At the Presidential Dialogue held Saturday as part of GW’s Alumni and Families Weekend, President Ellen M. Granberg gave an overview of developments on campus to alumni, family members and students in Jack Morton Auditorium. Granberg highlighted innovations across the university and the steps GW is taking to raise its institutional profile.
After a brief welcome by David L. Unruh, vice president for University Advancement, Granberg shared her perspective on the state of the university and how it’s changing, taking time to appreciate some of the longtime strengths of GW before updating the audience about what’s new.
The concluding part of the program was a dialogue between Paul Wahlbeck, dean of Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and professor of political science, and Darley Newman, B.A. ’01, a PBS host who specializes in making history feel personal. She is the author of “Revolutionary Road Trip” (Regalo Press, 2026), presenting eye-opening episodes from America’s founding.
“This weekend is always such a highlight, because it is one of those opportunities to bring our entire community together,” Granberg said. “It brings together both a past that we treasure with our alumni and a vibrant present and future with our students and parents.”
The president spoke positively of GW’s latest cohort of first-year students, the first since COVID-19 to have gone through all four years of high school in person, and praised the Family Leadership Circle, an organization that supports critical programs for students. She also expressed concern for international students facing difficult circumstances as they negotiate the visa process.
“We’re a global university,” she said, “and having a really robust set of international students is very much core to who we are.” The administration, she added, is working hard to support students through the visa process.
Giving such assistance to international students provided a natural segue to the question of how the university is assisting students more generally in other ways.
“We spend a lot of time focusing on gathering as much financial aid as we can,” Granberg said, “and recently we were able to do something that has made me extremely happy. We sold a large piece of land near Dulles Airport, and that allowed us to put $350 million into our endowment. A big chunk of that has gone to increase scholarship resources, which I am absolutely delighted about. The rest of it will be going to support academic priorities.”
She spoke of other positive changes on campus, such as the arrival of Edward J. Balleisen as the new provost and the launch of the strategic framework. The first set of initiatives from that framework, she said, will soon be announced.
“We’re going to be expanding interdisciplinary research and education. We’re going to triple down on D.C. as the center of a GW education,” Granberg said. “D.C. is such a central piece of the attraction. We want to make sure that every student gets every ounce of benefit from being here in this amazing city. We’re going to be expanding the resources available for our students to be able to engage directly with D.C., but also for our faculty to bring D.C. more deeply into their classes.”
Another goal, she said, is to help students be ready to succeed in an AI-infused workplace. Improvements are being made to residence halls across campus. And the university’s academic profile continues to “raise high.”
“We’ve had a lot of good news recently on rankings. Our Milken Institute School of Public Health is now number 11 in the country,” Granberg said. “GW Law has climbed from 31 to 26. The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration is now ranked number 12 in the country, up from 16.” The Elliott School, she added, continues to be in the nation’s top 10 schools of international affairs. The Department of Political Science is now ranked number nine in the world.
She also mentioned GW’s membership in the Association of American Universities, which “puts us in the top 70 research universities in North America.”
GW, Granberg said, “is an absolutely spectacular place and you all should be rightly proud of the fact that you are a part of this family, and we are certainly very, very proud of all of you.”
The university’s namesake, George Washington, featured prominently in the dialogue between Wahlbeck and Newman, including the time he crashed a wedding and even the current whereabouts of some of his hair—not to mention the recipe of his wife, Martha, for Cherry Bounce, a cordial traditionally made with French brandy. After noting that she was born at the George Washington University Hospital, Newman described the five years she spent traveling to historic sites for her book about the Revolutionary War. She also spoke of her PBS series “Equitrekking,” detailing her explorations on horseback.
When Wahlbeck lauded her impressive career in travel and multimedia, praising the personal and immersive quality of her work, Newman said she has learned that there are many such stories waiting to be told.
Newman said she frequently makes surprising discoveries about people and events she thought she knew. Discovery, Wahlbeck added, is one of the core missions of GW.
“What advice,” he asked, “would you give our students as they think about translating their interests and passions into meaningful life and career opportunities?”
“It’s all about charting the path that may not be the traditional path,” she said, noting that she followed her passion for horseback riding into a TV series. “Storytelling is so important,” she added.
“Take a risk,” Wahlbeck advised students. ”Take a chance, pursue that passion.” In closing, he told Newman, “We’re very proud to call you an alumna.”
