Georgetown University
Encyclopedia
Georgetown University is a private
, Jesuit
, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown
neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university
in the United States. Georgetown administers 180 academic programs in four undergraduate
and three graduate
and professional schools, and the programs in international affairs and law are particularly selective and well regarded. In addition to its main campus, renowned for the neo-Romanesque Healy Hall
, Georgetown operates a law center
on Capitol Hill, as well as auxiliary campuses in Italy
, Turkey
, and Qatar.
Georgetown's founding by John Carroll
realized efforts dating from 1634 to establish a Roman Catholic college in the province of Maryland
. Georgetown expanded into a branched university after the American Civil War
during the presidency of Patrick Francis Healy
, who was born a slave by law. Georgetown celebrates its religious heritage, which includes Jesuit involvement since 1805, but the university has always been governed independently of church authorities and of the Society of Jesus.
The university has around 7,000 undergraduate and over 8,000 post-graduate students from a wide variety of religious, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. Georgetown's main campus is home to dozens of student groups, including the oldest student theater group
and the largest student-run business
in the United States. Georgetown's most notable alumni have served in leadership positions in government in the United States and abroad; among them are former U.S. President Bill Clinton
, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
, and the heads of state or government of more than a dozen countries. Georgetown's athletic teams are called the Hoyas
. The men's basketball team has won a record-tying seven Big East championships
, has played in five Final Four
s, and won a national championship in 1984.
settlers from England founded the Province of Maryland
in 1634. However, the 1646 defeat of the Royalists
in the English Civil War
led to stringent laws against Roman Catholic education and the extradition of known Jesuits from the colony, including Andrew White
, and the destruction of their school at Calverton Manor. During most of the remainder of Maryland's colonial period, Jesuits conducted Catholic schools clandestinely. It was not until after the end of the American Revolution
that plans to establish a permanent Catholic institution for education in the United States were realized.
Because of Benjamin Franklin
's recommendation, Pope Pius VI
appointed former Jesuit John Carroll
as the first head of the Roman Catholic Church in America
, even though the papal suppression of the Jesuit order was still in effect. Carroll began meetings of local clergy in 1783 near Annapolis, Maryland
, where they orchestrated the development of a new university. On January 23, 1789, Carroll finalized the purchase of the property on which Dahlgren Quadrangle was later built. Future Congressman William Gaston
was enrolled as the school's first student on November 22, 1791, and instruction began on January 2, 1792.
In its early years, Georgetown College suffered from considerable financial strain, relying on private sources of funding and the limited profits from local lands owned by ex-Jesuits. The Maryland Society of Jesus began its restoration in 1805, and Jesuit affiliation, in the form of teachers and administrators, bolstered confidence in the college. The United States Congress
issued Georgetown the first federal university charter
in 1815, which allowed it to confer degrees, and the first Bachelor degrees were awarded two years later. In 1844, the school received a corporate
charter, under the name "The President and Directors of Georgetown College", affording the growing school additional legal rights. In response to the demand for a local option for Roman Catholic students, the Medical School
was founded in 1851.
The U.S. Civil War
greatly affected Georgetown as 1,141 students and alumni enlisted and the Union Army
commandeered university buildings. By the time of President Abraham Lincoln
's May 1861 visit to campus, 1,400 troops were stationed in temporary quarters there. Due to the number of lives lost, enrollment levels remained low until well after the war was over. Only seven students graduated in 1869, down from over 300 in the previous decade. At its founding in 1876, the Georgetown College Boat Club, the school's rowing
team, adopted blue, used for Union uniforms
, and gray, used for Confederate uniforms
, as its colors to signify the peaceful unity among students. Subsequently, the school adopted these as its official colors.
Enrollment did not recover from the war until the presidency of Patrick Francis Healy
from 1873 to 1881. Born a slave by law, Healy was the first acknowledged head of a predominantly white American university with African heritage
. He is credited with reforming the undergraduate curriculum
, lengthening the medical and law programs, and creating the Alumni Association
. One of his largest undertakings was the construction of a major new building, subsequently named Healy Hall
in his honor. For his work, Healy is known as the school's "second founder."
. The School of Medicine added a dental school in 1901 and the undergraduate School of Nursing
in 1903. Georgetown Preparatory School
relocated from campus in 1919 and fully separated from the University in 1927. The School of Foreign Service
(SFS) was founded in 1919 by Edmund A. Walsh
, to prepare students for leadership in foreign commerce and diplomacy. The School of Business was created out of the SFS in 1957, and in 1998 was renamed the McDonough School of Business
in honor of alumnus Robert E. McDonough.
Besides expansion of the University, Georgetown also aimed to expand their resources and their student body. The School of Nursing has admitted female students since its founding, and most of the university was made available on a limited basis by 1952. With the College of Arts and Sciences welcoming its first female students in the 1969–1970 academic year, Georgetown became fully coeducation
al. Georgetown ended its bicentennial year of 1989 by electing Leo J. O'Donovan
as president. He subsequently launched the Third Century Campaign to build the school's endowment. In December 2003, Georgetown completed the campaign after raising over $1 billion for financial aid, academic chair endowment, and new capital projects. John J. DeGioia
, Georgetown's first lay president, has led the school since 2001, and has continued its financial modernization and sought to "expand opportunities for intercultural and interreligious dialogue", such as by opening a campus in Qatar.
Georgetown University was founded by former Jesuits in the tradition of Ignatius of Loyola
and is a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
. Georgetown is not a pontifical university
, though three Jesuits serve on the forty member Board of Directors, the school's highest governance. Fifty-nine members of the Society of Jesus
live on campus, and are mostly employed by Georgetown as professors or administrators. Jesuit Heritage Week has been held every year since 2001 to celebrate the contributions of Jesuits to the Georgetown tradition.
The role that Georgetown's Catholic heritage has played in its policies has been controversial at times, even as its influence is relatively limited. Stores in University-owned buildings are not allowed to sell or distribute birth control
products. Georgetown University Medical Center
and Georgetown University Hospital
, operated by MedStar Health
, are prohibited from performing abortions. The hospital does, however, perform research using embryonic stem cells. Georgetown has drawn criticism from religious groups, including the Cardinal Newman Society
, for hosting prominent pro-choice
politicians as speakers, such as John Kerry
and Barack Obama
.
Between 1996 and 1999, crucifix
es were added to many classroom walls, attracting national attention. Before 1996, crucifixes had hung only in hospital rooms and historic classrooms. Some of these crucifixes are historic works of art, and are noted as such. Pressure to remove the crucifixes comes, however, from within the Catholic community, while campus leaders of other faiths have defended their placement. The Intercultural Center
is an exception to this controversy, rotating displays of various faith and culture symbols in the lobby.
, the University has 7,433 undergraduate students, 5,455 graduate students on the main campus, 2,083 students at the Law Center
, 813 students in the School of Medicine
, and 145 at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar. Bachelor's
programs are offered through Georgetown College
, the School of Nursing and Health Studies
, the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business
, the School of Continuing Studies
, and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
, which includes the Qatar campus. Some high school students from Georgetown Visitation
are permitted to attend classes for Advanced Placement
credit.
Georgetown University offers undergraduate degrees in forty-eight majors
in the four undergraduate schools, as well as the opportunity for students to design their own individualized courses of study. All majors in the College are open as minors to students in the College, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the School of Business. Students in the School of Foreign Service cannot receive minors, but can complete certificates instead. All courses are on a credit hour
system. Georgetown offers many opportunities to study abroad
, and 58.7% of the undergraduate student body spends time at an institution overseas.
Master's
and doctoral
programs are offered through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
, the Law Center, the School of Medicine, and the School of Continuing Studies. The McDonough School of Business and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service both offer masters programs. The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
and the Public Policy Institute
are both research centers which also offer masters degrees. Masters students occasionally share some advanced seminar
s with undergraduates, and most undergraduate schools offer abbreviated bachelors and masters programs following completion of the undergraduate degree.
Each graduate school offers at least one double degree
with another graduate school. Additionally, the Law Center offers a joint degree with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
. The School of Continuing Studies includes the Center for Continuing and Professional Education, and operates four types of degree programs, over thirty professional certificates and non-degree courses, undergraduate and graduate degrees in Liberal Studies
, as well as summer courses for graduates, undergraduates, and high school students.
, Georgetown University employs approximately 1,311 full-time and 743 part-time faculty members across its three Washington, D.C. campuses, with an additional thirty-two at SFS-Qatar. The faculty comprises leading academics and notable political and business leaders, and are predominantly male by a two-to-one margin. Politically, Georgetown University's faculty members give more support to liberal candidates, and while their donation patterns are generally consistent with those of other American university faculties, they gave more than average to Barack Obama's presidential campaign
.
The current faculty includes scholars such as the former President of the American Philological Association
James J. O'Donnell
, theologian John Haught
, political theorist James V. Schall, social activists Sam Marullo and Chai Feldblum
, and preeminent hip-hop scholar Michael Eric Dyson. Many former politicians choose to teach at Georgetown, including the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
, U.S. Agency for International Development
administrator Andrew Natsios
, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake
, and CIA director George Tenet
. Internationally, the school attracts numerous former ambassador
s and heads of state
, such as Ambassador Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar
, and President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe
.
Georgetown University is a self-described "student-centered research university" considered by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education
to have "very high research activity". , Georgetown's libraries hold 2,425,354 items and 48,622 serials
in seven buildings, with most in Lauinger Library
. The Blommer Science Library, located in the Reiss Science Building on campus, houses most of the Science collection. Additionally, the Law School campus includes the nation's fifth largest law library. Georgetown faculty conduct research in hundreds of subjects, but have priorities in the fields of religion, ethics, science, public policy, and cancer medicine. Cross-institutional research is performed with Columbia University
and Virginia Tech.
In 2008, Georgetown spent $143 million on research, ranking it 111th nationwide. In 2007, it received about $14.8 million in federal funds for research, with 64% from the National Science Foundation
, National Institutes of Health
, the United States Department of Energy
, and the Department of Defense
. In 2010, the school received $5.6 million from the Department of Education
to fund fellowships in several international studies fields. Georgetown University Medical Center
received an additional $118.4 million from these and other government sources. Georgetown's Vincent Lombardi Cancer Center is one of 41 research-intensive comprehensive cancer centers in the United States, and developed the breakthrough HPV vaccine
for cervical cancer in 2006.
Centers which conduct and sponsor research at Georgetown include the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
, the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding and the Woodstock Theological Center
. Regular publications include the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy
, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
, the Georgetown Law Journal
, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
, and the Georgetown Public Policy Review
.
and a handful of Ivy League
schools are tougher to get into than Georgetown." , Georgetown's graduate schools have acceptance rates of 3.6% to the School of Medicine
, 19% to the Law Center
, 25% to the MSFS, and 34.9% to the MBA program
. In 2004, a National Bureau of Economic Research
study on revealed preference of U.S. colleges showed that Georgetown was the 16th most-preferred choice.
The undergraduate schools maintain a restrictive Early Action
admissions program, as students who have applied through an Early Decision
process at another school are not permitted to apply early to Georgetown. 94% of students accepted for the class of 2014 were in the top 10% of their class and had SAT
scores ranging from 660–760 in Critical Reading, and 670–770 in Math. Georgetown accepts both the SAT and ACT, though does not consider the writing portion of either. Over 55% of undergraduates receive financial aid, and the university meets 100% of demonstrated need, with an average financial aid package of $23,500 and about 70% of aid distributed in the forms of grants or scholarships.
