Attempting to address severe financial problems and accomodate an improving academic reputation, University officials began negotiations with the George Washington Memorial Association in early 1902.

A closer look: GW honorary degrees

While many students work for four years to obtain their degrees, quite a few people have had the benefit of receiving honorary degrees. In the early part of the 20th century, the honorary degrees went to men who made an impact in the world.

GW and the Masons

Throughout its history, GW has pursued an assortment of relationships with groups wishing to make a mark at the University. One such relationship, between GW and the Freemasons, is as old as George Washington himself. President Washington was a Mason, as was Luther Rice, the founder of Columbian College, and President James Monroe, who signed the Columbian Collegeıs charter into law in February 1821.

GW establishes first campus

The University used buildings all over the city, not confined to a single geographical location. The law school was confined to the Masonic Temple at 13th and H streets and moved to K Street in 1921 before Stockton Hall, on 20th Street, was completed in 1925. The School of Pharmacy was on I Street and the College of Veterinary Medicine was on 14th Street. The medical and dental schools were housed on H Street east of the White House.

Theoretical physics conference

The University routinely makes national headlines ­ in political science, medicine and in international affairs. But what about the lesser-known events? For a decade and a half, during the dawn of the nuclear age, the University was on the cutting edge of theoretical physics ­ the beginnings of nuclear fission. From 1934 until 1947, with the exception of the war years, the University, led by Drs. George Gamow and Edward Teller, hosted the Washington Conferences on Theoretical Physics.

Campus conservatism grows in '80s

During the years following the Vietnam War, GW became an internationalist community, focusing on global issues more than ever before, as did The Hatchet. In the late '70s and early '80s, the paper more than tripled in size, growing from a five- or six-page publication to a 20-plus-page newspaper that printed articles about the U.S. hostages in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This was a noticeable shift from covering fraternity keggers.

1979 Thurston Hall Fire injures 34 students

A fire broke out on the fifth floor of Thurston Hall April 19, 1979, injuring 34 GW students and causing extensive damage to the building.

GW hosts Bush-Gorbachev Summit

As Cold War tensions began to ease, President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met in Washington, D.C., in June 1990. Months earlier, the United States Information Agency announced that GW had been chosen as the site of the press center for the summit. From May 30 to June 4, the Smith Center was used as a home base for approximately 5,000 American and foreign correspondents covering the U.S.-Soviet meeting.

The 1990s bring Washington's political power players to campus

The last decade has brought about great change to GW as the legacies of past presidents and the ambition of current President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg have propelled a one-time, small academic institution to a position of greater prestige never imagined more than 180 years ago. The combined goals of Lloyd Elliott and Trachtenberg focused largely on integrating GW into the political sphere of D.C. ­ using location as the University's greatest asset. As a result, GW has drawn some of the most notable political figures of the day to campus.

GW makes pact with EPA to be a "green university"

There was a period in the 1990s when "being green" was all the rage, and families, universities and the government wanted to jump on the environmental bandwagon.

The buildings we attend classes in, reside in and pass daily did not just pop up over night ­ or did they? In the 1930s GWıs campus changed dramatically, with a construction boom led by President Cloyd Heck Marvin. The focus of the construction was on the 2000 block of G Street.

Conflict affects campus and city life

The nationıs capital was, not surprisingly, a hubbub of activity during World War II. Many of the Navyıs Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service were stationed here, as were officers of all the armed forces. Officials from every facet of government swarmed around Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, taking over the city as they tried to get legislation passed and military strategies established.

Actress protests Lisner Auditorium opening

Washington, D.C., was a segregated city in 1946, the year GW opened Lisner Auditorium to commercial use. The Broadway-bound play ³Joan of Lorraine,² starring Ingrid Bergman, was to inaugurate the ³largest stage south of New York.² Lisner Auditorium had cost $1.25 million to build, was equipped with ³ultra-modern² lighting and sound equipment and could seat 1,550 people ­ but no black people.

Hillel members push for desegregation

Tensions between the University community and the administration over the Universityıs policy of segregation swelled to a breaking point toward the end of the 1940s. Both The Hatchet and GW Hillel took an aggressive stance in showing their displeasure with the administration.

For the love of G-Dub

He was more powerful than presidents, more influential than the great benefactors, more renowned than any trustee. Yet there are no University buildings, statues or monuments dedicated to Dr. Elmer Louis Kayser, who, from his first day as a GW student in 1914 until his death in 1985 as professor and dean emeritus, had a tremendous impact on the University as a student, administrator, faculty member and historian.

Hospital treats President Reagan

No place in the country sprang into action more quickly than the GW campus after President Ronald Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981. Reagan, Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy J. McCarthy and Metropolitan Police officer Thomas J. McCarthy were immediately rushed to GW Hospital, making Foggy Bottom the center of activity for the duration of the presidentıs hospital stay.

In the year 2000...

"We can become a great university within a relatively short period of time and take our place alongside the best universities in the world." In this spirit, GW President Lloyd Elliott created the Commission on the Year 2000 in January 1984.

GW opens Virginia Campus

GW owns 90 acres in Ashburn, Va., just five miles north of Dulles International Airport. The Virginia Campus is known as the ³flagship research and technology campus,² and offers nine graduate programs in three schools, two certification programs and 13 research centers and institutes.

GW remembers physicists

Nobel laureates and famous physicists honored the memory of physics professor George Gamov at a 1996 GW conference in his honor. Gamov, who taught at the University from 1936 to 1956, helped develop the Big Bang theory and participated in similar GW conferences in the 1930s that included momentous announcements, such as the discovery of nuclear fission. Gamov was born in 1904 and died Aug. 16, 1968.