Melvin Murphy was appointed to the Fairfax County Consumer Protection Commission filling the seat vacated by freshman Del. Steve Shannon (D-35th). The commission is a citizen's commission that hosts public meetings and works with the Department of Cable Communications and Consumer Protection on consumer issues including taxicab certificates, cable communications, and illegal, fraudulent or deceptive consumer practices in the marketplace.
George W. Johnson, president emeritus of George Mason University, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the College of William and Mary at it annual Charter Day ceremony Feb. 7. The event marks the 311th anniversary of the founding of the college by a royal charter from King William III and Queen Mary II of Great Britain.
Since Johnson became president in 1978, enrollment at George Mason has more than doubled. He opened the region's first performing arts center, which now entertains more than 100,000 patrons a year, and helped found the Northern Virginia Roundtable. In 1984, Washingtonian Magazine named Johnson, a Rotary Harris Fellow and recipient of the Northern Virginia Community Foundation Award, a Washingtonian of the Year. He has twice served as president of the Association of Virginia Colleges and Universities, chaired the American Association of State Colleges and Universities' Committee on State Relations, and was a member of the American Council on Education's Business-Higher Education Forum. Johnson currently serves on the board of Inova Hospital Foundation and lives with his wife Joanne in Fairfax.
Marine Corps Sgt. Craig A. McGill, son of Kathy P. and Gene M. McGill of Oakton, recently reported for duty with 2nd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C. McGill is a 1995 graduate of James Madison High School of Vienna.