Georgetown University has three campuses in Washington, D.C.: the undergraduate campus, the Medical Center
, and the Law Center. The undergraduate campus and Medical Center are together in the Georgetown neighborhood
and form the main campus. Other centers are located around Washington, D.C., including the Center for Continuing and Professional Education at Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia. Transit between these locations and the Washington Metro
is supplied by a system of shuttles, known as GUTS buses. Georgetown also operates a facility in Doha
, Qatar
, and villas in Alanya
, Turkey and Fiesole
, Italy. In their campus layout, Georgetown's administrators consistently used the traditional quadrangle
design.
, overlooking Northern Virginia
. The main gates, known as the Healy Gates, are located at the intersection of 37th and O Streets, NW. The main campus is just over 104 acre (0.42087344 km²) in area and includes fifty-four buildings, student residences capable of accommodating 80% of undergraduates, and various athletic facilities. Most buildings employ collegiate Gothic architecture and Georgian brick architecture
. Campus green areas include fountains, a cemetery, large clusters of flowers, groves of trees, and open quadrangles.
The main campus has traditionally centered on Dahlgren Quadrangle, although Red Square has replaced it as the focus of student life. Healy Hall
, built in Flemish Romanesque
style from 1877 to 1879, is the architectural gem of Georgetown's campus, and is a National Historic Landmark
. Both Healy Hall and the Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory
, built in 1844, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. The medical school is on the northwestern part of the main campus on Reservoir Road, and is integrated with Georgetown University Hospital
. Georgetown Visitation
, a private Roman Catholic girls high school
, is northeast of campus, on land adjoining the undergraduate campus. The school uses many of the townhouses in the Georgetown neighborhood east of the main campus for upperclassmen housing, institutions, and alumni facilities. Additionally, the Walsh School of Foreign Service
and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
both have classroom buildings in this area.
In late 2003, the school completed the Southwest Quadrangle Project, and brought a new 907-bed student dorm, an expansive dining hall, an underground parking facility, and new Jesuit Residence to the campus. The school's first performing arts center
, named for Royden B. Davis
, was completed in November 2005, and the new business school building, named for Rafik Hariri
, opened in Fall 2009. Future construction plans include a unified sciences center and expanded athletic facilities. As a location, Georgetown
is ranked nationally as the second best college town
by the Princeton Review. Despite this, main campus "town and gown
" relations are often strained by facilities construction, enlargement of the student body, as well as noise and alcohol violations. Crime is also a persistent issue, with campus security responding to 257 crimes in 2008.
The Law Center campus is located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood
on New Jersey Avenue, near Union Station
and consists of five buildings. First-year students at the Law Center can live in the single on-campus dormitory, the Gewirz Student Center. Most second- and third-year students, as well as some first-year students, live off-campus. As there is little housing near the Law Center, most are spread throughout the Washington metropolitan area. The "Campus Completion Project", finished in 2005, saw the addition of the Hotung International Building and the Sport and Fitness Center. G Street and F Street are closed off between 1st and 2nd Streets to create open lawns flanking McDonough Hall, the main building on the campus.
In December 1979, the Marquesa Margaret Rockefeller de Larrain
, granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller
, gave the Villa Le Balze
to Georgetown University. The Villa is in Fiesole
, Italy, on a hill above the city of Florence
. The Villa is used year-round for study abroad programs focused on specialized interdisciplinary study of Italian culture
and civilization. The main facility for the McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies
was donated to Georgetown in 1989 by alumnus and former United States Ambassador to Turkey
George C. McGhee
. The school is in the town of Alanya
, Turkey within the Seljuq
-era Alanya Castle
, on the Mediterranean. The Center operates study abroad programs one semester each year, concentrating on Turkish language
, architectural history
, and Islamic studies
.
In 2002, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development presented the School of Foreign Service
with the resources and space to open a facility in the new Education City
in Doha
, Qatar
. SFS-Qatar opened in 2005 as a liberal arts and international affairs undergraduate school for regional students. In December 2007, Georgetown opened a liaison office in Shanghai
, China to coordinate with Fudan University
and others. In 2008, the Georgetown University Law Center
in conjunction with an international consortium of law schools established the Center for Transnational Legal Studies
in London, England.
area, with 34% of new 2010 students coming from Mid-Atlantic states
, 11% being international students and the remainder coming from other areas of the US. The student body also represents 129 different countries, with 9% being international
, including over 330 undergraduate and 1,050 graduate students who chose to come to Georgetown as a study abroad
destination in 2009–10. As of that year, the racial diversity of the undergraduate student body was 62.3% white
, 8.8% Asian
, 6.3% black
, and 5.9% Hispanic
; Additionally, 55.2% of undergraduates are female.
Although it is a Jesuit university, only 41.2% of the student body identify as Roman Catholic, while 22.2% identify as Protestant . Georgetown employs a full-time rabbi
, as 6.5% of undergraduates are Jewish. It was the first U.S. college to have a full-time imam
, to serve the over four-hundred Muslim
s on campus. Georgetown also sponsors student groups for Bahá'i
, Buddhist
, Hindu
, and Mormon traditions. The student body consists of both religious and irreligious students, and more than four-hundred freshmen and transfer students attend a nonreligious Ignatian
retreat annually, called ESCAPE. A 2007 survey of undergraduates also suggests that 62.8% are sexually active, while 6.2% identify as LGBTQ. Discrimination can be a issue on campus, and three-fourths of a 2009 survey considered homophobia
a campus problem. Newsweek
, however, rated Georgetown among its top "Gay-Friendly Schools" in 2010.
Almost all undergraduates attend full-time. A majority of undergraduates, 76%, live on-campus in several dormitories and apartment complexes, including all underclassmen. As of 2011, 1255 undergraduates and 339 graduate students live off-campus, mostly in the Georgetown
, Glover Park, Burleith
, and Foxhall
neighborhoods. Although many of the University's hall directors and area coordinators attend graduate level courses, on-campus housing is not available for main campus graduate students. The school hopes to build such housing by 2020. All students in the Medical School live off-campus, most in the surrounding neighborhoods, with some in Northern Virginia
and elsewhere through the region.
.
Georgetown's student organizations include one of the nation's oldest debating clubs, the Philodemic Society
, founded in 1830, and the oldest university theater group, the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
. Nomadic Theatre, founded in 1982 as an alternative troupe without an on-campus home, produces "plays which educate and challenge all members of the university community through thought-provoking theatre." The Georgetown Improv Association
, founded in 1995, performs monthly long-form improvisational
shows on-campus at Bulldog Alley in addition to hosting "Improvfest", one of the oldest improv festivals in the country.
There are a total of seven a cappella
groups on campus, including the Phantoms, Superfood, The GraceNotes, The Georgetown Chimes
, the Chamber Singers, Essence, Harmony, the service-oriented Saxatones, and the all-male Capitol G's. These groups perform annually at the "D.C. A Cappella Festival", held since 1991, and the "Cherry Tree Massacre" concert, held since 1974. The Georgetown University Band is composed of the Georgetown Pep Band and the Georgetown Wind Ensemble, and performs on campus, in Washington, D.C., and at post-season basketball tournaments.
In addition to student organizations and clubs, Georgetown University is home to the nation's largest entirely student-owned and -operated corporation, Students of Georgetown, Inc.
Founded in 1972, "The Corp" operates three coffee shops
and two grocery stores, and runs storage and airport shuttles for students. The business has annual revenues of over $1.3 million, which are directly re-invested into the Georgetown student body through Corp Philanthropy, which gave out over $50,000 in scholarships and donations to Georgetown groups in 2010–11. Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union is the oldest and largest student-run financial institution, with over $16 million in assets and 12,000 members. The Georgetown University Student Investment Fund
is one of a few undergraduate-run investment funds in the United States, and hosted CNBC's Jim Cramer to tape Mad Money
in September 2006.
Another student-run group, the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service
, "GERMS", is an all-volunteer ambulance service founded in 1982 that serves campus and the surrounding communities. Georgetown's Army
Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit, the Hoya Battalion, is the oldest military unit native to the District of Columbia. The proportion of ROTC students at Georgetown was the 79th highest among universities in the United States . GUGS, the Georgetown University Grilling Society, has been a Georgetown tradition since 2002, selling half-pound hamburgers in Red Square on most Fridays.
coordinates an annual rally and march to protest against rape and other forms of violence against women. Georgetown Solidarity Committee
is a workers' rights organization whose successes include ending use of sweatshops in producing Georgetown-logoed apparel, and garnering pay raises for both university cleaning staff and police. Georgetown Students for Fair Trade
successfully advocated for all coffee in campus cafeterias to be Fair Trade Certified.
Georgetown has many additional groups representing national, ethnic, and linguistic interests. Georgetown's has the second most politically active student body in the United States according to the Princeton Review. Groups based on local, national, and international issues are popular, and political speech is protected on campus. Student political organizations are active on campus and engage their many members in local and national politics. The Georgetown University College Republicans represent their party, while the Georgetown University College Democrats, the largest student organization on campus in 2008, represent theirs.
The reproductive rights
organization H*yas for Choice is not officially recognized by the University as its positions on abortion
are in opposition to University policy, prompting the asterisk in "Hoyas". While not financially supported by the school, the organization is permitted to meet and table in university spaces. In 2010, the "Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice" campaign led several protests against the school policy against the sale of birth control on campus, and in 2007, Georgetown University Law Center
students protested the University's decision to cease funding for a student's internship at Planned Parenthood
's litigation department despite funding it previous years. The issue contributes to Georgetown's 'red light' status on free speech under the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
rating system.
is the University's oldest newspaper. It has been in print since 1920, and since 1987, has been published twice weekly. The Georgetown Voice
, known for its weekly cover stories, is a newsmagazine
that was founded in March 1969 to focus more attention on citywide and national issues. The Georgetown Independent is a monthly journal of news, commentary and the arts. Founded in 1966, the Georgetown Law Weekly
is the student-run paper on the Law Center
campus, and is a three time winner of the American Bar Association
's Best Newspaper award.
The Georgetown Academy, restarted in 2008 after a hiatus, targets traditionalist Catholic readers, and the Georgetown Federalist, founded in 2006, purports to bring a conservative and libertarian
viewpoint to campus. Counterpoint Magazine is a monthly publication founded in the spring of 2011. The magazine is independent from Georgetown and was created with the intention of focusing primarily on national issues and bringing an explicitly liberal
perspective to campus. The Fire This Time is Georgetown's only minority newssource. The Georgetown Heckler
is a humor magazine founded on the Internet in 2003 by Georgetown students, releasing its first print issue in 2007. The Gonzo
was a former student humor magazine, published from 1993 to 1998. The Hoya and The Georgetown Voice both run online blogs, and there are other popular blogs written about the school and its sports teams.
The University has a campus-wide television station, GUTV, which began broadcasting in 1999. The station hosts an annual student film festival
in April for campus filmmakers. WGTB
, Georgetown's radio station, is available as a webcast
and on 92.3 FM in certain dormitories. The station was founded in 1946, and broadcast on 90.1 FM from 1960 to 1979, when university president Timothy S. Healy
gave away the frequency and broadcast capabilities to the University of the District of Columbia
because of WGTB's far left
political orientation.
