As University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg prepares to say goodbye to his presidency in July, he is also saying goodbye to as many alumni, in as many places, as possible.
Over the next year Trachtenberg will be traveling to 10 alumni receptions within the United States and other events in London and Oxford, England. Trachtenberg said in an interview with The Hatchet that possible stops still to be determined include France, China and Spain.
“The whole idea is to give a farewell to as many alumni as possible … and set up (the next University President) with support for the University across the country,” Trachtenberg said.
Stops on his U.S. tour include: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Ft. Lauderdale, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore and two in D.C.
Trachtenberg, who announced last April he would leave his post, will also be delivering the Sir George Watson Lecture at Sulgrave Manor, the ancestral home of George Washington’s family in England in November. In 2005, GW donated a casting of Washington to the Manor.
But a goodbye isn’t all these trips are about.
“We want (the alumni’s) help, ideas, participation and how about a contribution?” Trachtenberg said.
Donations have continually been on the rise since Trachtenberg’s term as University president began 19 years ago. When he assumed GW’s top post in 1988, GW was receiving $12 million annually in donations. Last year the University received $62 million, according to the Office of Advancement.
These help contribute to the size of the University’s endowment, which also grows from investments in financial markets, gifts to the University from individuals, corporate and non-profit donors. For the fiscal year ending in June 2005, GW’s endowment was up 12.2 percent reaching an all time high of $823 million.
“I actually think he is gracefully trying to distance himself from all the deliberations and, secondly … he is doing the University’s most important work – raising money,” said Grae Baxter, director of the undergraduate honors program.
A report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers ranked GW 69 out of 746 schools who participated in a voluntary survey on endowments. Harvard was first with an endowment of $25.5 billion.
While GW has its sights on breaking the billion-dollar marker for the endowment this year, 56 of the respondents in the survey were already above that value.
“(Fundraising) has been perhaps Trachtenberg’s biggest shortfall,” said Kip Lornell, an adjunct professor of music who is also leading a push for the unionization of part-time faculty. He pointed to the fact that smaller institutions have surpassed GW in terms of endowment figures and the billion-dollar marker, such as Smith College and the University of Richmond.
Some see Trachtenberg’s absence from campus in his last year as president disheartening.
“The fact is, Trachtenberg has become invisible in the community as a whole,” said Donald Parsons, a professor of economics who has penned several opinion pieces for the Hatchet criticizing Trachtenberg’s financial decisions. “It’s all part of him becoming detached from his job.”
Yet Trachtenberg was quick to defend his decisions. “Most people don’t really know what the president does … they think they know,” he said.
But Trachtenberg plans on sharing the latest news of the University’s happenings all over the world, and enjoying it.
He said: “It will be fun to go out with a bang.”
