Alumni

As a principal architect of the incoming administration’s transition, Schar School Professor of Practice David Ramadan will play a pivotal role in ensuring Governor-elect Spanberger and Lieutenant Governor-elect Hashmi are fully prepared to govern from the moment they take the oath on Inauguration Day.

More than 60 Master of Public Administration students attended the 28th Local Government Night to listen to county leaders—many of them graduates from the same MPA program—discuss their careers. Read what they said.

Why would anyone run for public office in today’s turbulent political climate? We asked these two Schar School graduates why they are charging into the fray with ambitious campaigns to win local offices. Their answers might surprise you.

Careers in space policy are lifting off. Aerospace veteran and Schar School graduate Hina Kazmi introduces a new course in space policy that takes graduate degrees to an elevated level in a burgeoning field of study.

When a major Colorado nonprofit dedicated to helping survivors of domestic violence needed a new leader, they turned to a Schar School alum. Meet Whitney Woods and see how her George Mason University degree inspired her to pursue public service.

After interning and working at key institutions in Washington, D.C., Schar School master’s graduate Brandon Ledford discovered local government was a more satisfying alternative. He says others could as well.

This Army major wanted to combine his military service with the hard science of biodefense. Read how Major Geoffrey Mattoon found his way to the Schar School’s one-of-a-kind graduate program—in the shadow of the Pentagon.

The keynote speaker during the Schar School’s 2025 Degree Celebration program on May 14 is City of Fairfax mayor Catherine S. Read. She’s also a school graduate. Read more about Read.

The federal government isn’t the only employer in town. Government students and those looking for positions in public service and public policy would do well to look at state and local agencies. First of a series.

George Mason alum Michelle Lammers is one of Colorado’s “50 Top Women to Watch.” See how her master’s degree and a study-abroad program to Oxford contributed to her career—and her life.