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38°54′38″N 77°4′24″W / 38.91056°N 77.07333°W / 38.91056; -77.07333 Georgetown University, incorporated as the The President and Directors of the College of Georgetown, is a private university in the United States, located in Georgetown, a historic neighborhood of Washington, D.C. With roots extending back to March 25, 1634 and founded in its current form Founded on January 23, 1789 by Father John Carroll, it is both the oldest Roman Catholic and oldest Jesuit university in the United States, arguably the first institution of higher learning in the United States (predating Harvard by two years), and the first in the United States to receive a charter from Congress.

It is a member institution of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The university currently has 6,719 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, 4,193 full-time and part-time graduate students on the Main Campus, 1,992 students at the Law Center and 748 students in the School of Medicine as of 2005-06. The university employs approximately 1,166 full-time and 534 part-time faculty members across its three campuses.

The University is especially noted for its superior programs in international relations, law and medicine as well as for its prominent professors and influence on political thought.

History

The founding date of the school is the subject of some controversy. In the past, the University has claimed March 25, 1634, as its founding date, this date being the beginning of Jesuit education on the site. The year 1634 can be seen carved in stone above the entryways of Copley Hall and White-Gravenor Hall, where a stained glass window also reads "Est. 1634." If one takes this as the university's founding date, Georgetown is the oldest university in what is now the United States, predating Harvard by two years.

In 1786, Fr. John Carroll, who became the first American bishop in November 1789, published formal plans or Proposals for an “academy, at George-town, Patowmack-River, Maryland,” and formed a fund raising committee. In 1788, construction on Georgetown's first buildings began leading Fr. Carroll to write "We shall begin the building of our Academy this summer. On this Academy are built all my hopes of permanency and success of our holy religion in the United States." The first student, William Gaston (1778-1844), was admitted in 1791, and classes commenced in early 1792. The date that is now officially recognized for Georgetown's foundation–January 23, 1789–is when the Jesuit religious order acquired the title to the land that became the core of the campus. This occurred while the Jesuits were under prohibition or suppression and the order wasn't restored until the early 19th century.

Georgetown College suffered from some financial strain in its early years, but was bolstered when the Society of Jesus was fully restored in 1814, and Georgetown received a federal charter in 1815. The school's first two graduates, a pair of brothers from New York named Charles and George Dinnies, were awarded the degree of bachelor of arts two years later. The Medical School was founded in 1851, and the Law Department (now the Law Center) in 1870. The school was greatly affected during the U.S. Civil War, as most of the students left to fight for both sides. Civil War soldiers were also housed in many of the buildings on campus. Only seven students graduated in 1869, down from over 300 a decade prior. After the war, Georgetown College Boat Club, the school's rowing team, adopted blue and gray as its colors to signify the peaceful unity between students from the North and those from the South. Subsequently these colors were adopted as the official school colors. The school did not begin to recover from the war until the presidency of Reverend Patrick Healy, S.J. (1874-1881). Healy, the first acknowledged African-American to head an American university, is credited with reforming the undergraduate curriculum and the Medical and Law programs, as well as creating the Alumni Association.

In addition to the liberal arts division, previously the College of Arts and Sciences and now known as the Georgetown College, Georgetown University has eight other divisions. The undergraduate School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS) was founded in 1903 as the School of Nursing. In 1999, it added three other health related majors and added the Health Studies to its name to become the School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS). The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) was founded in 1919 by Father Edmund A. Walsh, S.J., in response to the need for institutions to train American youth for leadership in foreign commerce and diplomacy. The School of Languages and Linguistics (now the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics within Georgetown College) was organized in 1949. The School of Business Administration was created out of the SFS in 1955. It was renamed for Robert E. McDonough in 1999 and is now the McDonough School of Business offering both undergraduate and MBA degrees. The graduate programs are the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Law Center, the School of Medicine, the School of Continuing Studies, and the Center for Professional Development.

In December 2003, Georgetown completed its Third Century Campaign, joining only a handful of universities worldwide to raise at least $1 billion for financial aid, academic chair endowment, and new capital projects.