Although Jesuit schools are not obliged to disassociate from Greek systems, many do, and Georgetown University does not officially recognize or fund fraternities, sororities
, or secret societies
among the student body. Despite this, Greek organizations persist on campus, although none require members to live in fraternal housing. Additionally, Georgetown University students are affiliated, in some cases, with fraternities at other nearby universities and colleges.
Active fraternities at Georgetown include Delta Phi Epsilon
, a professional foreign service fraternity; Alpha Kappa Psi
, a professional business fraternity; Alpha Phi Omega
, a national co-ed community service fraternity; Alpha Epsilon Pi
, a Jewish social fraternity; and social fraternities Sigma Phi Epsilon
and Zeta Psi
. Delta Phi Epsilon was founded at Georgetown in 1920, and members of their Alpha Chapter include Jesuits and several deans of the School of Foreign Service
. The Delta Phi Epsilon foreign service sorority, founded in 1973, is the only sorority active at Georgetown. Georgetown's chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, affiliated with the campus Hillel
, was established in 2002. Sigma Phi Epsilon chartered its chapter as a general social fraternity in 2007. The Omega Lambda chapter of professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi replaced Delta Sigma Pi
, which lost its charter in 2006. The Zeta Psi chapter, named Gamma Epsilon, was chartered in March 2009 after a year as a colony.
is celebrated with public viewings of alumnus William Peter Blatty
's film The Exorcist
, which takes place in the neighborhood surrounding the university.
Homecoming
coincides with a home football game, and festivities such as tailgating and a formal dance are sponsored by the Alumni Association to draw past graduates back to campus. The largest planned sports related celebration is the first basketball practice of the season. Dubbed Midnight Madness, this event introduces the men's and women's basketball teams shortly after midnight on the first day the teams are allowed by NCAA rules to formally practice together. In 2011, Georgetown again hosted a first round division of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
.
Georgetown University hosts notable speakers each year, largely because of the success of the Georgetown Lecture Fund
and the Office of Communications. These are frequently important heads of state
who visit Georgetown while in the capital, as well as scholars, authors, U.S. politicians, and religious leaders. The Office of the President hosts numerous symposia on religious topics, such as Nostra Ætate
, Pacem in Terris
, and the Building Bridges Seminar. Wikimania 2012, Wikipedia's own international conference, is planned to be held on the campus in July 2012.
Georgetown fields 23 varsity teams and the Club Sports Board supports an additional 23 club teams. The varsity teams participate in the NCAA
's Division I. The school generally competes in the Big East Conference
, although the football
team competes in the Division I FCS Patriot League
, the sailing team in Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association
, and the rowing teams in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. Georgetown University graduates over 90% of its student athletes. U.S. News & World Report
listed Georgetown's athletics program among the 20 best in the nation.
The school's teams are called "Hoyas", a name whose origin is uncertain. Sometime before 1893, students well versed in classical languages invented the mixed Greek
and Latin
chant of "Hoya Saxa
", translating roughly as "what (or such) rocks". The school's baseball team, then called the Stonewalls, began in 1870, and football in 1874, and the chant likely refers to one of these teams. In 1926 the football team
replaced Sergeant Stubby
as mascot with a Bull Terrier
they nicknamed "Hoya" because of the cheer, and by 1928, campus sports writers began to refer to teams as "Hoyas" rather than "Hilltoppers". The name was picked up in the local publications, and became official shortly after. Jack the Bulldog
has been the mascot of Georgetown athletics programs since 1962, and the school fight song
is There Goes Old Georgetown
.
The men's basketball team is particularly noteworthy as it won the NCAA championship
in 1984
under coach John Thompson
. The current coach is his son, John Thompson III
, who coached the team to the Final Four
in the 2007 NCAA tournament
. The team is tied for the most Big East conference tournament
titles with seven, and has made twenty-seven NCAA tournament appearances
. Well-known team alumni include Sleepy Floyd
, Patrick Ewing
, Dikembe Mutombo
, Alonzo Mourning
, Allen Iverson
, Jeff Green
, and Roy Hibbert
. Besides basketball
, Georgetown is nationally successful in rowing
, sailing
, men's and women's lacrosse
, cross country
, and track and field
. In all, over one-hundred student athletes have gone on to play professionally.
s, 18 Marshall Scholarship
s, and 24 Truman Scholarship
s. Georgetown is also one of the top ten producers of Peace Corps
volunteers . Georgetown alumni have a median starting salary of $55,000 with a median mid-career salary of $110,000. Just over 3% of Georgetown's 97,384 living alumni were listed in Marquis Who's Who
, the 14th highest percentage and eighth highest raw number among American universities . NNDB
, the Notable Names Database, lists 353 notable alumni .
Twelve current or former heads of state are alumni. Former President of the United States
Bill Clinton
is a 1968 graduate of the School of Foreign Service, and others include Laura Chinchilla, current President of Costa Rica, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
, former President of the Philippines
, and Saad Hariri
, former Prime Minister of Lebanon. Six alumni serve in the United States Senate, and thirteen in the House of Representatives. Current congressional alumni include Dick Durbin, Senate majority whip, and Steny Hoyer
, House minority whip
. Governors include Pat Quinn
of Illinois
, John Lynch of New Hampshire
, and Luis Fortuño
, of Puerto Rico
. On the U.S. Supreme Court
, alumni include current Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
and former Chief Justice Edward Douglass White
.
Crown Prince Felipe of Spain
, King Abdullah II of Jordan
, Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud of the Saudi Royal Family, and Prince Philippos deposed Greece royal family are among the royalty who attended the school. Besides numerous members of the senior diplomatic corps, graduates have also headed military organizations on both the domestic and international level, such as former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
and former National Security Advisor
General James L. Jones
. Notable alumni in business include Patricia Russo
, former Alcatel-Lucent
CEO, William J. Doyle
of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
, and Ted Leonsis
, owner of the Washington Capitals
, Wizards
, and Mystics
franchises and former America Online executive.
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
, Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university
Roman Catholic universities and colleges in the United States
There are 244 Catholic universities and colleges in the United States. They make up a significant number within the whole amount of Catholic universities and colleges in the world.-Catholic Honor Society:...
in the United States. Georgetown administers 180 academic programs in four undergraduate
Undergraduate education
Undergraduate education is an education level taken prior to gaining a first degree . Hence, in many subjects in many educational systems, undergraduate education is post-secondary education up to the level of a bachelor's degree, such as in the United States, where a university entry level is...
and three graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
and professional schools, and the programs in international affairs and law are particularly selective and well regarded. In addition to its main campus, renowned for the neo-Romanesque Healy Hall
Healy Hall
Healy Hall is the historic flagship building at the main campus of Georgetown University. The building was listed on DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964, on the National Register of Historic Places on May 25, 1971, and as a National Historic Landmark on December 23, 1987.-History:The building...
, Georgetown operates a law center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
on Capitol Hill, as well as auxiliary campuses in Italy
Villa Le Balze
Villa Le Balze is a garden villa in Fiesole, Tuscany, central Italy. The Villa is owned by Georgetown University and hosts year round study abroad students. Planned in 1911 by Cecil Pinsent for American Charles Augustus Strong, it was built in a tight space along the Tuscan hills overlooking the...
, Turkey
McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies
The McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies is an overseas academic center operated by Georgetown University in Alanya, Turkey. The McGhee Center was founded in 1989 after Ambassador George Crews McGhee, former U.S...
, and Qatar.
Georgetown's founding by John Carroll
John Carroll (bishop)
John Carroll, was the first Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States — serving as the ordinary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He is also known as the founder of Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States, and St...
realized efforts dating from 1634 to establish a Roman Catholic college in the province of Maryland
Province of Maryland
The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S...
. Georgetown expanded into a branched university after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
during the presidency of Patrick Francis Healy
Patrick Francis Healy
Patrick Francis Healy was the 29th President of Georgetown University known for expanding the school following the American Civil War. He was accepted as and identified as Irish-American. Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark, was constructed during Healy's tenure and is named after him...
, who was born a slave by law. Georgetown celebrates its religious heritage, which includes Jesuit involvement since 1805, but the university has always been governed independently of church authorities and of the Society of Jesus.
The university has around 7,000 undergraduate and over 8,000 post-graduate students from a wide variety of religious, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. Georgetown's main campus is home to dozens of student groups, including the oldest student theater group
Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
The Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society of Georgetown University is the oldest continuously running collegiate theatre troupe in the United States. Today, the Society is one of five theatre groups on the Georgetown campus and is entirely student-run...
and the largest student-run business
Students of Georgetown, Inc.
Students of Georgetown, Inc., or "The Corp", as it is commonly known , is a 5013 non-profit public charitable organization at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and is the largest entirely student-run c3 non-profit corporation in the world, with seven subsidiary companies generating annual...
in the United States. Georgetown's most notable alumni have served in leadership positions in government in the United States and abroad; among them are former U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
, and the heads of state or government of more than a dozen countries. Georgetown's athletic teams are called the Hoyas
Georgetown Hoyas
Georgetown's nickname is The Hoyas, but its mascot is "Jack the Bulldog." Various breeds of dogs have been used by the sports teams as mascots since the early 1900s. Several notable bull terriers like Sergeant Stubby and "Hoya" were used at football games in the 1920s, as was a Great Dane in the...
. The men's basketball team has won a record-tying seven Big East championships
Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Big East Conference. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Since 1983, the tournament has been held in Madison Square...
, has played in five Final Four
Final four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
s, and won a national championship in 1984.
Founding
JesuitSociety of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
settlers from England founded the Province of Maryland
Province of Maryland
The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S...
in 1634. However, the 1646 defeat of the Royalists
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
in the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
led to stringent laws against Roman Catholic education and the extradition of known Jesuits from the colony, including Andrew White
Andrew White (missionary)
Andrew White, S.J. was an English Jesuit missionary who was involved in the founding of the Maryland colony. He was a chronicler of the early colony, and his writings are a primary source on the land, the Native Americans of the area, and the Jesuit mission in North America...
, and the destruction of their school at Calverton Manor. During most of the remainder of Maryland's colonial period, Jesuits conducted Catholic schools clandestinely. It was not until after the end of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
that plans to establish a permanent Catholic institution for education in the United States were realized.
Because of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
's recommendation, Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI
Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...
appointed former Jesuit John Carroll
John Carroll (bishop)
John Carroll, was the first Roman Catholic bishop and archbishop in the United States — serving as the ordinary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He is also known as the founder of Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States, and St...
as the first head of the Roman Catholic Church in America
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore is a particular church of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. The archdiocese comprises the City of Baltimore as well as Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, and Washington Counties in Maryland...
, even though the papal suppression of the Jesuit order was still in effect. Carroll began meetings of local clergy in 1783 near Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
, where they orchestrated the development of a new university. On January 23, 1789, Carroll finalized the purchase of the property on which Dahlgren Quadrangle was later built. Future Congressman William Gaston
William Gaston
William J. Gaston was a jurist and United States Representative from North Carolina. Gaston was born in New Bern, North Carolina, the son of Dr. Alexander Gaston and Margaret Gaston. He entered Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., at the age of thirteen, becoming its first student...
was enrolled as the school's first student on November 22, 1791, and instruction began on January 2, 1792.
