In an age when most people switch jobs many times and when temps are the norm in most offices, a person like Ron Howard is a rarity. Howard has worked at GW in one capacity or another for more than 35 years. He has served as the director of alumni admissions for the past decade and can rattle off the names of more alumni than a GW white pages. But Howard will leave GW when he retires this summer.

So last week, GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg honored Howard with the GW President’s Medal. This highest of GW honors has been given to people who made a tremendous difference in the world – people like Shimon Peres, who tried to make peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, and Mikhail Gorbachev, who brought the Soviet Union glasnost and perestroika.

Howard belongs in this elite club. Although he has not ruled a country or won a Nobel Peace Prize, he has affected the lives of countless numbers of GW students in much the same way the other President’s Medal winners affected their nations.

Howard befriended thousands of alumni. If he knew a student was far from home, he made the effort to ensure the student had someone to spend the holidays with in D.C. After the presentation of the President’s Medal, a huge line of alumni snaked out of the Marvin Center Ballroom waiting to have a minute with Howard. That sort of love and friendship between students and administrators is almost unheard of.

GW says goodbye to Howard with great sadness. He exemplifies all the ideals that have become increasingly hard to find in this cynical and self-centered society. Howard is known to all as “Mr. GW.” Sadly, with his departure, the University is losing one its best employees, and students and administrators are losing one of their best friends.