People

Faculty

For a listing of some of the recent faculty of note, see Category:Georgetown University faculty

The Georgetown University faculty includes leading academics and a number of notable political and business leaders. The current faculty includes former President of the American Philological Association James J. O'Donnell, world-renowned Teilhard scholar Thomas M. King, S.J., leading social activist Sam Marullo, former U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios, former CIA director George Tenet, former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former US Senator and Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, former Ambassador-at-Large Robert L. Gallucci, former President of the Government of Spain José María Aznar, Public Health Advisor of the World Bank Bernard Liese, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, and former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Notable faculty of Georgetown's past include Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, Jan Karski, William Boyd-Carpenter, Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick and Carroll Quigley.

Alumni

For a comprehensive list of alumni, see the list of notable Georgetown University alumni.

Besides numerous members of the United States Congress and the senior diplomatic corps, many Heads of state (including Bill Clinton, a former President of the United States) are alumni of the university and Georgetown graduates have served at the head of such diverse and important institutions as the Central Intelligence Agency, AFL-CIO, the United States Marine Corps, the U.S. Department of State, the National Football League, the University of Illinois, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Texas A&M University, the American Medical Association, the Internal Revenue Service, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Conservative Party of Canada, the United States Navy and the Peace Corps. Major corporations run by graduates include Citigroup, Investor AB and Lucent Technologies. Major regulatory bodies such as the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board have had Georgetown alumni at the helm in recent years. In any election cycle, a number of state governors will, generally, hold Georgetown degrees (Indiana and New Hampshire elected graduates in 2004, and graduates stood for election in Alabama, Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the immediate prior cycles). Both the majority leader of the U.S. House and the majority whip of the U.S. Senate in the 110th Congress are alumni.

In the international military arena, both the current head of the U.S. Multinational Force in Iraq and the Supreme Commander of NATO are alumni from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, while the current Secretary of Defense is an alumnus of Georgetown's graduate school. In law, both the Solicitor General of the United States and a current Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court received their undergraduate degrees at Georgetown.

Two of the fifteen most powerful women in the world as rated by Forbes magazine in 2005, (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the President of the Philippines, and Patricia Russo, the Chair of Lucent Technologies) are alumnae of the university. The only current female owner of a major league baseball team is Jamie McCourt, the President of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Vice Admiral Ann E. Rondeau (G 1982) is the highest ranking woman in the United States Navy.

Speakers and visitors

Those who have visited recently include UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; President Bill Clinton; British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Prince Charles the Prince of Wales; President Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan; President Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia; Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg;Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury; Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze; opera singer Plácido Domingo; Noam Chomsky; Sam Donaldson; many senators and former senators, including John Kerry, Bob Dole, Joe Lieberman, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton; many ambassadors, both US and foreign, including those from China and Syria; and many former presidents, including former presidents of Spain, Italy, Poland, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil. Recent speakers have included the prime minister of Turkey, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Madeleine Albright (who is also a professor), Robin Williams, Mad Money host Jim Cramer, and Hardball's Chris Matthews.

Campus

Georgetown University is situated on an area of higher elevation above the Potomac River, overlooking Washington, DC and northern Virginia. The campus, employing collegiate Gothic architecture and Georgian brick architecture, includes ivy-covered buildings, fountains, a cemetery, large clusters of flowers, groves of mature trees, and open quadrangles. The undisputed gem of Georgetown's campus is the famous and historic Healy Hall, completed in Flemish Romanesque style.

The Main Campus, primary center of Georgetown student life and intellectual activity, is just over 100 acres (400,000 m²) in size. The University counts over 58 buildings, student residences capable of accommodating approximately 80% of the student body, and various athletic facilities. In late 2003, the Southwest Quadrangle Project was completed. This project brought a new 784-bed student dorm, an expansive cafeteria, an underground parking facility, and new Jesuit Residence to the campus. The school's first performing arts center was completed in November 2005, while longer-term projects include a self-contained Business School campus, the construction of a unified sciences center, and expanded athletic facilities.

The Main Campus's main library is Lauinger Library, named after an alumnus killed during service in the Vietnam War. Riggs Library dates from the nineteenth century, and was once the institution's primary library, but is now devoted primarily to archival historical materials and as a setting for formal university functions.

