Photo: Will Kirk
Photo: Will Kirk
Photo: Will Kirk
Photo: Will Kirk
In October, hundreds turned out for the dedication of Johns Hopkins’ gleaming new building at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. It ushers in a new era for the university in the heart of the nation’s capital—and will soon also be home to JHU’s newest academic division, a School of Government and Policy.
The Hopkins Bloomberg Center brings new purpose and possibility to the university’s longstanding mission to connect the worlds of research and policy. In this new location—and building on the well-established reputation of the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington policy circles— Hopkins will educate future leaders and innovators, convene a range of viewpoints to foster discovery and dialogue, and create a vibrant new space for artistic expression and performance.
Data-driven approaches to policy
“The opening of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center marks a significant moment in the life of our university. The new center will deepen our presence in D.C. at a time when society is struggling to come together to solve problems and seize opportunities to advance the common good,” Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels said at the dedication. “Through the center, we will amplify our university’s proven capacity to bring the world’s greatest research and data-driven approaches to government innovation and policy.”
The Hopkins Bloomberg Center has been years in the making, beginning with the university’s 2019 acquisition of the 435,000-square-foot building on one of the world’s most iconic avenues, a street where generations of Americans have marched, celebrated, paraded, and protested. In the ensuing four years, the space has been transformed into a light-filled, vibrant center for learning, research, and public engagement, a modern multipurpose space actualized by a talented and creative team of architects, designers, artists, technicians, engineers, and construction crews.
The building will host programming from all corners of Johns Hopkins, bringing experts, students, and researchers from all of the university’s Baltimore and D.C.-based divisions together. This includes 40 projects and programs supported by the university’s Nexus Awards program; awardees include more than 100 scholars and researchers from all nine JHU academic divisions covering a range of topics, including artificial intelligence and health policy, the arts and humanities, global health and gender equity, and much more.
A home on Pennsylvania Avenue
“We are honored that the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center chose to open a new space on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of our downtown,” said Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser. “We have set the bold goal to win back our downtown by making Washington, D.C., a place for successful businesses and opportunity-rich neighborhoods. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center brings a new hub for global leaders to convene, and new employment and educational opportunities to our downtown.”
Situated at the doorstep of the nation’s government in a location specifically selected to foster collaboration with policymakers and practitioners, the Hopkins Bloomberg Center will be a hub of interdisciplinary partnerships and convenings, and an academic engine to advance solutions to the challenges that confront city halls, Washington, and beyond.
