Aug. 21, 2001

EDITORIAL
Assessing GW’s Health

Looking Inward By Looking Forward: Planning for A Bright GW Future

By Charles T. Manatt, Chair, Board of Trustees and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, University President

The George Washington University, in its 181st year, is strong and moving forward on many fronts. This letter will summarize for you some of this progress and report efforts we will be making over the coming year to continue GW’s endeavors.

First, we acknowledge with gratitude the efforts of Sheldon S. Cohen as chair of the University’s Board of Trustees over the past year. In more than 20 years of service to the Board, Sheldon Cohen has contributed enormous vision and leadership. We are grateful that we will continue to have the benefit of his wisdom as he continues to be a Board member.

The physical transformation of the campus is a metaphor for the University’s progress. The new GW Hospital is clearly taking shape. The Health and Wellness Center and Media and Public Affairs Building are now in use for the first full academic year. Construction continues on the Law School and Elliott School buildings as well as our other projects. We continue to plan for additional student residence halls, important to building our desired sense of campus community and consistent with the expressed desires of our neighbors in Foggy Bottom as well as those near our GW at Mount Vernon College campus.

Campus advancement has raised some issues between the University and the community. This has been true with regard to other universities in the District of Columbia as well and, indeed, for urban universities in other cities across the country. The George Washington University is deeply committed to Washington, where we have been located since 1821, and where we provide numerous services to citizens of the District. As one of the city’s largest employers and spenders, we are a significant contributor to the local culture and economy. We strongly believe in this well-established partnership with the city, its people, and its leaders. At the same time, we will plan for GW’s bright future, so that the University can continue to meet its responsibilities to students and its community.

We are pleased to report that the University’s Centuries Campaign has achieved nearly 85 percent of its $500-million target. With continued efforts, the campaign is very likely to be completed ahead of its 2003 deadline. This achievement represents a tangible endorsement of GW’s goals by its loyal alumni and friends. But not all of our needs for the future will be addressed even by this very successful campaign. For example, GW’s endowment of $730 million is less than one-half that of our Baltimore neighbor, Johns Hopkins, which has a very similar mix of academic units and programs to be supported by endowment earnings. Increasing the academic endowment will be a focus of our continuing fund-raising programs, even after the current campaign has been concluded.

All of our efforts, whether centered on the construction of facilities or the raising of gifts, are for the purpose of improving the University’s academic strength. The main outlines of GW’s academic strategy have been clear for more than a decade: to secure its place among the nation’s top-ranked undergraduate institutions, to be acknowledged as one of the nation’s major research universities, to achieve academic excellence in graduate education in selective disciplines, and to help meet the needs of industry and the community for professional education targeted to today’s economy.

Applications for admission to the University continue to increase, reflecting its growing reputation. Indeed, as the number of applications from students of the highest quality have grown, GW has become ever more selective in those it accepts. And we continue to be delighted by the number of accepted applicants who enroll at GW as their first-choice institution.

The achievements of our faculty are perhaps the most visible manifestation of the University’s academic depth. They are leaders both in their scholarly disciplines as well as participants in the broader, national policy-making dialogue.

The University’s constituency is large and complex, including not only faculty, students, and staff, but also the University’s alumni, individuals who receive care at the Medical Center, the broad community of Washington, the international academic and research community, and industry. In serving the needs and wishes of this diverse constituency, GW will need to make choices about those areas in which it can make its maximum contribution. But these choices must be made with broad participation and discussion. We recently have initiated a comprehensive strategic planning process that will help to refine and focus the University’s academic strategy for the coming years. This process will seek input from all University stakeholders as it unfolds over the next year.

Our continuing vision is to build a university of the very highest rank, in the heart of this nation’s capital, serving its neighborhood, the nation, and the world through its intellectual leadership. We are grateful for your confidence, support, and help in this important endeavor, and we will keep you apprised of our programs.

 

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu