Title: Board of Directors Welcomes New Members, Reviews Balanced Budget in Fall Meeting

Seven new members have joined the board of directors, and each will serve three-year terms. 

“We are deeply grateful to welcome these distinguished leaders onto our board of directors,” says Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “They bring a deep commitment to our mission and a vision for what Georgetown, and higher education, can contribute to our world.” 

The new board members include:

• Ed Cohen (L’70), attorney and principal in Lerner Enterprises and owner and vice president of the Washington Nationals baseball team
• Gen. Joe Dunford (M’85), a retired four-star general, 36th commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Ritu Ahuja Khanna (B’01), a former executive at Bulgari
• Ravi Raheja, president of K Raheja Group
• Makiko Tanaka Ueshima, president of the Tanaka Family Foundation
• Tim O’Neill (L’77), global co-leader of the investment management division of Goldman Sachs and a former member of the board of directors
• Kelly Mulvoy Mangan (SFS’91), president of the Georgetown Alumni Association

The board members’ terms began on July 1, 2022 and will end on July 1, 2025. 

2022 Fiscal Year Results

During its fall meeting, the board approved financial results for fiscal year 2022, which showed a balanced budget and positive operating results. 

As part of its 2022 budget, the board had previously approved improvements to staff benefits, including a 3% merit pool for the 2022 fiscal year and merit pay increases for academic and administrative professionals (AAP) as part of the annual performance review process. 

Georgetown also updated its Tuition Assistance Benefits (TAP) for faculty and staff members. As of Aug. 19, 2022, employees who completed one year of service can qualify for TAP benefits — a shift from the former two-year requirement. Georgetown covers 90% of tuition for classes taken at the university.

The university also rolled out enhancements to its parental leave, paid time off, sick leave and disability leave benefits this year.

Georgetown’s Expanding DC Presence

On October 20, the board of directors toured Georgetown’s downtown presence, which the university continues to invest in and expand since establishing Georgetown Law downtown more than 130 years ago. 

Several members of the board viewed construction underway on 125 E St. NW, a building just blocks from the U.S. Capitol where the McCourt School of Public Policy, currently housed on main campus, will permanently move. 

The 130,000-square-foot building will feature new classrooms, offices, lounges, an auditorium, rooftop events space and terrace and views of the U.S. Capitol. The building is anticipated to be substantially completed by December 2023. 

“Investing in our downtown infrastructure is more than the buildings — it’s about creating new programs, interactions and experiences for students in the heart of our nation’s capital,” says David Green, chief financial officer and interim chief operating officer of Georgetown. “We are thrilled to anchor the McCourt School of Public Policy in the very center of the policy world.”

In August 2022, Georgetown opened its new residence for undergraduate and graduate students at 55 H St. NW in downtown DC. The 11-story building offers students a living, learning and working community near Georgetown Law, the School of Continuing Studies, the U.S. Capitol, Union Station and the Supreme Court. 

In addition to housing graduate students, the residence houses students in the growing Capitol Applied Learning Labs (CALL) program, a one-semester program that offers undergraduate students credit-bearing internships paired with unique mentoring and networking opportunities. 

55 H St. features 158 furnished apartment-style units with in-unit washer-dryers, a full kitchen and dishwasher and access to the building’s amenities, which include a contemplation space, theater, fitness center, offices and meeting rooms, an outdoor courtyard and bike storage. 

Earlier this year, the board approved funding for an architectural design firm to transform its newly acquired office building on 111 Massachusetts Ave. NW into a multi-use educational facility. The building, located near Georgetown Law, allows the university to establish new learning hubs and interdisciplinary programming across the main, medical and law campuses. The building was purchased in tandem with Car Barn, a historic building (3600 M St.) that the board also approved the acquisition of earlier this year after the university leased the property for many years. 

Also near the Law Center and the future home of the McCourt School, Georgetown’s 130,000-square-foot property at 500 First St. is already housing interdisciplinary centers from the Law Center, main campus and the medical center, as well as select undergraduate programs. The building is within walking distance of the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court and the School of Continuing Studies.

Advancing a Pope Francis Initiative 

Rev. Antonio Spadaro, S.J., a board member and editor-in-chief of the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica, and Thomas Banchoff, vice president for global engagement, updated the board on an international, interreligious project Georgetown has been leading. 

The Culture of Encounter and the Global Agenda Project, launched by Georgetown and partners at the Vatican in 2021, has created a global network of scholars and practitioners to explore Pope Francis’s call for a “culture of encounter” to address division and polarization in the world. In 2021, Pope Francis sent Georgetown and La Civiltà Cattolica a letter expressing his public support for their collaboration on this theme. 

“Advancing interreligious dialogue and understanding is a core value at Georgetown,” says Banchoff. “Fr.  Spadaro, S.J., and I were pleased to share how scholars and practitioners around the world are examining ways to bridge differences for the global common good, particularly during times of war and division.”

Students and Faculty Present to the Board

During the meeting, students, faculty and staff updated the board on their work across the university in community safety, the performing arts, business and health equity.

Tahir Duckett (L’17), executive director of the Center for Innovations in Community Safety (CICS), presented on the Georgetown center’s latest initiatives, including the Police for Tomorrow Fellowship, which has delivered workshops on community safety innovations to 50 fellows from the DC police department, and the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement program, which prepares officers to successfully intervene to prevent harm. 

“The work we do at CICS is helping policymakers across the nation explore groundbreaking interventions that help build safer neighborhoods without relying on over-policing and overincarceration,” Duckett says. “Georgetown is the perfect place to engage in this kind of work, and it meant so much to be able to share our progress and our plans with the board of directors.”

At the McDonough School of Business, Leslie Crutchfield, executive director of Business for Impact, and Joey Gonzales-Baugh (MSFS’23, MBA’23) presented on the initiative’s student experiences, research, partnerships and nonprofit executive development that develop business leaders dedicated to the common good. Gonzales-Baugh is a member of the social impact networking organization, Net Impact, in MSB. 

Dr. Natsu Onoda Power, a professor and artistic director of the Davis Performing Arts Center, shared updates on the Davis Center’s performances and work alongside students Jake Teall (C’23) and Jameson Nowlan (F’23), who have both acted in Georgetown productions. 

And in a final presentation, Dr. Michelle Roett, a professor and chair in the Department of Family Medicine and co-medical director of the HOYA Clinic at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, described new work underway to significantly expand the DC Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program that she leads to establish a university center focusing on advancing health equity education and increasing diversity in healthcare professions.

As part of the board presentation, Lauren Havens (M’24), a member of the medical school’s Council on Diversity Affairs, Primary Care Leadership Track, and Health Equity Task Force, shared her work as a AHEC Scholar to underscore student contributions in reducing health disparities and advancing health equity in Washington, DC through longitudinal community-based partnerships, scholarships and mentorship.