Two years ago George Mason University merged its School of Public Policy with the Department of Public and International Affairs. The newly created School of Policy, Government and International Affairs brought under one roof a powerhouse research and teaching faculty and dozens of programs preparing 2,000 students to address any real-world policy problem.
Mark J. Rozell, who served as acting dean during the merger, was appointed dean of SPGIA in March with a mission to raise the school’s profile to attract the best students and compete with longer-established policy and government schools around the country and in the National Capital Region.
The $10 million gift from Dwight Schar is likely to go “much farther than many more substantial-sized gifts would in other contexts,” said Rozell.
“The plain fact is, we have a very distinguished faculty, we have the teaching power that we need to cover the courses that we need, we have this wonderful building with an extremely advantageous location near Washington, D.C.,” he said. “We have those assets in place. We are now in a position to create new programming and extend our outreach.”
The faculty includes Louise Shelley, a 2015 inaugural Carnegie Fellow and an acclaimed expert on combating transnational crime; 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning economics journalist Steven Pearlstein; 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and heralded demographer Jack Goldstone; the former head of the CIA and the National Security Agency, Michael Hayden; and globally recognized executive branch scholar James Pfiffner, among dozens of others.
Already the school is a central hub of national and regional research, housing the influential Center for Regional Analysis; the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center; the Center for Transportation Public-Private Partnership Policy; a well as programs crucial to the world, such as bioterrorism, peace operations, international commerce and international security.
The generous gift from Schar, a long-time Mason supporter, will allow Rozell and the school administration to expand the school’s public outreach and raise the profiles of faculty members and student accomplishments.
Those new programs on the drawing board include:
- A major messaging and marketing campaign for the new school to “grow the school’s recognition level substantially over time,” Rozell said. “And we’ll work to better connect faculty with major media in Washington, D.C. and beyond” with expanded media outreach.
- A new television studio and enhanced video capabilities at the Arlington Campus, allowing swifter response to topical and breaking stories that can benefit from commentary by Mason’s professors and researchers, as well as heightened video social media capabilities.
- A survey research lab, home of a future “Mason Poll” that will analyze political races in the region and perhaps nationally. “The research survey lab will produce a variety of studies from which we’ll produce various indices that are branded under the school’s name and projected externally,” Rozell said.
- A number of distinguished speakers series that will bring policymakers, opinion leaders and scholars from around the region and the country to address Mason students and the local public. To that end, Rozell also sees the continuation and expansion of political debates and campaign appearances by candidates for office on the Founders Auditorium stage in Arlington.
Schar brings more than his financial generosity to the school. “He has for a long time been well-connected with both political parties and will be helpful in bringing interesting and valuable activity to the school,” he said.
“We have established a strong relationship with Dwight and are excited by his commitment to make this a world-respected school,” Rozell added. “It will be an evolutionary process getting to that status and it will take an ongoing stream of innovative, high-quality initiatives, but we are inspired by the challenge.”