In his almost 40 years in government and academia, the Brooklyn native and James Madison High School graduate has forged friendships with a lot of high-profile people - and has become one himself. On Tuesday he spoke to university presidents, academics and politicians. Some told him to stay; others inquired about the impending vacancy atop GW.
Trachtenberg, who will retain the title of president emeritus and teach as a University professor of public service, looks forward to a lower-profile role at the school. His successor, no matter what his credentials, will have big shoes to fill.
It is not hyperbolic to say that Trachtenberg, in his almost two decades in Foggy Bottom, remade GW in his own image. He presided over an almost five-fold increase in the endowment; put up dozens of academic and residential facilities; and gave GW a national identity separate from that Jesuit school down the road. He's done all of this not without controversy. Trachtenberg has plenty of detractors, who point out that he has made GW the most expensive university of its kind; upended the sleepy residential character of Foggy Bottom; and taken out a large amount of debt to finance GW's unprecedented expansion.
The manifestations of Trachtenberg's quirky personality should also not be overlooked: an improbable unofficial mascot, the hippo, sitting in the middle of campus, leaving passersby with the impression that Trachtenberg is winking at them; a residence hall called Ivory Tower; his non-sequitur but humorous stories infused with the wittiness of an urban intellectual from a Saul Bellow novel.
Though he'll be stepping down from the presidency with a lot of goals not yet at fruition and with many critics, Trachtenberg will be leaving on top - with his many accomplishments, with his health and with enough confidence so that he doesn't need a fortune cookie and a soda to tell him he has a bright future going into his 70s.
Trachtenberg, who will retain the title of president emeritus and teach as a University professor of public service, looks forward to a lower-profile role at the school. His successor, no matter what his credentials, will have big shoes to fill.
It is not hyperbolic to say that Trachtenberg, in his almost two decades in Foggy Bottom, remade GW in his own image. He presided over an almost five-fold increase in the endowment; put up dozens of academic and residential facilities; and gave GW a national identity separate from that Jesuit school down the road. He's done all of this not without controversy. Trachtenberg has plenty of detractors, who point out that he has made GW the most expensive university of its kind; upended the sleepy residential character of Foggy Bottom; and taken out a large amount of debt to finance GW's unprecedented expansion.
The manifestations of Trachtenberg's quirky personality should also not be overlooked: an improbable unofficial mascot, the hippo, sitting in the middle of campus, leaving passersby with the impression that Trachtenberg is winking at them; a residence hall called Ivory Tower; his non-sequitur but humorous stories infused with the wittiness of an urban intellectual from a Saul Bellow novel.
Though he'll be stepping down from the presidency with a lot of goals not yet at fruition and with many critics, Trachtenberg will be leaving on top - with his many accomplishments, with his health and with enough confidence so that he doesn't need a fortune cookie and a soda to tell him he has a bright future going into his 70s.
