 Schar School Logo | |
Former name | George Mason University School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs |
|---|---|
| Motto | A Dynamic Education for an Evolving World |
| Type | Public policy school |
| Established | 1990[note 1] |
Parent institution | George Mason University |
| Accreditation | |
Academic affiliation | TPC |
| Budget | $18 million |
| Dean | Mark J. Rozell |
Academic staff | 80 |
| Students | 2,000 |
| Location | ,, U.S. 38°53′05″N77°06′03″W / 38.884622°N 77.100731°W /38.884622; -77.100731 |
| Campus | Urban (Arlington) Suburban (Fairfax) |
| Website | schar |
  Location of theVirginia Square campus in theWashington metropolitan area | |
TheSchar School of Policy and Government (SSPG and formerly theGeorge Mason University School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs orSPGIA) is thepublic policy school ofGeorge Mason University, apublicresearch university in theCommonwealth of Virginia nearWashington, D.C.
The public policy section of the school was founded as athink tank and public policyresearch institute in 1990 and evolved into a graduate-only School of Public Policy in 2000; while the generalist political science and international affairs section was founded in 1990 as the Department of Public and International Affairs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
In August 2014, the School of Public Policy began providing public policy and public administration education at the undergraduate level, then merged with the Undergraduate and Graduate Department of Public and International Affairs (then a department of the College ofHumanities andSocial Sciences’) to form the George Mason University School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs.[1]
In May 2016, the school was renamed the Schar School of Policy and Government in recognition of a $10 million gift from businessman and philanthropistDwight Schar.[2]
In 2016, the Schar School announced it would partner withThe Washington Post to conduct political polling. TheWashington Post-Schar School polls correctly predicted that Hillary Clinton would win Virginia in the2016 presidential race, DemocratDoug Jones would winAlabama's 2017 senatorial race, and DemocratRalph Northam would win Virginia's2017 gubernatorial election.[3]
The Schar School is accredited by theNetwork of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration[4] and is a member of theTransatlantic Policy Consortium for its education programs inpublic policy andpublic administration; for its education programs in international relations it is accredited by theAssociation of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) .[5] It receives approximately $2 million in sponsored funding for academic research annually.[6] The school's budget was $18 million for the 2019–2020 academic year.[7]
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The school's primary campus is in theVirginia Square neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, with the headquarters in Van Metre Hall; roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) west ofWashington, D.C. Undergraduate programs offered by the school are primarily held at the university'sflagship campus inFairfax, Virginia, with night school offerings in both Arlington and Fairfax. In 2013, political scientistMark J. Rozell became Acting Dean, taking over the role in a permanent capacity in 2016.[8] During his tenure the school has averaged 80 faculty and a student body of approximately 2,000.[6] The school completed the 244,000 sq ft academic headquarters, Van Metre Hall, in 2010.[9] In 2020 the school began a $250 million expansion directly adjacent, as part of theCommonwealth of Virginia's bid to locateAmazon HQ2 in the nearbyNational Landing neighborhood.[10][11][12]
The headquarters of the Schar School and most of its non-traditional student and graduate programs are located inArlington, Virginia. The Arlington campus was once the site of the now-defunctKann's Department Store, and the property was acquired as the location for the university's law school by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1979.[13]
The Arlington campus consists of a 256,000-square-foot academic building with a 300-seat auditorium, a 5,600-square-foot multipurpose room, a library and an outdoor public plaza. As part of its successful bid to bringAmazon's HQ2 to Virginia, the state committed up to $125 million over the next 20 years to expand the Arlington campus with an emphasis on research and technology.[14]
The school offersbachelor's as well as graduate degrees in political science along with specialized education throughgraduate certificates,master's, anddoctoral degree programs. It also provides executive education programs.[15]
The School of Policy and Government also cooperates with theAntonin Scalia Law School's National Security Institute in conducting research around legal issues pertaining to national security and with theDonald G. Costello College of Business' Center for Government Contracting.[16] The school is also thepsephology partner ofThe Washington Post, collaborating on electoral polling and analysis for the paper since 2016, the two hold an A+ rating for historical accuracy and methodology in polling fromFiveThirtyEight.[17][18]
The school drew negative attention with the 2009 hiring of GeneralMichael Hayden andRobert Deitz, both former high-ranking government officials, because of their role inmass surveillance including theNSA warrantless surveillance programs of 2001-2007 and other similar ethical criticisms.[19][20] TheMichael V. Hayden Center, a think tank founded in 2017, is associated with the Schar School.[21]
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