In its early years, Georgetown College suffered from considerable financial strain, relying on private sources of funding and the limited profits from local lands owned by ex-Jesuits. The Maryland Society of Jesus began its restoration in 1805, and Jesuit affiliation, in the form of teachers and administrators, bolstered confidence in the college. The United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
issued Georgetown the first federal university charter
University charter
University Charter redirects here. For the middle school in California, see University Charter School .University charter is a charter given by provincial, state, regional, and sometimes national governments to legitimize the university's existence.-Canada:In most Canadian province's university...
in 1815, which allowed it to confer degrees, and the first Bachelor degrees were awarded two years later. In 1844, the school received a corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
charter, under the name "The President and Directors of Georgetown College", affording the growing school additional legal rights. In response to the demand for a local option for Roman Catholic students, the Medical School
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's main campus...
was founded in 1851.
Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
greatly affected Georgetown as 1,141 students and alumni enlisted and the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
commandeered university buildings. By the time of President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's May 1861 visit to campus, 1,400 troops were stationed in temporary quarters there. Due to the number of lives lost, enrollment levels remained low until well after the war was over. Only seven students graduated in 1869, down from over 300 in the previous decade. At its founding in 1876, the Georgetown College Boat Club, the school's rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
team, adopted blue, used for Union uniforms
Uniform of the Union Army
The Uniform of the Union Army was widely varied and, due to limitations on supply of wool and other materials, based on availability and cost of materials during the United States Civil War.- Generalization :The standard U.S...
, and gray, used for Confederate uniforms
Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces
The Uniforms of the Confederate States military forces were the uniforms used by the Confederate Army and Navy during the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865...
, as its colors to signify the peaceful unity among students. Subsequently, the school adopted these as its official colors.
Enrollment did not recover from the war until the presidency of Patrick Francis Healy
Patrick Francis Healy
Patrick Francis Healy was the 29th President of Georgetown University known for expanding the school following the American Civil War. He was accepted as and identified as Irish-American. Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark, was constructed during Healy's tenure and is named after him...
from 1873 to 1881. Born a slave by law, Healy was the first acknowledged head of a predominantly white American university with African heritage
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. He is credited with reforming the undergraduate curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
, lengthening the medical and law programs, and creating the Alumni Association
Alumni association
An alumni association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students. In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools , fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organisation...
. One of his largest undertakings was the construction of a major new building, subsequently named Healy Hall
Healy Hall
Healy Hall is the historic flagship building at the main campus of Georgetown University. The building was listed on DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964, on the National Register of Historic Places on May 25, 1971, and as a National Historic Landmark on December 23, 1987.-History:The building...
in his honor. For his work, Healy is known as the school's "second founder."
Expansion
After the founding of the Law Department in 1870, Healy and his successors hoped to bind the professional schools into a university, and focus on higher educationHigher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
. The School of Medicine added a dental school in 1901 and the undergraduate School of Nursing
School of Nursing and Health Studies
Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies is one of the four undergraduate schools of Georgetown University. Founded in 1903 as the School of Nursing, it added three other health related majors in 1999 and appended its name to become the School of Nursing & Health Studies...
in 1903. Georgetown Preparatory School
Georgetown Preparatory School
Georgetown Preparatory School is an American Jesuit college preparatory school for grades 9 through 12. It is the oldest all boys school in the United States, and the only Jesuit boarding school in the country...
relocated from campus in 1919 and fully separated from the University in 1927. The School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
(SFS) was founded in 1919 by Edmund A. Walsh
Edmund A. Walsh
Fr. Edmund Aloysius Walsh, S.J. was an American Jesuit Catholic priest, professor of geopolitics and founder of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, which he founded in 1919–six years before the U.S...
, to prepare students for leadership in foreign commerce and diplomacy. The School of Business was created out of the SFS in 1957, and in 1998 was renamed the McDonough School of Business
McDonough School of Business
The McDonough School of Business is one of the four undergraduate and one of the five graduate schools of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C...
in honor of alumnus Robert E. McDonough.
Besides expansion of the University, Georgetown also aimed to expand their resources and their student body. The School of Nursing has admitted female students since its founding, and most of the university was made available on a limited basis by 1952. With the College of Arts and Sciences welcoming its first female students in the 1969–1970 academic year, Georgetown became fully coeducation
Coeducation
Mixed-sex education, also known as coeducation or co-education, is the integrated education of male and female persons in the same institution. It is the opposite of single-sex education...
al. Georgetown ended its bicentennial year of 1989 by electing Leo J. O'Donovan
Leo J. O'Donovan
Rev. Leo J. O'Donovan, S.J. was the 47th President of Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States. A 1952 graduate of Iona Preparatory School, and a 1956 graduate of Georgetown, he studied at the Universite de Lyon on a Fulbright scholarship and received a doctorate in 1961 from Fordham...
as president. He subsequently launched the Third Century Campaign to build the school's endowment. In December 2003, Georgetown completed the campaign after raising over $1 billion for financial aid, academic chair endowment, and new capital projects. John J. DeGioia
John J. DeGioia
John J. "Jack" DeGioia became the 48th and current President of Georgetown University on July 1, 2001. Since graduating from the university in 1979, he has served both as a senior administrator and as a faculty member...
, Georgetown's first lay president, has led the school since 2001, and has continued its financial modernization and sought to "expand opportunities for intercultural and interreligious dialogue", such as by opening a campus in Qatar.
Jesuit tradition
Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...
and is a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities is a consortium of the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities and two theological centers in the United States committed to advancing academic excellence by promoting and coordinating collaborative activities, sharing resources, and advocating and...
. Georgetown is not a pontifical university
Pontifical university
A pontifical university is a Catholic University established by and directly under the authority of the Holy See. It is licensed to grant academic degrees in sacred faculties, the most important of which are Sacred Theology, Canon Law, Sacred Scripture and...
, though three Jesuits serve on the forty member Board of Directors, the school's highest governance. Fifty-nine members of the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
live on campus, and are mostly employed by Georgetown as professors or administrators. Jesuit Heritage Week has been held every year since 2001 to celebrate the contributions of Jesuits to the Georgetown tradition.
The role that Georgetown's Catholic heritage has played in its policies has been controversial at times, even as its influence is relatively limited. Stores in University-owned buildings are not allowed to sell or distribute birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
products. Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center is the medical campus at Georgetown University. It is also a $225 million biomedical research and educational organization. The Medical Center contains over 80% of Georgetown University's sponsored research funding and is led by Howard J...
and Georgetown University Hospital
Georgetown University Hospital
Georgetown University Hospital is one of the national capital area's oldest academic teaching hospitals and is affiliated with Georgetown University School of Medicine. GUH is a not-for-profit, acute-care teaching and research facility located in Northwest Washington, DC...
, operated by MedStar Health
MedStar Health
MedStar Health is a $3.9 billion not-for-profit healthcare organization. It operates more than 40 entities, including nine hospitals in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., region of the United States...
, are prohibited from performing abortions. The hospital does, however, perform research using embryonic stem cells. Georgetown has drawn criticism from religious groups, including the Cardinal Newman Society
Cardinal Newman Society
The Cardinal Newman Society is a 501 tax-exempt, nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and dedicated to what it calls the renewal of Catholic identity on the campuses of colleges and universities in the United States...
, for hosting prominent pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
politicians as speakers, such as John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
.
Between 1996 and 1999, crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
es were added to many classroom walls, attracting national attention. Before 1996, crucifixes had hung only in hospital rooms and historic classrooms. Some of these crucifixes are historic works of art, and are noted as such. Pressure to remove the crucifixes comes, however, from within the Catholic community, while campus leaders of other faiths have defended their placement. The Intercultural Center
Edward B. Bunn S.J. Intercultural Center
The Edward B. Bunn S.J. Intercultural Center commonly known as the Intercultural Center or ICC is a seven-story mixed use building on the main campus of Georgetown University. The center was built in 1982 as the Photovoltaic Higher Education National Exemplar Facility in conjunction with a grant...
is an exception to this controversy, rotating displays of various faith and culture symbols in the lobby.
Academics
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
, 813 students in the School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's main campus...
, and 145 at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar. Bachelor's
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
programs are offered through Georgetown College
Georgetown College (Georgetown University)
Georgetown College, infrequently Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences, is the oldest school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The College is the largest undergraduate school at Georgetown, and until the founding of the Medical School in 1850, was the only higher education division...
, the School of Nursing and Health Studies
School of Nursing and Health Studies
Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies is one of the four undergraduate schools of Georgetown University. Founded in 1903 as the School of Nursing, it added three other health related majors in 1999 and appended its name to become the School of Nursing & Health Studies...
, the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business
McDonough School of Business
The McDonough School of Business is one of the four undergraduate and one of the five graduate schools of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C...
, the School of Continuing Studies
Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies
The Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies , is a school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. SCS provides a Georgetown education to students at every stage of learning, including high school programs for adolescents, summer school programs for college students,...
, and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
, which includes the Qatar campus. Some high school students from Georgetown Visitation
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School was founded in Washington, DC in 1799 as the Georgetown Academy for Young Ladies. It was also formally referred to as the Convent and Academy of the Visitation. Since 1799, the school has continued for over 200 years as a college preparatory school for women...
are permitted to attend classes for Advanced Placement
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
credit.
Georgetown University offers undergraduate degrees in forty-eight majors
Academic major
In the United States and Canada, an academic major or major concentration is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits....
in the four undergraduate schools, as well as the opportunity for students to design their own individualized courses of study. All majors in the College are open as minors to students in the College, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, and the School of Business. Students in the School of Foreign Service cannot receive minors, but can complete certificates instead. All courses are on a credit hour
Carnegie Unit and Student Hour
The Carnegie Unit and the Student Hour are strictly time-based references for measuring educational attainment used by American universities and colleges; the Carnegie Unit assesses secondary school attainment, and the Student Hour, derived from the Carnegie Unit, assesses collegiate...
system. Georgetown offers many opportunities to study abroad
Study abroad
Studying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a country other than one's own. This can include primary, secondary and post-secondary students...
, and 58.7% of the undergraduate student body spends time at an institution overseas.
Master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
programs are offered through the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the oldest graduate school in the United States, and is one of four graduate schools at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. The graduate program first was founded in 1820, when Georgetown College graduates expressed the desire for...
, the Law Center, the School of Medicine, and the School of Continuing Studies. The McDonough School of Business and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service both offer masters programs. The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States is a notable academic center and "the only academic center in the United States focusing essentially on the Arab world."-Funding:...
and the Public Policy Institute
Georgetown Public Policy Institute
Georgetown Public Policy Institute is a leading public policy program affiliated with Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.. GPPI offers master's degrees in public policy and policy management as well as administers several professional certificate programs and boasts five affiliated research...
are both research centers which also offer masters degrees. Masters students occasionally share some advanced seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
s with undergraduates, and most undergraduate schools offer abbreviated bachelors and masters programs following completion of the undergraduate degree.
Each graduate school offers at least one double degree
Double degree
A double-degree program, sometimes called a combined degree, conjoint degree, dual degree, or simultaneous degree program, involves a student's working for two different university degrees in parallel, either at the same institution or at different institutions , completing them in less time than...
with another graduate school. Additionally, the Law Center offers a joint degree with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
. The School of Continuing Studies includes the Center for Continuing and Professional Education, and operates four types of degree programs, over thirty professional certificates and non-degree courses, undergraduate and graduate degrees in Liberal Studies
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
The Master of Arts in Liberal Studies is a graduate degree that aims to provide both depth and breadth of study in the liberal arts. It is by nature an interdisciplinary program, generally pulling together coursework from a number of the humanities and social sciences...
