GW's Draft Strategic Framework

From Strength to Strength:
OneGW in its Third Century

For more than two centuries, the George Washington University has transformed the world through exceptional education, groundbreaking research, and outstanding patient care and service. We are known for our robust academic programs, especially in international affairs, law, public policy, and business. As a research-intensive institution, we have made significant contributions across various disciplines, including health sciences, social sciences, and engineering. Additionally, our unique location in the heart of the nation's capital offers unparalleled access to the federal government, international and nonprofit organizations, and a vibrant urban environment, creating extraordinary opportunities for our students to learn from the world's leaders while gaining transformative experiences through internships and job opportunities. Global in our outlook and revolutionary in our spirit, we attract remarkable students from across the country and around the world to a dynamic campus animated by student organizations, cultural events, and meaningful civic engagement.

Now, in our third century, we have reached a pivotal moment as an institution and a community. We have the opportunity to build on our strengths and capitalize on new possibilities to unleash creativity and innovation in teaching and research, while also cultivating a lifelong community of Revolutionaries dedicated to GW and to each other.

Achieving this will greatly depend on our ability to unite as OneGW — a shared community aligned in support of our mission and resolved to achieve our greatest aspirations. This strategic framework embodies a collective vision of our institutional priorities and the goals that will advance them. Now, it's time to turn that vision into reality. Together, we will write the next defining chapter in GW's distinguished history.

As we look toward the future, we are uniquely positioned to build on the results of our collective strengths and accomplishments and seize the many opportunities before us. To accelerate our momentum and fully realize our potential as a preeminent institution, we must pursue strategic opportunities to further distinguish GW by leveraging our disciplinary strengths to generate impact, connecting these strengths across the institution to foster interdisciplinary innovation, and capitalizing on emerging possibilities — all while maximizing the unparalleled advantage afforded by our location in the heart of Washington, D.C.

GW’s Institutional Priorities

During the spring 2024 semester, the university held a series of community-wide, future-focused conversations. These discussions aimed to deepen our understanding of the future that GW is preparing for, including topics such as the future of the workforce, the future of higher education, and the future of knowledge. These conversations highlighted four key ideas and recurring themes among the constituencies:

Advancing Impactful Knowledge Production Through Interdisciplinary Excellence
Reimagining Skill Development for the Future
Redefining Authentic Leadership for Modern Challenges
Turning Ideas into Action as a Premier Global Convener

In the fall of 2024, additional input was gathered from the GW community through various means, including opportunities to submit “idea briefs,” community town halls, and informal dialogues about strategic opportunities aligned with these themes. This process resulted in three clear institutional priorities that will drive GW’s future success. This effort aimed to bring the themes to life and set them within a framework that prioritizes research, educational, and operational excellence. Learn more about the process here. The three priorities are:

Generate Scholarship with Impact:

This priority merges thematic cores one and four, establishing a distinctive role for GW in addressing some of humanity's most pressing challenges, including climate change and the preservation of democracy. GW boasts a remarkable legacy of disciplinary scholarship that produces real-world impact. Now, in our third century, our traditional strengths in policy, politics, international affairs, and law can combine with emerging strengths such as science, medicine, and engineering, enabling us to tackle these issues in innovative and creative ways. Additionally, our unique location in Washington, D.C., situated between the White House and the State Department, positions us as a premier convenor for critical conversations that enhance the impact of basic research by applying it to inform sound policy and legislation.

Prepare Students to Be Strong and Resilient Leaders:

This priority combines thematic core elements one, two, and three. We will leverage the networks and expertise of GW’s faculty and alumni to ensure that students have the access and opportunity they need to pursue a rich interdisciplinary education that equips them with the essential skills, practical and social experiences, and powerful connections necessary for thriving lives and impactful careers in an ever-evolving world.

Strengthen Our Foundation for Excellence:

To undertake this ambitious agenda, GW needs to evolve its institutional culture to match its standing and aspirations. We will cultivate and sustain a culture of institutional excellence that focuses on impact and results by engaging our community in decision-making, ensuring transparency, and fostering strong collaboration across schools and divisions while pursuing continuous improvement, innovation, return on investment, and informed risk-taking.

Priority One:
Generate Scholarship with Impact

GW has a remarkable legacy of disciplinary scholarship that creates real-world impact. We will leverage this unique advantage by strategically investing in collaborative initiatives that transcend traditional boundaries and connect strengths, amplifying research impact across the GW community to address society's most pressing issues.

Goal One

Make strategic investments in faculty, nurturing their intellectual diversity and providing them the resources they need to drive interdisciplinary research designed for real-world impact.

Goal Two

Address organizational and financial barriers to interdisciplinary research and translational work while also enhancing our capacity to spearhead large-scale, multi-institutional initiatives.

