Janette Muir, PhD

Dr. Janette Muir is vice provost for Academic Affairs at George Mason University. She oversees the Office of Accreditation and Program Integrity, the Office of Academic Standards, the Office of Continuing and Professional Education, as well as study abroad programs, global engagement, and undergraduate and graduate education. She manages external academic relations with Virginia community colleges, including the successful ADVANCE partnership with Northern Virginia Community College. Muir also serves as the chief academic liaison to Mason Korea.  

Prior to this position, Muir served as the associate provost for Academic Initiatives and Services and associate provost for Undergraduate Education at George Mason. She served as Academic Policies Committee chair on George Mason’s Faculty Senate for five years and as an elected faculty representative to the Board of Visitors for four years. Before serving on the Faculty Senate, Muir led New Century College (now School of Integrative Studies). 

Committed to teaching excellence, Muir has been recognized for the quality of her teaching both at the university and national levels. She was named a Teaching Fellow for the Eastern Communication Association (ECA) and awarded a C-SPAN Fellow for her educational involvement with the cable network. She is a Centennial Scholar in the communication discipline, past president of ECA, and past editor of Communication Quarterly, a top-tier journal in the Communication discipline. 

Muir's extensive scholarly and professional engagement is highlighted by over 40 articles and book chapters, and more than 130 presentations and workshops across diverse national and international forums. Her academic home at George Mason is in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences where she is an associate professor in Communication and Integrative Studies. Her academic life focuses on the areas of political communication, civic engagement, and the study of the presidency. Working with University Life, she has helped lead efforts to engage students in political participation on campus. Her recent work focuses on presidential first ladies. 

Muir received a PhD from the University of Massachusetts in the area of rhetoric and political communication. She also earned an MA in communication from Wake Forest University, as well as a BS in behavioral science and a BS in communication arts from Palm Beach Atlantic University.  

Education

PhD, Rhetorical and Political Communication, University of Massachusetts
MA, Speech Communication, Wake Forest University
BS, Behavioral Science and Communication Arts (double major), Palm Beach Atlantic College