, as well as summer courses for graduates, undergraduates, and high school students.
| Current Schools of Georgetown University | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate | Georgetown College Georgetown College (Georgetown University) Georgetown College, infrequently Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences, is the oldest school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The College is the largest undergraduate school at Georgetown, and until the founding of the Medical School in 1850, was the only higher education division... 1789 |
School of Nursing and Health Studies School of Nursing and Health Studies Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies is one of the four undergraduate schools of Georgetown University. Founded in 1903 as the School of Nursing, it added three other health related majors in 1999 and appended its name to become the School of Nursing & Health Studies... 1903 |
Walsh School of Foreign Service Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A... 1919 |
School of Foreign Service in Qatar 2005 |
School of Continuing Studies Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies The Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies , is a school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. SCS provides a Georgetown education to students at every stage of learning, including high school programs for adolescents, summer school programs for college students,... 1956 |
McDonough School of Business McDonough School of Business The McDonough School of Business is one of the four undergraduate and one of the five graduate schools of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C... 1957 |
||
| Graduate | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the oldest graduate school in the United States, and is one of four graduate schools at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. The graduate program first was founded in 1820, when Georgetown College graduates expressed the desire for... 1820 |
School of Medicine Georgetown University School of Medicine Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's main campus... 1851 |
Law Center Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law... 1870 |
|||||
| Arab Studies Center Center for Contemporary Arab Studies The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States is a notable academic center and "the only academic center in the United States focusing essentially on the Arab world."-Funding:... 1975 |
Public Policy Institute Georgetown Public Policy Institute Georgetown Public Policy Institute is a leading public policy program affiliated with Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.. GPPI offers master's degrees in public policy and policy management as well as administers several professional certificate programs and boasts five affiliated research... 1980 |
|||||||
Faculty
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
.
The current faculty includes scholars such as the former President of the American Philological Association
American Philological Association
The American Philological Association , founded in 1869, is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization...
James J. O'Donnell
James J. O'Donnell
James Joseph O'Donnell is a classical scholar and the Provost of Georgetown University. O'Donnell previously served as Vice Provost for Information Systems and Computing at the University of Pennsylvania...
, theologian John Haught
John Haught
John F. Haught is a Roman Catholic theologian and Senior Research Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. His area of expertise is systematic theology, with a special interest in issues of science, cosmology, ecology, and reconciling evolution and religion...
, political theorist James V. Schall, social activists Sam Marullo and Chai Feldblum
Chai Feldblum
Chai Rachel Feldblum , November 27, 2008. MetroWeekly [Washington, DC].. Accessed October 11, 2009. is an American law professor at Georgetown University, author and activist for disability rights and LGBT rights...
, and preeminent hip-hop scholar Michael Eric Dyson. Many former politicians choose to teach at Georgetown, including the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
, U.S. Agency for International Development
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
administrator Andrew Natsios
Andrew Natsios
Andrew S. Natsios is an American civil servant who has served in a number of Massachusetts and high level federal government positions. From 2001 to 2005 he served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and was appointed as Special Coordinator for International Disaster...
, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake
Anthony Lake
William Anthony Kirsopp Lake, best known as Tony Lake, is the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund , author, academic, and former American diplomat, Foreign Service Officer, and political advisor. He has been a foreign policy advisor to many Democratic U.S...
, and CIA director George Tenet
George Tenet
George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....
. Internationally, the school attracts numerous former ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
s and heads of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
, such as Ambassador Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, Prime Minister of Spain José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
, and President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe
Álvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe Vélez was the 58th President of Colombia, from 2002 to 2010. In August 2010 he was appointed Vice-chairman of the UN panel investigating the Gaza flotilla raid....
.
Research
Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is a framework for classifying, or grouping, colleges and universities in the United States. The primary purpose of the framework is for educational research and analysis, where it is often important to identify groups of roughly...
to have "very high research activity". , Georgetown's libraries hold 2,425,354 items and 48,622 serials
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
in seven buildings, with most in Lauinger Library
Lauinger Library
The Joseph Mark Lauinger Library is the main library of Georgetown University and the center of a seven-library system that includes 2.8 million volumes. It holds 1.7 million volumes on six floors and has accommodations for individual and group study on all levels.Opened on April 6, 1970, the...
. The Blommer Science Library, located in the Reiss Science Building on campus, houses most of the Science collection. Additionally, the Law School campus includes the nation's fifth largest law library. Georgetown faculty conduct research in hundreds of subjects, but have priorities in the fields of religion, ethics, science, public policy, and cancer medicine. Cross-institutional research is performed with Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Virginia Tech.
In 2008, Georgetown spent $143 million on research, ranking it 111th nationwide. In 2007, it received about $14.8 million in federal funds for research, with 64% from the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
, the United States Department of Energy
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...
, and the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
. In 2010, the school received $5.6 million from the Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
to fund fellowships in several international studies fields. Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center is the medical campus at Georgetown University. It is also a $225 million biomedical research and educational organization. The Medical Center contains over 80% of Georgetown University's sponsored research funding and is led by Howard J...
received an additional $118.4 million from these and other government sources. Georgetown's Vincent Lombardi Cancer Center is one of 41 research-intensive comprehensive cancer centers in the United States, and developed the breakthrough HPV vaccine
HPV vaccine
The human papilloma virus vaccine prevents infection with certain species of human papillomavirus associated with the development of cervical cancer, genital warts, and some less common cancers...
for cervical cancer in 2006.
Centers which conduct and sponsor research at Georgetown include the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs is an academic research center at Georgetown University in Washington, DC dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of religion, ethics, and politics...
, the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding and the Woodstock Theological Center
Woodstock Theological Center
The Woodstock Theological Center is an independent, nonprofit Catholic theological research institute in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1974, the center takes its name from Woodstock College, a former Jesuit seminary located in Maryland. The center is an affiliate member of the Washington Theological...
. Regular publications include the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy
Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy
The Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy is a student-edited law review published at Georgetown University Law Center in the United States.The Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy is the "nation's premier law journal on poverty" issues...
, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal
The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal is a quarterly academic journal established in 1991. It is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and focuses on questions of bioethics such as those relating to the research of and therapeutic use of...
, the Georgetown Law Journal
Georgetown Law Journal
The Georgetown Law Journal is a student-edited scholarly journal published at Georgetown University Law Center.-Overview:The Journal publishes six issues each year. It also publishes the Annual Review of Criminal Procedure, a comprehensive practitioner's guide to criminal procedure.The first volume...
, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
The Georgetown Journal of International Affairs is a semi-annual foreign policy magazine published by the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The magazine takes a holistic approach to international relations, giving voice to leading academics,...
, and the Georgetown Public Policy Review
Georgetown Public Policy Review
The Georgetown Public Policy Review is a nonpartisan, student-run, publication of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University. GPPReview’s mission is to provide an outlet for innovative new thinkers and established policymakers to offer perspectives on the politics and policies...
.
Admissions
With 19,275 applications and 3,466 admitted for the class of 2014, Georgetown has an overall undergraduate acceptance rate of 17%. The Fiske Guide to Colleges states that "only StanfordStanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and a handful of Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
schools are tougher to get into than Georgetown." , Georgetown's graduate schools have acceptance rates of 3.6% to the School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine
Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's main campus...
, 19% to the Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
, 25% to the MSFS, and 34.9% to the MBA program
McDonough School of Business
The McDonough School of Business is one of the four undergraduate and one of the five graduate schools of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C...
. In 2004, a National Bureau of Economic Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community." The NBER is well known for providing start and end...
study on revealed preference of U.S. colleges showed that Georgetown was the 16th most-preferred choice.
The undergraduate schools maintain a restrictive Early Action
Early action
Early action is a type of early admission process for admission to colleges and universities in the United States. Unlike the regular admissions process, early action usually requires students to submit an application by November 1 of their senior year of high school instead of January 1...
admissions program, as students who have applied through an Early Decision
Early decision
Early decision is a common early admission policy used in college admissions in the United States for admitting freshmen to undergraduate programs. It is used to indicate to the University or College that the candidate considers that institution to be his or her top choice...
process at another school are not permitted to apply early to Georgetown. 94% of students accepted for the class of 2014 were in the top 10% of their class and had SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
scores ranging from 660–760 in Critical Reading, and 670–770 in Math. Georgetown accepts both the SAT and ACT, though does not consider the writing portion of either. Over 55% of undergraduates receive financial aid, and the university meets 100% of demonstrated need, with an average financial aid package of $23,500 and about 70% of aid distributed in the forms of grants or scholarships.
Campuses
Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center is the medical campus at Georgetown University. It is also a $225 million biomedical research and educational organization. The Medical Center contains over 80% of Georgetown University's sponsored research funding and is led by Howard J...
, and the Law Center. The undergraduate campus and Medical Center are together in the Georgetown neighborhood
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
and form the main campus. Other centers are located around Washington, D.C., including the Center for Continuing and Professional Education at Clarendon in Arlington, Virginia. Transit between these locations and the Washington Metro
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
is supplied by a system of shuttles, known as GUTS buses. Georgetown also operates a facility in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, and villas in Alanya
Alanya
Alanya , formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a component district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey, from the city of Antalya. On the southern coast of Turkey, the district has an area of 1,598.51 km2 and 248,286 inhabitants...
, Turkey and Fiesole
Fiesole
Fiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...
, Italy. In their campus layout, Georgetown's administrators consistently used the traditional quadrangle
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
design.
Main campus
Georgetown University's undergraduate campus and medical school campus are situated on an elevated site above the Potomac RiverPotomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, overlooking Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
. The main gates, known as the Healy Gates, are located at the intersection of 37th and O Streets, NW. The main campus is just over 104 acre (0.42087344 km²) in area and includes fifty-four buildings, student residences capable of accommodating 80% of undergraduates, and various athletic facilities. Most buildings employ collegiate Gothic architecture and Georgian brick architecture
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
. Campus green areas include fountains, a cemetery, large clusters of flowers, groves of trees, and open quadrangles.
The main campus has traditionally centered on Dahlgren Quadrangle, although Red Square has replaced it as the focus of student life. Healy Hall
Healy Hall
Healy Hall is the historic flagship building at the main campus of Georgetown University. The building was listed on DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964, on the National Register of Historic Places on May 25, 1971, and as a National Historic Landmark on December 23, 1987.-History:The building...
, built in Flemish Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
style from 1877 to 1879, is the architectural gem of Georgetown's campus, and is a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. Both Healy Hall and the Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory
Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory
The Georgetown University Astronomical Observatory was founded in 1841 by Father James Curley of the Department of Physics at Georgetown College. Father Curley chose a site on the College grounds, planned the building and supervised its construction to its completion in 1844. Costs were initially...
, built in 1844, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The medical school is on the northwestern part of the main campus on Reservoir Road, and is integrated with Georgetown University Hospital
Georgetown University Hospital
Georgetown University Hospital is one of the national capital area's oldest academic teaching hospitals and is affiliated with Georgetown University School of Medicine. GUH is a not-for-profit, acute-care teaching and research facility located in Northwest Washington, DC...
. Georgetown Visitation
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School was founded in Washington, DC in 1799 as the Georgetown Academy for Young Ladies. It was also formally referred to as the Convent and Academy of the Visitation. Since 1799, the school has continued for over 200 years as a college preparatory school for women...
, a private Roman Catholic girls high school
Secondary education in the United States
In most jurisdictions, secondary education in the United States refers to the last six or seven years of statutory formal education. Secondary education is generally split between junior high school or middle school, usually beginning with sixth or seventh grade , and high school, beginning with...
