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HPC Academic Excellence Initiative

"...The George Washington University's Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald R. Lehman announced today the selection of eight new signature academic programs and five strategic initiatives that will receive nearly $2.4 million as part of the University's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence. The funding comes from a nearly $4.5 million special endowment payout approved by GW's Board of Trustees..." [Link]

 

 

January 31, 2007

MEDIA CONTACT:
Matt Lindsay: (202) 994-1423; mlindsay@gwu.edu

GW EARMARKS $2.4 MILLION TO ADVANCE EIGHT NEW AREAS OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND FIVE STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Funds Provided Through Special Endowment Payout Will Provide Tangible Benefits Including Additional Language Instructors, Funding for New Research Endeavors, and New Technology to Improve Teaching and Learning

WASHINGTON -- The George Washington University's Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald R. Lehman announced today the selection of eight new signature academic programs and five strategic initiatives that will receive nearly $2.4 million as part of the University's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence. The funding comes from a nearly $4.5 million special endowment payout approved by GW's Board of Trustees. Lehman plans to use the remaining money from this payout to recruit several senior faculty members to GW to help "catapult departments to a new level." The eight new areas of strategic academic excellence and five strategic initiatives supplement the original seven areas of academic excellence inaugurated during GW's 2002-2003 academic year.

The eight new signature academic programs are biomimetics and bioinspired engineering, corporate responsibility, decision sciences, evolution and systematics, high-performance computing, sociology, special education, and systems biology. The five strategic initiatives receiving funding are the University Writing and Writing-in-Discipline programs, language instruction in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, international initiatives in GW's Elliott School of International Affairs, podcasting through GW Academic Technologies, and a new electronic classroom in GW's Gelman Library.

"During Steve Trachtenberg's 19 years as president, GW has raised the quality of undergraduate and graduate education and gained momentum toward becoming a top-tier research institution," said Lehman. "GW's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence is guiding our efforts to reach higher levels of excellence and prestige and the Board of Trustees is helping move us forward with the special endowment payout. This is an exciting time for GW."

The funds devoted to the eight new areas of academic excellence will help establish and advance innovative centers and institutes at GW, including the Institute for Corporate Responsibility, the Institute for Integrating Statistics in Decision Sciences, the Institute for Massively Parallel Applications and Computing Technologies, and the Center for Biomimetics and Bioinspired Engineering. Additionally, the support will help provide GW faculty and students with advanced research and learning opportunities in the areas of evolution, molecular biological systems, urban social and economic inequality, and special education.

The tangible outcomes expected from the five strategic initiatives include the addition of 15 new language instructors in the Columbian College; the launch of two new research institutes focused on the Middle East and international security and conflict at the Elliott School; the debut of an additional high-tech classroom available for teaching, research, and writing in Gelman Library; the enhancement of student learning via podcast lectures and other material from select courses for 24/7 access by students through Academic Technologies; and greater support for the University Writing Program, including an increase in the number of Writing-in-Discipline courses available to students.

"We want to build on the existing strengths at the University," explained Lehman. "The programs that we have targeted for investment have the potential to improve educational quality and enhance research in areas that are meaningful to our faculty and students and of importance to society."

The new signature academic excellence programs and strategic initiatives were selected after a rigorous proposal process. Lehman led an effort to solicit two different groups of proposals from within the University to select the recipients of funds from the special endowment payout. Deans, vice presidents, directors of the GW schools and colleges (excluding the Law School and Medical School), and the primary academic units, such as Gelman Library, were solicited for proposals with a minimum request of $250,000 and a maximum request of $500,000. GW's faculty was solicited for proposals with a minimum request of $100,000 and a maximum request of $200,000. All of the applicants for the new signature program funding were required to identify matching funds available by Sept. 1, 2007 - 100 percent matching for the dean/associate vice president proposals, 50 percent matching for the faculty proposals. Each of the proposals was evaluated based on its relevance to a specific goal or goals/objectives of the University's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence and its ability to produce measurable outcomes that will enhance GW's prestige and reputation.

The first group of proposals - from the deans, associate VPs, directors, and primary academic units - were reviewed and selected by Lehman. The GW faculty submissions were evaluated and chosen by a panel comprising two deans and five senior faculty, and chaired by Lehman, who did not vote in their selection.

In the five years since the inception of the selective excellence initiative, GW has invested more than $7.8 million in its seven original signature programs. The original seven areas of excellence, which continue to receive University funding, are biomedical engineering, history, human evolution, political science, public policy/public administration, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and transportation safety and security. Many of the original seven areas of academic excellence have seen an increase in outside research funding, improved student quality and selectivity, additional educational and research opportunities for students, more tenured faculty teaching undergraduate courses, and improved student job placement, among other notable accomplishments.

Located four blocks from the White House, The George Washington University was created by an Act of Congress in 1821. Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in the nation's capital. The University offers comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal arts study as well as degree programs in medicine, public health, law, engineering, education, business, and international affairs. Each year, GW enrolls a diverse population of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 120 countries.

For more information on GW's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence, visit www.gwu.edu/~newsctr/strategicplan.cfm.
For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at 
www.gwnewscenter.org.

-GW-

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