Alan Gilbert Merten (December 27, 1941 – May 21, 2020) was the fifth president of George Mason University.
Merten was born on December 27, 1941, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a masters in computer science from Stanford University, and a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Merten began his academic career as an engineering professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was then appointed dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and then dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York.
In 1996, Merten joined George Mason University as the university's fifth president. He retired on June 30, 2012.
Merten was married to Sally Merten, and they had two children and four grandsons.
Merten died on May 21, 2020, at a nursing home in Naples, Florida at age 78, following a battle with Parkinson's disease.