Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

For the second straight year, WashU has won the Citizens for Modern Transit College Transit Challenge. The annual competition encourages students, staff and faculty from local colleges to log their rides on MetroLink and Metro buses for bragging rights and the College Transit Trophy.

WashU’s first-ever Reverse Career Fair offered employers the opportunity to meet a variety of student group leaders. The goal was to connect employers to students with specific skills, not necessarily specific majors.

The William H. Gass Centenary Celebration and exhibit “William H. Gass: Fifty New Acquisitions” will shed new light on one of America’s most inspired — and intimidating — writers. Gass was author of the masterpieces “Omensetter’s Luck” and “Middle C” as well as three essay collections that won the National Book Critics Circle Awards for criticism.

Karen R. Daubert, assistant vice chancellor for administration and strategic partnerships in University Marketing & Communications at Washington University in St. Louis, died Thursday, Sept. 12, after a short battle with cancer. She was 63. 

For the first time, annual research funding to Washington University in St. Louis has surpassed $1 billion. That funding supports WashU researchers tackling big challenges from Alzheimer’s disease to air pollution to childhood depression. Research funding also ripples across the economy, sparking job growth, construction and local spending.

WashU students, faculty and staff  are invited to break out their U-Passes Sept. 20 to compete in the annual College Transit Challenge, an annual celebration of public transportation sponsored by Citizens for Modern Transit. 

The Missouri Public Health Association has awarded WashU’s Emergency Support Team the Group Merit Award for its significant contribution to public health in Missouri.

Lisa Weingarth, senior advisor for St. Louis initiatives at WashU, has been appointed to the board of the United Way of Greater St. Louis.

WashU has launched a new partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri to support high school students in the organization’s Big Futures college readiness initiative.

Trained as an engineer, Janie Brennan, a senior lecturer at the WashU McKelvey School of Engineering, now builds courses instead of machines. She’s using her classroom to peel away systemic and cultural barriers to engineering.