After 12 months, 47,000 points of feedback and 8,000 moniker suggestions whittled down in a comprehensive community engagement process to four finalists, the university announced on Wednesday its new moniker: the Revolutionaries.
GW alumnus Chuck Todd, ATT ‘90 to ’94, HON ’22, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” introduced the new name in a breaking news-style video that was broadcast on Instagram and Facebook. Monica Ruiz, a faculty member from the Milken Institute School of Public Health; Michael O’Connor, B.B.A. ’02, a former Major League Baseball player; and Jake Sherman, B.A. ’08, founder of Punchbowl News, provided commentary on the selection of Revolutionaries. President Mark S. Wrighton, GW students and George—who will remain the university’s mascot—also participated in the announcement.
"This is an exciting day for the George Washington University Revolutionaries," Wrighton said. "I am very grateful for the active engagement of our community throughout the development of the new moniker. This process was truly driven by our students, faculty, staff and alumni, and the result is a moniker that broadly reflects our community—and our distinguished and distinguishable GW spirit."
The moniker became official when the GW Board of Trustees accepted the recommendation of Wrighton and the Moniker Advisory Committee, which included representation from students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Throughout the months-long community engagement efforts that included focus groups, random sample surveys and community-wide opportunities to rate moniker options and merchandise distribution, Revolutionaries was the top-ranked option in every round.
In January, the university published a broad call for GW community members to submit proposed names for the new GW moniker. The university received approximately 8,000 moniker suggestions and developed a set of guiding principles that were used to narrow the list to 10 names that best reflected the spirit of GW.
As described when first introduced to the community, the Revolutionaries moniker represents GW community members because they “are not afraid to break boundaries and change the game. The GW Revolutionaries go beyond what’s conventional or expected to focus on shifting mindsets and creating a new future for ourselves and our world.”
GW students, faculty, staff and alumni were then invited to rate the 10 names, which helped the advisory committee narrow the options further down to four finalists: Revolutionaries, Blue Fog, Ambassadors and Sentinels. The GW community was then asked to rate videos representing the four finalist names. Once again, Revolutionaries ranked as the top option.
The Moniker Advisory Committee solicited feedback at every phase of the moniker development process, including at the start of the academic year when it hosted engagement activities during the 2022 Alumni & Families Weekend and held several student-athlete town halls.
“To have 47,000 points of feedback from the GW community is a testament to the pride people have in this institution, and we are proud to offer them a new moniker that will propel us as we move ahead in our third century,” said Vice President for Communications and Marketing Ellen Moran.
The full adoption of the Revolutionaries moniker will be implemented during the 2023-24 academic year. Over the coming weeks and months, GW will develop the visual identity for the Revolutionaries moniker and begin the process of bringing it to life on athletic uniforms, campus signage and merchandise.
