hub of artistic performances, classes, and university events, and Davis observed that it’s “getting creaky” after admitting more than 6.5 million audience members since its doors opened in 1990.

Thompson and Davis agree that Mason Arts—the community of staff, faculty, students, artists, musicians, and performers and the audience they attract—is one of the tangibles that makes George Mason “all together different.”

“The arts here are so dynamic,” said Thompson, “we’re not into a set pattern of things. We’re always looking at how to reinvent, and look at things differently, which is exciting. And I think that’s what’s kept Rick and me here much longer than we’ve probably ever anticipated: the fact that [it is] such a dynamic place.”

Both Davis and Thompson were quick to credit Susan Graziano, senior director of development for CVPA, who helped them realize that they could make even more of an impact through a planned gift than they originally thought.

They encourage members of the George Mason community—whether faculty, staff, alums, parents, or longstanding friends—to consider making a gift to the university. “If you have been paying attention,” Davis said, “you know that Mason does more with less than many other institutions.

“A philanthropic dollar at George Mason has so much more immediate impact than a philanthropic dollar almost anywhere else,” he continued. “You see how much good Mason does for people. You see how you’re changing lives. And we are excited to imagine how our legacy gift will keep that spirit going for a long time to come.”

In This Story

Rick Davis

Julie Thompson

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College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Costello Scholarship Luncheon

Costello Scholarship Luncheon showcases growth in named scholarship funding

Katelynn C Hipolito — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 20:39:51 +0000

Costello Scholarship Luncheon showcases growth in named scholarship funding Katelynn C Hipolito Wed, 12/17/2025 - 15:39

The Costello College of Business at 91�� recently announced a significant increase in scholarship money awarded to students—$1.3 million for the 2024-25 academic year—$500,000 of which went to named scholarships. Over the past five years, both the total amount of scholarship funding and the number of students who have received Costello scholarships have more than doubled.

Costello scholarship recipients. Photo by Hannah Patterson/Costello College of Business.

As outlined by Ajay Vinzé, interim provost and executive vice president of 91��, priority number one at Costello is student readiness and career preparedness. “Scholarships play a huge role in the success of our students,” he said.

Costello celebrated donors and scholarship recipients on November 18 at the annual Costello Scholarship Luncheon. The luncheon featured an inspiring lineup of speakers whose lives and careers have been shaped by scholarship support. Mitchell Cho, founder and CEO of FedWriters, Inc. (FWI), and a proud George Mason alum, shared his journey. As a student, he said, he was not the overachiever some might assume. What he did have was persistence and grit. Today, as a member of the Corporate and Community Partners Program, Cho views scholarships as an investment in the future. “Supporting scholarship is not just about philanthropy for us,” he said. “It’s about investing in the future.”

Longtime donor Jim Beers, retired managing partner of Beers & Cutler, encouraged students to keep pushing forward toward their dreams. “It’s so important what you’re doing now—and it will be even more important after you graduate,” he said.

Sandra Flores, BS Business Analytics ‘23, MS Business Analytics ‘25, Historian of the Costello Alumni Chapter, speaking at the Costello Scholarship Luncheon. Photo by Hannah Patterson/Costello College of Business.

Current students also shared their heartfelt reflections.

“Something I really appreciate about Costello is how it helps us grow,” said Iman Choudry, recipient of the Robert Amy Scholarship.

Historian of the Costello Alumni Chapter Sandra Flores, BS Business Analytics ‘23, MS Business Analytics ‘25, credited her donor’s generosity for making her dreams possible. “I made a promise that I would give back when I can,” she said.

“I made a promise that I would give back when I can,” she said.

— Sandra Flores, BS Business Analytics ‘23, MS Business Analytics ‘25, Historian of the Costello Alumni Chapter

While the speeches inspired and provided valuable insights, the luncheon’s greatest asset was bringing students and their donors together to express gratitude, network, and to ask questions. Many of the donors once stood in the shoes of the recipients, facing similar challenges.

Costello scholarship donors and Costello Alumni Chapter members. Photo by Hannah Patterson/Costello College of Business.

The Costello Scholarship Luncheon is a proud tradition, celebrating both student achievement and the generosity of donors. With the named scholarship funding continuing to rise, the Costello College of Business is sending a clear message that their business is student success.

