Gaston Hall played host to the current secretary of Homeland Security as well as her two predecessors Tuesday morning.

NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell moderated “The Department of Homeland Security: Year Eight,” which was coordinated by the Aspen Institute and Georgetown University.

Following opening remarks from University President John DeGioia, Mitchell spent approximately an hour aiming questions at current Secretary Janet Napolitano, her immediate predecessor Michael Chertoff, and the first secretary of the DHS Tom Ridge.

On the eighth anniversary of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, all three secretaries stressed the success of the department’s evolution and effectiveness in protecting the country from terrorism.

The DHS “has been successful up until now,” Ridge succinctly asserted.

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The Aspen Institute recently released its biannual “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” ranking of business schools that do the best job of integrating social and environmental issues into their curriculum, and Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business came in a very respectable 35th.

The ranking is a significant improvement from our 2007 showing, when we came in 73rd.  In 2005, the first year the Aspen Institute ranked business schools, we were 30th.

The rankings are based on four factors: how many courses that involve social, environmental or ethical concerns are offered; how much class time is spent on these issues; how many courses demonstrate the intersection of social or environmental issues with for-profit business; and how much faculty research is on social, environmental or ethical issues.