GW Deans
The dean of each school serves as its chief administrative officer and is responsible to the president through the vice president for academic affairs. Deans serve at the pleasure of the president, provided they retain the confidence of their faculty.
The deans meet regularly as the Council of Deans under the leadership of the vice president for academic affairs. The council plays a major role in the formulation and implementation of the University’s academic goals and educational policies.
Deans have specific roles and responsibilities for their academic units:
- Responsible for the supervision and development of all resources of the school, including instructional and research programs, faculty and teaching staff, physical facilities and financial resources
- Presides at faculty meetings of the school
- With the faculty, develops school policies following University guidelines
- Recommends appointments, promotions and tenure, based on recommendations of the school’s departments or faculty
- Prepares annual and long-term budgets with assistance of the faculty
- Controls expenditures of the school in consultation with the vice president for academic affairs
- May request and defend the need for further allocations of funds
- Responsible for leadership in attracting external funds to the school for development of facilities, programs and staff
Peg Barratt, dean, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
Michael E. Brown, dean, Elliott School of International Affairs
Kathleen M. Burke, dean, College of Professional Studies
David S. Dolling, dean, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Mary H. Futrell, dean, Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Frederick M. Lawrence, dean, GW Law School
Susan M. Phillips, dean, School of Business
Josef J. Reum, interim dean, School of Public Health and Health Services
James L. Scott, dean, School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Sustainability, Affordability and Community
The three strategic initiatives GW is focusing on to enhance our academic, research and service programs. Learn more about them.
The GW Experience
Students
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Creating Next Generation Leaders
GW program helps female students connect with leading women across a variety of fields and develop their roles as future women in leadership.
Where the City is a Classroom
Freshman volunteers experience life beyond Foggy Bottom...
Faculty
Fighting Neglected Diseases
GW professor works to eradicate diseases that affect the health, education and economic development of the world's poorest people.
Building the Super Computer
Pioneering lab puts GW at the forefront of high-speed computing and offers GW students unprecedented access to science and skills of the future.
Blast From the Past
Students map an ancient—and dramatic—eruption as part of a geological research program in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.
Alumni
Giving Back to the District of Columbia
D.C. public health director calls GW education the foundation of his career.
GW Opens Doors
A chance encounter with a GW alumna helped give one GW undergraduate, an aspiring broadcast journalist from Texas, his big break.
The Legend Lives On
The $2 million bequest commitment caps a lifetime of philanthropy and service to GW, establishing the Elyse B. and Donald R. Lehman Endowed Professorship in Theoretical Physics.