| The George Washington University | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Deus Nobis Fiducia (God in our trust)[1] |
| Established | February 9, 1821 |
| Type | Private |
| Endowment | $1.331 billion (FY 2011)[2] |
| Chairman | W. Russell Ramsey |
| President | Steven Knapp |
| Provost | Steven R. Lerman |
| Academic staff | 2,062 |
| Students | 24,531 |
| Undergraduates | 10,813 |
| Postgraduates | 13,718 |
| Location | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Campus | Urban — Foggy Bottom; Suburban — Mount Vernon; Rural — Ashburn |
| Colors | Buff and Blue |
| Nickname | Colonials |
| Mascot | George, the Colonial |
| Website | gwu.edu |
The George Washington University (GW, GWU, or George Washington) is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on February 9, 1821, as The Columbian College in the District of Columbia.[3]
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Baptist missionary and leading minister Luther Rice raised funds to purchase a site for a college to educate citizens in Washington, D.C. A large building was constructed on College Hill, which is now known as Meridian Hill, and on February 9, 1821, President James Monroe approved the congressional charter creating the non-denominational Columbian College in the District of Columbia. The first commencement in 1824 was considered an important event for the young city of Washington, D.C.. In attendance were President Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis de Lafayette, and other dignitaries. During the Civil War, most students left to join the Confederacy and the college's buildings were used as a hospital and barracks. Walt Whitman was among many of the volunteers to work on the campus. Following the war, in 1873, Columbian College became the Columbian University and moved to an urban downtown location centered on 15th and H streets, NW.
In 1904, Columbian University changed its name to The George Washington University in an agreement with the George Washington Memorial Association to build a campus building in honor of the first U.S. president. Neither the university nor the association were able to raise enough money for the proposed building, however, but the name stuck.[4] The university relocated its principal operations to the D.C. neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in 1912.[5]
The George Washington University, like much of Washington, D.C., traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons. The Bible that the presidents of the university use to swear an oath on upon inauguration is the Bible of Freemason George Washington. Freemasonry symbols are prominently displayed throughout the campus including the foundation stones of many of the university buildings.[6]
The majority of the present infrastructure and financial stability at GW is due to the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg. In the 1930s, the University was a major center for theoretical physics. The cosmologist George Gamow produced critical work on the Big Bang Theory at GW in the 1930s and 1940s. In one of the most important moments in the 20th century, Niels Bohr announced that Otto Hahn had successfully split the atom on January 26, 1939 at the Fifth Washington Conference on theoretical physics in the Hall of Government.[7] During the Vietnam War era, Thurston Hall, an undergraduate dormitory housing 875 students was (according to campus folklore) a staging ground for Student Anti-War Demonstrations (at 1900 F Street NW, the building is 3 blocks from the White House). In 1996, the university purchased the Mount Vernon College for Women in the city's Palisades neighborhood that became the school's coeducational Mount Vernon Campus. The campus was first utilized in 1997 for women only, but became co-educational in a matter of years. The Mount Vernon campus is now totally integrated into the GW community, serving as a complement to the Foggy Bottom campus. In December 2006, the university named Johns Hopkins University provost Steven Knapp its next president. He began his presidency on August 1, 2007.[8]
The main GW campus consists of 43 acres (170,000 m2) in historic Foggy Bottom and is located a few blocks from the White House, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, State Department and the National Mall. Barring a few outlying buildings, the boundaries of campus are delineated by (running clockwise from Washington Circle) Pennsylvania Avenue, 19th Street, E Street, Virginia Avenue, 24th Street, and New Hampshire Avenue. The University owns much of the property in Foggy Bottom and leases it to various tenants, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Other nearby institutions include the Harry S. Truman Building (Department of State headquarters), John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, United States Institute of Peace, Watergate complex, and the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The university has a significant presence in the area. Signs indicating the relative location of various university buildings can be found on almost every street corner. The student union (the Marvin Center), several residence halls, the Media and Public Affairs building, Academic Center and other major academic buildings are located within a three-block radius of University Yard (the original quadrangle on campus).