The Main Campus is approximately two miles from the White House, and four miles from the United States Capitol building. The main gates, known as the Healy Gates, are located at the intersection of 37th and O Streets, NW. A majority of undergraduates live on campus in several dormitories and apartment complexes, though a minority lives off-campus in the surrounding neighborhoods—Georgetown to the east and Burleith to the north—and a few reside further away. As of Summer 2006, on-campus housing is not available for graduate students, though many of the University's Hall Directors and Area Coordinators attend graduate level courses.

The Medical School is located on a property adjacent to the northwestern part of the Main Campus on Reservoir Road. All students in the Medical School live off-campus, most in the surrounding neighborhoods, with some in Dupont Circle and elsewhere through Washington DC and environs.

The Law Center is located in downtown DC on New Jersey Avenue, near Union Station. Some first-year students at the Law Center live in the one on-campus dormitory. Most second-year and third-year students, as well as some first-year students, live off-campus. As there is little housing near the Law Center, most are spread throughout the Washington metropolitan area.

Academics

Bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs are offered through Georgetown College,the School of Nursing & Health Studies, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, the Law Center, the School of Medicine, the School of Continuing Studies, and the Center for Professional Development.

Majors and certificates

Georgetown University offers undergraduate degrees in 48 different majors in the four undergraduate schools, as well as offering opportunities for students to design their own individualized courses of study.

All majors in the College are currently open to students in the College, the School of Nursing & Health Studies, and the School of Business as minors, as are certain other fields, including Catholic Studies, Culture and Politics, Environmental Studies, African-American Studies, Justice and Peace Studies, Medieval Studies, Social and Political Thought and Women's Studies. Students in the College and School of Foreign Service may complete certificate programs in African Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Australian and New Zealand Studies, European Studies, International Business Diplomacy (SFS only), Justice & Peace Studies (SFS only), Latin American Studies, Medieval Studies (SFS only), Muslim-Christian Understanding, Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies, Science, Technology and International Affairs (College only), Social and Political Thought (SFS only) and Women's Studies (SFS only). A new certificate in International Development will be offered for undergraduates of any school by the end of 2006.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

In 1995 the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences celebrated its 175th anniversary. The Graduate School is now the second largest at Georgetown and offers multiple programs in 34 separate departments. One characteristic of the School's dramatic growth in the last decade has been the development of an increased number of joint-programming opportunities. Students may now pursue courses of study in more than 40 separate joint-program configurations.

Georgetown College

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Science

School of Nursing & Health Studies

Since its founding, the Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS) has been at the forefront of education in the health care field, offering many programs unique to America's elite institutions. Offering undergraduate and graduate programs in the health sciences, graduates are prepared to enter the complex fields of medicine, law, health policy, and nursing. NHS is made up of the Department of Health Systems Administration, the Department of Human Science, the Department of International Health, and the Department of Professional Nursing. The following degrees are offered:

Bachelor of Science

• Healthcare Management and Policy
• Human Science
• International Health
• Nursing
• Accelerated Second Degree BSN

Graduates of these programs have pursued careers and/or graduate study in the following areas: clinical research, physical therapy, medicine, healthcare law, public health, epidemiology, pharmaceutical sales/marketing, advanced practice nursing, dentistry, physician assistant, forensics, healthcare consulting, hospital administration, and many other fields. Certificates are also available for undergraduate students in the following subject areas: International Health and Population Health.

Master of Science

• MS in Health Systems Administration
• MS in Nursing
  • Acute and Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
  • Direct Entry to Advanced Practice
  • Family Nurse Practitioner
  • Nurse Anesthesia
  • Nursing Education
  • Nurse-Midwifery/Women's Health

The Department of Human Science completed the newest undergraduate research laboratory space on campus in 2006 called the Discovery Center. The Discovery Center includes a Basic Health Science Teaching Laboratory, a Molecular and Cell Biology Research Laboratory, a Cell Culture Room, and a Preparation and Instrument Room.

NHS is also home to GUS - Georgetown University Simulator - a full-body, robotic mannequin that can realistically replicate physiological conditions and symptoms and pharmacological responses.

