Johns Hopkins University opens a new home in Washington, D.C.

The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue has officially opened its doors, welcoming students, faculty, staff, visitors, and guests into the university's new home in Washington, D.C., a building that 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 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.

"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. "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. Since that time, the space has been transformed into a light-filled, vibrant center for learning, research, and public engagement, a modern multi-purpose 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 and cover a range of topics, including artificial intelligence and health policy, the arts and humanities, global health and gender equity, and much more.

"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 our 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.

"There's this sense of connection to the life of the policy world in D.C.," said James Steinberg, SAIS dean and former U.S. deputy secretary of state. "Whether you stand on the terrace or look up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, you feel physically connected and open to it all, seeing the Capitol, seeing the Justice Department, all the parts of government where the great debates on policy are taking place."

A grand opening celebration for the Hopkins Bloomberg Center is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 19; more information on past and future events at the building can be found below.

Dedication week events

• Oct. 18: 10th Annual Bloomberg CityLab - The preeminent global cities summit organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the Aspen Institute
• Oct. 19: Dedication and Open House, featuring:

• Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and 108th mayor of New York City (Class of '64)
• Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser
• Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels
• Inaugural Peabody Institute concert with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves
• Music and dance performances by Peabody Institute students and faculty
• Tours of art installations and a panel discussion with curators Lowery Stokes Sims and Nancy Rosen and artists Shahzia Sikander and Sandra Cinto
• Applied Physics Laboratory and public health exhibits
• Sheridan Libraries exhibit
• Fireside chat with architects David Rockwell and Richard Olcott

• Oct. 20: Inaugural Women's International Leadership Summit