The nearby area surrounding George Washington's main library, Gelman Library, forms the hub of the campus. The seven-story library building contains over two million volumes and is constructed in the Brutalist architectural style of the 1970s. It features a concrete façade punctuated by windows that are divided by projecting vertical slabs. For most of the year, parts of the library are open 24 hours a day, seven days per week for use by students, faculty and staff. The seventh floor of the library includes the Special Collections Research Center, National Security Archives (NSA), Global Resources Center, and Kiev Library. The NSA is a research institution that publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of American foreign policy. It was a National Security Archive Freedom of Information Act request that eventually made the Central Intelligence Agency's so-called "Family Jewels" public.[9]
Close to the library is Lisner Auditorium and a large open area between them is known as Kogan Plaza. Southeast of the plaza and located near Monroe Hall and Hall of Government is the Monroe Court, a landscaped area with a large fountain. The Foggy Bottom–GWU Washington Metro station is located at the intersection of 23rd and I Streets NW due south of Washington Circle, and provides access to the Orange and Blue lines. The University Hospital is located next to the Metro station entrance.[10][11][12]
The Foggy Bottom campus contains most of the residential dormitories in which GW students live. The most notable include: Ivory Tower, Thurston Hall, Madison Hall, Potomac House, Fulbright Hall, Mitchell Hall, Crawford Hall, Schenley Hall, Munson Hall, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Hall, Phillip Amsterdam Hall, The West End and the newest residence, South Hall, among others.
In late 2007, construction began on a large mixed-use residential, office and retail development located on the site of the old GW Hospital (Square 54) and just east of the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metrorail station. It was the second-largest undeveloped lot in the District of Columbia at the time of initial construction activity.[13]
In 1999, the university acquired the 23-acre (93,000 m2) Mount Vernon College for Women and renamed it The George Washington University - Mount Vernon Campus.[14]
The George Washington University also operates a research and graduate campus in Ashburn, Virginia (near Dulles International Airport) and several other graduate satellite education centers including the Alexandria Graduate Education Center in Alexandria, the Graduate Education Center in Arlington, and the Hampton Roads Center in Newport News. The Virginia Science and Technology Campus campus hosts more than a dozen research centers, labs, and institutes including the National Crash Analysis Center.[15]
The George Washington University is governed by a Board of Trustees and the president who are in charge of managing the institution as a whole and providing a vision for the future.[16] The current Chairman of the Board is W. Russell Ramsey. Ramsey is a business entrepreneur who is known as the co-founder of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, a top investment bank in the United States. He is currently the chairman, CEO, and CIO of Ramsey Asset Management.[17] Other Trustees include: Randy L. Levine, president of the New York Yankees, and actress Kerry Washington.
The current President is Steven Knapp who was the provost at Johns Hopkins University before being chosen by the Board of Trustees in 2007. Knapp is the sixteenth president of the university.[18] There is no student representative on the board.[19]
In the Chronicle of Higher Education survey of college presidents' salaries for 2007-08, then-President Stephen Trachtenberg topped the nation with a compensation of $3.7 million.[20]
GW is organized into twelve schools and colleges, each with a different dean and organization.
| Undergraduate & Graduate Schools of The George Washington University | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbian College of Arts and Sciences | School of Media and Public Affairs | School of Business | Elliott School of International Affairs | School of Public Health and Health Services | School of Engineering and Applied Science |
The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) is the oldest and largest college in the university. It was founded in 1821; at the beginning of the university's history, there was no distinction between this college and the university. The School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA), and the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration (SPPPA) belong to this college, although they are run separately. The Columbian College was among the first American institutions to grant a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), in 1888.[21] The Columbian College is notable for its academic diversity.[21] Nonetheless, the student body lacks ethnic diversity in line with the general public. While blacks constitute 55% of the population of the District of Columbia, and 12.1% of the nation as a whole, they constitute only 2.3% of the undergraduate population.[22]
The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration is a graduate school in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. The Trachtenberg School offers Master of Public Policy, Master of Public Administration, and PhD degrees in Public Policy and Public Administration. The school works in partnership with the Elliott School of International Affairs, The School of Public Health and Health Services, and The Graduate School of Education & Human Development to offer a variety of concentrations for its graduates. For Public Affairs Schools, it is ranked 14th nationwide by US News & World Report[23]
The School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA), which, although run separately, belongs to the Columbian College of Arts in Sciences. It offers two undergraduate degrees, Journalism and Mass Communication and Political Communication and a master's degree in Media and Public Affairs. It is housed in the same building as the Graduate School of Political Management. The Public Affairs Project at GWU, part of SMPA, is responsible for the creation and production of the PBS special, Planet Forward. [School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) is one of the few schools in the country, and GWU was the first, to offer a Bachelor's Degree in political communication. The program boasts a faculty of retired and current professionals- including CNN correspondents, journalists, political analysts, and campaign professionals.