Goal Three

Support GW’s graduate programs by enhancing graduate curricula, fostering a strong graduate student experience, and recognizing the vital role graduate students play in sustaining GW’s research enterprise.

Goal Four

Position GW as a premier global convener of thought leaders across major areas of study by strengthening our capacity to facilitate the most important conversations of our time. We will actively engage GW’s broad ecosystem of faculty and alumni to develop impactful, high-visibility programs and build on existing programs such as endowed lectures.

Priority Two:
Prepare Students to Be Strong and Resilient Leaders

We will leverage the networks and expertise of GW’s faculty and alumni to ensure that students have the access and opportunity they need to pursue a rich interdisciplinary education that equips them with the essential skills, practical and social experiences, and powerful connections necessary for thriving lives and impactful careers in an ever-evolving world.

Goal Five

Create a multiyear strategy to meet the full demonstrated financial need of GW’s residential undergraduate students.

Goal Six

Expand the access of GW students to a wide array of leadership experiences and career development opportunities through real-world curricular and co-curricular experiences that include internships, research, volunteer service, and study abroad.

Goal Seven

Support GW students in realizing the full benefits of a liberal arts education while also ensuring they graduate with the intellectual skills necessary to navigate an ever-evolving world, from technological and data proficiency to critical thinking and empathy.

Goal Eight

Foster a stronger sense of community and belonging for students by investing in initiatives that deepen school spirit, such as athletics, campus traditions, regularly sponsored university programs, robust student organization offerings, and other student-led programming.

Goal Nine

Nurture a lifelong community where alumni can engage purposefully with the university and one another through career and personal development programs, tailored social opportunities, and meaningful volunteer roles, including forging connections with current students.

Priority Three:
Strengthen Our Foundation for Excellence

We will cultivate and sustain a culture of institutional excellence that focuses on impact and results by engaging our community in decision-making, ensuring transparency, and fostering strong collaboration across schools and divisions while pursuing continuous improvement, innovation, return on investment, and informed risk-taking.

Goal Ten

Build a robust staff and administrative system with the depth and expertise to advance GW’s academic and research missions. Prioritize university-wide functions that directly support student success and scholarly excellence, generate revenue, drive GW’s reputation, and manifest an environment that rewards innovation and positive impact.

Goal Eleven

Create a vibrant and welcoming campus environment through purposeful placemaking, campus beautification, and bold sustainability initiatives where the GW community can thrive while learning, living, and working.

Goal Twelve

Develop a budget model that supports GW’s financial sustainability and its institutional aspirations by making the best possible use of existing resources and identifying new and innovative sources of revenue and opportunity, such as philanthropy, holistic corporate partnerships, and leveraging GW’s intellectual property.

Moving Forward

This strategic framework will guide GW in its decision-making for the next five to seven years. We will implement the framework in a phased approach—with phased idea development and phased funding—ensuring we make intentional progress while remaining adaptable to new opportunities and challenges.

While there are many ways to measure our success, the primary outcomes we seek to achieve are the growth of our research enterprise and the improvement of student success. We will prioritize initiatives and ideas that directly impact these outcomes.

We will evaluate our progress in growing our research enterprise by measuring increases in sponsored program proposals and expenditures, as well as the production of scholarly publications, including articles, books, awards, and citations. Additionally, we will assess our progress in enhancing student outcomes through improvements in student admission (selectivity and yield), retention, and graduation rates.

When we launch GW’s strategic framework in fall 2025, we will develop a new webpage that allows the community to view and track the status of related projects and initiatives, as well as submit new ideas and feedback.

Call to Action

This is an invitation for every member of our community to engage, contribute, and bring these priorities to life in their daily work. We call on our community of Revolutionaries to:

Embrace this framework as your own and consider how your work, research, teaching, or learning aligns with our shared priorities and goals
Generate and share ideas that advance our institutional priorities and contribute to GW's distinctiveness and impact
Participate actively in the ongoing dialogue about GW's future

This framework will evolve as GW evolves, and your continued engagement is essential to ensuring that this document remains relevant, responsive, and reflective of our community's highest aspirations. As OneGW— a community of Revolutionaries united in purpose and committed to excellence—your participation is vital as we lead GW into its third century.

Closing

GW has achieved extraordinary success in its first two hundred years—success for which all members of the community should feel proud. Now, as we embark on our third century, we have an opportunity to unite as OneGW and build on that success, elevating the George Washington University to even greater levels of distinction. This is both our charge and our opportunity.

GW's strategic framework represents the culmination of extensive community input and will continue to depend on the collective wisdom and energy of us all. As a living document intended to guide our decision-making and institutional growth, its true power lies in how we embrace and activate it together.

From Strength to Strength: OneGW in its Third Century