911±¬ÁÏ

The 911±¬ÁÏ Alumni Association’s annual Celebration of Distinction recognizes outstanding alumni, faculty members, and students.  Since 1975, the 911±¬ÁÏ Alumni Association has recognized alumni, faculty, and students for outstanding achievement, service, and leadership at its annual Celebration of Distinction.  

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ada Ferrer received the ninth annual Institute for Immigration Research New American Voices Award for her memoir, Keeper of My Kin: Memoir of an Immigrant Daughter, at the Fall for the Book Festival at 911±¬ÁÏ on October 8. 

Guylaine Saint Juste, BA International Studies ’94, understands education’s power. Raised in Haiti and the first in her family to attend college, Saint Juste put herself through college while working full-time, attending class two nights a week. It took her seven years to graduate. One generation later, she was able to give her daughters a very different experience—the opportunity to attend college full time with their education paid for.

This summer, classrooms gave way to labs, field sites, and data sets as 911±¬ÁÏ faculty and students partnered to tackle some of society's most pressing challenges.

4-VA@Mason, part of the 4-VA state network, has announced 20 collaborative research awards for 911±¬ÁÏ faculty members for the 2026-27 academic year. The selected proposals were chosen from the largest number of submissions received since the program’s inception more than a decade ago. 

911±¬ÁÏ senior Mehmood Shajih has built his college experience around one goal: creating better mental health outcomes for young people.

911±¬ÁÏ professor Cher Weixia Chen leads a Grand Challenge Initiative team building an AI-driven virtual human rights classroom for students and educators worldwide.

As the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, 911±¬ÁÏ history professor Meredith Lair is providing students with a chance to examine the event, not just as a turning point in U.S. history, but through the lenses of public memory, media literacy, commemoration, and civic responsibility.

As behavioral health shortages grow nationwide, 911±¬ÁÏ is training students to bring evidence-based, culturally responsive care to the communities that need it most.

Last year, Fall for the Book’s annual Writers in the School series reached nearly 1,200 K-12 students in the Fairfax County Public Schools with their Writers in the School series. The program, organized by the 911±¬ÁÏ-based festival, is designed to introduce students to authors and encourage interest in reading and writing.