The School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) or simply the George Washington School of Medicine, was founded in 1824 due to the need for doctors in the District of Columbia.[24] In 1981, the Medical Center became the center of the national spotlight when President Ronald Reagan was rushed to the emergency room after an attempted assassination. The emergency room area was later renamed the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine, and other politicians, such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, come to GW for routine and emergency procedures.[25] Cheney and wife Lynne Cheney then helped to start the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute in 2006. Others include former First Lady Laura Bush who was treated for a pinched nerve a few years ago. An associate school in the university is the School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS).[26]
George Washington University Law School was established in 1826 and is the oldest law school in the District of Columbia.[27] Supreme Court Justices William Strong, David J. Brewer, and John Marshall Harlan were among those who served on its faculty. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, and Justice Antonin Scalia presided over its moot court in 2006, 2007, and 2009, respectively.[28]
The Graduate School of Education & Human Development (GSEHD) officially started in 1909. The school is composed of three distinct academic departments, and it is one of the largest schools within GW. U.S. News & World Report rated the graduate program in the top 20, and was 5th overall in total research expenditures.[29]
The School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) was founded on October 1, 1884 as the Corcoran Scientific School of Columbian University. The school separated from the Columbian College in 1962 and was one of the first to accept women for degree candidacy in engineering and has awarded the most engineering doctoral degrees to women in the country.[30] The bazooka was invented at the SEAS in 1942.[31]
The Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA) was founded in 1898 as the School of Comparative Jurisprudence and Diplomacy. Under President Lloyd Elliott, the school separated from Columbian College. On September 3, 2005, alumnus Colin Powell opened a new complex for this school at 1957 E Street NW in front of the Department of State.[32]
The George Washington School of Business was established in 1928 with a $1 million gift by The Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Freemasonry Southern Jurisdiction.[33]
On February 6, 2006, the Chairman and CEO of FedEx, Frederick Smith, opened a new complex for the school called Duquès Hall.[34]
The School of Business is located in the Ric & Dawn Duquès Hall, named after graduate Ric Duques.
During the Trachtenberg Presidency, the university created several professional schools. Some schools founded during his era were the College of Professional Studies,[35] and the Graduate School of Political Management.[36]
GW received 21,135 applications and admitted 6,655 students for the class of 2014, or approximately 31.5% of applicants.[37] GW Law is ranked 20th in the country.[38]
Students at GW participate in a variety of educational opportunities. There are 9,700 full-time undergraduates studying in 87 majors with 1,500 in business, 500 in engineering, 2,000 in international affairs, 700 in communications and media, 800 in sciences and math, 2,900 in social sciences, and 1,300 in arts, languages, and humanities. Nearly 900 students participate in GW's Study Abroad Programs each semester in 50 countries.[39] Additionally, about 125 entering students each fall join the University Honors Program community of 500 students.
