James T. Bennett

James T. Bennett is the Faculty Senate Representative on the Board of Visitors's; Committee on Faculty and Academic Standards who holds the William P. Snavely Professorship in Political Economy and Public Policy. As a member of George Mason's Department of Economics since 1975, Bennett has published more than sixty papers in academic journals and is the author, co-author, or editor of twenty books and numerous monographs. He founded and has served as the editor of the Journal of Labor Research for the past twenty-eight years and directs the John M. Olin Institute for Employment Practice and Policy. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Transaction Publishers, the academic press of Rutgers University. Before joining the Mason faculty, Bennett taught for five years at George Washington University.

As an advocate of shared governance in the academy, Bennett has been actively involved in University affairs. He served as Chair of the Faculty Senate from 2002–2005, as a member of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee from 2001 onwards, and has chaired the Senate's Nominations Committee 2005–. At the college level, he is a long-serving member of the Grievance Committee of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He is an avid proponent of the performing arts at Mason and was a founding member of the Faculty Arts Board and remains active in that organization.

Bennett received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio. His interest in antique automobiles spurred him to obtain an Associates in Science in Automotive Technology from Northern Virginia Community College and to become an ASE Certified Master Automotive Technician. He resides in Fairfax Station with his wife of 40 years, Sally, and his three mid-1950s Chryslers.