Dear Fellow Revs,
Earlier this year GW launched the Foundational Excellence Initiative with the goal of developing a plan to strengthen our long-term financial health by improving how we operate, growing new revenue streams, and optimizing our organization. This important work is being led by a steering committee, and over the past several months, we have been sourcing ideas from all corners of the GW community. We are grateful to all of the faculty, staff, students, and university leaders who have engaged with us by participating in interviews and listening sessions, and submitting written feedback. Your perspectives and ideas are essential to driving this effort, directly shaping the themes below and our thinking around specific opportunities as they begin to emerge.
As the spring semester concludes, we write to share a brief update on what we are hearing from the GW community and what you can expect in the coming months.
What We’re Hearing
The feedback we have received has been very consistent, and from it we have confirmed the following priorities for attention:
- Several of our key administrative processes are overly complicated, which slows down approvals and decision-making, making it harder to work and live at GW than it could be.
- There are too many fragmented systems and data sources across GW, as well as limited access to timely, reliable, and actionable information for planning, operations, decision‑making, and implementation.
- We have redundant tools and platforms for similar functions across units, which create inefficiencies, unnecessary costs, and additional administrative burdens for everyone.
- GW relies heavily on informal workarounds and personal networks to get things done, which are difficult to scale, sustain, or transfer over time, and also lead to burnout and lower morale.
- There is a desire for greater clarity around decision‑making and the prioritization of key decisions, including how ideas across the university move from discussion to action and how institutional priorities and trade‑offs are evaluated and communicated broadly.
Taken together, we are hearing a strong desire for greater clarity and transparency of the financial, operational, and structural realities facing the university, so that decisions affecting our collective future are grounded in tested facts. We have heard the need to simplify how GW operates—reducing unnecessary complexity, clarifying roles and decision pathways, and strengthening opportunities for alignment across schools and units. We recognize this needs to be done while balancing near‑term pressures with long‑term sustainability and resilience. Trust, transparency, and consistent and clear communication were repeatedly cited as essential as this work moves forward in the months ahead.
What’s Ahead
After extensive engagement across the GW community, the Initiative is now focusing on analyzing and validating all the data and input received to date, and on developing specific opportunities for consideration. This includes testing assumptions and evaluating areas where opportunities have begun to surface as priorities.
As the steering committee develops ideas through early summer, we will be testing them with university leaders to ensure our recommendations are well-grounded and aligned with GW’s aspirations. We will also be testing them with the leaders of the functions about which we will be making recommendations to validate those recommendations and ensure our understanding of potential barriers to success.
Later this summer, we will be sharing our ideas with the university leadership and with the Faculty Senate, Staff Council, and Student Government Association for input and feedback. We plan to host town halls for faculty, staff, and students in early fall as forums for feedback on our proposed recommendations and implementation considerations.
As this work continues, we are focused on ensuring that decisions are grounded in evidence, aligned with GW’s long-term priorities, and considered through an institution-wide lens. We remain committed to ongoing collaboration across the community, thoughtful stewardship of diverse perspectives, and clear, timely communication as opportunities are refined and decisions take shape.
Thank you again to everyone who has participated so far. There will be additional opportunities for continued input and dialogue in the months ahead, and we will continue to keep you informed as our work progresses. Please keep asking questions via email at GWExcellence
gwu [dot] edu (GWExcellence@
GW’s success is made possible by each of you. We thank our dedicated colleagues for your hard work and commitment to GW, and we thank our students for your passion and drive which inspire us. Your perspectives are critical to shaping a thoughtful and sustainable path forward for GW.
Sincerely,
Zoë Beckerman
Teaching Professor & Vice Chair | Department of Health Policy and Management
Co-chair, Foundational Excellence Steering Committee
Scott M. Mory
Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff
Co-chair, Foundational Excellence Steering Committee