The George Washington University has been ranked by The Princeton Review in the Top 10 for the following categories:[40]
The University is currently ranked 50th in the nation by the U.S. News national university ranking.[41]
| Undergraduate | Graduate | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 58.0% | 54.7% | 66.7% |
| Asian | 10.2% | 8.9% | 4.4% |
| Black | 6.9% | 9.3% | 12.8% |
| Hispanic | 6.6% | 4.2% | 15.1% |
| Unspecified | 12.5% | 12.1% | N/A |
| Native American | 0.3% | 0.7% | 1.0% |
| International student | 5.4% | 10.0% | N/A |
| Men | 44.4% | 45.1% | N/A |
| Women | 55.6% | 54.9% | N/A |
At the George Washington University, tuition is guaranteed to remain at the freshman rate for up to ten continuous (full time) semesters of attendance at the university. Tuition has risen 58 percent over the past seven years.[44] Tuition for the 2009-2010 year was $41,610,[45] while the combined room and board is approximately $10,000 for incoming freshmen. Because of The George Washington University's fixed tuition rate, that tuition applies only to the Class of 2013.[46][47] Tuition for the 2011-2012 year is $42,860, with combined room and board being $10,120.[48] The tuition rate only applies to the incoming Class of 2015 and will not increase for those students for up to 10 semesters. GW is the third most expensive school in the United States of America.[49]
There are major research institutions that many students utilize like the Library of Congress, the National Institutes of Health, the Carnegie Institute, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and the National Geographic Society. Many think tanks nearby provide students with every opportunity to participate in research projects with professors and advisors.[50]
The university is located in downtown D.C., near the Kennedy Center, embassies, and other cultural events. There are many student organizations at the University. GW has a Division I athletics program that includes men's baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, women's lacrosse, rowing, soccer, women's softball, squash, swimming & diving, tennis, women's volleyball, and water polo.[51] Colonials athletics teams compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference. While only a Division II program, the Men's and Women's Rugby Teams both compete in the Potomac Rugby Union and have had much recent success.[52]
Most student organizations are run through the Student Association (SA). The SA is fashioned after the federal government with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch.[53] Some SA presidents have been successful after college, such as former SA president Edward "Skip" Gnehm, who was the Ambassador to Kuwait during the Gulf War and received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and two Presidential Meritorious Service Awards. There are over 300 registered student organizations on campus. The largest student organization on campus claiming a membership approaching 2000, the GW College Democrats have hosted speakers such as CNN contributor Donna Brazile and former DNC Chairman Howard Dean among numerous others. Likewise, the GW College Republicans, one of the largest CR chapters in the nation, have been visited by politicians like John Ashcroft former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former President George W. Bush.[54] The International Affairs Society (IAS) runs the university's award-winning Model United Nations team, in addition to hosting yearly high school and middle school Model UN conferences on campus. The GW Chapter of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, or GW STAND, was formed in 2003 and works with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Genocide Intervention Network on information about genocide in Darfur.[55] The Global Language Group, or Global Languages, is a non-profit organization that offers over 150 free classes in 50 languages.
There are also several a-cappella performance groups on campus. Sons of Pitch, GW's premier male a-cappella group, has been around since 2003, and the co-ed GW Troubadours, which are involved with GW's music department, have been a presence on campus since the mid 1950s. Furthermore, the premier female group on GW's campus is the GW Pitches, founded in 1996. All the groups are extremely committed to charity work, with the Troubadours holding an annual philanthropic concert in the fall entitled "Acappellapalooza," and the Sons of Pitch holding one in the spring named "The United States of A-Cappella." In the case of the former, groups from GWU are drawn for a concert, in the latter, groups from around the nation. To date, the Sons of Pitch have raised upwards of $10,000 for various charitable causes. In addition to the three premier groups, several niche groups exist as well. The Voice gospel choir, a group that sings gospel music, and the GW Vibes, a co-ed group focusing on soulful, current music. Each year, the groups duke it out at the Battle of the A-Cappella groups, one of the biggest student events on GW's campus.
There are chapters of many varied academic groups at the University. The local chapter of the Society of Physics Students was at one time under the auspices of world-renowned scientists like George Gamow, Ralph Asher Alpher, Mario Schoenberg and Edward Teller, who have all taught at the university. The Enosinian Society, founded in 1822, is one of the university's oldest student organizations. Invited speakers included Daniel Webster.[56]
There are three major news sources on campus: the twice-weekly newspaper The GW Hatchet, The GW Patriot, which publishes articles online daily and in a monthly newsmagazine, and the online-only radio station, WRGW.
