Amid the celebrations surrounding Commencement weekend, the Board of Trustees announced that it would be commemorating and acknowledging the work of outgoing University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg by naming the School of Public Policy and Public Administration in his honor.

Trachtenberg will now join, and rightfully so, the ranks of GW’s most well-regarded presidents with a school named in his honor. Like former presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin and Lloyd Hartman Elliott, students and visitors alike will be reminded of the lasting impact of Trachtenberg on what used to be a small university in the middle of Foggy Bottom. Trachtenberg will even get to teach a thing or two as he begins his term as a professor in the school after his retirement from the presidency this summer.

The 19-year presidential veteran has been at the helm as GW has grown physically bigger and academically stronger, a player on the world stage and a magnet for students who cannot wait to change the world.

And for that we say thank you.