Tim Gowa/Hatchet photographer
University President Steven Knapp has been on the job for less than two weeks but this small number has little bearing on his lofty aspirations for GW.
Knapp is still familiarizing himself with the University's strengths and weaknesses but said his initial plans for the faculty and students include promoting interdepartmental collaboration on research, building relationships with relevant District institutions, building a community of Colonials - present students and alumni included - and settling into life on the same block as 1,000 of GW's finest incoming freshmen once he moves into a newly renovated Alumni House.
"There is a really strong aspiration here - from the Board of Trustees, from the faculty, from those individuals who wrote to me once my appointment was announced - to become a more visible research institution," Knapp said. "There is a lot of research going on here already, but it may not be as well appreciated outside the University as it should be."
Knapp said he hopes to advance this goal by encouraging professors to work with colleagues in different departments and by promoting the University's relationship with the federal government, the local government and D.C.'s plethora of museums and great libraries.