Another student group, the Emergency Medical Response Group (EMeRG) provides an all volunteer 24/7 ambulance service for the campus and the Foggy Bottom/West End community at no cost. EMeRG has been active on campus since 1994 and has advanced from bike response into a two ambulance system that is sanctioned by the District of Columbia Department of Health and DC Fire and EMS (DCFEMS). EMeRG also plays an active role in special events in around the DC area including the Marine Corps Marathon, National Marathon, Cherry Blossom Race, Commencement, Inauguration, and other events in Downtown DC and on the National Mall. [57]
The Program Board had, in years past, scheduled an X-rated film to show as part of their semester series. The film was usually partnered with a discussion of the First Amendment or a seminar on the sociological underpinnings of pornography. One year in the mid-1990s, "Porn Night" garnered national press coverage along with an ensuing protest. The film shown that night was John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut. The organized protest brought together College Republicans with College Democrats, Christians, Jews and Muslims and a bevy of diverse student organizations to speak out against pornography. A number of university administrators appeared that night to show their support of the students' right to assemble - on one hand to view the movie and on the other to protest using student fees to show the film in the first place.[58]
A number of posters in October 2007 surfaced at GW satirizing the "Islamofascism Awareness Week," which was assumed to have been from the GW Young American's Foundation.[59] On October 9, The Daily Colonial reported that the posters were not the work of the YAF, but rather an attempt to discredit the YAF for their involvement in promoting the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.[60] Later that day, seven students advocating against alleged racism inherent in Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week emailed their statement of responsibility regarding the posters to the GW Hatchet.[61] While YAF and other conservative groups demanded that the students be expelled, the university's judicial services found the students in violation of only GW's postering policy and the students were put on disciplinary probation and fined $25 for the satirical fliers.[62]
In January 2009, a member of the GW College Democrats desecrated GW Young America's Foundation crucifixes that were being stored in the College Republicans' office after a pro-life event.[63] The controversy, exposed by Pat Dollard and the GW Patriot,[64] resulted in disciplinary action against a member of the College Democrats.
GWU received a B on the College Sustainability Report Card for 2010, an improvement over the University's 2009 grade of C+. The school is reaching for a higher rating by updating facilities with energy efficient technologies.[65][66]
Some students have criticized GW's recent initiatives as specifically designed as answers to questions on sustainability reports.[67] GW keeps the lights on in all academic buildings, even when there are no classes and overnight. In addition, only 1 of 106 University Police Department's vehicles is a hybrid and GW does not count the 13 Mount Vernon Campus Express buses toward its sustainability totals.[68]
GW has a Greek community of over 2200 students (just under 22 percent of the undergraduate population).[69]
There are 17 recognized men's social fraternity chapters on campus, including Alpha Epsilon Pi, Beta Theta Pi, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Alpha Order, Kappa Sigma, Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Phi Epsilon , Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Delta Chi, and Zeta Beta Tau.
There are 10 Panhellenic sororities on campus, including Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Gamma, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Delta Tau, Sigma Kappa, and Phi Sigma Sigma.
Six National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) fraternities and sororities exist on campus: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, and Zeta Phi Beta.
Other Greek-life exist on campus in the form of multicultural, professional, community-serviced based and honor groups: Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Psi, Delta Sigma Pi, Mu Sigma Upsilon, Order of Omega, Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, Iota Nu Delta, Lambda Upsilon Lambda , Lambda Pi Chi, Phi Alpha Delta, Pi Delta Psi, Kappa Phi Lambda, Sigma Psi Zeta, Delta Phi Epsilon, Theta Tau,an Islamic-interest frat, Phi Sigma Pi, Alpha Chi Sigma, Alpha Phi Omega, Sigma Iota Rho, Sigma Pi Sigma, Alpha Omega Epsilon, Xi Delta Pi,[70] and Epsilon Sigma Alpha.
George Washington University is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference and most of its teams play at the NCAA Division I level. All indoor sports play at the Smith Center on the Foggy Bottom campus. The outdoor events are held at the Mount Vernon campus Athletic Complex. The university's colors are buff and blue (buff being a color similar to tan, but sometimes represented as gold or yellow). The colors were taken from George Washington's uniform in the Revolutionary War. The teams have achieved great successes in recent years including a first round victory in the Men's NCAA Division I Soccer Tournament in 2004. The men's varsity crew team rows out of Thompson's Boat Center on the Potomac River and competes in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. In the 2008-2009 season, the men's crew team placed an all-time high national ranking of 12th in the country. The sailing team competes in the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association and in gymnastics in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League. In 2007 the GW Men's Water Polo team placed third at Eastern Championships, and was ranked 14th in the nation.
