Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Cindy Brantmeier, professor of applied linguistics and education, has designed a social reading program that employs online games to help adolescent refugees and immigrants. The results are promising — test scores have improved along with student confidence.

Black Anthology returns Feb. 1 and 2 to Edison Theatre with its 30th anniversary show, “The Creation,” inspired by James Weldon Johnson’s Harlem Renaissance poem of the same name. Senior Ebby Offord said the show’s staying power reflects the transformative power of art and the persistent challenges that African-American students face.

Chancellor-elect Andrew D. Martin has announced three new members of his office staff: Rebecca Brown, Jill Clark and Nancy Lyons. Martin also has launched a new website.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and his wife, Risa Zwerling Wrighton, will receive the 2019 Rosa L. Parks Award for their service to St. Louis’ young people at Washington University in St. Louis’ Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, in Graham Chapel.

The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya presented an honorary doctorate — the first in its 25-year history — to Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton for his long-standing contribution to academia, science and service.

The Source looks back at some of our most read and most shared stories of 2018. Highlights include good news (a new chancellor), bad news (even light drinking increases risk of death) and who knew news (“collective narcissism” is real and Virginians have it).

Gabbie Eyler won the People’s Choice Award in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Holiday Cookie Contest for her chocolate turtle cookies, a chocolate sugar cookie rolled in toasted pecans and drizzled with chocolate and caramel. It is the second straight year a senior has won a top prize in the annual contest. Eyler learned how to bake from her mother, Amy Eyler, associate professor of public health at the Brown School.

High school students need computer science skills, but who will teach them? The Institute for School Partnership is addressing Missouri’s desperate shortage of computer science educators through the Code.org professional learning program, which prepares educators with no coding experience to lead computer science classes. The need is urgent: only one-third of Missouri high schools offer computer science.

A self-professed science geek, Anand Chukka arrived at Washington University eager to prepare for a career in medicine. As a December degree candidate, he has accomplished just that. He majored in biochemistry in Arts & Sciences; conducted medical research in labs in St. Louis, Boston and San Francisco; and serves as co-president of GlobeMed. But he also majored in American culture studies, a decision that reaffirmed his passion for medicine and positions him to be a better doctor.

The Washington University Police Department’s Blue Santa program is collecting donations for the children of Whitney Thomas, who was killed in a traffic accident in October on Riverview Boulevard. The six children range in age from 11 to 8 months old.