The Schar School of Policy and Government is a school at George Mason University. Its main office and graduate programs are located in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., while its undergraduate programs are at the university's main campus in Fairfax, Virginia. In 2019, U.S. News and World Report ranked the Schar School as the second best graduate program in Concentrations in Homeland/National Security and Emergency Management. In 2018, Foreign Policy Magazine ranked the school 36th for "Top Master’s Programs for Policy Career in International Relations" and 47th for “Top PhD Programs for Academic Career in International Relations.”
History
The Schar School was founded as an institute in 1990 and evolved to become the graduate-level School of Public Policy in 2000. In August 2014, it merged with the Department of Public and International Affairs to form the George Mason University School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs. In May 2016, the school was renamed the Schar School of Policy and Government in recognition of a $10 million gift from businessman and philanthropist Dwight Schar. In 2016, the Schar School announced it would partner with The Washington Post to conduct political polling. The Washington Post-Schar School polls correctly predicted that Hillary Clinton would win Virginia in the 2016 presidential race, Democrat Doug Jones would win Alabama's 2017 senatorial race, and Democrat Ralph Northam would win Virginia's 2018 gubernatorial election.
Campus
The Schar School is located in Arlington, Virginia approximately 15 miles away from the university's main campus in Fairfax. The 5.2-acre campus is in the Virginia Square neighborhood which has a highly educated and affluent population. The Arlington campus was once the site of the now-defunct Kann's Department Store, and the property was acquired as the location for the University's law school by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1979. 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 bring Amazon's HQ2 to Virginia, the state has committed up to $125 million over the next 20 years to expand the Arlington campus with an emphasis on research and technology.
Academics
Faculty
In March 2018, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe was named a visiting professor at the Schar School His guest lectures at the Schar School of Policy and Government focus primarily on “how workers can succeed in the increasingly global economy". McAuliffe makes $60,000 a year, the standard for such Schar School positions, and is expected to donate his salary to charity.
Degrees
The Schar School offers students PhD, master's, bachelor's, and graduate certificate programs. The PhD Program includes doctorates in biodefense, political science, and public policy. The master's degree programs include biodefense, international commerce and policy, international security, organization development and knowledge management, political science, public administration, public policy, and transportation policy, operations, and logistics. Graduate certificate programs are offered in biodefense, emergency management and homeland security, global health and security, national security and public policy, nonprofit management, public management, science, technology, and security, and terrorism and homeland security. The undergraduate degree programs include a Bachelor of Arts in Government and International Politics and a Bachelor of Sciencein Public Administration.
