Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Maggie Ryan, 22, died in a car accident Sunday, May 22, 2016, in Wayne County, Ind., on her way home to Boston, just two days after earning degrees in anthropology and in women, gender and sexuality studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Ryan was deeply committed to helping the Washington University community, serving as a leader of both Dance Marathon and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.

Bobby Golliday, coordinator of special programs for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at Washington University in St. Louis, won the Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award at the annual Staff Day celebration May 23 at Edison Theatre.

More than 2,900 graduates and 12,000 family and university members gathered in Brookings Quadrangle to celebrate the 155th Commencement ceremony May 20. “You must leave here and get in the way,” U.S. Rep. John Lewis told the graduates. “When you see something that is not fair, not right, not just, you must have the courage to stand up, to speak up and find a way to get in the way.”

The Lofts of Washington University, located on the Delmar Loop in University City and the city of St. Louis, has been named a finalist in the 2016 Global Awards For Excellence by the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The prestigious award celebrates outstanding real estate development and design.

The Washington University Contract Employee Scholarship provides free University College tuition, on a first-come, first-serve basis, to the 700 contract employees who work full-time at the university. Students may use the scholarship to earn an undergraduate degree or simply explore a new topic.

“Between the World and Me” by acclaimed writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, is the 2016 First Year Reading Program selection. Written as a letter to Coates’ teenage son, the book is both a tender memoir and a biting polemic that explores America’s long and persistent history of racial injustice. All first-year students will participate in a discussion about the book this fall.

Lori White, vice chancellor for student affairs and the newly installed board chair of NASPA, speaks frankly about the challenges facing today’s universities, her goals to improve access and the graduate-student experience at Washington University, and what it will be like to work with her husband, incoming associate provost Anthony Tillman.

A podcast featuring Mosaic Whispers music directors Katie Greenberg and Hannah Lacava, and vocal percussionist Rohan Khazanchi. The Washington University a capella group competes in a national competition Saturday, April 30, at the Beacon Theatre in New York.

Sophomore Sarah Longyear died by suicide April 22 in her hometown of Palo Alto, Calif. She was 19. Advisers remember her as a kind and curious student who excelled academically but struggled with depression.

Sales of bottled beverages at Washington University in St. Louis have plummeted 39 percent since 2009, when the university became the first in the nation to ban the sale of plastic single-use water bottles. The school initiated the ban as part of its comprehensive efforts to reduce its environmental impact.