A total of 4,020 students received degrees from George Mason University on Saturday during two winter graduation ceremonies at EagleBank Arena on the Fairfax Campus.
Nearly one-third of the 2,412 students receiving bachelor’s degrees are the first in their families to earn a degree, according to George Mason’s Office of Institutional Research and Reporting. In addition to the undergraduates, 1,420 students received master’s degrees, 178 received doctorates and 10 received law degrees.
Bachelor’s degree recipients represented 36 countries and 22 states. Students receiving graduate degrees came from 40 countries and 30 states.
Mason president Ángel Cabrera told the new graduates that no matter their course of study or course in life, they share a responsibility to lead, and to work toward finding solutions to complex problems.
“Don’t wait to be invited to lead—do it from wherever you are,” Cabrera said. “From the boardroom to the courtroom to the operating room to the classroom, we need the best of each of you. Use your gifts boldly and humbly.”
The two guest speakers, online pioneer Jean Case and Mason alumna Denise Turner Roth (BA Government and Politics ’99), administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration, have demonstrated such a commitment throughout their own transcendent careers.
Case, who spoke at the morning ceremony, helped establish AOL as a household utility. She and her husband, Steve Case, created the Case Foundation. She invests in technology to drive social change.
“The reality is that most of the time, people who make big contributions in any field—from activists to entrepreneurs, to scientists and educators—start by challenging the status quo and largely getting mocked and dismissed for it,” Case said, citing her own career. “Find the wisdom to know what advice you need to hear and what advice you need to tune out because its only purpose is to discourage you or to defend the old way of doing things.”
In the afternoon ceremony, Roth recalled her days as a first-generation college student. She made the most of her opportunity. She served in student government, danced with the Masonettes and began her management career while still a student, working on Capitol Hill.
Roth now oversees the government’s supplier of goods, services and property to all federal agencies.
“What stands out most in my life’s journey is that what we think of ourselves—how we assess and develop and apply our talents—is the only measure of who we are, of what we can achieve,” she said.
Rector Tom Davis awarded Case and Roth honorary degrees.