Jada Salter, BA Film and Video Studies, 2020
Film and Video Studies alumna (2020) Jada Salter (pictured, far right) always knew that her grandfather was special so she wanted to share his story with the world. For part of her capstone project, Jada made a short documentary about William ("Salty Bill") Salter, three-time Grammy winner, composer, musician, and writer of the song, Just the Two of Us. She then went on to make that short film into a feature called Just the Two of Us, which aired in February 2024.
Alumni List
2013, Theater Minor
Rafael Sebastian is a professional actor and musician based in Washington D.C. Since earning his double minor degrees in music and theater in the Spring of 2013, he has performed throughout the DC/Baltimore region, as well as the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento theater communities in California.
2016, Theater, BFA
Mailey Shimon spent January and February of 2016 in New York as Costume Design Production Assistant on the stage adaption of the movie, A Bronx Tale. The production was co-directed by Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks, and opened February 14, 2016 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.
Computer Game Design, 2011
Tim Simmons was the first graduate ever of the Computer Game Design program at Mason. He went on to achieve a Master’s in Cyber Security and currently works as a Server Integration Engineer. He moonlights as a hobby game designer at a company he started called Pocket of Pixels. He has also been approved as a Playstation Partner and is currently developing a game for the PS5.
MFA Printmaking, 2015
Anne is teaching artist for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and has taught drawing at George Mason University. Her art practice includes processes of drawing, sculpture, and printmaking to study variations on boundaries, paths, and liminal spaces.
2021, BFA, Dance
Hope Spears is from West Palm Beach, FL and is currently a senior dance major at George Mason. Hope went to Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts and trained at local studios in South Florida. She has attended summer programs such as Bates Dance Festival, The School at Jacob’s Pillow (Contemporary Program), and most recently, the virtual intensives of Doug Varone and the TL Collective.
2013, MM Music Education
Matthew Stensrud is currently in his seventh year teaching kindergarten through fifth grade general music at Annandale Terrace Elementary School, a Title I public school in Fairfax County, Virginia.
2020, Arts Management, MA
Joanne (Shiyun) Tang grew up in Guangzhou, China and finished her undergraduate study in Communication at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Singapore Institute of Management.
2012, Theater, BA
Dawn Taylor-Torres is currently pursuing a career in Atlanta GA, one of the two biggest markets in the US for film and television production today. She arrived in Atlanta in 2014 and within one year she went from being an extra, to stand in, to photo-double, to off-camera reader for the Vampire Diaries stars, to getting signed with one of the top agencies in Atlanta. She credits her success to her hard work and willingness to put herself “out there,” as well as to all the support she received from her professors back home at Mason!
Technical Assistant Manager, CVPA
Erwin (Elmo) is an artist, printmaker, photographer, and video editor. He traveled extensively with his military family before settling in the Washington, D.C. area.
2021, BFA, Dance
Isis is a 2021 graduating senior from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She studied at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, Alabama where she discovered her love for modern and contemporary dance.