Officials unveiled the University’s new mission statement Thursday, completing a step in their broader effort to refresh GW’s brand and implement the new strategic framework.
Officials announced GW’s revised mission statement — which the Board of Trustees approved at their private March meeting and places greater emphasis on GW’s location in the nation’s capital — in a University release, which stated the new statement reflects GW’s institutional priorities and community voices. The new statement comes nearly seven months after officials first announced plans to revise the statement in October, six years after its last revision, as a part of the University’s large-scale initiatives like implementing the new strategic framework, refreshing brand guidelines and undergoing the reaccreditation process.
The new statement is expanded to three sentences and emphasizes GW’s mission to do public good through the work of its students and faculty, equip its community with civic-minded values and make a global impact with its research and leadership.
The full statement reads: “Since its founding in the earliest days of the nation, the George Washington University has prepared graduates to lead with integrity, resilience, and purpose. GW takes full advantage of its location in the heart of the nation’s capital to bring together diverse communities of scholars, practitioners, and professionals in service to the public good. Global in outlook and revolutionary in spirit, GW cultivates a civic-minded community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni whose work sparks creativity, advances discovery, and makes a lasting impact in their communities and around the world.”
Officials slightly altered the draft statement shared with the community in February — where they also opened the opportunity for constituent feedback — before approving the finalized version, including shortening the statement from four to three sentences.
The new statement removes mention of “exceptional education” and “groundbreaking scholarship,” from the draft statement, while adding more emphasis on GW’s location in the nation’s capital and the possibility the University’s location allows the community to serve the “public good.”
The mission statement — which universities use to define their goals and priorities and usually requires Board approval — marks a significant expansion from the University’s previous mission statement, which the Board approved in 2019. The previous statement was only one sentence long and chiefly focused on GW’s educational and research aspects.
The former mission statement read: “The mission of The George Washington University is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings of such research.”
Officials drew the previous statement from GW’s Congressional charter and replaced a longer 238-word statement after the Middle States Commission of Higher Education recommended officials change the statement during the University’s reaccreditation process in 2018.
Officials said the new statement is the result of discussion with the University’s leadership and key stakeholders, as well as implementing community feedback in Thursday’s release.
Chief of Staff Scott Mory said in October Granberg charged a 20-member steering committee to lead the revision process, which he and Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs Terry Murphy co-chaired. Mory said the committee held a series of workshops to gauge ideas and potential themes for the new statement during the fall semester and consulted the Board, other University leadership, the Faculty Senate, the Student Government Association and the Staff Council before reaching out to the community as a whole.
“Most notably, there was a desire for a mission that is aspirational and forward-looking, that celebrates GW’s unique location and that honors the University’s deep history and enduring commitment to the public good,” the University release states.
University President Ellen Granberg said the new statement reflects the “collective voice” of the community and will drive the institution’s aspirations and priorities in the coming years. She said input from faculty, staff, trustees, students and alumni “strengthened” the final statement.
“My hope is that every member of our community knows this mission and can see themselves in it, take ownership of it and bring it to life through their work each day,” Granberg said in the release.
Experts and GW professors said in October it’s common for universities to revise mission statements in tandem with new strategic frameworks and university presidencies, adding that GW’s old mission statement was “outdated” and lacked mention of the University’s broader community and other values beyond education.
GW’s websites now reflect the new mission statement, confirming the Board adopted the statement on March 19.
