Departments and Programs
African and African American Studies
BA, Minor
The Department of African and African American Studies brings together scholars and scholarship from many disciplines to explore the cultural, historical, economic, and political dimensions and experiences of people of African descent in the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, and throughout the Diaspora.
Communication
PhD, MA, Accelerated MA, Graduate Certificate, BA, Minor
Communication is the study of basic human social processes: the creation and dissemination of meaning and information. The Department of Communication fosters knowledge and provides a transformational academic and cultural experience for students entering the complex public and private communication environments. The department offers five concentrations in the undergraduate major, six minors, and certificate, masters, and doctoral level graduate programs.
Criminology, Law and Society
PhD, MA, MS, Accelerated MS, BA, BS, Minor
The Department of Criminology, Law and Society provides a strong liberal arts education through focused study on the justice system to help solve problems of crime and justice and shape the next generation of leaders in public policy and criminal justice system practice. The program offers both BA and BS degrees, as well as MA, MS, PhD, and an accelerated MS degree for current Mason students.
Cultural Studies
PhD
Cultural Studies provides a space for scholarly dialogues which draw upon theory and methods from several disciplines—including anthropology, history, literary studies, philosophy, political economy, and sociology—to create a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to study that attempts to account for the instability of objects, events, and processes under changing capitalist relations. Mason’s Cultural Studies program is the oldest stand-alone doctoral program in cultural studies in the United States.
Economics
PhD, MA, Accelerated MA, BA, BS, Minor
The Mason style of economics—known as “Masonomics”--fuses scholarship in the fields of public choice, Austian economics, and experimental economics, and has developed an international reputation for its innovative curriculum. The department offers both BA and BS degrees, as well as an MA, PhD, and accelerated master’s program for students in the undergraduate programs.
English
PhD, MFA, MA, Accelerated MA, Graduate Certificate, BA, BFA, Minor
The English department at Mason provides a learning environment that stresses the importance of writing and reading in both creative and scholarly pursuits. Students can study creative writing, folklore, linguistics, literature, writing and rhetoric, and more through the program’s multiple concentrations in both the undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The department confers BA, BFA, MA, MFA, and PhD degrees, and graduate certificates.
Global Affairs
MA, Accelerated MA, Dual Degree MA, BA, Minor
The Global Affairs Program at Mason is one of the few truly interdisciplinary programs in which students examine transnational and international processes in a wide range of areas. Students also study specific regions and languages, and investigate the ways particular parts of the world experience global phenomena. The program offers a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, multiple minors, an accelerated master’s degree for current Mason undergraduate students, and the option to complete the bachelor’s degree entirely online.
Higher Education
PhD, MA, Graduate Certificate
The Higher Education Program prepares new and mid-level professionals for careers in higher education at community colleges and four-year institutions, as well as in associations, government agencies, and industries whose activities relate to or impact higher education. The program offers two graduate certificates, a PhD in education, and an MA in Higher Education and Student Development.
History and Art History
PhD, MA, Accelerated MA, Graduate Certificate, BA, Minor
George Mason University is one of the few universities in the country that houses its art history department not in a school of Fine Arts but with the history department, to create one uniquely interdisciplinary department. The department offers bachelor’s, master’s, and minors in both art history and history, as well as a PhD in history and an online graduate certificate in digital public humanities. Accelerated master’s degrees are also available in both disciplines for current Mason undergraduates.
Interdisciplinary Studies
MAIS, Accelerated MAIS, Dual Degree MA
Known as “a master’s with a mission,” the MAIS (Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies) program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences offers a home for students with broad academic interests who seek a master's degree that will help them address critical problems facing the world today. MAIS students can choose a prepared interdisciplinary pathway in subjects such as social justice and human rights, women and gender studies, and energy and sustainability; or they can create an individualized concentration. Accelerated master’s degree options are available for current Mason undergraduates as well.
Latin American Studies
Minor
Latin American studies focuses on the diverse and connected regions, societies, and cultures of Latin America. The product of a long and turbulent history of conquest, resistance, and cultural mixing, Latin American culture is a rich amalgam of African, indigenous, and European components. The minor in Latin American studies is an interdisciplinary program that offers Mason students an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of this fascinating and important region of the world.
Middle East and Islamic Studies
MA, Accelerated MA, Graduate Certificate, Minor
The interdisciplinary Middle East and Islamic Studies Program provides students with a firm grounding in the history, politics, and culture of this important region. Students develop an understanding of the diverse dynamics and complex forces that shape modern Middle East realities, and appreciate the vast diversity of the region, which includes the Arab world, Israel, Iran, and Turkey. The program offers an MA and accelerated MA in Middle East and Islamic Studies, a graduate certificate in Middle East and Islamic Studies, a minor in Middle East Studies, and a minor in Islamic Studies.