Walsh School of Foreign Service

• Culture and Politics
• International Economics
• International History
• International Political Economy
• International Politics
• Regional and Comparative Studies
• Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA)

The SFS grants the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service to undergraduate students. Graduate students can pursue six interdisciplinary graduate programs: four regional studies programs as well as the Master of Science in Foreign Service and the Security Studies Program. The regional studies programs include Arab Studies (MAA), German & European Studies (MAGES), Latin American Studies (CLAS), and Russian & East European Studies (REES).

The STIA program is the first of its kind. Harvard and Georgia Tech, among others, now have STIA programs as well.

In 2005 the SFS joined four other U.S. universities in opening a campus in Education City in Doha, Qatar. All costs for the development of this campus are paid for by the non-profit Qatar Foundation. The requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree are the same as those of the Washington campus. The only major available will be International Politics. Classes will start in August 2005 with 25 students. Enrollment will expand to 100 within four years.

Georgetown University Law Center

Law School Programs (JD, JSD, LLM)

The Georgetown University Law School is among the ten most selective law schools in the United States and is considered to be in the "top 14," a legal insider recognition of its reputation. The school is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). Its current dean is T. Alexander Aleinikoff. The law school ranked in the top 10 in 7 categories of U.S. News and World Report 2006 edition, including tax, constitutional law, international law, commercial/finance law and others.

Georgetown University Medical Center

Among many other contributions to medicine, the technology for the newly developed HPV vaccine was generated primarily by a team of Georgetown University Medical Center researchers in the early 1990s. The university's Lombardi Cancer Center is the sole comprehensive cancer center in the Washington, D.C. region.

School of Medicine

The Georgetown University School of Medicine Faculty includes 626 full-time and 2,000 part-time faculty members from 8 basic science and 16 clinical departments, and one center and awards MD, MD/PhD, MD/MBA, and MD/MS degrees.

The School of Medicine also allows students to pursue joint degrees with the MD program, such as: MD/PhD, MD/MBA, MD/MS (only the MS in Biohazardous Threat Agents and the MS in Complementary/Alternative Medicine are allowed for this pairing), as well as MD with a Research Track where MD students spend time in the laboratory and develop a research thesis in their specialty.

Biomedical Graduate Programs

PhD, MS, Cert.

The Biomedical Graduate Education division at Georgetown is a subset of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, located on the Medical Center campus. The degrees offered range from traditional PhDs and MS programs to MS specializations in such areas as Nuclear NonProliferation and Complementary/Alternative Medicine, and even Certificate programs in Biotechnology, Biodefence & Public Policy, or Biohazardous Threat Agents. The Biohazardous Threat Agents graduate certificate is currently the only fully recognized graduate program at Georgetown that is available online.

McDonough School of Business

Offering unparalleled access to the world's business, policy and thought leaders, Georgetown University's Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business ("MSB") is committed to developing leaders capable of making complex business decisions in a global environment and who are dedicated to serving their companies, society and humanity. The McDonough School's undergraduate, MBA, executive education and International Executive MBA programs provide solid grounding in all the core management disciplines, with an emphasis on the global, ethical and political environment of business.

Several academic themes distinguish the McDonough School of Business and give the school a special identity among managers and academicians, including international and intercultural dimensions of the marketplace, the importance of written and oral communication, and interpersonal effectiveness in organizations. Georgetown is currently in the process of constructing a new building to serve as a center for the McDonough School's academics.

The McDonough School core courses in the traditional disciplines of accounting, finance, marketing, management, and the decision sciences support these themes. Additionally these themes are supported by the McDonough School's strong support of a minor concentration in one of the nearly 50 liberal arts disciplines. Undergraduate concentrations include:

Graduate work offered by the school includes:

• MBA: The Georgetown MBA Program is a general management program oriented toward those with liberal arts, science, or technical undergraduate degrees. The Program is a two-year, full-time program without majors or concentrations.
• MBA EP: The MBA evening program (EP) is targeted towards the working professional who is likely to possess a deeper work experience than the typical full-time student. It is taught by the same faculty as the full-time MBA Program, and covers the same academic content.
• IEMBA: The International Executive MBA (IEMBA) program provides experienced professionals with the tools needed to succeed in today's global business environment. The IEMBA every-other-weekend class structure means students can stay on the job, immediately putting their new knowledge to work.
• EML: The Executive Master's in Leadership (EML) degree is a distinctive program that focuses on the passion, purpose, and practical skills necessary for effective leadership. The Master's program analyzes leadership as a set of skills on three different levels of analysis: individual, interpersonal, and institutional.

