Photographs of George Mason University (GMU) Campus

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Founded originally in 1957 as the Northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia, George Mason University is now the largest university in the state of Virginia with a fall 2010 enrollment of  32,562 students, 2,063 of which were freshman in 2010.  It consists of the main campus of 677 acres in Fairfax, Virginia 15 miles from the heart of Washington, DC, a Prince William County campus in Manassas, a Loudoun County campus, and a law school located at a Arlington, Virginia campus.  George Mason University offers 75 undergraduate and 123 graduate degree programs as well as its law school.   Its school colars are green and gold.  It is named after Revolutionary era founder George Mason, a neighbor of George Washington who lived at Gunston Hall in Fairfax County, Virginia.  Its Patriot Center where basketball games are held is the second largest concert and events venue in the Washington, DC area.  Because of its rapid growth, most of its dorm and other buildings are new.  Despite its large size, George Mason University was designed with a very compact and walkable campus.  Once primarily a computer campus, it now has one of the largest number of non campus dorm rooms of any university.  Known for academic excellence and innovation, George Mason boasts the largest number of Nobel Prize winners on its faculty of any public university in the country.

George Mason University – Johnson Center Student Union

The Johnson Center fully opened on January 1, 1996.  It is a 320,000 square foot, four story building (i.e. essentially the equivalent of four football fields stacked on top of each other) that cost $30 million to build.  It is designed to be a new type of university student union building where eating, services, a library and other facilities are included as a type of internal university “new quad.”  The food court and bookstore are the main area of the building, but also included are a 100,000 square foot 100,000 volume library, a 310-seat Cinema, the university radio station, meeting rooms, a bank, 2 full service restaurants,  four 25-station computer labs, and more than 700 lockers for students.

George Mason University Southside Dining Hall Complex

Featured in Time magazine, Southside Dining Hall is a $10 million, 40,000 square foot dining hall that opened in September of 2008.  Praised for its sustainable practices and food and decor that is more like an upscale restaurant than a dining hall, Southside Dining Hall is the latest in the war of university dining halls to attract students with quality dining experiences.  To the parents – dining hall food is not what it isued to be!  Located close to the center of campus, Southside Dining Hall is open to all students, faculty and visitors and also includes a large physical fitness center.  It is part of the Cheseapeake dorm complex in what is known as the Northeast Sector of George Mason University and is a short wall away from the Johnson Center student union building.

George Mason University – Student Union Buildings I and II

New rear entrance to Student Union Building I

Lobby of Student Union I Building

Front entrance of Student Union Building I

Student Union II Building

Upper entrance to Student Union Building II

Inside of Student Union Building II

Student Union Buildings I and II are the original student union buildings before the Johnson Center student union was built and are both currently undergoing extensive renovation.  Many of the student services offices such as financial aid, student health services and the office of disability services are located in one or the other of these two student union buildings.  Student Union Building I features a food court and the Rathskellar restaurant.

George Mason University Piedmont Hall Dorm Complex

Side of Piedmont Hall

View from in front of Piedmont Hall in the evening looking at the lights of the Southside Dining Hall in the distance

Piedmont Hall is a dorm building that is connected to its sister Tidewater Hall.  Both are located next to the Southside Dining Hall and are part of the Cheseapeake dorm complex recently constructed in the Northeast Sector of the George Mason University.  Along with the other dorm buildings that are part of the Chesapeake complex and the Eastern Shore and Hampton Roads dorms, Piedmont is among the newest dorm buildings at George Mason University.  Each floor has, in addition to dorm rooms, lounge and study rooms.  On the ground floor are meeting and class rooms.  Piedmont Hall is fully air-conditioned with all bathrooms consisting of private baths in the dorm double or suite rooms.  Near Piedmont Hall is a convenience store that is open until 2 am, a 24 hour Starbucks, and the Pilot House restaurant which is open until 5 am.  Across from Piedmont Hall is Fenwick Library, George Mason University’s main library.

George Mason University Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Dorm Complexes With Corner Pocket Game Room and Convenience Store Open Until 2 a.m

Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Halls are another connected set of dorms that are part of the new Chesapeake complex of dorms in the Northeast Sector of George Mason University.  In addition to a convenience store that it is open until 2 am, they include the Cornet Pocket game room.

George Mason University Potomac Heights Dorm Complex

 

Completed in 2003, the Potomac Heights dorm complex along with Liberty Square comprimises York River Corner.  York River Corner consists of 1,000 dorm rooms with 500 dorm rooms in each complex.