Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Washington University in St. Louis continues to draw talented students from across the nation and around the globe. The Class of 2029 is the second-largest in university history and comprises 1,963 students from 49 states and 29 countries. While American universities continue to navigate federal guidelines that have changed how they recruit and admit students, WashU’s incoming class represents a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

This summer, students in WashU’s Digital Transformation Summer Corps developed AI-driven tools and products that advance important interdisciplinary research projects. The new program is part of the Digital Intelligence & Innovation Accelerator, a “Here & Next” initiative.

Catherine Hanaway, a member of WashU’s Board of Trustees, has been appointed to serve as Missouri attorney general. As such, Hanaway will step down from the board. She will be sworn in Sept. 8.

Over the next several weeks, the 1,970 members of the Class of 2029 will learn more about WashU’s academic resources, student groups and boba tea options. But during move in, WashU resident advisors, WashU Student Associates and student leaders have one goal: to make every new student feel at home. 

Career Catalysts is a series about WashU interns, by WashU interns. This installment features Olin Business School student Joel Shin, who spent his summer at the Aspirations Network, a nonprofit that supports St. Louis youth.

Beyond registering for classes and decorating their dorms, Andrea Stewart-Douglas, WashU’s director of student financial wellness programs, has another item for new college students’ to-do lists: Make a budget.

The Summer Philosophy Academy is a free one-week program for curious high school students. Through lectures, discussions and field trips, participants explore urgent ethical and philosophical questions about political polarization, artificial intelligence, social media and more.

Gary Wihl, the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, died July 17 in Clayton, Mo., after battling Parkinson’s disease. He was 72. Wihl served as dean of Arts & Sciences from 2009 to 2012.

Building on strong early outcomes, WashU has been awarded a $1.1 million four-year grant to extend its participation in the Kessler Scholars Collaborative and deepen its work to assure opportunity and success outcomes for first-generation, limited-income college students. 

WashU’s Rural Scholars Academy welcomed its third cohort of high school juniors to campus this month for college classes, admissions workshops and field trips to St. Louis attractions. Ten members of the academy’s first class will attend WashU this fall, many on full scholarships.