Year: 2018

A variety of distinguished speakers, faculty members and student leaders will take part in Commencement-related events for Class of 2018 graduates and their families and guests next week at Washington University in St. Louis.

Sarah C.R. “Sally” Elgin, of Arts & Sciences, knew from an early age that she wanted to be a scientist. In her time at Washington University, the Viktor Hamburger Professor has worked to make sure kids like her would be encouraged to pursue science.

Jessi Gray graduates this month with a degree in computer science from the School of Engineering & Applied Science and is one of four valedictorians. It’s an impressive achievement, but not the one that matters. After struggling with identity for years, Gray is proudly living her life as a transgender woman.

With wit and ferocity, artist Taylor Yocom explores cinematic depictions of ‘female niceness’ in the wake of the #MeToo movement. For her artistic work raising awareness, she’s been chosen one of the Class Acts of 2018.

The Brown School’s Najjuwah Walden, once of the system, aims to take on institutional violence as part of the system. Her post-graduate career will focus on reproductive and sexual health, particularly as it relates to institutional racism and economic stability.

From peer leadership in a groundbreaking campus group to netting a legendary goal for the women’s soccer team, Megan Wolf, math major, worked many angles to make Washington University a better place than she found it.

It is long overdue for women to receive the benefit of the doubt and for institutions to stop defending and protecting those who create unsafe work environments. But while women are finally being believed, sexual harassment and violence isn’t gender-specific.

Gerry Rohde, stockroom manager and laboratory safety officer in the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has died. He was 55. Outside of the biology department, Rohde also was known across the region as the evening host of St. Louis Public Radio.

Six alumni representing a wide range of careers in the field received Achievement Awards from the School of Engineering & Applied Science on April 26 at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

A new suite of technology tools developed by David Patterson Silver Wolf, associate professor at the Brown School, aims to enable addiction and behavioral health professionals to monitor their own treatment services, as well as their patient’s recovery process, using data as their guide.