Dear Colleagues,
I am writing today to announce the following changes to the titles and reporting lines of several members of the university’s leadership team, effective immediately:
- Colette Coleman’s title will now be Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. Vice President Coleman will also now report directly to me, with a secondary reporting line to the Provost, in order to give me a direct perspective on the campus climate and the student experience, and to ensure that the student experience is central to GW’s strategy and decision-making. Vice President Coleman will continue to work closely with the Provost and academic deans to foster close coordination between student affairs and academics.
- Jay Goff’s title will now be Vice President and Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success. He will continue to report to the Provost with a new secondary reporting line to me.
- Bob Miller’s new title is Interim Vice President for Research. He will continue reporting to the Provost with a new secondary reporting line to me.
These changes are designed to align the titles of these positions with those at peer institutions, and to reflect their centrality to core missions of GW. There are no changes to compensation accompanying these title changes.
I am further pleased to announce some realignments of responsibilities in the administration. After consulting with Interim Provost John Lach and CFO Bruno Fernandes, I will be reassigning Seth Weinshel, Associate Vice President for Business Services, from reporting to CFO Fernandes to Vice President Coleman. Two components of the current Business Services portfolio - Parking and Mail Operations - are being reassigned to the Division of Safety & Operations under Vice President Baxter Goodly. The purpose of this realignment, which is effective November 1, 2025, is to create an organization fully dedicated to the quality of facilities and services supporting our students’ residential living experience. I thank AVP Seth Weinshel for his commitment to this critical leadership role. Vice Presidents Coleman and Goodly will be communicating further with colleagues in these areas about permanent arrangements.
After consulting with Vice Presidents Coleman, Goodly, and Vice President for University Advancement David Unruh, we will be reorganizing the Events & Venues department into two distinct functional areas to be merged with other existing assets at the University, effective December 1, 2025. First, the Executive Events and University Events teams currently in Events & Venues will be merged with the engagement team in University Advancement to form a more expansive University Events and Campus Engagement team that will be homed in University Advancement. The benefits of this include unified leadership of GW event management, streamlining planning for signature events, and ensuring continuity of service with minimal disruption. Vice Presidents Unruh and Goodly will be communicating further with colleagues in these areas about permanent arrangements.
Second, in alignment with the Strategic Framework’s goal to elevate GW’s profile as the premier convening destination in DC, the Scheduling, Venues and Production staff in Events & Venues will be merged with select staff in the Division for Student Affairs to form the new GW Global Convening Center, which will expand, market and manage select campus venues, including the Lisner and Jack Morton auditoriums, the Cafritz Conference Center, the City View and State rooms, as well as other potential signature campus venues. This team is charged to create a centralized scheduling hub for event requests university-wide, to launch a marketing program to grow revenue from external clients for using GW venues, and to propose strategies to expand GW’s scheduling, venue management, and event production support capacities to support growth. This new team will be led by Associate Vice President Paul Hegarty, who will continue reporting to Vice President Goodly. Vice Presidents Goodly and Coleman will be communicating further with colleagues in these areas about permanent arrangements.
Sincerely,
Ellen M. Granberg
President