The Mason Spirit

Mason alumnus Bobby Saini did his homework in the Johnson Center—as a student at a different college. After three tries, the budding entrepreneur was finally admitted to Mason. Now he is helping lead a technology startup into the burgeoning field of cyber security.

Continue Reading Twice Denied, Finally Accepted, Now Mason Grad Helps Lead Promising Tech Firm

Mason alumnus Juan Pacheco is a counselor with Mason’s Early Identification Program (EIP), whose staff emboldens promising high school students to enroll and succeed in college. This position is not Pacheco’s first experience with the program. As a teenager, he was on the other side of the counseling table, in need of his own encourager to say, “You can do this. You can make it in college.”

Continue Reading Encouraging Success: With Life Turned Around, Alumnus Now Mentors Others

When Nicole Livas, BA Communication ’90, returned home to Hampton Roads, Virginia, in 2001 to work as an on-air journalist for WAVY-TV 10, she had rather large footsteps to follow, namely those of her mother, Becky.

Continue Reading A Newsworthy Family Business

Mason alumna Noelle Fanella parlayed her Mason minor in sports management into a paying job working at Medinah Country Club last summer and followed up with another job this year. It just so happened Medinah was hosting the Ryder Cup. Now she has a sports “mega-event” on her resume—and she shared fairways with the world’s best golfers.

Continue Reading Sports Management Program Prepares Grad for Golf’s Ryder Cup

When you look at what housing industry prognosticator Ivy Zelman, BS Accounting ’90, has accomplished over the course of her career, it is surprising to find out she has been driven by a fear of failure. The CEO of Zelman & Associates has more than 18 years of experience covering housing and housing-related industries and…

Continue Reading Failure Was Never an Option

So what’s more frightening, being chased by brain-starved zombies or quitting your job two years out of college and opening a large, seasonal, and very expensive amusement attraction?

Continue Reading Halloween Special: Mason Grad Quits Job to Cage . . . Zombies?

He’s been to Cannes, Rio, and Hollywood. He’s worn Elton John’s eyeglasses (and he his), been slapped by Steve Carell (twice), arm wrestled with Sugar Ray Leonard, sang with Jack Black, got Matt Damon to admit to crying, and helped Russell Crowe meet Harrison Ford via Twitter. Steven Spielberg loves him.

Continue Reading Critic McCarthy: Asking the Right Questions

Relegated to a narrow shrinking band of forest along Brazil’s Atlantic coast, the golden lion tamarins have struggled to maintain their place on Earth. But lucky for these Lilliputian-esque primates, researchers such as Jennifer Mickelberg, PhD Environmental Science ’11, are using their zoological know-how to find ways to ensure that golden lion tamarins stick around for generations to come.

Continue Reading Jennifer Mickelberg: Fighting to Save a Species

Stunned by his father’s sudden death in 2005, Mason alumnus Ken Budd decided he wanted to live a life that mattered. To that end, he began a series of volunteer trips that would take him around the globe. These journeys have culminated in his first book, an emotional and personal travelogue called The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem.

Continue Reading Lending a Hand While Racking Up Miles

On March 28, the George Mason University Alumni Association will recognize its most prestigious alumni at an elegant dinner in the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel. For a look at the biographies of those honored that night, please take a look at the full program available online. The top four award winners are profiled…

Continue Reading Celebration of Distinction 2012