One benefit of serving as chancellor of Washington University is how often I am reminded of the achievements of our faculty, graduates and staff. The people I meet and the stories I hear represent the marriage between intellect and passion. And so often, our alumni are passionate about using their WashU education and training to help the larger world.
“Change is more powerful and lasting when we mobilize our collective assets and strive toward a common goal or set of priorities.”
Andrew D. Martin
But no one who wants to effect change can work alone. Change is more powerful and lasting when we mobilize our collective assets and strive toward a common goal or set of priorities. This idea forms the basis of With You: The WashU Campaign. Through this effort, WashU seeks to secure the resources we need to continue achieving our collective objectives and generating meaningful, lasting change through vital research, patient care and educational access.
A campaign is, by definition, an organized course of action to achieve a goal, and this particular campaign has been years in the making. During that time, WashU has undertaken the deep self-reflection required to examine our strengths and assets, and to identify the areas in which we believe we can make the greatest difference. With You seeks to close the gap between WashU’s ambitions and our impact, allowing us to follow through on our commitments to expanding educational access, preparing future-ready leaders, and fostering healthier lives and communities through research and patient care. Success will also give WashU the freedom to chart our own course, and to protect our long-standing commitments to scholarly inquiry and academic distinction.
This issue of WashU Magazine features several stories of faculty, alumni and staff who are tackling weighty problems and identifying solutions — including the university’s efforts to improve public health through research into tuberculosis and the work being done by several of our alumni to protect and manage their community’s water sources, even as significant shifts in climate patterns affect their work. These experts have identified the change that they want to see in the world, and they show up every day to bring about that change.
“I ask you to undertake the thought exercise that the campaign poses: to consider the one change that you think would make a world of difference in how we live, how we work, how we learn and how we prosper as a society.”
Andrew D. Martin
I encourage you to read the brochure that came with this issue of the magazine, so you can better understand what WashU hopes to achieve with the With You campaign. And I ask you to undertake the thought exercise that the campaign poses: to consider the one change that you think would make a world of difference in how we live, how we work, how we learn and how we prosper as a society. If you wish to share the change you want to see, or read about others’ aspirations and interests, please connect with us via our campaign website at withyou.washu.edu.
I believe that WashU has a responsibility as a world-leading university to tackle challenging issues and to continue our legacy of thoughtful change — the kind of change that takes years to plan, years to execute and years to materialize. I am excited to embark on that journey with you.