Admissions

Georgetown's overall undergraduate acceptance rate as of 2006 was 21%, among the most selective of any university in the United States. The undergraduate schools maintain an Early Action admissions program.

The School of Medicine's acceptance rate for the entering class of 2006 was 4.3%, for which 8,832 applicants applied and 1,321 were interviewed.

Honorary Doctorates

• Óscar Romero, assassinated Archbishop of San Salvador, was awarded an honorary doctorate.

Student organizations

Student Government

The Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) is the student government organization for undergraduates.

University-funded organizations

Georgetown University has a large number of student organizations that cover a variety of interests: student government, club sports, organizations focused on media and publications, performing arts, religion and volunteerism and service. A current list can be found here on the university's website. Georgetown's societies include the nation's oldest debating club, the Philodemic Society, and the oldest continually running dramatic society in the United States, the Mask & Bauble Society.. The Georgetown University Student Investment Fund (GUSIF) is one of a few undergraduate-run investment funds in the US and recently hosted CNBC's Jim Cramer to tape Mad Money in September, 2006.

Georgetown University has several student-run newspapers. The Hoya is the university's oldest newspaper. It has been in print since 1920, and since 1987 has published twice weekly. The Georgetown Voice is a weekly newsmagazine that founded after a split from the Hoya in 1969 when students demanded attention to citywide and national issues while the Hoya remained devoted only to news on campus. The Georgetown Independent is a "journal" of news, commentary and the arts published monthly. The University also has a campus-wide television station, GUTV, and a radio station, WGTB.

Independent organizations

In addition to student organizations and clubs, Georgetown University is also home to the largest student-run company in the nation, Students of Georgetown, Inc.. Known today as "The Corp," the business sees gross revenues of roughly $3 million a year. The company was founded in 1972 in response to the university's authorization for Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers to use tear gas on students demonstrating against the Vietnam War. Following the attack, the student government formed an independent organization with the legal ability to file lawsuits on behalf of students without the university's permission, or the university itself.

Student-run Media

The Hoya, Georgetown's "newspaper of record" was founded in 1920 and is today the university's largest publication and largest student organization -- with nearly $40,000 in annual revenue from advertising. After years of disagreement with the university about budget oversight, the newspaper has attempted to become an independent organization like The Corp.

The Voice the is the school's preeminent weekly newsmagazine, known for its weekly cover story and coverage of both campus and city issues, as opposed to The Hoya's tight campus focus.

The Georgetown Heckler is an online comedy newspaper founded in 2003 by Georgetown students.

The Georgetown Academy and The Georgetown Federalist are conservative campus newspapers.

Performance Groups

The Georgetown Chimes, the university's oldest (founded in 1946) and only all-male singing group, are renowned for their entertaining performance style, devotion to the group and university, and unique ethos. The Chimes, though not officially affiliated or funded by the university, are famous for going on to become high achievers and remaining involved with the university.

Other a capella groups on campus include the co-ed Phantoms, Superfood, and the service-focused Georgetown Saxatones.

Activism

Georgetown University student organizations include diverse array of groups focused on social justice issues, including organizations run through both Student Affairs and the Center for Social Justice.

Take Back the Night (TBTN) is an organization of women and men against gender violence. TBTN coordinates a yearly rally and march to protest against rape and other forms of violence against women.

MEChA de Georgetown works to improve Chicana/o recruitment, admission, retention, and involvement. MEChA de Georgetown coordinates social and cultural events, as well as engaging in activism related to Latina/o communities, immigration and other issues. In the fall of 2006, MEChA de Georgetown brought together a broad coalition of students, "Students Against Racism, Hate & Violence," to protest a paid speaking event by Chris Simcox, leader of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.

