Dear GWSB Community,
I hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy and safe. As we prepare for the fall semester, I encourage you to review the Fall 2020 update from GW President Thomas J. LeBlanc and the updated FAQ.
Following additional changes announced by the university between July 27-30, all GW School of Business (GWSB) programs will be offered online this fall. Please review our GWSB Fall 2020 plan which provides details for fall courses, student services, and specific information for international students.
Cohort programs previously planned to be held on-campus will now move to an online format. Furthermore, the university has paused planned annual tuition increases for graduate programs for the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters (additional details below). Our School of Business plan has been updated to reflect policies determined through July 30. Within the School of Business, we remain flexible and we will notify students if any of these plans change.
Placing our students’ interests first continues to be a priority in all we do, and our faculty and staff have been working especially hard in the last few months to prepare classes for all contingencies — including a fully online fall semester. Because of this commitment, our students will have a rewarding academic experience in the fall. We have also made extensive changes to migrate our events and co-curricular programming to virtual platforms. Students also will be able to continue to make personal appointments with academic advisors and career counselors. Our students and alumni will enjoy the creativity and thoughtfulness that will ensure an equally excellent experience outside the class environment.
As the university continues to offer further guidance through Campus Advisories, we will provide School of Business specific updates on our GWSB Fall 2020 plan and FAQ. Kindly check this site periodically for the latest information.
I do not know how COVID-19 will evolve in the next months. But I remain confident that our GWSB community will continue to realize its aspirations. I remain grateful to be working with and alongside some of the finest, most talented, and creative individuals who help us to realize our core mission: ensuring the best possible higher education experience for our students.
We know the world around us will continue to change. But our adaptability, flexibility and resilience will serve us well in the days and months ahead; whatever demands we face, we will continue to flourish. So it is no surprise, that like my colleagues, I am looking forward to welcoming both new students and returning students in a few weeks, even if it is from a social distance or in a virtual forum for the time being. As a member of the GW family, I too have adapted!
While we’ve been hard at work with the preparations for the fall semester amid the evolving pandemic conditions, the GWSB community has continued to distinguish itself. I wanted to share with you some important news highlights.
- Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Technology Directorate selected GWSB to a lead a new Center of Excellence that will a deliver an MBA program focused on security technology transition. This exciting news demonstrates GWSB’s ability to leverage its unique Washington, D.C., location to partner with the federal government to create cutting-edge, in-demand academic programming. Securing the contract and creating this new program is a testament to GWSB’s commitment to providing academic customizability, flexibility and accessibility.
- Vanessa Perry, associate dean for faculty and research and professor of marketing, received a prestigious multicultural mentoring award from the American Marketing Association (AMA). Dr. Perry will formally accept the AMA Foundation’s 2020 Williams-Qualls-Spratlen Multicultural Mentoring Award of Excellence at the association’s summer conference next month. Learn more about her perspective on the importance of mentoring from this GW Today interview.
- One of our current students, Craig Freeman, accountancy ’21, also was recently honored by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a nonprofit corporation that oversees auditors of issuers and broker-dealers. Mr. Freeman was selected as a PCAOB Scholar for the 2020-21 academic year, earning a scholarship award in recognition of his academic excellence.
- Also, this month, we live-streamed a special George Talks Business session, a “GW Health, Wellness & Public Safety Panel.” I was proud to welcome our guest panelists, Dr. Barbara L. Bass, dean of the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr. Lynn R. Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, Pamela R. Jeffries, dean of the GW School of Nursing, and Scott Burnotes, vice president of the GW Division of Safety & Facilities, for an informative discussion about COVID-19 in the context of academic and residential experience at a university, effective mitigation efforts, and measures in place for testing, contact tracing, quarantining, as well as contingency planning. View the session here.
Please stay safe and well. Best regards and see you soon,
Anuj Mehrotra, Ph.D.
Dean