Stephen Joel Trachtenberg

Stephen Joel Trachtenberg is the current President of The George Washington University. He has announced his retirement effective July 2007.

He is the author of numerous books including The Art of Hiring in America's Colleges & Universities, Thinking out loud, Reflections on Higher Education, and Speaking His Mind. He began his career in higher education at Boston University and left to take the Presidency at the University of Hartford. From there he left for the George Washington University in Washington, DC.

As President of The George Washington University, he has opened new buildings for the the School of Business and the Elliott School of International Affairs, a new hospital, and added the Mount Vernon Campus, a former women's college in Northwest Washington. Trachtenberg also started a full scholarship program for DC public school students, increased the national profile of the University, and has fostered the observance of school traditions such as George Washington's birthday celebration. He added new traditons such as a Hippo mascot, the Order of the Hippo secret society, chimes which ring out the GW Fight Song and the Alma Mater in the University Yard, the heart of the Foggy Bottom campus.