, is northeast of campus, on land adjoining the undergraduate campus. The school uses many of the townhouses in the Georgetown neighborhood east of the main campus for upperclassmen housing, institutions, and alumni facilities. Additionally, the Walsh School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the oldest graduate school in the United States, and is one of four graduate schools at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. The graduate program first was founded in 1820, when Georgetown College graduates expressed the desire for...
both have classroom buildings in this area.
In late 2003, the school completed the Southwest Quadrangle Project, and brought a new 907-bed student dorm, an expansive dining hall, an underground parking facility, and new Jesuit Residence to the campus. The school's first performing arts center
Performing arts center
Performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is used to refer to* A multi-use performance space that is intended for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre....
, named for Royden B. Davis
Royden B. Davis
Royden B. Davis, S.J. served as Dean of Georgetown College at Georgetown University from 1966 to 1989.Born in Ventnor City, New Jersey, Davis served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945 as a gunner in an anti-aircraft battery. He earned a bachelor of science degree in economics in 1947 and a law...
, was completed in November 2005, and the new business school building, named for Rafik Hariri
Rafik Hariri
Rafic Baha El Deen Al-Hariri , was a business tycoon and the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation, 20 October 2004.He headed five cabinets during his tenure...
, opened in Fall 2009. Future construction plans include a unified sciences center and expanded athletic facilities. As a location, Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
is ranked nationally as the second best college town
College town
A college town or university town is a community which is dominated by its university population...
by the Princeton Review. Despite this, main campus "town and gown
Town and gown
Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; "town" being the non-academic population and "gown" metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and St Andrews, although the term is also used to describe...
" relations are often strained by facilities construction, enlargement of the student body, as well as noise and alcohol violations. Crime is also a persistent issue, with campus security responding to 257 crimes in 2008.
Law Center campus
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues...
on New Jersey Avenue, near Union Station
Union Station (Washington, D.C.)
Washington Union Station is a train station and leisure destination visited by 32 million people each year in the center of Washington, D.C. The train station is served by Amtrak, MARC and Virginia Railway Express commuter rail services as well as by Washington Metro subway trains and local buses...
and consists of five buildings. First-year students at the Law Center can live in the single on-campus dormitory, the Gewirz Student Center. Most second- and third-year students, as well as some first-year students, live off-campus. As there is little housing near the Law Center, most are spread throughout the Washington metropolitan area. The "Campus Completion Project", finished in 2005, saw the addition of the Hotung International Building and the Sport and Fitness Center. G Street and F Street are closed off between 1st and 2nd Streets to create open lawns flanking McDonough Hall, the main building on the campus.
Facilities abroad
Margaret Rockefeller Strong de Larraín, Marquesa de Cuevas
Margaret Rockefeller Strong Cuevas was an American activist.Cuevas was the daughter of Elizabeth Rockefeller Strong and her husband Dr. Charles Augustus Strong . Her maternal grandfather was Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller...
, granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
, gave the Villa Le Balze
Villa Le Balze
Villa Le Balze is a garden villa in Fiesole, Tuscany, central Italy. The Villa is owned by Georgetown University and hosts year round study abroad students. Planned in 1911 by Cecil Pinsent for American Charles Augustus Strong, it was built in a tight space along the Tuscan hills overlooking the...
to Georgetown University. The Villa is in Fiesole
Fiesole
Fiesole is a town and comune of the province of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a famously scenic height above Florence, 8 km NE of that city...
, Italy, on a hill above the city of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. The Villa is used year-round for study abroad programs focused on specialized interdisciplinary study of Italian culture
Culture of Italy
From antiquity until the 16th century, Italy was at the centre of Western culture, fulcrum or origin of the Etruscan civilization, Ancient Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, Humanism and the Renaissance....
and civilization. The main facility for the McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies
McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies
The McGhee Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies is an overseas academic center operated by Georgetown University in Alanya, Turkey. The McGhee Center was founded in 1989 after Ambassador George Crews McGhee, former U.S...
was donated to Georgetown in 1989 by alumnus and former United States Ambassador to Turkey
United States Ambassador to Turkey
The United States of America has maintained many high level contacts with Turkey since the nineteenth century.-Chargé d'Affaires:*George W. Erving *David Porter -Minister Resident:*David Porter *Dabney Smith Carr...
George C. McGhee
George C. McGhee
George Crews McGhee was an oilman and a career diplomat in the United States foreign service.-Early life:McGhee was born on March 10, 1912 in Waco, Texas, the son of a Waco banker. He studied at the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a degree in geology in 1933...
. The school is in the town of Alanya
Alanya
Alanya , formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort city and a component district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey, from the city of Antalya. On the southern coast of Turkey, the district has an area of 1,598.51 km2 and 248,286 inhabitants...
, Turkey within the Seljuq
Seljuq dynasty
The Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
-era Alanya Castle
Alanya Castle
Alanya Castle is a medieval castle in the southern Turkish city of Alanya. Most of the castle was built in the 13th century under the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm following the city's conquest in 1220 by Alaeddin Keykubad I as part of a building campaign that included the Kızıl Kule.The castle was...
, on the Mediterranean. The Center operates study abroad programs one semester each year, concentrating on Turkish language
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, architectural history
Architectural History
Architectural History is the main journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain .The journal is published each autumn. The architecture of the British Isles is a major theme of the journal, although it includes more general papers on the history of architecture. Member of...
, and Islamic studies
Islamic studies
In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
.
In 2002, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development presented the School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
with the resources and space to open a facility in the new Education City
Education City
Education City is an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Located on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, Education City covers 14 square kilometers and houses educational facilities from school age to research level and branch campi of some of...
in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
. SFS-Qatar opened in 2005 as a liberal arts and international affairs undergraduate school for regional students. In December 2007, Georgetown opened a liaison office in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China to coordinate with Fudan University
Fudan University
Fudan University , located in Shanghai, is one of the oldest and most selective universities in China, and is a member of the C9 League. Its institutional predecessor was founded in 1905, shortly before the end of China's imperial Qing dynasty...
and others. In 2008, the Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
in conjunction with an international consortium of law schools established the Center for Transnational Legal Studies
Center for Transnational Legal Studies
The Center for Transnational Legal Studies is a global educational center for the study of transnational law. The Center was founded in London in October 2008 as a joint venture between ten leading law schools from around the world, each contributing faculty and students to the center...
in London, England.
Student life
The Georgetown undergraduate student body, at 7,433 , is composed primarily of students from outside the District of ColumbiaWashington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
area, with 34% of new 2010 students coming from Mid-Atlantic states
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
, 11% being international students and the remainder coming from other areas of the US. The student body also represents 129 different countries, with 9% being international
International student
According to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development , international students are those who travel to a country different from their own for the purpose of tertiary study. Despite that, the definition of international students varies in each country in accordance to their own national...
, including over 330 undergraduate and 1,050 graduate students who chose to come to Georgetown as a study abroad
Study abroad
Studying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a country other than one's own. This can include primary, secondary and post-secondary students...
destination in 2009–10. As of that year, the racial diversity of the undergraduate student body was 62.3% white
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, 8.8% Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
, 6.3% black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
, and 5.9% Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
; Additionally, 55.2% of undergraduates are female.
Although it is a Jesuit university, only 41.2% of the student body identify as Roman Catholic, while 22.2% identify as Protestant . Georgetown employs a full-time rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, as 6.5% of undergraduates are Jewish. It was the first U.S. college to have a full-time imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
, to serve the over four-hundred Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s on campus. Georgetown also sponsors student groups for Bahá'i
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
, Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, Hindu
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, and Mormon traditions. The student body consists of both religious and irreligious students, and more than four-hundred freshmen and transfer students attend a nonreligious Ignatian
Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, are a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, divided into four thematic 'weeks' of variable length, designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days...
retreat annually, called ESCAPE. A 2007 survey of undergraduates also suggests that 62.8% are sexually active, while 6.2% identify as LGBTQ. Discrimination can be a issue on campus, and three-fourths of a 2009 survey considered homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
a campus problem. Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, however, rated Georgetown among its top "Gay-Friendly Schools" in 2010.
Almost all undergraduates attend full-time. A majority of undergraduates, 76%, live on-campus in several dormitories and apartment complexes, including all underclassmen. As of 2011, 1255 undergraduates and 339 graduate students live off-campus, mostly in the Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
, Glover Park, Burleith
Burleith
Burleith is a moderately upscale neighborhood in Washington, D.C. It is bordered by Wisconsin Avenue to the East, Reservoir Road and the historic Georgetown district to the south, Whitehaven Park to the North and Glover Archbold Park to the West...
, and Foxhall
Foxhall, Washington, D.C.
Foxhall is an affluent neighborhood in Washington, D.C., bordered by Reservoir Road on the north side and Foxhall Road on the west and south sides. Glover-Archibold Park makes up the eastern border....
neighborhoods. Although many of the University's hall directors and area coordinators attend graduate level courses, on-campus housing is not available for main campus graduate students. The school hopes to build such housing by 2020. All students in the Medical School live off-campus, most in the surrounding neighborhoods, with some in Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
and elsewhere through the region.
Student groups
Georgetown University has 172 registered student organizations that cover a variety of interests: student government, club sports, media and publications, performing arts, religion, and volunteer and service. Students also operate campus stores, banks, and medical services. Students often find their interests at the Student Activities Commission Club Fair, where both official and unofficial organizations set up tables. The Georgetown University Student Association is the student government organization for undergraduates. There are also student representatives within the schools, to the Board of Directors, and, since 1996, to the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood CommissionAdvisory Neighborhood Commission
thumb|right|upright|The District of Columbia is divided into 8 wards, each of which is further divided into local ANCs.Advisory Neighborhood Commissions are bodies of local government in Washington, D.C...
.
Georgetown's student organizations include one of the nation's oldest debating clubs, the Philodemic Society
Philodemic Society
The Philodemic Society is a student debating organization at Georgetown University. It was founded in 1830 by Father James Ryder, S.J., in whose honor an award is given every Spring at the Merrick Debate. The Philodemic is among the oldest such societies in the United States and is the oldest...
, founded in 1830, and the oldest university theater group, the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society
The Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society of Georgetown University is the oldest continuously running collegiate theatre troupe in the United States. Today, the Society is one of five theatre groups on the Georgetown campus and is entirely student-run...
. Nomadic Theatre, founded in 1982 as an alternative troupe without an on-campus home, produces "plays which educate and challenge all members of the university community through thought-provoking theatre." The Georgetown Improv Association
The Georgetown Improv Association
The Georgetown Improv Association is a collegiate long-form improvisational troupe at Georgetown University founded in the spring of 1995. The troupe performs on-campus at Bulldog Alley at Georgetown’s Leavey Center, as well as at other colleges and venues in the surrounding District of Columbia...
, founded in 1995, performs monthly long-form improvisational
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
shows on-campus at Bulldog Alley in addition to hosting "Improvfest", one of the oldest improv festivals in the country.
There are a total of seven a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
groups on campus, including the Phantoms, Superfood, The GraceNotes, The Georgetown Chimes
The Georgetown Chimes
Founded in 1946, The Georgetown Chimes are Georgetown University's oldest a cappella singing group. They are all male.- History :The Georgetown Chimes are an accident of Yale's and GU's athletic policies from the time of World War II. Yale senior and back-up quarterback Francis E...
