Having reached the conclusion of its successful comprehensive campaign, Washington University is now poised for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the next era of academic excellence.
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In January 2017, Mary McKay, PhD, an expert in child mental-health services and social-service delivery to poverty-impacted youth and families, was named the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School (one of four named deanships committed during the campaign). McKay (center) meets with Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD ’04 (left), the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor and an expert in social and economic development, and Fred Ssewamala, MSW ’99, PhD ’03, the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor and an expert in economic empowerment and social protection interventions, in the Maxine Clark and Bob Fox Forum of Thomas and Jennifer Hillman Hall, which was dedicated in October 2015.
Photo by James Byard
Leading Together was launched to secure the resources needed to implement priorities identified in the Plan for Excellence. The campaign focused on the development of four key areas: preparing the leaders of tomorrow; advancing human health; inspiring innovation and entrepreneurship; and enhancing the quality of life for all.
In addition to $591 million for scholarships, the historic initiative resulted in:
• 153 new endowed positions — deanships, professorships and other positions — to attract and retain outstanding faculty and leaders
• $1.502 billion for academic programs to further critical programs and advance powerful research
• $311 million for facilities to support collaborative, cutting-edge work
• $297 million for the Annual Fund to provide deans and the chancellor with flexible funds to address urgent needs.
Leading Together attracted unprecedented support from nearly 160,000 alumni, parents and friends of Washington University. More than 4,300 campaign volunteers in St. Louis and in cities across the United States and worldwide assisted in the effort.
Donors in St. Louis enhanced their already remarkable tradition of generosity to the institution, while regional efforts outside St. Louis led to a dramatic increase in gifts and commitments.
“The success of Leading Together bears witness to Washington University’s truly exceptional community, which came together to ensure the university’s continued ascent,” says Andrew C. Taylor, executive chairman of St. Louis–based Enterprise Holdings and a life trustee of the university, who chaired the public phase of Leading Together. “It is an honor to have been a part of a historic effort to provide a strong foundation for the future.”
“Throughout the past century and a half, Washington University has had a greater impact on society than many would have believed possible,” Wrighton adds. “In each era of our history, visionary alumni and friends have stepped forward to help us meet the world’s evolving needs, committing resources to fuel our continued service.
“The work of a great university is never done, and we now look ahead to the challenges and opportunities before us with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism. In addition to the profound impact campaign funds already are having, Leading Together is providing for Washington University’s next era of academic excellence.”
Elizabeth Maidl, MD ’18 (right), a resident at Baylor College of Medicine, helps provide essential medical services at Harris Health System’s Martin Luther King Jr. Health Center in Houston. While at Washington University School of Medicine, Maidl received numerous scholarships to offset the cost of her medical education, including the Philpott Family Scholarship for four years. On average, WashU medical students graduate with far lower debt; in 2018, U.S. News & World Report ranked them as having the second-lowest debt of medical graduates among the 115 schools ranked.
Photo by Nick de la Torre
Samuel Achilefu, PhD (center), oversees a variety of cancer-fighting projects, including the development of goggles that help surgeons see and remove cancer cells. In January 2016, he was installed as the inaugural Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology at the School of Medicine. Here, Achilefu works with Christine O’Brien, PhD (left), a postdoctoral research scholar, and Kevin Bishop, a research technician, in the Optical Radiology Lab.
Photo by James Byard
William Powderly, MD, is the Larry J. Shapiro Director of the Institute for Public Health (IPH) and the J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine. IPH was a priority articulated in the university’s Plan for Excellence, which set the strategic course for the Leading Together campaign. Powderly’s directorship, named through the generosity of St. Louis–based BJC HealthCare, is one of the 153 new endowed deanships, professorships and other positions established during the campaign to attract and retain outstanding faculty and leaders.
Photo by James Byard
Heather Woofter, MArch (left), director of the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, was installed as the inaugural Sam and Marilyn Fox Professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts in September 2018, during a period of substantial growth for the school. Over the past decade, enrollment in the nationally ranked graduate school has nearly doubled. Carmon Colangelo, installed as the inaugural Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School in November 2016, says, “Heather is a dedicated faculty member, gifted architect and inspiring academic leader. Both inside and outside the classroom, she does an exemplary job of guiding students as they seek to discover their own strengths, talents and professional paths.”
Photo by Joe Angeles
John Inazu, JD, PhD — whose scholarship and teaching focus on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly and religion — was installed as the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion in October 2016. Inazu is a member of the John C.
Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, which fosters rigorous scholarship and informs broad academic and public communities about the intersection of religion and U.S. politics.
Photo by Joe Angeles
Gary Patti, PhD, installed as the Michael and Tana Powell Associate Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences in March 2018, studies the metabolism of patients, animals and specific cells within various tissues. Also a member of the School of Medicine faculty, Patti focuses his research on understanding metabolic regulation in health and disease, specifically the metabolic pathways involved in cancer, neurological disease and toxicant exposure. Recently awarded two separate NIH grants to further study the regulatory processes that underlie metabolism, Patti (right) confers with Jhullian Alston, a PhD student in biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology. Patti’s new lab is located in renovated Bryan Hall and is part of the broader university initiative, Driving Discovery, a plan that is fostering a collaborative ecosystem of scientific discovery in Arts & Sciences and beyond.
Photo by James Byard
Dedicated in 2016, the Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center is a state-of-the-art fitness and recreation facility that encourages healthy living for the entire university community. The Sumers Recreation Center, named for Trustee Gary M. Sumers, AB ’75, the lead donor, provides much-needed space for intramural sports, group exercise classes and other recreation and fitness activities. Visitors enter the facility through the historic towers of Francis Gymnasium, built to host events during the 1904 Olympic Games. Today, the reimagined facility includes a 66,500-square-foot addition with a suspended jogging track, three-court gym, sports medicine center and more.
Photo by James Byard
A recipient of the Jean and Donald Frahm Scholarship and a Consortium Fellow at Olin Business School, Gheremey Edwards (left), who previously taught with Teach For America, is a second-year student studying for his MBA. In his first year, he consulted for a local nonprofit, assisted in a marketing project with the mayor of East St. Louis, received second place in Accenture’s Innovation Case Competition, and served as the vice president for diversity and inclusion in student government. He frequently meets with fellow graduate students in the atrium that connects the Charles F. and Joanne Knight Hall with the George and Carol Bauer Hall, the business school’s newest facilities dedicated in May 2014.
Photo by Joe Angeles
The research facility at 4515 McKinley Ave., which opened in 2016, is a hub supporting rapidly changing scientific techniques and the explosive advancement of genetics and genomics. In November 2017, the facility was named the Debra and George W. Couch III
Biomedical Research Building. The naming recognizes longtime benefactors, Trustee George and Debra Couch, who support research that advances personalized medicine, aiming to change the way disease is diagnosed and treated. And since personalized therapies often are rooted in a person’s genetic makeup, the new fund provides support for the university’s Genome Engineering and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Center. With the center’s expertise in the latest genome-editing technologies, such as CRISPR, and reprogramming of stem cells, scientists across the university are able to create precise cellular models of disease.
Photo by James Byard
