Mason ranks in top half of universities for graduating minorities

George Mason University’s efforts to increase diversity in the student population has been recognized with top rankings in Diverse Top 100 Degree Producers, a national survey of U.S. colleges.

The annual rankings compiled by the publishers of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education show that George Mason placed 44th overall in the country for graduating minorities with doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degrees.

Mason ranks 35th in the nation of universities that confer master’s degrees to students of all minority ethnic groups. Mason was No. 46 among schools awarding bachelor’s degrees to minority students. Mason was No. 25 in graduating Asian Americans in all majors and No. 76 for Hispanic students.

“We are immensely proud of our success educating students of color. At Mason, ‘diversity is our strength’ as we continue to strive to be a university for the world,” said Julian R. Williams, vice president of compliance, diversity and ethics.

“As proud as we are, we are well aware that there is additional work to do to ensure that students of all backgrounds receive a quality undergraduate and graduate education,” Williams added. “Mason is strongly committed to improving these favorable rankings.”

In all, Mason finished in the top 10 of 12 categories.

Mason scored in the Top 10 in graduating Asian Americans in a variety of majors, including English (No. 3), computer and information science (No. 4), homeland security and related protective services (No. 5), accounting (No. 7) and liberal arts (No. 8).

Mason was No. 8 in graduating African Americans in English and No. 8 in graduating all minorities in computer and information sciences. Mason was No. 9 in graduating all minorities in English.