Alumni News

A few days after completing his last season of college basketball at George Mason University, Gabe Norwood, BA Communication ’07, began a hoop odyssey that would take him to nearly 30 countries and make him a national basketball hero in a country thousands of miles from Virginia.

Hannah Dabney, BA Environmental and Sustainability Studies ’23, recently lived in Samoa where she served as a Peace Corps Ridge to Reef Resilience Promoter Volunteer, helping communities balance environmental protection with local development needs.

English associate professor Elizabeth Martelli, PhD Writing and Rhetoric ‘19, is training as an amateur boxer and will compete in a boxing match this fall to raise money in support of cancer research and awareness with Haymakers for Hope.

Former George Mason women's soccer player Hollis Kosco, BA Speech Communication '94, is serving as the senior transportation manager for the World Cup.

CHSS is excited to announce that Brian van de Graaff, BA Speech Communication ’97 and CHSS Distinguished Alum '24, will address graduates and their guests as the alumni speaker of the upcoming degree celebration on May 16.  

Sumeya Gibril, BIS '23, a graduating master’s student in the Schar School of Policy and Government, created a nonprofit last May called the Rise Above & Be Relentless Foundation, a 501c (3) organization that assists women navigating sexual assault and domestic abuse.

Ashley Fortner, BS Integrative Studies ’17, has been an Elephant Trails keeper with the Smithsonian's National Zoo since 2019 and is currently helping with newborn Linh Mai.

Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent Mohamed Hassan, BA Religious Studies ’20, was a field liaison officer during the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.

Through a remarkable planned gift to George Mason University, Robert “Ken” Hedrick Jr., BA History ’71, has created four endowed scholarships to benefit first-generation students.

Michael J. A. Davis, BA Integrative Studies ’09, has partnered with George Mason to create a co-branded coffee: "Brave & Bold."