History

The George Mason Review was founded by Christopher Thaiss, formerly a Professor of English at George Mason University, and was originally edited by Matt DeLaMater, Adrian Lurssen, and Laura McDougal. The first issue, published 1992-1993, was titled GMU Freshman Review, as the publication was conceived as an anthology of English 101 and first-year undergraduate writing. The second issue, 1993-1994, dropped Freshman from its title to indicate an expansion of the range and utility of the publication. In the years since, the title was finalized as The George Mason Review.

The first introduction to the publication, published in the 1992-1993 issue, is abridged below.

...We saw the GMU Freshman Review as a reflection of the rich mix of Mason's students--serving both as a medium of communication and as a learning tool. We understood there is much to be gained by a connection that crosses the curriculum; and so, we would create a place to which any student in any first year course could submit their writing. The Review would provide a place for some wonderful writing to be shown.

As our ideas materialized into this, the first issue of the GMU Freshman Review, we realized that the creation of a campus-wide audience was probably one of the most important reasons to complete such a project. When students know their work is being taken seriously beyond the classroom, they may very well aspire to a whole new set of standards and, with purpose and focus, aim at the highest quality possible in their writing. In addition, we hoped to provide models of writing other than the traditional essays written by professional writers and typically used in composition classes. Instead, The Review contains essays that are both more approachable and accessible for the beginning writer, pieces not yet so polished or slick that the student remains outside of the writing process...

We hope we have accomplished what we set out to do: present a collection of papers that covers, at least basically, the diversity of GMU's community and the wide types of writing students will encounter in their classes. Descriptive papers, personal essays, opinions, research projects--writing to organize one's own experience and make one think about oneself, writing to clarify one's own thoughts on a matter and then convince others, and more... We are pleased with what we have to offer you; but certainly, we have hopes for the future--starting with the continued submission of quality papers from across the curriculum, including GMU's many ESL students...

We feel the purpose behind The Review is worthwhile... We hope that you find the essays useful--whether you have just been told to write a personal essay and you're "stuck," or whether you are an instructor looking to show your students how a research paper "works." Let's hope this is the first of many and that it survives through the years not only as a valuable classroom text, but also a record of our concerns and our experiences.