The University’s endowment is rebounding after a $200 million decline last spring, trustees said at a meeting Friday.

Board of Trustees Secretary Ave Tucker said that as of Dec. 31, GW’s endowment — a pool of funds and investments gifted to the University, including allocated funds for scholarships and individual schools — had risen to $2.7 billion. Tucker said there has been “uncertainty” in the markets, but GW’s endowment, which is managed by Strategic Investment Group, continued to “outperform” the University’s benchmarks over the last year.

Officials reported in October the University’s endowment had dropped from $2.8 billion in December 2023 to $2.6 billion June 2024, which they said at the time was “entirely due” to a depreciation of the District’s real estate market and previous increases in interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

Tucker said the Board’s Finance and Investments Committee received an update on GW’s fiscal year 2025 budget and its spending projections for the rest of the year in January. He thanked Chief Financial Officer Bruno Fernandes and his team for keeping the University in “good financial health.”

University President Ellen Granberg said officials are “very close” to naming a dean for the School of Business after former Dean Anuj Mehrotra left GW in December 2023 to serve as the dean of Georgia Tech’s business school. Since Mehrotra’s departure, Vice Dean for Strategy Vanessa Perry has served as interim dean.

Granberg said she met with GWSB faculty members last week and could feel their “excitement and anticipation” about the pending announcement.

“I will tell you that no one is more excited than interim Dean Vanessa Perry, who has done a fantastic job of helping us navigate this leadership transition,” Granberg said.

University spokesperson Shannon Mitchell said last month that officials hosted “several” dean candidates on campus to meet with “various groups of stakeholders” at the end of the fall semester. She said officials “look forward” to sharing an update on the national search with the community when they make the decision.

“In the meantime, interim Dean Vanessa Perry will continue to provide support and resources for GWSB’s students, programs, partners and alumni,” Mitchell said in an email.

Granberg also said Provost Chris Bracey charted the search committee for a new dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, adding that the search began last week. The University announced in October that Dean Lynn Goldman was stepping down on June 30, 2025, but Granberg said Friday that Goldman had agreed to stay at GW until officials select a new dean.

Granberg also said during her presidential report that officials are continuing to track President Donald Trump’s “historic number” of executive actions and that the University is assessing the “potential consequences” as officials plan responses. She said officials will keep the GW community informed as they move forward.

Friday’s meeting marked one of Board Chair Grace Speights’ final meetings as the leader of the Board. Speights assumed the role in June 2019 and will pass the torch to the incoming chair this June given that a chair cannot serve more than six years in the role.

Tucker, who assumed the role of Board secretary in June 2019, will also step down after serving six years in the position. Officials have yet to announce who will assume Speights’ or Tucker’s positions and whether they will remain on the Board in a different capacity.

Student Government Association President Ethan Fitzgerald said during his report that he met with Goldman for a walkthrough of the Milken building and was “grateful” to learn that officials are reopening study spaces in Milken to the entire student body but didn’t say when. Officials stripped non-public health students of their access to the building last semester, which students said eliminated a popular campus study space.

Fitzgerald also asked officials to take down the permanent fencing surrounding University Yard — which officials installed in response to the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring — to help create a more “open” and “inviting space” for community members to gather. He said he’s heard from students that U-Yard was the only space on campus that felt like a community.

Officials installed temporary fences after the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring and replaced them with permanent fencing late in the fall semester. More than 35 students in October said the fencing felt unnecessary and off-putting — a concern that was repeated by some faculty members who said the barricades send an “unflattering” message of the University.

“I ask that you help me make this happen,” Fitzgerald said.

Staff Council President Kim Fulmer, who assumed the council’s presidency in January, said during her update that she has four key goals for her tenure, including reducing transportation costs for staff by pushing for lower parking garage fees and a stipend and increasing staff participation on University committees.

She also said she hopes to expand the Staff Council’s membership and advocate for the continuation of the University’s 4.5 percent merit pool — the total amount of money GW has to distribute for pay raises during the year.

She said the Staff Council’s 2024 survey of staff members found that the average annual transportation cost for staff is about $2,000. Combined with the cost of mandatory child care — which adds about $1,000 per month — these expenses place a financial burden on employees, which outpaces the increase in the merit pool staff received last year which brought the pool to 4.5 percent, she said.

“We continue to advocate for increased transparency from the administration and keep our community safe and informed,” Fulmer said.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Ilana Feldman said the senate heard annual updates from four officials in the fall and received reports from the senate Educational Policy and Technology Committee, which included a brief on undergraduate education related to the strategic framework process and a report from a working group in response to last spring’s pro-Palestinian encampment and the resulting stet agreements.

The committee’s report found discrepancies in accounts of GW’s handling of disciplinary procedures provided by arrested students and officials, including between General Counsel Charles Barber’s statement that GW did not “have a position” on the stay-away agreements issued to students and students’ claim that the federal attorney’s office said the University requested the orders.

She said the EPT Committee also raised concerns about the University’s need to address the impacts of artificial intelligence in a “comprehensive and urgent” manner, given that the technology “challenges” teaching and critical thinking.

Alumni Association President Max Gocala-Nguyen said the association is focused on growing its volunteer base, expanding the alumni association leadership team and working to foster a “greater sense” of “GW pride.”

He said he plans to bring back the association’s “revolutionary roundtables” — conversations he launched last fall with targeted alumni groups of different generations or those with multiple GW degrees — about maintaining and bolstering the University’s engagement with each class.

“As an executive committee, we are looking to support our alumni in new and meaningful ways,” Gocala-Nguyen said. “We will be continuing this program because we believe it is valuable in hearing insight from the community at large.”

Elizabeth Dolich, Fiona Riley and Arjun Srinivas contributed reporting.