The President University (GW, GWU, or patron saint Washington) may be a personal, co-ed analysis university placed inside the Washington D.C. neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. The university was employed by Associate in Nursing Act of Congress on February 9, 1821, as a result of the navigator college inside the District of Columbia. In 1904, it changed its name to the President University in honor of President, the first President of the US. it is the most significant institution of higher education inside the District of Columbia. The university awards student and graduate degrees in several disciplines through all of its ten utterly completely different colleges. GWU's navigator college of Arts and Sciences, school of Business, Elliott school of affairs, Milken Institute school of Public Health, school of Engineering and discipline, and conjointly the faculty of Nursing offer student and graduate degrees. The university to boot has specialised colleges among colleges just like the varsity of Media and Public Affairs and conjointly the Corcoran school of the humanities and magnificence. GWU is consistently hierarchic by The Princeton Review inside the high "Most Politically Active" colleges. many of the university's graduates have gone on to high positions among every the U.S. and in foreign governments. Notable alumni embody u. s. Senate lawgiver Harry thinker, former Secretary of State politico, former First-Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and former enforcement agency Director J. King of nice United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Hoover. There square measure presently four , University alumni serving inside the u. s. Senate, nine serving inside the U.S. House of Representatives, and ten serving as US ambassadors. The sports teams and current and former students usually square measure referred to as "Colonials". Baptist missionary and leading minister theologian Rice raised funds to shop for a web site for a university to show voters from throughout the young nation in Washington, D.C. Associate in Nursing oversized building was created on college Hill, that's presently spoken as Meridian Hill, and on February 9, 1821, President u. s. President approved the legislative assembly charter creating the non-denominational navigator college inside the District of Columbia. the first commencement in 1824 was thought-about an important event for the young city of Washington, D.C. gift were u. s. President, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis American state Lafayette and completely different dignitaries. throughout the war, most students left to hitch the Confederacy and conjointly the college's buildings were used as a hospital and barracks. writer was among many of the volunteers to work on the sphere. Following the war, in 1873, navigator college became the navigator University ANd enraptured to Associate in Nursing urban downtown location targeted on fifteenth and H streets, NW. In 1904, navigator University changed its name to the President University in Associate in Nursing agreement with the President Memorial Association to create a field building in honor of the first U.S. president. Neither the university nor the association were able to raise enough money for the planned building near the National Mall; however, the institution maintained the name. Eventually the association given the remaining funds that had been raised to the university for the event of Lisner space. The President University, like plethoric of Washington, D.C., traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons. The Bible that the presidents of the university use to swear Associate in Nursing oath on upon inauguration is that the Bible of brother President. Freemasonry symbols square measure prominently displayed throughout the sphere at the side of the inspiration stones of the numerous of the university buildings. several of the schools of the President University stand out for his or her age and history. The grad school is that the oldest grad school inside the District of Columbia. the varsity of medicine and Health Sciences is that the eleventh oldest grad school inside the state. The navigator college was supported in 1821, and is that the oldest unit of the university. The Elliott school of affairs was formalized in 1898. the bulk of the present infrastructure and cash stability at GW is thanks to the tenures of Presidents Cloyd expression Marvin, role player Hartman Elliott and author Joel Trachtenberg. inside the 19 Thirties, the university was a major center for theoretical physics. The uranologist man of science created essential work on the massive Bang theory at GW inside the 19 Thirties and Forties. In one altogether the foremost important moments inside the 20 th century, Niels Henrik David Niels Bohr announced that Hahn had successfully split the atom on Gregorian calendar month twenty six, 1939, at the Fifth Washington Conference on theoretical physics inside the Hall of state. to keep with field lore, throughout the warfare era, Mabel Thurston Hall, Associate in Nursing student dormitory housing one,116 students was a staging ground for Student Anti-War Demonstrations (at 1900 F Street purpose, the building is 3 blocks from the White House). In 1996, the university purchased the Mount Vernon college for ladies inside the city's Palisades neighborhood that became the school's co-ed Mount Vernon field. the sphere was first utilized in 1997 for ladies entirely, but became co-educational throughout a matter of years. The Mount Vernon field is presently whole integrated into the GW community, serving as a complement to the Washington D.C. field. In solar calendar month 2006, the university named Johns Hopkins University decision maker Steven Knapp its next president. He began his presidency on August 1, 2007.