Learn about Mason Now

In This Story

Ajay Vinzé, PhD

Sandra Flores, '23

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Scholarships

Corporate and Community Partners Program

Costello College of Business News

Costello College of Business Scholarships

Costello College of Business Alumni

Costello College of Business Students

Students

Adaptive baseball hits a home run at George Mason

Katarina Benson — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:04:21 +0000

Adaptive baseball hits a home run at George Mason Katarina Benson Tue, 12/16/2025 - 16:04

In a first for any university in the United States, visually impaired baseball players are getting a chance to step up to the plate at 91��. Led by a volunteer coach and University Life’s Mason Recreation and Disability Services offices, Mason’s Beep baseball initiative is gaining momentum after a successful community learn-to-play clinic last fall.

Beep baseball allows blind and visually impaired batters to listen for a loud beep coming from a ball pitched by a sighted pitcher. Photo by Paul Bazzano/Mason Recreation

The adaptive sport of Beep baseball allows blind and visually impaired batters to listen for a loud beep coming from a ball pitched by a sighted pitcher. If the batter hits the ball, they run to one of two buzzing bases. If they touch the base before the ball is fielded, they’ve scored a run. It’s a game that prioritizes communication, teamwork, and athleticism. This initiative supports George Mason’s efforts to build an inclusive community where all students are valued and have meaningful ways to participate, connect, and belong.

“Beep baseball is a fantastic way for Mason to tap into some underserved populations via athletics,” said Paul J. Bazzano, assistant director of competitive sports with Mason Recreation. “Beep baseball brings together students, staff, and community members in a meaningful way. It’s about creating space for inclusive play and laying the groundwork for something that can grow far beyond campus.”

Bazzano said that it is also providing opportunities for George Mason as there really are no collegiate Beep baseball programs. “But we have had some conversations with other schools interested in forming their own teams.”

The addition of Beep baseball to Mason Recreation represents the fulfillment of a lifelong passion of a George Mason philanthropist, the late Dr. Barry R. Berkey, through the vision of his wife, Velma Berkey. She proposed the idea to Bazzano and sponsored the three-year pilot program.

The beep baseball initiative by Mason Recreation is the first of its kind. Photo by Paul Bazzano/Mason Recreation

“My husband’s dream was to become a major league baseball player, but he became a doctor instead,” Berkey said. “In later years Barry’s vision gradually deteriorated, which greatly impacted watching and enjoying his favorite sport. We became very sensitive to visually impaired and blind kids who may be in the same position. After my husband passed away, I delved into reading about Beep baseball, which inspired me to present the sport to 91��.”

Berkey said the George Mason community has an opportunity to be an innovator and leader by bringing this sport to campus and the region. “The team can serve as a model for other colleges and universities, serving as a mentor further down the road for high schools and Little League teams.”

Jeff Rhines, head coach of the Philadelphia team that won the 2024 Beep Baseball National Championship, helped arrange Mason’s first learn-to-play clinic. Alfonso Medrano, head coach for a Houston-based team, also provided valuable input. Students and members of the surrounding community who participated described it as a fantastic community-building experience.

“We had two blind students who thoroughly enjoyed it and said they would definitely do it again,” said Naomi Martinez-Jones, director of Disability Services at George Mason. “We also had some of George Mason’s baseball team help and participate. It was great for everyone to have that connection with each other.”

George Mason’s long-term goal is to build a competitive team made up of students, staff, and community members to play in tournaments and events sanctioned by the National Beep Baseball Association. As a first step, Mason Recreation is working to connect with other teams and recruiting a volunteer coach. There are plans to offer more training and networking events and launch a sustainable, inclusive team with regular practices and programming.

To learn more, reach out to Bazzano at pbazzano@gmu.edu.

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College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Driving community spirit: Kathy McKay's impact on George Mason

Katarina Benson — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:44:25 +0000

Driving community spirit: Kathy McKay's impact on George Mason Katarina Benson Tue, 12/16/2025 - 07:44

Kathleen (Kathy) McKay has deep ties to Fairfax, Virginia, her hometown. Her parents, James "Smilin’ Jim" and Ruth Averill McKay, were pioneers in the Fairfax business community; her father opened Jim McKay Chevrolet in 1956, becoming one of the first car dealers in the area.

As student athlete at Woodson High School, she grew up near 91��'s burgeoning Fairfax Campus. “I played field hockey, I played softball, and I was a swimmer,” she said.

McKay with Mason basketball players on the K. McKay Court. Photo provided by Mason Athletics

Much of that swim experience took place at a neighborhood club, where her own daughters still hold records from the 1990s. After graduating from James Madison University, she returned to Fairfax.