Georgetown Solidarity Committee (GSC) is a worker rights organization. After a 4 year campaign with campus service workers aimed at persuading the university to pay a living wage, GSC gained widespread notoriety during March 2005 when 26 student activists (including members of GSC, MEChA and other student groups) engaged in a hunger strike, refusing to eat until Georgetown adopted its Just Employment Policy ten days after the hunger strike began. Besides its continued advocacy for worker justice on campus, GSC also works with university administrators on the Licensing Oversight Committee, a committee formed after GSC members occupied the university President's office for 85 hours, to end the use of sweatshops in producing Georgetown-logoed apparel. While Solidarity-sponsored movements have often enjoyed widespread support among student body (21 other student organizations joined the living wage campaign), occasionally members of the Georgetown community have criticized GSC with opinion columns in the student newspaper on the grounds of economic theory, fearing that higher wages would force the university to layoff employees or reduce hiring rather than using funding from other sources .

Georgetown Students for Fair Trade (GSFT) is a part of a national movement of students working to "make trade fair" (see United Students for Fair Trade). GSFT successfully advocated for all coffee in campus cafeteria to be Fair Trade certified.

The reproductive rights organization H*yas for Choice is not officially recognized by the university. President John DeGioia required that the group spell "Hoyas" with an asterisk, citing the group's position on reproductive health was in conflict the university's Catholic identity.

Fraternities

Georgetown University does not officially recognize or fund fraternities, sororities, or secret societies among the student body. Georgetown's Student Affairs Policy specifically prohibits "raternities and sororities: single sex groups with ritualized, demeaning or secret membership practices, and specifically those organizations affiliated with the national Intrafraternity Council, Pan Hellenic Association, and Pan Hellenic Council" or"ecret societies: groups that do not disclose their purpose, membership or activities, or whose purpose, membership or activities are discriminatory" from receiving access to university benefits. While quite a few fraternities and sororities were active at Georgetown before this policy was implemented in the 1960s, most became inactive soon thereafter.

Fraternities with chapters still active on campus include Delta Phi Epsilon (DPE). Georgetown's chapter of this professional foreign service fraternity, Alpha Chapter, was established in 1920. Its members include several deans of the Walsh School of Foreign Service, as well as Jesuits. Also active on campus is Alpha Epsilon Pi. Georgetown's chapter, Eta Sigma chapter, affiliated with campus Hillel, was established in 2002, making it the school's first social fraternity. The Georgetown SEC - DC Gamma chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity was established in 2005.

The Delta Phi Epsilon foreign service sorority is the only sorority chartered at Georgetown University.

Co-ed fraternities at Georgetown include the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, and Alpha Phi Omega (APO). Alpha Phi Omega is the only co-ed fraternity recognized and given funding by the university, as it is seen as a service organization.

Athletics

The school's sports teams are called "the Hoyas". Many years ago, students well-versed in the classical languages invented the mixed Greek and Latin chant of "hoya saxa", translating roughly as "what (or such) rocks!" Eight years after the founding of The Hoya student newspaper, a campus sports writer began to refer to teams as the "Hoyas" rather than as the "Hilltoppers". The name was picked up in the local dailies, and Hilltoppers soon fell out of view. The mascot of Georgetown athletics programs is Jack the Bulldog.

The teams participate in the NCAA's Division I. Georgetown competes in the Big East Conference in virtually every NCAA sport, though the football team competes in the Division I-AA Patriot League and the rowing teams compete in the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC).

The Men's Basketball team won the NCAA championship in 1984 under coach John Thompson. The current coach is his son, John Thompson III. In 2006, the basketball team reached the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament and was ranked in national polls for the first time since 2001.

Besides basketball, Georgetown is known as a national powerhouse in rowing, sailing, and lacrosse.

