Strategic Framework Development at the George Washington University

Since the start of President Granberg’s presidency on July 1, 2023, the GW leadership team has been meeting with members of our community, including faculty, students, staff, alumni, and university partners, to identify GW’s unique strengths and areas of opportunity. Throughout these engagements, it has become clear that our university is well-positioned to begin the development of a new strategic framework that can guide GW’s future growth over the next five to ten years. The Provost’s office has been charged with operationalizing this process.

Before the formal framework development process can begin, it is important that we better understand the future for which we are planning and identify the challenges and opportunities higher education will face moving forward. We began with a series of future-focused conversations with the community. Please read below for progress the university has made in this advance work.

Summary Report

Based on the information that has emerged from the future-focused conversations, we are pleased to share a summary report that summarizes what we learned and begins to bring into focus the major ideas and commonalities expressed among constituencies. This is a living document that continues to be updated based on community feedback and in conversations with stakeholder groups, so please take time to review the report and share feedback at the bottom of this page through Friday, May 3.
 

Draft Summary Report

Future-Focused Conversations

In the spring 2024 semester, leadership held a series of discussions on GW’s future in the form of virtual conversations open to all members of the community. These one-hour dialogues focused on several key areas: the future of work and the workforce, the future of higher education, and the future of knowledge. 

The dates of the conversations and questions asked are available below. A feedback form was provided online for anyone who could not attend a conversation or who had additional thoughts to share.

Conversation Dates

Faculty

Full-time faculty sessions:

• Wednesday, February 28
• Thursday, February 29
• Friday, March 1 
• Tuesday, March 5 
• Wednesday, March 6

Part-time faculty sessions:

• Monday, March 4 
• Wednesday, March 6 

Students

• Monday, March 4
• Tuesday, March 5

Staff

• Monday, March 11
• Tuesday, March 12 
• Thursday, March 14
• Tuesday, March 19 
• Thursday, March 21

Alumni

• Multiple sessions throughout April

Questions

Faculty

Please move beyond your discipline to think broadly.

The Future of the Workforce

1. What do you think your students (especially undergraduates) need to know five to ten years from now that they don’t know now?
2. What skills do you think your students (especially undergraduates) will need to have five to ten years from now that they do not have today?

The Future of Higher Education

1. What sorts of intellectual issues is GW best positioned to explore? How can we make an impact?
2. How do you see your role as a professor changing in the next ten years?
3. Do you think research will have the same place — or a different place — in our endeavors ten years from now?
4. What is the most serious threat GW faces when it comes to competition in the field of higher education?

The Future of Knowledge

1. What do you see as the most exciting/challenging intellectual issues today? What possibilities are provided by exploring those issues?
2. How do you think our fields of inquiry will have changed ten years from now? Why?

Students

The Future of the Workforce

1. What do you hope to gain from your education at GW?
2. What skills do you think you will need in order to be successful in your career?
3. Where do you expect to be five years from now? What will you be doing? What will you have accomplished?

The Future of Knowledge

1. Why did you choose GW? Was it the right choice?
2. What is your biggest frustration at GW?
3. What about your experience here excites you? What surprises you?
4. If you could change one thing about GW, what would it be?
5. GW is an AAU university, which means research is a big deal here. Does that make any difference to you?
6. What should the college experience be five years from now?  How is it different from the college experience today?

The Future of Higher Education

1. What new ideas are particularly interesting to you now?
2. What ideas do you think will be important to explore five years from now?

Staff

The Future of the Workforce

1. Does it make a difference to you that you work at a university? Why or why not?
2. Are you studying anything here to advance your career?
3. What skills would make you a more effective employee five to ten years from now?
4. What do you think students (especially undergraduates) need to know five to ten years from now that they don't know now? 
5. What skills do you think students will need to have ten years from now that they don’t have today?

The Future of Higher Education

1. Does it make any difference to you what academic or co-curricular initiatives GW undertakes?
2. Do you imagine doing your job differently in five to ten years? If so, how and why?
3. What sorts of intellectual issues is GW best positioned to explore? How can we make an impact?
4. Do you think research will have the same place, or a different place, in our endeavors ten years from now?
5. What is the most serious threat GW faces when it comes to competition in the field of higher education?

The Future of Knowledge

1. What do you see as the most exciting/challenging intellectual issues today? What possibilities are provided by exploring those issues?
2. How do you think our fields of inquiry will have changed ten years from now? Why?

Alumni

The Future of the Workforce

1. What are the most important skills you acquired at GW?
2.  In your field of work, what skills do you see being most relevant five to ten years from now?
3. In what ways did your GW education help advance your career?

The Future of Higher Education

1. If you were to return to GW now, what would you do differently?
2. What would you like GW to do differently to prepare students for the future?
3. What are the biggest challenges we will face ten years from now?

Next Steps

We will distill all the information from the future-focused conversations and additional feedback on the summary report into a set of themes that will be presented to the GW Board of Trustees. Following the Board’s review and endorsement of the themes this spring/summer, the formal strategic framework development process will commence in the fall of 2024.

Timeline

Updates

• April 23, 2024: Seeking Feedback on the Future-Focused Conversations Summary Report
• March 26, 2024: Community Future-Focused Conversations Mark First Step in Strategic Framework Development Process
• February 23, 2024: Announcing Future-Focused Conversations to Inform GW's Strategic Framework 

Summary Report Feedback Form