More than 60 people applied to serve as GW’s next recent alumni trustee, officials said.

The Board of Trustees closed applications for the role – a reserved trustee seat for alumni who graduated less than five and a half years before the beginning of the term – on Oct. 7. Grace Speights, the board’s chair, said officials encouraged recent alumni to apply by making the process “open” and “transparent” through promotions and information sessions.

“The recent alumni trustee position provides a valuable perspective for the Board of Trustees,” Speights said in an email.

Speights said trustees promoted the application to the University community through emails, a University release and social media.

She added that Gabbi Baker, the current recent alumni trustee and an account manager at advertising and public relations company Ogilvy, held three virtual information sessions to promote the opening and answer questions related to the role and the application. Roughly 100 individuals registered for the sessions, Speights said.

“We are really excited that there’s been a lot of outreach for that – in the past, there hasn’t been that kind of outreach,” Speights said in an interview earlier this month.

Speights said the executive committee of the new GW Alumni Association – formed in May to connect alumni with the University – and leaders in the Office of Alumni Relations will review and assess the applications throughout “the next few months.”

She said GWAA’s executive committee will forward five candidates’ names to the board’s committee on governance and nominations, which will subsequently interview each candidate. The committee will then nominate a candidate for election by the board next spring, she said.

The new trustee will serve a four-year term from June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2024, according to the board’s website.