Mike Jarvis coached GW in the 1990s, and led the team to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1993, where they were beaten by the Fab Five University of Michigan team (which later vacated its wins due to NCAA rule violations). Jarvis also coached former Colonials head coach Karl Hobbs in high school. Former NBA player Yinka Dare also played at George Washington for two years before being drafted in the first round by the New Jersey Nets.
Under former head coach Karl Hobbs, GW's basketball team returned to the national stage in 2004 after defeating No. 9 Michigan State and No. 12 Maryland in back to back games to win the 2004 BB&T Classic. That year, the men's basketball team went on to win the Atlantic 10 West Title and the Atlantic 10 Tournament Title (earning an automatic bid to the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The team received a #12 seed, losing to #5 seed Georgia Tech in the first round.
The team began the 2005–06 season ranked 21st in the Associated Press poll, reaching as high as sixth in the polls, and after some tournament success they closed out the year ranked 19th in the nation. They had a record of 26-2 going into the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The 2005-06 team achieved the school's highest ranking in the last 50 years, peaking at #6 in the nation,[71] had been one of the team's best ever, and received an #8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament, they came back from an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat #9 seed UNC-Wilmington, but lost to Duke University, the top overall seed, in the second round.
While only one Colonial from the 2005-06 team was drafted in the 2006 NBA Draft, J. R. Pinnock, two other Colonials from that team have played in the NBA. Pops Mensah-Bonsu played for the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs and currently plays for the Toronto Raptors and Mike Hall played for the Washington Wizards.
The 2006-07 basketball season was considered by many[72][73] to be a rebuilding year for the Colonials after graduating their entire starting front court and losing Pinnock to the NBA. Coach Karl Hobbs and Senior guard Carl Elliott managed to lead the team to a 23-8 record, winning the 2007 Atlantic 10 Tournament in Atlantic City, NJ (once again earning an auto-bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. The Colonials were placed as a #11 seed lost to #6 seed Vanderbilt University in Sacramento, CA 77-44.[74]
Hobbs, a former player and coach under Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut coached the Colonials for 10 years. Known for his animated sideline personality[75][76] Hobbs had been considered one of the up-and-coming coaches in the NCAA. On April 25, 2011 the University released Hobbs from his contractual obligations, forcing him to resign as men's basketball coach[77][78][79]
The Colonials are currently coached by Mike Lonergan.
The school sponsored intercollegiate football from 1881 to 1966. The team played home games at Griffith Stadium and RFK Stadium. Colonials football was discontinued to transfer resources to other sports and to focus on the construction of an on-campus fieldhouse for basketball.
The Colonials mascot is named George, and is portrayed by a student wearing an outfit inspired by the uniform worn by General Washington.[80] The sports teams are called the Colonials, which was chosen by the student body in 1924. Another version of the GW mascot is an inflatable Colonial figure known as "Big George.".[80]
The spirit program also includes the Colonial Brass, directed by Professor Benno Fritz.[81]
The official fight song is Hail to the Buff and Blue, composed in 1924 by student Eugene F. Sweeney and re-written in 1989 by Patrick M. Jones.[82] The song is tolled twice-daily by bells atop Corcoran Hall, at 12:15pm and 6:00pm.
The university also has various club sports, which are not varsity sports, but compete against other colleges. Examples include: volleyball, ice hockey, fencing, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, cricket, squash, tennis, ultimate frisbee, cricket and others.[83] The GW Club Sports Council was founded in 2010 to act as a lobbying body between Club Sports at GW, and the administration.
