[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 45 (Thursday, March 15, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S3196]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RETIREMENT OF DR. STEPHEN JOEL TRACHTENBERG

 Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I want to pay tribute to an 
exceptional man who is retiring in July, after 19 years of impeccable 
service to the George Washington University, GW.
  Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, 68, became the 15th president of GW on 
August 1, 1988. A native of Brooklyn, NY, President Trachtenberg earned 
a bachelor of arts degree from Columbia University in 1959, the juris 
doctor from Yale University in 1962, and the master of public 
administration degree from Harvard University in 1966. In 1968, he was 
selected as a Winston Churchill Traveling Fellow for study in Oxford, 
England.
  He came to GW from the University of Hartford, Connecticut, where he 
had been president for 11 years. Before assuming the presidency of 
Hartford, President Trachtenberg served for 8 years at Boston 
University as vice president for academic services and academic dean of 
the college of liberal arts. Earlier, in Washington, DC, he was a 
special assistant for 2 years to the U.S. Education Commissioner, 
Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He has been an attorney 
with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and a legislative aide to former 
Indiana Congressman John Brademas.
  Just a few of the highlights in his career include the following: 
President Trachtenberg was named one of the top 100 leaders in the 
American Academy in a 1978 Change magazine poll. He received a 1987 
Human Relations Award from the National Conference of Christians and 
Jews. In 1988, the Connecticut Bar Association honored him with its 
Distinguished Public Service Award, and he was recognized by the 
Hartford NAACP for his contributions to the education of minority 
students. In 1992, he received the Hannah G. Solomon Award from the 
National Council of Jewish Women. In 1993, the Washington, DC, Urban 
League named him ``Father of the Year.'' And in 1992 and 2007, he 
received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards.
  President Trachtenberg has served the GW community as a drum major 
for change and has lead by example a commitment to public, civic, and 
personal service. Throughout the years, he has worked tirelessly in 
honoring and enhancing the symbiotic relationship between the 
University and the District of Columbia, supporting and mentoring 
students, and leading and advocating for reinvention, change, and civic 
engagement. He has worked successfully for almost two decades to propel 
GW further into the first ranks of world-class institutions of higher 
learning.
  As a result of President Trachtenberg's efforts, the number of 
applications for undergraduate admission more than tripled, from 6,000 
in 1988 to almost 20,000 in 2006, while the university's acceptance 
rate of these applicants was reduced by two-thirds. President 
Trachtenberg made financial aid for students a priority so that today 
the university offers nearly nine times, $113 million, as much 
financial aid to incoming students as was offered in 1988.
  It can confidently be said that the university's faculty now 
comprises experts on topics ranging from administrative law to zoology 
and contribute to scholarly journals, law reviews, and media outlets on 
a regular basis. The university's sponsored research enterprise has 
quadrupled from $33 million in expenditures in 1988 to $132 million in 
expenditures in 2006. Through President Trachtenberg's efforts, GW has 
significantly upgraded its information technology and library system 
which now contains more than 2,000,000 volumes and is a member of the 
prestigious Association of Research Libraries.
  Under President Trachtenberg's unprecedented leadership, the 
university robustly developed academic, residential, and recreational 
facilities on campus--including the opening of the Media and Public 
Affairs Building and the establishment within of the Luther W. Brady 
Art Gallery in 2001, the Annette and Theodore Lerner Health and 
Wellness Center in 2001, GW Hospital in 2002, 1957 E Street, the new 
home of GW's Elliott School of International Affairs and Geography 
Department in 2002, and Ric and Dawn Duques Hall, the new home of GW's 
Business School in 2006--in a way that served the institution's 
scholarly and other programmatic needs while respecting the interests 
of its Foggy Bottom neighbors.
  President Trachtenberg's commitment to the enhancement of academic 
and other space on campus supported the renovation and expansion of the 
law school complex, begun in 2000 and completed in 2006, the renovation 
of Morton and Norma Lee Funger Hall, dedicated in February 2006, and 
improvements of the Cloyd Heck Marvin Center including the addition of 
the Marc C. Abrahms Great Hall, dedicated in December 2002, and the 
renovation of J Street dining facilities, opened August 2004.
  President Trachtenberg also spearheaded a campus beautification 
effort that transformed a series of city streets into a cohesive and 
vibrant urban campus with the addition of the Mid-Campus Quad, Kogan 
Plaza, pocket parks, and outdoor sculptures.
  President Trachtenberg presides over the District of Columbia's 
largest private employer. And to support all the foregoing, President 
Trachtenberg oversaw two decades of balanced budgets, and the increase 
in the university endowment from $200 million in 1988 to more than $1 
billion in 2007.
  In 1989, President Trachtenberg created the 21st Century DC Scholars 
Program, now the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholars, which has granted 
almost 100 full scholarships, representing over $13 million, to 
students from the DC Public Schools to attend GW. Under Trachtenberg's 
leadership, GW's Multicultural Student Services Center was named and 
has become a strong center for cultural awareness and celebrations, 
student development, and diversity training. Additionally, the Office 
of Community Service was created in 1992 and has become a focal point 
for civic engagement for the Washington DC community. His dedication to 
civic service is reflected throughout the university, which was named a 
``college with a conscience'' in 2005 by Princeton Review, and most 
recently in the top 10 schools sending students to the Peace Corps.
  His passion and demonstrated commitment to DC--the city, the schools, 
the business community and its residents--are unparalleled and have 
been recognized on several occasions by the District of Columbia Mayor, 
City Council and Chamber of Commerce. President Trachtenberg has 
received numerous accolades from across the Nation and abroad for his 
service, vision, intellect, wit, and compassion. Thanks to President 
Trachtenberg, GW went from being one of the best kept secrets in town 
to being one of the best known and most admired global 
universities.

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