About Graduate Student Life

The Office of Graduate Student Life is dedicated to supporting the success and well-being of Mason graduate students.

Graduate Student Life is dedicated to supporting the success and well-being of Mason graduate students by:

  • Providing programs and initiatives that promote community-building, professional development, personal development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • Connecting graduate students to campus resources
  • Identifying and advocating for graduate student needs

Graduate Student Life was created as a unit of the Division of University Life in 2011 with the creation of a graduate assistant position and the opening of the Graduate Student Center on the third floor of the Johnson Center. The Graduate Student Life website was created as a partnership between University Life and the Office of the Provost and was launched in Summer 2012; focus groups of faculty members, campus offices, and graduate students informed the content and organization of the website. The Director of Graduate Student Life position was created in 2012. In 2022, the Graduate Student Life has grown a Director and Assistant Director and houses two Graduate Professional Assistants and is the sponsoring department for the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA).

Graduate Student Life Team

  • Headshot for Bernard Atieme

    Graduate Professional Assistant for Graduate Student Leadership and Advising
    Doctoral Candidate, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

    Bernard A. Atieme joins the Graduate Student Life team as Graduate Professional Assistant for graduate student leadership and advising. He has extensive experience mentoring student leaders and supporting student organizations in his academic and professional life. Bernard is currently a doctoral candidate at Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. His master’s degree was in political science, emphasizing politics and public policy. His research interest is on election violence, contentious politics, migration politics, power and corruption, African politics, and development in Africa. Presently Bernard is working on his dissertation, exploring why people participate in election violence. He reads, plays soccer, listens to music, and watches movies in his leisure time.
  • Director, Graduate Student Life, University Life

    As the Director of Graduate Student Life, Julie Choe Kim, Ph.D. (she/her/hers), promotes the success and well-being of Mason graduate students through engagement in professional development, personal development, community-building, and diversity, equity, and inclusion opportunities. She also serves as advisor to the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA). Julie has worked in student affairs in higher education for 20+ years in areas including graduate student life, student activities, multicultural affairs, and residence life.
  • Headshot for Austin A. Deray

    Assistant Director, Graduate Student Life, University Life
    PhD Candidate, Cultural Studies

    As the Assistant Director of Graduate Student Life, Austin A. Deray's (he/his/him) primary focus is Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Community Building, and Well-Being initiatives & programming for Mason’s graduate and professional student populations and oversees the management of the units communications. Austin joined the Mason community as a Graduate Professional Assistant for Graduate Student Life in August of 2016, after over ten years working in higher education both as a faculty member and Higher Ed professional.
  • Headshot for Cydni L. Young.

    Graduate Professional Assistant, Graduate Student Engagement, Graduate Student Life

    Cydni is the newest member of Graduate Student Life, as Graduate Professional Assistant for Graduate Student Engagement. Cydni is in her first year of the Master of Public Health program, concentrating in Community Health Promotion. She strives to provide peace and equity to low-income families and children through health promotion and disease counseling and working towards the dismantling of existing health disparities. Prior to attending Mason, Cydni received her B.S. in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. She is originally from Detroit, MI, but has lived in Fredericksburg, VA ever since she was a child. In her free time, she loves listening to music, singing, running, and spending quality time with close friends and family. 

Contact Us

By Mail:

Office of Graduate Student Life
4400 University Drive, MS 2A4
Fairfax, VA 22030

Phone: 703-993-4031
Fax: 703-993-9528
Email: gradlife@gmu.edu

Our office: 

Student Union Building I (SUB 1), Rooms 3326, 3324, and 4012

4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Mason Grad Insider Blog

Join Our Mailing List for Graduate Education News!
To receive regular updates about opportunities and events just for Mason graduate and professional students, subscribe to the Weekly Graduate Student Newsletter. Your information will not be shared with anyone else.