Dean's Message
"The GW School of Business sits at a nexus for business and government that is also a hub of the international financial network, a center for national and global leadership, and a testing ground for new ideas and ingenuity."
Anuj Mehrotra
Dean
At the George Washington University School of Business (GWSB), we embrace excellence in business education and research. We teach innovation while living its lessons. And we advance a social mission with impact.
As you will see in this 2020–2021 annual report, the pandemic tested — and proved — the resiliency of that framework, which is designed around our students’ aspirations, the leadership needs of business, our community engagement, and our capital city location.
For the second year in a row, the GW School of Business captured top rankings among business schools around the world. At the same time, our award-winning faculty generated research that was spotlighted in both premier academic journals and consumer publications. That scholarship propelled urgent areas of policymaking, including post-pandemic racial inequities, gender equality, bias in artificial intelligence, and organizational leadership during crises.
Our curriculum design not only proved shockproof, but it assured us yet another year of strong enrollment. Even with borders shut, GW School of Business students continued to consult on international business projects, excel in case competitions, and demonstrate their entrepreneurial spirit. New 4+1 programs, the accelerated pathway for jointly obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees, were unveiled to join our signature portfolio of market-responsive programs and graduate certificates. And we launched a Grants for Grads program to ease the way for graduating students interested in pushing forward toward business certificates and master’s degrees.
All this unfolded against the backdrop of our university’s bicentennial in the heart of a global capital city. The GW School of Business sits at a nexus for business and government that is also a hub of the international financial network, a center for national and global leadership, and a testing ground for new ideas and ingenuity. That edge gives our school access to extraordinary leaders and changemakers, such as those who appeared on our George Talks Business interview series. The CEO of the International Finance Corporation, the IRS commissioner of small business, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, and Northrup Grumman CEO Kathy Warden, one of our proud alumnae, were among the many pioneering thinkers who appeared on the program.
Our location also enables exceptional partnerships. In the 2020–2021 academic year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security chose the GW School of Business as its Center for Excellence, underscoring our track record in developing cutting-edge, in-demand academic programs. In the career center’s first collaboration with a government agency, students worked on two Department of Energy consultancies focused on U.S. leadership in the transition to a clean global energy economy. We also partnered with the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development to provide best-in-class executive leadership training for entrepreneurs in Washington, D.C.
These partnerships stoked our school’s commitment to social impact. That impact was also seen in the work of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, the webpage created by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center to help individuals manage personal finances during the pandemic, and our student consultancies with nonprofits and minority- and women-owned startups.
Our alumni also stepped forward. To ensure that our students were market-ready and our school continued to lead, they supported scholarships and internships, signed up in record numbers to serve as mentors and, from around the globe, took part in events planned by the school, by the career center and by student organizations. Our career center, meanwhile, deepened its role by extending its hours and services so students across 14 time zones could access job coaches, mentors, career events, and experience-building consultancies.
I am proud to share with our community this report which demonstrates the impact of our resilience, innovation and inclusivity throughout 2020-2021.
Anuj Mehrotra
Dean