Schar School of Policy and Government

Saddam Salim came from Bangladesh as an 8-year-old. After bouts of homelessness and reliance on public support, the 2012 and 2015 Schar School graduate is now a Virginia state senator. But his public service journey is hardly over: He is now running for Congress. Read what the keynote speaker at the Degree Celebration will tell the audience on May 16.

A mistranslation in a medical setting can be dangerous. Two Schar School scholars developed an AI-generated platform to overcome language barriers—and have already won an award for it.

Mahmut Cengiz, PhD Public Policy ’10, of George Mason's Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, is a seasoned expert in terrorism, organized crime, and illicit economies. His work focuses on the dynamics of terrorism, smuggling, and criminal networks and contributes significantly to understanding and combating these global challenges. His latest book, Typologies of Terrorist Organizations: Conceptual Lenses and Counterterrorism Measures (Carolina Academic Press, September 2025), was cowritten with Mitchel Roth and Huseyin Cinoglu.

According to the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Program rankings, George Mason University placed 20 programs in the national top 50, including seven in the top 10, reflecting broad strength across business, engineering, law, nursing and public health, public policy, education, fine arts, and sciences. Regionally, seven programs ranked in the top three in the Washington, D.C., region, with 13 programs topping at No. 1 in Virginia.

With the launch last year of the nonprofit Rise Above & Be Relentless Foundation, graduating Master of Global Policy and Commerce’s Sumeya Gibril created the support she wishes had been there for her. The inspiration for the charity, she said, “is me.”

The Schar School welcomed its first cohort into the newly launched National Security and Public Policy master’s program.

Gabriella Grabovska came to the United States in 2022 just after Russia invaded her homeland of Ukraine. The Kyiv native’s first visit to the United States was as a George Mason University student in the Schar School of Policy and Government. Now, four years later, she’s leaving with ambition, experience, and a clear mission.

Life is filled with unexpected twists and turns. In the case of George Mason University lacrosse twins Kaitlyn and Regan Bestick, that road has split and come back together several times. Now, as they compete in their final season together and prepare to separate again, they reflect on their time in the Mason Nation.

Eighty-one energetic Patriots traveled to Richmond on March 5 for Mason Lobbies, where George Mason University President Gregory Washington joined House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, BA Economics ’93, and Senator Saddam Salim, BS Public Administration ’12, MPA ’15, in welcoming students to the General Assembly for a whirlwind day of advocacy.

A new minor, the only one of its kind in the Washington, D.C., region, teaches the arts of lobbying and advocacy. Read about the program and how a collaboration between a mentor and a student developed it.