McKay is now the president of Jim McKay Chevrolet, a sponsor for many student activities and sports at George Mason, and Intercollegiate Athletics has been at the heart of her personal connection with the university. Since the mid-1990s, she’s been an avid Patriots fan, attending many men's and women's basketball games, including the ones out of town, often with her daughters and now her grandchildren.

“I’ve always been a sports person,” McKay said. “I love college athletics; it’s the excitement. This is something that the athletes really, really want to do, and so few make it [to this level].”

She also appreciates the role college sports plays in bringing a community together. “It’s everything. No matter what your preference is, we offer every sport to allow a fan to be involved.”

McKay's support extends far beyond the sidelines. She has been a generous donor to George Mason for nearly 20 years, serving as a member of the Patriot Club Advisory Board and in the Green Coat Society, which recognizes generous, multi-year donors.

In 2017, she made a leadership gift to the university's basketball fundraising campaign, resulting in the naming of the K. McKay Court at the Recreation Athletic Complex (RAC). Her philanthropy has included substantial gifts—in conjunction with the family-linked Richard W. Averill Foundation and Jim McKay Chevrolet—to a variety of George Mason’s teams, including a pledge that touched all 22 sports teams during an annual Mason Vision Day.

She has also made gifts to the College of Visual and Performing Arts' scholarship benefit ARTS by George! and to the Green Machine ensembles.

“Kathy McKay embodies the spirit of George Mason and the Northern Virginia community,” said Marvin Lewis, assistant vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “Her loyalty and generosity have touched every corner of our program—from cheering courtside to investing in opportunities that enrich the student-athlete experience. Kathy’s passion, rooted in family and community, reflects the very best of what it means to be a Patriot, and we’re incredibly fortunate to have her in our corner.”

McKay and President Washington. Photo provided by Mason Athletics

McKay carries on a family tradition of philanthropy and community service—George Mason’s Jim McKay Natatorium in the Aquatic and Fitness Center on the Fairfax Campus, a regional resource that includes a 50-meter Olympic-sized competition pool, bears the name of her father. She is continuing that tradition and is encouraging a culture of connected philanthropy through her own children: her daughter, April, and son-in-law, Matt, are also active supporters of George Mason Athletics.

McKay has been there for some of basketball’s biggest moments.

She remembers being warmly welcomed by the men’s basketball team, including then-coach Jim Larrañaga and his wife, Liz, when she traveled with the team to the ESPN Events Invitational Thanksgiving tournament in Orlando, Florida, in 2007. She also attended Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) Tournaments at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, including “during COVID, in March 2020, [when] we got sent home after winning our first game.”

McKay was also in the front rows at the Robins Center in Richmond when the men’s basketball team defeated the University of Richmond to claim the 2025 A-10 regular season title, the team’s first. That same season saw Patriots Head Coach Tony Skinn, whom McKay had known since his undergraduate days, named A1-0 Coach of the Year.

“Tony was my pick from day one when we were searching for a coach,” she said.

With a grandson in tow, McKay traveled in March 2025 with the women’s basketball team to Richmond for the A-10 Women's Basketball Championship, where George Mason defeated St. Joseph’s to claim the title for the first time.

“I couldn’t not go, and they win this thing—because I really thought they could,” she said.

She also joined the women’s team for the España 2025 cultural and athletic expedition, where the Patriots played international opponents in Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona. With her on the trip was her eldest granddaughter, who has been attending games with McKay since she was six months old.

“Riley and I had a time together that neither one of us will ever forget!” she said.

She plans to enjoy as many games and team activities as she can fit on her calendar. “I love it!” she said. “I’m always looking at the schedule to see who’s playing what.”

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Reinventing Virginia’s Health Care Future

Katarina Benson — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 14:42:06 +0000

Reinventing Virginia’s Health Care Future Katarina Benson Mon, 11/10/2025 - 09:42

As Virginia faces growing shortages in the health care workforce, the Claude Moore Foundation and 91�� have formed a groundbreaking partnership to seek solutions and build a flexible, inclusive, and data-driven workforce pipeline. The effort is one designed not just to meet current needs but to shape a stronger, more equitable future for health care in the commonwealth.

At the center of this partnership is William Hazel, former Virginia secretary of health and human resources and now CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities, the foundation’s arm for strategic partnerships. Hazel’s longstanding relationship with George Mason—he served as senior advisor for strategic initiatives from 2018 to 2020—helped seed many of the elements that define this collaboration.

That ethos underpins the Claude Moore Foundation’s guiding philosophy to open doors and expand opportunity. By investing in innovative models that expand access and strengthen workforce readiness, the foundation is helping to remove barriers and build ladders.