, the Chamber Singers, Essence, Harmony, the service-oriented Saxatones, and the all-male Capitol G's. These groups perform annually at the "D.C. A Cappella Festival", held since 1991, and the "Cherry Tree Massacre" concert, held since 1974. The Georgetown University Band is composed of the Georgetown Pep Band and the Georgetown Wind Ensemble, and performs on campus, in Washington, D.C., and at post-season basketball tournaments.
Students of Georgetown, Inc.
Students of Georgetown, Inc., or "The Corp", as it is commonly known , is a 5013 non-profit public charitable organization at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and is the largest entirely student-run c3 non-profit corporation in the world, with seven subsidiary companies generating annual...
Founded in 1972, "The Corp" operates three coffee shops
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
and two grocery stores, and runs storage and airport shuttles for students. The business has annual revenues of over $1.3 million, which are directly re-invested into the Georgetown student body through Corp Philanthropy, which gave out over $50,000 in scholarships and donations to Georgetown groups in 2010–11. Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union is the oldest and largest student-run financial institution, with over $16 million in assets and 12,000 members. The Georgetown University Student Investment Fund
GUSIF
Georgetown University Student Investment Fund is a business/investing/finance organization at Georgetown University. GUSIF seeks to teach investment strategies and educate its members via presentations, competitions and discussions.-History:...
is one of a few undergraduate-run investment funds in the United States, and hosted CNBC's Jim Cramer to tape Mad Money
Mad Money
Mad Money is an American finance television program hosted by Jim Cramer that began airing on CNBC on March 14, 2005. Its main focus is investment and speculation, particularly in publicly traded stocks...
in September 2006.
Another student-run group, the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service
Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service
The Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service, or GERMS as it is also known, is a student-run, all-volunteer ambulance service, serving Georgetown University and the local community in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., including the main campus and the neighborhoods of West Georgetown, Burleith,...
, "GERMS", is an all-volunteer ambulance service founded in 1982 that serves campus and the surrounding communities. Georgetown's Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) unit, the Hoya Battalion, is the oldest military unit native to the District of Columbia. The proportion of ROTC students at Georgetown was the 79th highest among universities in the United States . GUGS, the Georgetown University Grilling Society, has been a Georgetown tradition since 2002, selling half-pound hamburgers in Red Square on most Fridays.
Activism
Georgetown University student organizations include a diverse array of groups focused on social justice issues, including organizations run through both Student Affairs and the Center for Social Justice. Oriented against gender violence, Take Back the NightTake Back the Night
Take Back the Night is an internationally held march and rally intended as a protest and direct action against rape and other forms of sexual violence...
coordinates an annual rally and march to protest against rape and other forms of violence against women. Georgetown Solidarity Committee
Georgetown Solidarity Committee
Georgetown Solidarity Committee is a student organization at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, that takes action to support the struggles of service workers on the Georgetown campus as well as workers around the world...
is a workers' rights organization whose successes include ending use of sweatshops in producing Georgetown-logoed apparel, and garnering pay raises for both university cleaning staff and police. Georgetown Students for Fair Trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
successfully advocated for all coffee in campus cafeterias to be Fair Trade Certified.
Georgetown has many additional groups representing national, ethnic, and linguistic interests. Georgetown's has the second most politically active student body in the United States according to the Princeton Review. Groups based on local, national, and international issues are popular, and political speech is protected on campus. Student political organizations are active on campus and engage their many members in local and national politics. The Georgetown University College Republicans represent their party, while the Georgetown University College Democrats, the largest student organization on campus in 2008, represent theirs.
The reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
organization H*yas for Choice is not officially recognized by the University as its positions on abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
are in opposition to University policy, prompting the asterisk in "Hoyas". While not financially supported by the school, the organization is permitted to meet and table in university spaces. In 2010, the "Plan A: Hoyas for Reproductive Justice" campaign led several protests against the school policy against the sale of birth control on campus, and in 2007, Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
students protested the University's decision to cease funding for a student's internship at Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
's litigation department despite funding it previous years. The issue contributes to Georgetown's 'red light' status on free speech under the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is a non-profit group founded in 1999 and focused on civil liberties in academia in the United States...
rating system.
Media
Georgetown University has several student-run newspapers. The HoyaThe Hoya
The Hoya, the oldest and largest student newspaper of Georgetown University in Washington, DC, was founded in 1920. The Hoya prints an edition every Tuesday and Friday during the academic year and has a circulation of 6,500...
is the University's oldest newspaper. It has been in print since 1920, and since 1987, has been published twice weekly. The Georgetown Voice
The Georgetown Voice
The Georgetown Voice is the student-run weekly campus newsmagazine at Georgetown University. It has a circulation of approximately 8,500 and prints an edition every Thursday....
, known for its weekly cover stories, is a newsmagazine
Newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...
that was founded in March 1969 to focus more attention on citywide and national issues. The Georgetown Independent is a monthly journal of news, commentary and the arts. Founded in 1966, the Georgetown Law Weekly
Georgetown Law Weekly
The Georgetown Law Weekly is a weekly newspaper published by students at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.The Law Weekly has a circulation of 1,500 and is printed each Tuesday of the school year. In total, twenty-two issues are printed over the course of the Fall and Spring...
is the student-run paper on the Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
campus, and is a three time winner of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
's Best Newspaper award.
The Georgetown Academy, restarted in 2008 after a hiatus, targets traditionalist Catholic readers, and the Georgetown Federalist, founded in 2006, purports to bring a conservative and libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
viewpoint to campus. Counterpoint Magazine is a monthly publication founded in the spring of 2011. The magazine is independent from Georgetown and was created with the intention of focusing primarily on national issues and bringing an explicitly liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
perspective to campus. The Fire This Time is Georgetown's only minority newssource. The Georgetown Heckler
The Georgetown Heckler
The Georgetown Heckler is an undergraduate humor magazine founded in 2003 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. by Justin Droms. The satirical and comedic publication is not affiliated with the university. Dan Thoennessen is the current editor....
is a humor magazine founded on the Internet in 2003 by Georgetown students, releasing its first print issue in 2007. The Gonzo
The Gonzo
The Gonzo is an undergraduate satire/humor publication founded in 1993 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.Published on an irregular basis between 1993 and 1998, The Gonzo was inspired by both the philosophy and writing of Hunter S. Thompson and on other college humor publications like The...
was a former student humor magazine, published from 1993 to 1998. The Hoya and The Georgetown Voice both run online blogs, and there are other popular blogs written about the school and its sports teams.
The University has a campus-wide television station, GUTV, which began broadcasting in 1999. The station hosts an annual student film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
in April for campus filmmakers. WGTB
WGTB
WGTB is a student-run internet radio station at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The station was originally founded as an AM station in 1946 by Rev. Francis Layden, SJ, moving to FM in 1960. In the late 1960s and through the 1970s, the station attracted attention in the Washington, DC area...
, Georgetown's radio station, is available as a webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
and on 92.3 FM in certain dormitories. The station was founded in 1946, and broadcast on 90.1 FM from 1960 to 1979, when university president Timothy S. Healy
Timothy S. Healy
Rev. Timothy S. Healy, S.J. was a Jesuit priest who straddled the religious and secular life in a career that included the presidency of Georgetown University and finally leadership of the New York Public Library...
gave away the frequency and broadcast capabilities to the University of the District of Columbia
University of the District of Columbia
The University of the District of Columbia is a historically black, public university located in Washington, D.C. UDC is one of only a few urban land-grant universities in the country and a member of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
because of WGTB's far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
political orientation.
Greek life
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
, or secret societies
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
among the student body. Despite this, Greek organizations persist on campus, although none require members to live in fraternal housing. Additionally, Georgetown University students are affiliated, in some cases, with fraternities at other nearby universities and colleges.
Active fraternities at Georgetown include Delta Phi Epsilon
Delta Phi Epsilon (professional)
Delta Phi Epsilon is the only national professional foreign service fraternity and sorority. Founded at Georgetown University on January 25, 1920, the society's mission is to promote good fellowship and brotherhood among persons studying or engaged in foreign service...
, a professional foreign service fraternity; Alpha Kappa Psi
Alpha Kappa Psi
ΑΚΨ is the oldest and largest professional business fraternity. The Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity was founded on October 5, 1904 at New York University, and was incorporated on May 20, 1905...
, a professional business fraternity; Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
, a national co-ed community service fraternity; Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
, a Jewish social fraternity; and social fraternities Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
and Zeta Psi
Zeta Psi
The Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America was founded June 1, 1847 as a social college fraternity. The organization now comprises about fifty active chapters and twenty-five inactive chapters, encompassing roughly fifty thousand brothers, and is a founding member of the North-American...
. Delta Phi Epsilon was founded at Georgetown in 1920, and members of their Alpha Chapter include Jesuits and several deans of the School of Foreign Service
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is a school within Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., United States. Jesuit priest Edmund A...
. The Delta Phi Epsilon foreign service sorority, founded in 1973, is the only sorority active at Georgetown. Georgetown's chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, affiliated with the campus Hillel
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally...
, was established in 2002. Sigma Phi Epsilon chartered its chapter as a general social fraternity in 2007. The Omega Lambda chapter of professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi replaced Delta Sigma Pi
Delta Sigma Pi
ΔΣΠ ' is one of the largest co-ed professional business fraternities. Delta Sigma Pi was founded on November 7, 1907 at the School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance, New York University, New York, New York and is currently headquartered in Oxford, Ohio...
, which lost its charter in 2006. The Zeta Psi chapter, named Gamma Epsilon, was chartered in March 2009 after a year as a colony.
Events
Annual events on campus celebrate Georgetown traditions, culture, alumni, sports, and politics. In late April, Georgetown University celebrates Georgetown Day. Besides the full-day carnival, the day rewards the best professor of the year with the Dorothy Brown Award, as voted by students. HalloweenHalloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
is celebrated with public viewings of alumnus William Peter Blatty
William Peter Blatty
William Peter Blatty is an American writer and filmmaker. The novel The Exorcist, written in 1971, is his magnum opus; he also penned the subsequent screenplay version of the film, for which he won an Academy Award....
's film The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
, which takes place in the neighborhood surrounding the university.
Homecoming
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America...
coincides with a home football game, and festivities such as tailgating and a formal dance are sponsored by the Alumni Association to draw past graduates back to campus. The largest planned sports related celebration is the first basketball practice of the season. Dubbed Midnight Madness, this event introduces the men's and women's basketball teams shortly after midnight on the first day the teams are allowed by NCAA rules to formally practice together. In 2011, Georgetown again hosted a first round division of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The following sites were selected to host each round of the 2011 tournament:First Four*March 15 and 16**University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, OhioSecond and third rounds*March 17 and 19**Verizon Center, Washington, D.C....
.
Georgetown University hosts notable speakers each year, largely because of the success of the Georgetown Lecture Fund
Georgetown University Lecture Fund
The Georgetown University Lecture Fund is a student-run organization at Georgetown University committed to bringing a wide range of speakers to campus to generate dialogue and debate. The Lecture Fund has a 20-member Associate Board and plans, coordinates, and co-sponsors around 60 speaking events...
and the Office of Communications. These are frequently important heads of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
who visit Georgetown while in the capital, as well as scholars, authors, U.S. politicians, and religious leaders. The Office of the President hosts numerous symposia on religious topics, such as Nostra Ætate
Nostra Aetate
Nostra Aetate is the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council. Passed by a vote of 2,221 to 88 of the assembled bishops, this declaration was promulgated on October 28, 1965, by Pope Paul VI.The first draft, entitled "Decretum de...
