Ron Howard papers

Ronald Warren Howard (1934-August 19, 1999) came to GW in 1964 as a counselor in the Admissions Office, and would serve the university for over thirty years, until his death in 1999 following a six year battle with cancer. Howard graduated from Central College in Pella, Iowa (B.A. in English, 1956) and worked as an admissions counselor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin before taking a similar position here. At GW he became assistant director of admissions and foreign students admissions officer before moving to the Development Office, where he served as director of alumni support from 1973-80. In September 1980 he began work in the Alumni Office as associate director of alumni relations. He served as Director of Alumni Relations from June 1986-1989, and then became the first full-time director of the Alumni Admissions Program, which mobilized volunteer alumni nationwide to help recruit prospective GW students from their particular regions.

Ron Howard traveled the country spreading the message of GW to prospective students, as well as alumni. He was such an enthusiastic ambassador of the university that he became known as "Mr. GW" and "Mr. Alumni." Howard won the GW Award in 1977, given in "special recognition to those people who have made The George Washington University a better place to be." Ron Howard was an enthusiastic photographer. He free lanced for the student newspaper the Hatchet, and some of his images appeared in various campus publications as well. His enthusiasm to capture through the lens of a camera the people and events surrounding the university has been a benefit to the preservation of GW's history.

(Biographical information compiled from "GW Magazine" article, Fall 1993 and "By George" article September 7, 1999)