Trivia

• The university's colors, blue and gray, were chosen by Georgetown's rowing team in 1876 to represent the unity felt between the Northern and Southern rowers on the crew. The colors were subsequently adopted by the university as a whole.
• Georgetown students in 1798 were required to bring six shirts, six pairs of stockings, six pocket-handkerchiefs, four cravats, four towels, one hat, and three pairs of shoes with them to campus.
• The Philodemic Debate Society was founded in 1830 and was the first collegiate debate society in the nation.
• Georgetown's Army R.O.T.C. unit--the Hoya Battalion--is the oldest military unit in the District of Columbia.
• The Mask & Bauble Dramatic Society is the oldest continually-running collegiate theatre company in the nation.
• Georgetown's Observatory, completed in 1844, was used in 1846 to determine the latitude and longitude of Washington, D.C., which was the first such calculation for the nation’s capital.
• Georgetown's first intercollegiate men's basketball team was formed in 1907; the team played its first game February 9, 1907, defeating the University of Virginia by a score of 22-11.
• The hands of the Healy Clock Tower, perched high above Healy Lawn, have been subjected to many thefts. Historically, students would steal the hands and mail them to the Vatican. The most recent theft occurred early in the autumn term of 2005.
• In 2005, Georgetown University became the first university to offer a doctorate in liberal studies.
• Georgetown students generally make it a point to step around the mosaic of the Georgetown seal embedded on the floor of Healy Tower's front steps. Tradition holds that anyone who steps on the mosaic will not graduate.
• John Carroll, S.J., founder of Georgetown University, was the first Catholic bishop in United States and is the namesake of fellow Jesuit institution John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.
• In August 1797, U.S. President George Washington visited the campus and addressed students from the porch of the Old North building.
• U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visited the campus in May 1861 to review the 1,400 Union troops stationed in temporary quarters on campus.
• U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson attended Georgetown University Law Center for several months in 1934 before dropping out. Another well known Georgetown University Law Center dropout is former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who dropped out in 1957.
• U.S. President Bill Clinton, class of 1968, was elected Freshman and Sophomore Class president, but lost his bid for student body president.
• Georgetown Prep and Georgetown Visitation were once part of Georgetown University.
• Former Secretary of State and Nobel Prize winner Henry Kissinger taught a seminar in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service for several years in the late 1970s.

Georgetown in fiction

• The 1973 horror film The Exorcist was set and filmed in Georgetown. It was based on a novel by William Peter Blatty, who received an English degree from Georgetown in 1950. Blatty wrote the script in a room in Holy Trinity Church's school, a Catholic parish adjacent to Georgetown University.
• The 1985 "Brat Pack" movie St. Elmo's Fire revolved around a group of students who had just graduated from Georgetown. The bar that much of the film takes place in is based on The Tombs, a bar and restaurant known for its large student clientele and rowing decòr, located one block from Georgetown's front gates. The university denied the producers the rights to film on campus, so parts of the film were shot at the nearby University of Maryland.
• In the NBC television series The West Wing, President Bartlet's daughter Zoey attended Georgetown. In the show's fourth season, an episode entitled "Commencement" was filmed on campus, with current Georgetown students used as extras.
• In the movie National Treasure, Benjamin "Ben" Gates (played by Nicolas Cage) is said to have a degree in American History from Georgetown.
• In The Girl Next Door, one of the main character's (Matthew) goals is to get into Georgetown. In the movie's final scene, he is seen walking across Copley Lawn.
• In Save the Last Dance, one of the main character (Derek) receives an acceptance letter to Georgetown University early in the movie.
• On The Steve Harvey Show, Romeo tells Steve about his ambitions to go to college by saying, "I don't wanna be one of those guys that just WEARS the Georgetown jacket!"
• In Above the Rim, the main character, Kyle-Lee, hopes to get a scholarship to play basketball at Georgetown.
• A second season sub-plotline of The Sopranos concerns Meadow Soprano's ambition to gain acceptance to Georgetown, and her mother Carmela's machinations on her behalf. Rumor has it that the school denied the show permission to film on campus, leading to a somewhat abrupt switch of college choice to Columbia.
• In Election, the main character, Tracy Flick (played by Reese Witherspoon), ends up at Georgetown.
• In 24, one of the main characters, President David Palmer attended Georgetown where he played on the basketball team. Dennis Haysbert, the actor who plays David Palmer, is the uncle of Nazareth Haysbert who graduated from Georgetown's College of Arts and Sciences in 2005
• In Syriana, Prince Nasir al-Subaai says: "I studied at Oxford. I have a Ph.D from Georgetown."
• The major motion picture "Memento" was written by a Georgetown alumnus, and the main character's nemesis, John G., is said to be named after John Glavin, a professor of creative writing at Georgetown.
• In Stargate Atlantis, the main character, Dr. Elizabeth Weir taught a political science course at Georgetown before going to Atlantis.
• In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Milo Thatch's grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, and the eccentric millionaire, Preston B. Whitmore, are both members of the Class of 1866.
• In Enemy of the State, Will Smith's character is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.
• In The Pelican Brief, several scenes are shot inside the Georgetown University Law Center and the Edward B. Williams Law Library.
• Portions of the Harry Potter films were to be shot at Georgetown's Healy Hall, but the university denied permission to film on campus.
• In the later Jason Bourne novels, such as The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Legacy, Jason Bourne becomes a professor at Georgetown.
• Jack Ryan, the main character of several Tom Clancy books, received his Ph.D from Georgetown.

