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George Washington University



         


The George Washington University (GWU) is a private university in Washington, D.C., founded in 1821 as The Columbian College.

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History

George Washington had long argued for the creation of a university in the District of Columbia, and in his will, even bequeathed fifty shares of the Potomac Company to it. "I give and bequeath in perpetuity the fifty shares which I hold in the Potomac Company (under the aforesaid Acts of the Legislature of Virginia) towards the endowment of a UNIVERSITY to be established within the limits of the District of Columbia, under the auspices of the General Government, if that Government should incline to extend a fostering hand towards it." The Congress never acted on this bequest, though.

Aware of Washington's wishes, a group of men, both ministers and laymen, led by the Reverend Luther Rice later raised funds to purchase a site for a college to educate missionaries and the clergy. On February 9 1821, President James Monroe approved the Congressional charter creating The Columbian College. Its name was changed to Columbian University in 1873 and to The George Washington University in 1904. The university became one of the first institutions in the United States to grant a PhD in 1888.

In the 1970s, GWU was known mostly as a night school and graduate school. Since then, under the leadership of university presidents Lloyd Hartman Elliott and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, it became a major undergraduate and graduate institution and grew immensely, and presently is the largest private landowner in the District of Columbia, and second largest overall (behind the federal government).

In June 1999, the university purchased the Mount Vernon College for Women near Georgetown, and it became the George Washington University Mount Vernon Campus.

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Organization

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Foggy Bottom Campus

This is the main campus, occupying 43 acres (170,000 m²) and over one hundred buildings on fourteen city blocks, plus portions of other blocks.

The major and notable buildings are:

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Mount Vernon Campus

This wooded campus is located on 23 acres (93,000 m²) in northwest Washington, DC, and was purchased by GWU in 1999. It was exclusively a woman's college, but since the acquisition it is now co-ed, though it still has a large emphasis on women's academics and athletics. The Eckles Memorial Library serves this campus, and there are NCAA Division 1 fields for women's softball, women's and men's soccer, and women's and men's lacrosse. There are six residence halls on this campus.

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Virginia Campus

Located in Loudoun County, Virginia, this campus consists of a single large building sitting in a 90 acre (360,000 m²) plot, and is mostly used for graduate research.

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Students and Faculty

There are 23,417 students enrolled for the 2003-2004 academic year. In 2001, there were 1508 full-time and 2725 part-time members of the faculty.

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Sports, Clubs and Traditions

to be done; includes the GW Hatchet, the Colonials and WRGW

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Noted Alumni

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Noted Faculty





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