Buzz McClain

After four decades in the classroom, a George Mason University macroeconomics professor is putting theories into practice that could change the economic future of Scotland and the lives of its 5.5 million citizens.

George Mason University professor Peter Mandaville has been appointed as a senior advisor to the special representative for religion and global affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Among other duties, he will help craft aspects of the U.S. diplomatic strategy for dealing with rising sectarianism in the Middle East.

The village of Nangi in western Nepal is as remote as it is beautiful. It takes up to nine hours to reach the next large town from Nangi’s location 7,300 feet up in the Himalayas. The farmers who make up the bulk of the population of 800 use yak to plow their fields, and traditions there are centuries old.

It’s an annual right of passage with George Mason University professor Laurie Schintler’s capstone transportation class: Examine a problem for a client, develop a solution, present the findings and make the world a better place.

Schar School of Policy and Government PhD graduate Nazia Hussain has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the United Nations University-Centre for Policy Research in Tokyo.

A new survey shows George Mason University ranks seventh in the country for placing graduates in the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service. George Mason’s listing of 522 active-duty alumni working in posts around the world followed Harvard University’s 554, at sixth place. Topping the list was Georgetown University with 1,190. The full list is here.

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.

George Mason University professor Louise Shelley has been named an inaugural 2015 Andrew Carnegie Fellow from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government has been ranked 10th in Best Value Schools’ list of 50 “Innovative Public Service Schools.”

We should all be lucky enough to enjoy our jobs as much as Denise Turner Roth, BA Government and Politics ’99, does hers. “I look forward to coming to work every day,” she says, “and every day I have an experience where I go back and say, ‘Wow, I just did that.’” She even enjoys the commute into Washington, D.C. “It’s got great views of all the monuments.”