External links

• Georgetown University official site
• Official Athletics website
• Georgetown University Alumni Association
• Georgetown Undergraduate Prospectus
• Georgetown University Traditions

Schools and programs

• Georgetown College
• School of Nursing & Health Studies
• Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
• Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business
• Georgetown Public Policy Institute
• Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
• School of Medicine
• Georgetown University Law Center
• School of Continuing Studies
• All academic programs A-Z

Student organizations

• Student Organization websites
• Georgetown Club Sports
• Performing Arts
• Student Media
• Retreat programs and ESCAPE
• Volunteer and Service

References

1. ^ The subject of the 1634 founding date is written about and argued for at length by former president of the university, W. Coleman Nevils, S.J. Moreover, until recently, the celebration of Founders Day, celebrated the 1634 founding date. Sources: Founders Day proclamation, Nevils, Coleman (1934). Minatures of Georgetown: Tercentennial Causeries. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press., p. 1-2, "It is decreed that the said honors shall be given on Founders Day, March the twenty-fifth, a day sacred to the memory of Andrew White, John Altham-Gravenor and Thomas Gervase, of the Society of Jesus, who with Leonard Calvert and other Pilgrim Fathers on this day in the year of our Lord Sixteen Hundred and Thirty-four came to anchor at Heron Island off the shores of Maryland, soon to be joined by Thomas Copley and Ferdinand Poulton, pioneers of Jesuit education in America. By a special providence, they ascended the Potomac River...and on its shores they at once projected a seat of learning, to the establishment of which they had in a document dated from Rome." Cite error: The named reference "founding" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. http://thehoya.com/news/012607/news3.cfm
3. Georgetown University Medical Center Research Leads To First Cancer Vaccine
4. http://apps.collegeboard.com/search/CollegeDetail.jsp?collegeId=3736&profileId=1
5. http://som.georgetown.edu/admissions/index.html
6. http://www.georgetown.edu/organizations/mask/
7. http://www.georgetown.edu/student-affairs/policies.html#EligibilityforBenefits
8. http://www.thehoya.com/features/091900/features2.htm
9. http://www.thehoya.com/features/091900/features2.htm
10. http://sigep.org/chapters/chapter.asp?ChapterNumber=S630&SchoolName=Georgetown%20University
11. http://www.georgetown.edu/home/student_organizations.html
12. Doctor of Liberal Studies Degree Website Georgetown University
13. History Georgetown Visitation Website

v t e Big East Conference
Full members	Butler Bulldogs Creighton Bluejays DePaul Blue Demons Georgetown Hoyas Marquette Golden Eagles Providence Friars St. John's Red Storm Seton Hall Pirates UConn Huskies Villanova Wildcats Xavier Musketeers
Men's soccer associate	Akron Zips
Lacrosse associate	Denver Pioneers (men's & women's)
Field hockey associates	Liberty Lady Flames Old Dominion Monarchs Quinnipiac Bobcats Temple Owls
History	Big East Conference (1979–2013) 2010–13 Big East realignment

• 1634 establishments
• 1789 establishments
• Universities and colleges in Washington, D.C.
• Georgetown University
• Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
• Big East Conference
• Jesuit universities and colleges in the United States
• Roman Catholic universities and colleges in the United States
• Nursing schools in the District of Columbia
• Educational institutions established in the 1630s
• Educational institutions established in the 1780s