Alumna Anousheh Ansari, BS Electrical Engineering ’89, will be the speaker at Mason’s first formal winter graduation event since 1980 called the Winter Convocation. The 2012 event is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 20, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Patriot Center.
This winter, 3,835 students are expected to graduate. That number includes 2,343 bachelor’s degrees, 1,373 master’s degrees and 119 doctorates. The top undergraduate majors are psychology, accounting, biology, communication and information technology.
Earning a place in history
Anousheh Ansari. Photo courtesy of Anousheh Ansari
Ansari is co-founder and chief executive officer of Prodea Systems, a company she launched in September 2006. Around the same time, Ansari blasted off for an eight-day expedition aboard the International Space Station and captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer.
Ansari also earned a place in history as the first astronaut of Iranian descent, the first Muslim woman and the fourth private explorer to visit space.
A successful serial entrepreneur and active proponent of world-changing technologies and social entrepreneurship, Ansari and her family provided the title sponsorship for the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million cash award for the first non-governmental organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. With the success of the X Prize, Ansari helped launch a new era in private space exploration.
Prior to her space ventures, Anousheh served as co-founder, chief executive officer and chair of Telecom Technologies Inc. After earning three key U.S. patents and growing 100 percent sequentially year after year since its inception, her company successfully merged with Sonus Networks, where she served as general manager and vice president of the Softswitch division.
Anousheh is a member of the X Prize Foundation’s Vision Circle, as well as its Board of Trustees. She is a life member in the Association of Space Explorers and on the advisory board of the Teachers in Space project. She has received multiple honors, including the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, DFW International Community Alliance Hall of Fame award, the Working Woman’s National Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, George Mason University’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, George Washington University’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southwest Region. While under her leadership, Telecom Technologies earned recognition as one of Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies and Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 technology companies.
Anousheh serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and youth empowerment. She currently works to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally with organizations such as Ashoka, which supports social entrepreneurship around the world, including the Middle East and Central Asia. She also runs the annual What If? competition for middle school students to promote free thinking and STEM education.
Anousheh earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mason in 1989, followed by a master’s degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University. She received an honorary doctorate from International Space University, and she is currently working toward a master’s degree in astronomy from Swinburne University.
Ansari will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the Convocation.
Convocation Information for Graduates and Families
Every student who is a December graduate will process across the stage as their name is called. The wearing of regalia at the Winter Convocation is strongly encouraged. University marshals and the platform party will wear full regalia. Graduates should secure their regalia through the Mason Bookstore.
Each graduate will receive six tickets to the ceremony, and these are available at the Patriot Center Box Office until Monday, Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m. From 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, additional tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis (Mason ID required). If tickets are still available, they will be available for pick-up at the Patriot Center on Thursday, Dec. 20, beginning at noon.
Unlike the May ceremony, students will not process into the Patriot Center but will be escorted directly to their seats by university marshals.
After the ceremony, refreshments will be set up around the Patriot Center concourse so that college representatives can mingle with their graduates.