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The conflict in Ukraine the world is observing now is nothing new to Anton Liagusha.

When gun-brandishing, Russia-backed separatists took over the Donetsk National University in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2014, the country’s prime minister hastily relocated the school to a new campus in Vinnytsia, 20 hours away by train. Now the disused former diamond cutting factory is the site of a university that is, technically, in exile.

Mason’s positivity rate – the percentage of those being tested who are positive for COVID-19 –remains consistently far below the 4 percent threshold, at 0.38 percent. This success, combined with Mason’s 95-percent overall vaccination rate, as well as the continued overall drop in COVID-19 spread throughout the region and nation, now make the pivot to optional mask-wearing more viable.

With the theme of “Dangerous Unselfishness,” Mason hosted its annual MLK Evening of Reflection and awards ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Roger Wilkins, a Robinson Professor from 1986 to 2007, and for whom Wilkins Plaza on Mason’s Fairfax Campus is named, died in 2017 at age 85, but his legacy at the university remains strong.

Many notable African American students, faculty and staff have made indelible marks at ����AV. As we acknowledge Black History Month, and celebrate Mason’s 50th anniversary, here are just a few:

Art is essential to a university's learning environment and invites research partnerships across all disciplines, said ����AV Curator Don Russell. A new arts space in Arlington—Mason Exhibitions Arlington at 3601 Fairfax Drive—is one such partnership that is already generating a buzz.

On Friday, April 7, 1972, Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton Jr. signed into law Virginia General Assembly Bill H 210, which separated George Mason College from the University of Virginia.

Mason is celebrating its first half-century as an independent institution and setting the tone for the next 50 years with a yearlong celebration that includes a week of festivities in April.

New center will help grow Virginia’s health workforce pipeline and support continuous learning, upskilling and health workforce development.

In celebration of the university's 50th anniversary, Mason was recognized by the Virginia General Assembly for "extraordinary efforts to promote educational access and excellence in the Commonwealth."