, Pacem in Terris
Pacem in Terris
Pacem in Terris was a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963. It was the last encyclical drafted by John XXIII, who died from cancer two months after its completion ....
, and the Building Bridges Seminar. Wikimania 2012, Wikipedia's own international conference, is planned to be held on the campus in July 2012.
Athletics
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
's Division I. The school generally competes in the Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
, although the football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team competes in the Division I FCS Patriot League
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...
, the sailing team in Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association
Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association
Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association organizes and regulates intercollegiate sailing in Ontario, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the eastern part of West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Hundreds of sailors participate from 43 colleges and...
, and the rowing teams in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. Georgetown University graduates over 90% of its student athletes. U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
listed Georgetown's athletics program among the 20 best in the nation.
The school's teams are called "Hoyas", a name whose origin is uncertain. Sometime before 1893, students well versed in classical languages invented the mixed Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
chant of "Hoya Saxa
Hoya Saxa
Hoya Saxa is the official cheer and "college yell" of Georgetown University and its athletics teams. Hoya is an Ancient Greek word usually transliterated from as hoia from the word hoios meaning "such" or "what" as in "what manner of", and is used in certain Biblical quotations. however, is...
", translating roughly as "what (or such) rocks". The school's baseball team, then called the Stonewalls, began in 1870, and football in 1874, and the chant likely refers to one of these teams. In 1926 the football team
Georgetown Hoyas football
The Georgetown Hoyas football team represents Georgetown University in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision level of college football. Like other sports teams from Georgetown, the team is named the Hoyas, which derives from the chant, Hoya Saxa...
replaced Sergeant Stubby
Sergeant Stubby
Sergeant Stubby , was the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant through combat.-Life:...
as mascot with a Bull Terrier
Bull Terrier
The Bull Terrier or English Bull Terrier is a breed of dog in the terrier family. They are known for their large, egg-shaped head, small triangular eyes, and "jaunty gait." Their temperament has been described as generally fun-loving, active and clownish...
they nicknamed "Hoya" because of the cheer, and by 1928, campus sports writers began to refer to teams as "Hoyas" rather than "Hilltoppers". The name was picked up in the local publications, and became official shortly after. Jack the Bulldog
Jack the Bulldog
Jack the Bulldog is the official mascot of the Georgetown University Hoyas athletics teams. Jack has been the name of at least four live Bulldogs since 1962, when the name first came into use. The current incarnation of Jack is an English Bulldog born in 2003 whose full name is John S. Carroll....
has been the mascot of Georgetown athletics programs since 1962, and the school fight song
Fight song
A fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...
is There Goes Old Georgetown
There Goes Old Georgetown
"There Goes Old Georgetown" is the unofficial name of the Georgetown University sports teams' fight song. It is also known as simply "Georgetown Fight Song". It is actually an amalgamation of three songs, only the oldest of which, 1913's "The Touchdown Song", contains the lyric "here goes old...
.
The men's basketball team is particularly noteworthy as it won the NCAA championship
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
in 1984
1984 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1984 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 53 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1984, and ended with the championship game on April 2 in Seattle, Washington. A total of...
under coach John Thompson
John Thompson (basketball)
John R. Thompson, Jr. is an American former basketball coach for the Georgetown University Hoyas. He is now a professional radio and TV sports commentator...
. The current coach is his son, John Thompson III
John Thompson III
John Thompson III is the current head coach of the men's basketball team at Georgetown University. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and was named first team All-Metro by The Washington Post while playing for Gonzaga College High School in 1984. Thompson was hired on April 20, 2004 to replace Craig...
, who coached the team to the Final Four
NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by school
This is a list of NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four appearances by school. Schools whose names are italicized are no longer in Division I and can no longer be included in the tournament. Several teams have vacated Final Four appearances and are marked with an * with...
in the 2007 NCAA tournament
2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 NCAA schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2006–07 basketball season...
. The team is tied for the most Big East conference tournament
Big East Men's Basketball Tournament
The Big East Men's Basketball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Big East Conference. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Since 1983, the tournament has been held in Madison Square...
titles with seven, and has made twenty-seven NCAA tournament appearances
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament Bids By School
This is a list of NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament bids by school . Schools whose names are listed in the last table are no longer in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball, and can no longer be included in the tournament.The years listed are the last tournament year a school has reached a...
. Well-known team alumni include Sleepy Floyd
Sleepy Floyd
Eric Augustus "Sleepy" Floyd is a retired American professional basketball player.A 6'3" guard, Floyd played competitively at Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia, and starred at Georgetown University before being drafted by the New Jersey Nets with the 13th pick of the 1982 NBA Draft...
, Patrick Ewing
Patrick Ewing
Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a Jamaican-American retired Hall of Fame basketball player and current assistant coach for the National Basketball Association's Orlando Magic. He played most of his career with the NBA's New York Knicks as their starting center and played briefly with the Seattle...
, Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo , commonly referred to as Dikembe Mutombo, is a retired Congolese American professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the NBA...
, Alonzo Mourning
Alonzo Mourning
Alonzo Harding Mourning, Jr. is a former American professional basketball player, who played most of his 15-year NBA career for the Miami Heat....
, Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson
Allen Ezail Iverson is an American professional basketball point guard and shooting guard. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the number one pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1996–97 season...
, Jeff Green
Jeff Green (basketball)
Jeffrey Lynn Green is an American professional basketball player with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. Green attended Georgetown University until following his junior year, when he entered the 2007 NBA Draft...
, and Roy Hibbert
Roy Hibbert
Roy Denzil Hibbert is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. He plays at the center position, and graduated from Georgetown University in 2008. He was drafted 17th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors and was immediately traded to the Pacers...
. Besides basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, Georgetown is nationally successful in rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, men's and women's lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, and track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
. In all, over one-hundred student athletes have gone on to play professionally.
Alumni
Georgetown graduates have found success in a wide variety of fields, and have served at the heads of diverse institutions both in the public and private sector. Immediately after graduation, around 54–61% of undergraduates enter the workforce, while others go on to additional education. Georgetown graduates have been recipients of 23 Rhodes ScholarshipRhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
s, 18 Marshall Scholarship
Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship, a postgraduate scholarships available to Americans, was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act was passed in 1953. The scholarships serve as a living gift to the United States of America in recognition of the post-World War...
s, and 24 Truman Scholarship
Truman Scholarship
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is a highly competitive federal scholarship granted to U.S. college juniors for demonstrated leadership potential and a commitment to public service. The scholarship is in the amount of $30,000 toward a graduate education...
s. Georgetown is also one of the top ten producers of Peace Corps
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
volunteers . Georgetown alumni have a median starting salary of $55,000 with a median mid-career salary of $110,000. Just over 3% of Georgetown's 97,384 living alumni were listed in Marquis Who's Who
Marquis Who's Who
Marquis Who's Who, a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc., is the American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies...
, the 14th highest percentage and eighth highest raw number among American universities . NNDB
NNDB
The Notable Names Database , produced by Soylent Communications, the same entity that produces Rotten, Daily Rotten, Dr. Sputnik's Society Pages and Penny Postcards, is an online database of biographical details of over 36,000 people of note...
, the Notable Names Database, lists 353 notable alumni .
Twelve current or former heads of state are alumni. Former President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
is a 1968 graduate of the School of Foreign Service, and others include Laura Chinchilla, current President of Costa Rica, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a Filipino politician who served as the 14th President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010, as the 12th Vice President of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, and is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the 2nd District of Pampanga...
, former President of the Philippines
President of the Philippines
The President of the Philippines is the head of state and head of government of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines...
, and Saad Hariri
Saad Hariri
Saad-eddine Rafiq Al-Hariri is a Saudi-Lebanese billionaire who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 2009 until 2011. He is the second son of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister who was assassinated in 2005...
, former Prime Minister of Lebanon. Six alumni serve in the United States Senate, and thirteen in the House of Representatives. Current congressional alumni include Dick Durbin, Senate majority whip, and Steny Hoyer
Steny Hoyer
Steny Hamilton Hoyer is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1981. The district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, D.C.. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, House minority whip
Party whips of the United States House of Representatives
A whip in the United States House of Representatives manages his party's legislative program on the House floor. The Whip keeps track of all legislation and ensures that all party members are present when important measures are to be voted upon....
. Governors include Pat Quinn
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III is the 41st and current Governor of Illinois. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Previously elected three times to statewide office, Quinn was the sitting lieutenant governor and became governor on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich,...
of Illinois
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
, John Lynch of New Hampshire
Governor of New Hampshire
The Governor of the State of New Hampshire is the supreme executive magistrate of the U.S. state of New Hampshire.The governor is elected at the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Vermont, to hold...
, and Luis Fortuño
Luis Fortuño
Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset is the governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States of America. Fortuño is also the president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico , a member of the Republican National Committee, and will be president of the Council of State...
, of Puerto Rico
Governor of Puerto Rico
The Governor of Puerto Rico is the Head of Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Since 1948, the Governor has been elected by the people of Puerto Rico...
. On the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, alumni include current Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
and former Chief Justice Edward Douglass White
Edward Douglass White
Edward Douglass White, Jr. , American politician and jurist, was a United States senator, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States. He was best known for formulating the Rule of Reason standard of antitrust law. He also sided with the...
.
Crown Prince Felipe of Spain
Felipe, Prince of Asturias
Felipe, Prince of Asturias de Borbón y de Grecia; born 30 January 1968), is the third child and only son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain....
, King Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein is the reigning King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He ascended the throne on 7 February 1999 after the death of his father King Hussein. King Abdullah, whose mother is Princess Muna al-Hussein, is a member of the Hashemite family...
, Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud of the Saudi Royal Family, and Prince Philippos deposed Greece royal family are among the royalty who attended the school. Besides numerous members of the senior diplomatic corps, graduates have also headed military organizations on both the domestic and international level, such as former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Robert Gates
Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
and former National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
General James L. Jones
James L. Jones
James Logan Jones, Jr. is the former United States National Security Advisor and a retired United States Marine Corps General....
. Notable alumni in business include Patricia Russo
Patricia Russo
Patricia F. Russo is an American businessperson most widely known for having served as chief executive officer of Lucent Technologies and its successor, Alcatel-Lucent, a large communications equipment manufacturer. She currently serves on the board of directors of HP, General Motors, Merck & Co....
, former Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
CEO, William J. Doyle
William Doyle (businessman)
William "Bill" Doyle is the CEO of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan , a Saskatchewan company that mines potash. In 2007 he was by far the highest earning CEO in Canada, earning over $320 million, and nearly doubling the next nearest earner, Jim Balsillie.Doyle is also the chairman of...
of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan
The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. , also referred to as PotashCorp, is a Canadian corporation based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The company is the world's largest potash producer and the third largest producers of nitrogen and phosphate, three primary crop nutrients used to produce...
, and Ted Leonsis
Ted Leonsis
Theodore John Leonsis is an Internet pioneer, sports team owner, venture capital investor, filmmaker, author and philanthropist. His early new media company, Redgate Communications was acquired by America Online in 1994, and Leonsis became a senior AOL executive for the next 13 years...
, owner of the Washington Capitals
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Since their founding in 1974, "The Caps" have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup...
, Wizards
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association .-Early years:...
, and Mystics
Washington Mystics
The Washington Mystics is a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded prior to the 1998 season. The team is owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment , who also owns the Mystics'...
franchises and former America Online executive.