Modern and Classical Languages
MA, Accelerated MA, Dual Degree MA, Graduate Certificate, BA, Minor
The Department of Modern and Classical Languages is at the center of the multilingual and global community that distinguishes George Mason University, with instruction in Arabic, Chinese, Classical Studies, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. The department’s integrated, technology-enhanced curriculum fuses students’ acquisition of linguistic proficiency with their development of cultural knowledge, critical thinking, and ethics. The program offers undergraduate and master’s degrees with concentrations in specific languages, and minors that incorporate language study with cultural knowledge.
Philosophy
MA, Accelerated MA, Dual Degree MA, BA, Minor
Through the study of philosophy, students become familiar with the long tradition of Western thought on basic questions of human existence: How should I live? What is a just society? What is knowledge? What is beauty? Is there a God? Studying philosophy gives students the opportunity to think carefully and deeply about themselves and their place in society, and helps them develop logic and critical thinking, clear argumentative writing, careful reading and analysis of texts, and oral argument. Mason’s philosophy program offers undergraduate and master’s degrees, as well as minors.
Psychology
PhD, MA, MPS, Accelerated MA, Graduate Certificate, BA, BS, Minor
The Department of Psychology conducts innovative, high-impact research and provides intensive training for undergraduate and graduate students, to generate new knowledge and the apply evidence-based practices to enhance human potential, solve real-world problems, and promote the individual and common good for all people. With one of the largest undergraduate programs at Mason, the department offers BA and BS degrees and seven minors, as well as master’s-level and doctoral graduate programs.
Religious Studies
MAIS, Accelerated MAIS, BA, Minor
Acquiring a basic competency or fluency about religion is fundamental to the understanding of any culture and its art, literature, ethical worldview, and legislation, as well as sciences and technologies. Mason’s Department of Religious Studies offers courses and degree programs that foster an intensive study into a singular religion, comparative study across various religions, and cross-disciplinary study on the engagement between religion with other areas human life, including the cultures of the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the wider Mediterranean, and across diverse historical contexts. The program offers a BA, three minors, and a concentration within the Master of Arts in Individualized Study degree.
Russian and Eurasian Studies
BA, Minor
The Russian and Eurasian Studies program brings together experienced Mason faculty who guide students' exploration of the region's culture, economy, government, history, literature, and politics. All majors have the opportunity to study abroad, and they acquire the language skills needed to function successfully in social settings and a variety of careers. The program offers a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Eurasian studies, with concentrations available in Eurasia studies, Russia studies, and Russian language and culture, and a minor in Russian.
School of Integrative Studies
BA, BIS, BS, Minor
The School of Integrative Studies (SIS) offers a distinctive experience that addresses contemporary social, global, and environmental challenges. Students choose their own paths, designing an individualized course of study or selecting from a broad array of concentrations that connect academic interests with hands-on learning to prepare for a life and career with meaning and impact. SIS offers a BA and a BS in integrative studies, a BA in environmental and sustainability studies, and eight minors.
Sociology and Anthropology
PhD, MA, Accelerated MA, Dual Degree MA, BA, Minor
The Department of Sociology and Anthropology integrates two disciplines, benefiting from their shared interests while maintaining their distinct identities. The department pursues scholarship in matters that anthropology and sociology have shared since their inception: the imprint of culture on all social life, the significance of power for human institutions, the value of comparative, global analysis, and the importance of scholarship that engages pressing public concerns. The department’s faculty represent diverse research areas and employ a range of qualitative and quantitative methods. The program offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology and in anthropology, a doctoral degree in sociology, and minors in anthropology, sociology, and immigration studies.
Women and Gender Studies
MAIS, Accelerated MAIS, Graduate Certificate, BA, Minor
The Women and Gender Studies program provides a physical and intellectual space for exploring social inequalities grounded in the concepts of gender, sexuality, race, and class across interdisciplinary lines in sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and policy. An interdisciplinary program that includes core faculty and affiliates from across the university, WGST offers courses addressing human rights, queer theory, feminist and queer disability studies, sexuality, immigration, gender-based violence, and intersections of race, class, and gender. The program offers a graduate certificate and a concentration in the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as a concentration in the Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies, a minor in women and gender studies, and a minor in LGBTQ studies.
