Board of Visitors elects new rector, executive committee

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As part of a two-day annual planning conference and George Mason University Board of Visitors meeting, the BOV elected new officers on Friday, with an alumnus chosen to serve a two-year term as rector.

Charles "Cully" Stimson. Photo provided

Charles "Cully" Stimson, JD '92, will lead the 16-member BOV for the next two years. He succeeds Horace Blackman, BA American Studies and English '93, whose term as rector ended but who remains on the board.

"There is no other place like it in the Commonwealth of Virginia," Stimsonsaid. "Not only are we the largest university in Virginia, we have the most diverse student body, and that is a strength. We have world-class programs….We are doing work critical to the national security of this country, and we are a regional powerhouse in terms of providing great graduates to the workforce."

Joining Stimson as new officers are Michael J. Meese as vice rector, Armand Alacbay, JD '04, as secretary, and Robert Pence and Farnaz Farkish Thompson as at-large members of the executive committee. The rector, vice rector, and secretary serve two-year terms and the at-large committee members serve one-year terms.

Kenneth L. Marcus, Nina S. Rees, MA International Transactions '93, and Marc Short were introduced as the new membersof the board at their inaugural meeting Friday.

Faculty Senate President Solon Simmons, undergraduate student representative Maria A. Romero Cuesta, and graduate student representative Carolyn Faith Hoffman also were introduced as new nonvoting members.

During the two-day meeting, George Mason President Gregory Washington detailed how the university is well aligned with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's higher ed priorities holding the distinction of being a top 50 public university.

"We're well-positioned as a powerhouse for leading the state forward and, quite frankly, being one of those few institutions in the country that I believe is truly leading as a public institution," Washington said.

Stimson noted how impressed he was with the speakers and information shared at the BOV's day-long annual conference on July 25. The conference also included a panel discussion with corporate partners from the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Virginia Technology Council on George Mason's role in fueling the region's workforce, and a presentation on the university's growing research on artificial intelligence.