Through George Mason’s Center for Health Workforce at the College of Public Health, the university plays a leading role as Virginia’s hub for workforce research and strategy. The center’s work has led to the development of statewide data platforms that have shaped policy, informing local pilot programs in more remote areas of Virginia and driving conversations about behavioral health and early childhood care.

The Claude Moore Career Highway is one pathway to draw more health care workers. This new framework treats the health care workforce not as a single pipeline but as a network, offering “on-ramps and off-ramps” to support Virginians seeking this career path at any stage of life, whether they’re high school students, career switchers, or adults returning to school after time away.

The Claude Moore Scholars Program is another key component of efforts to expand the workforce, introducing high school students to health care careers through hands-on experiences and clear pathways from K–12 to college to career. Already active in 17 Virginia districts and expanding, the program reflects both Claude Moore’s and George Mason’s shared commitment to access, equity, and tangible outcomes.

The impact is measurable. Many of the program’s graduates return to serve in their home communities, reflecting a model that’s not just about producing talent—but producing the right talent for Virginia.

As Hazel puts it, “This workforce issue is cresting. The question is how do we attract people, train them, and help them grow?” Thanks to the partnership between Claude Moore and George Mason, Virginia is beginning to answer that question—boldly, equitably, and with lasting impact.

This partnership is part of Mason Now: Power the Possible, George Mason's historic $1 billion campaign to advance student success, research, innovation, stewardship, and community engagement.

George Mason’s Debate Team receives generous gift from alumnus Burton C. Gray Jr.

Katarina Benson — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:41:28 +0000

George Mason’s Debate Team receives generous gift from alumnus Burton C. Gray Jr. Katarina Benson Mon, 10/27/2025 - 11:41

The 91�� Debate Team has stood for more than five decades as one of the nation’s premier teams and is consistently ranked among the top five programs in the country. This intercollegiate team’s legacy of excellence is built on academic rigor, accessibility, and community. It is a program that transforms students—regardless of their starting point—into confident, critical thinkers prepared to lead.

Burton C. Gray Jr., BA Economics and English ’95, knows this transformation firsthand. Gray has built a career that defies linear paths. A serial entrepreneur, he has led businesses in independent music, film production, software development, and agriculture. He has also supported local ventures like DC Brau Brewing Company and has served on several nonprofit boards focused on education, health, and community initiatives.

The skills he learned on the George Mason Debate Team have been a throughline in his career, he said, and he considers his experience on team as a cornerstone of his success.

Burton C. Gray Jr., BA Economics and English ’95. Photo provided

“Debate taught me how to become an expert on complex issues in a matter of hours,” Gray said. “Whether it was copyright law in the music industry or negotiating partnerships, the skills I learned in argument and analysis helped me understand how to take a stronger position and get things done.”

Gray also recalled his experience with longtime team director Warren Decker, who retired in 2022 after 48 years of teaching and service.

“Decker challenged me in a way I hadn’t been challenged before,” Gray said. “He made it clear debate wasn’t about talking a good game—debate was about committing, researching, working hard, and showing up every day. That lesson stuck with me.”

Today, the George Mason Debate Team continues its tradition of success under the leadership of Jackie Poapst, who serves as the inaugural Warren Decker Director of Debate. The director position was endowed in 2022 and named in honor of Decker’s service by George Mason Debate Team alum Leonard Bennett, BS Finance ’89, JD ’94.

Gray has committed to strengthening the George Mason debate community with a gift of $150,000 to support Decker Grants.

“The Decker Grants enable us to recruit and support students to this critical experiential learning opportunity and to provide them with the coaching support they need to succeed,” Poapst said.

“Scholarship resources and program support really matter,” Gray said. “These funds help level the playing field for George Mason students, who excel year-after-year in highly competitive environments. It’s important to show students’ commitment through community, and I’m hoping my gift demonstrates support to the assistant coaches, mentors, and students who contribute to the team’s legacy.”

Gray’s philanthropy is rooted in his desire to give back, and he encourages George Mason community members and team alumni to join him in support of these talented students.

“Debate changes the way you think, the way you listen, and the way you connect with people,” he said. “As part of the George Mason Debate Team, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere; you become academically fearless and intellectually formidable.”

Support from alumni like Gray is part of the university’s Mason Now: Power the Possible campaign and ensures the George Mason Debate Team remains nationally competitive and transformational for future leaders who are preparing to take on tomorrow’s challenges.

To join Burton C. Gray, Jr. in support of the George Mason Debate Team, visit the team’s giving page online.

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Alumni