George Washington alumni include many current and past political figures. Six alumni currently serve in the United States Senate and ten in the House of Representatives. These include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Alumni have been governors of eighteen states and one territory, including current US Senator and former Governor of Virginia, Mark Warner, as well as former Governor of Guam, Frank Freyer. Other renowned figures of the higher echelons of United States government include Senator J. William Fulbright, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, former CIA Director Allen Dulles and his brother, former Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. In addition, the current Mayor of the District of Columbia, Vincent Gray, is a GWU alumnus.
Other notable alumni and former students include HH Prince Talal Arslan, Anwar al-Awlaki, Ralph Asher Alpher, Red Auerbach, Alec Baldwin, Dana Bash, Larry Craig, Preston Cloud, Jack Edmonds, Philip Emeagwali, Jason Filardi, John Flaherty, Ina Garten, Todd B. Hawley, Harold Hersey, David Holt (politician), L. Ron Hubbard, S.M. Krishna, Lee Kun-hee, Roy Lee, Theodore N. Lerner, Randy Levine, Gerardo I. Lopez, Carl Lutz, Boris Mitchell, T.J. Miller, Darla Moore, former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Leslie Sanchez, Chuck Todd, Margaret Truman, Kerry Washington, Baby M, David McConnell, Scott Wolf, Rachel Zoe, and Erica Hayden.
As the university is located within blocks of the State Department, White House, Department of the Interior, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and other Federal government buildings of significant importance, the university attracts many influential guest lecturers and visiting professors. Notable faculty include: George Gamow (1934–1954), physicist and cosmologist; Edward Teller (1935–1941), nuclear physicist and father of the hydrogen bomb; Seyyed Hossein Nasr, founder and first president of the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy; Edward "Skip" Gnehm, former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, Kuwait and Australia; Marcus Raskin, former member of the national security counsel under President Kennedy and founder of the Institute for Policy Studies; Abba Eban, former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education & Culture and Minister of Foreign Affairs; John Logsdon, member of Columbia Accident Investigation Board, NASA Advisory Council; Frank Sesno, CNN former Washington, DC Bureau Chief and Special Correspondent; James Carafano, Heritage Foundation national security and homeland security expert; Leon Fuerth, former national security adviser to Vice President Al Gore; James Rosenau, political theorist and former president of the International Studies Association; Chris Kojm, Deputy Director of the 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group as well as President of the 9/11 Discourse Project; Steven V. Roberts, American journalist, writer and political commentator and former senior writer at U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Nancy E. Gary, former dean of Albany Medical College, Executive Vice President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Dean of its F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Roy Richard Grinker, anthropologist specializing in autism and North-South Korean relations, and Edward P. Jones, who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2004, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé (MBA), president of Togo since 2005. In addition to Herbert J. Davis - Executive Director, U.S.-Bangladesh Business Council; U.S. Chamber of Commerce.[84]
The University has traditionally given honorary degrees to people who have made an influence in Washington like: J. Edgar Hoover (Doctor of Law, 1935), Harry S. Truman (1946), John Wesley Snyder (Treasury Secretary, Doctor of Law, 1947), Ulysses S. Grant III (Doctor of Law, 1956), John F. Kennedy (Doctor of Law, 1961), Hillary Rodham Clinton (Doctor of Public Service, 1994), Elizabeth Dole (Doctor of Public Service, 1995), William H. Rehnquist (Doctor of Law, 1996), Ronald Reagan, (Doctor of Public Service, 1991), Sandra Day O'Connor (Doctor of Law, 2003), Barbara Bush (Doctor of Public Service, 2006), George H.W. Bush (Doctor of Public Service, 2006), and Michelle Obama (Doctor of Public Service, 2010). Peace advocates and leaders of other nations who have influenced the world have also received this honor. These people include: King Mohammad V of Morocco (Doctor of Law, 1957) , Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Doctor of Public Service, 1974), Ronald Reagan (1991), Roy Lichtenstein (Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, 1996), Yitzhak Rabin (Doctor of Public Service, 1996), Desmond Tutu (Doctor of Public Service, 1999), Andy Rooney (Doctor of Public Service, 2005), and South Korean president Lee Myung Bak (Doctor of Public Service, 2009).
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://investment.gwu.edu/merlin-cgi/p/downloadFile/d/26155/n/off/other/1/name/AnnualEndowmentReportNoCover11-1-11pdf/. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
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