Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu,” the Mauritanian masterpiece about Islamist extremists and the community that dares to defy them, headlines this year’s African Film Festival at Washington University in St. Louis, held March 27-29. Other highlights include a youth matinee and a discussion with filmmaker Ekwa Msangi.

The Washington University Libraries’ Documenting Ferguson Digital Archive is seeking faculty, staff and contract workers who are living in Ferguson or surrounding communities to share their stories about Ferguson before and after the Aug. 9, 2014, death of Michael Brown Jr. at the hands of a police officer.

​Washington University in St. Louis is sending 15 students to this year’s Clinton Global Initiative University, which begins Friday, March 6, at the University of Miami.  Founded by the Clinton Global Initiative, an initiative of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, CGI U supports projects that advance five focus areas: education, environmental sustainability, peace and human rights, poverty alleviation and public health. The university hosted CGI U in 2013.

Washington University in St. Louis faculty on the Danforth Campus are invited to complete a survey about resources and services offered by Washington University Libraries. The survey will help the libraries better develop, enhance and deliver the collections and services designed to meet the current and future needs of the campus community​.

Washington University in St. Louis is 19th on the Peace Corps’ annual list of the top volunteer-producing midsized colleges and universities. Currently, 14 alumni are serving as Peace Corps volunteers. Students who want to learn more can visit a Peace Corps information table at 11 a.m. March 2, in Tisch Commons.

​​​Serving Washington University in St. Louis students for five decades, Lorena Smith, 81, has  done it all — prepared thousands of  sandwiches, pulled pints of beer at the university’s long-gone campus bar and issued parking tickets. “Some things don’t change,” said Smith, whom the students refer to as “Ms. Smitty.” “There have always been parking tickets, baby, always.” ​

​The nation’s oldest and largest student-run carnival returns April 17-19. Thurtene will join forces with UrbanFUTURE to promote academic achievement, character growth and career preparation in St. Louis schools.

Stanley Nelson’s documentary “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of a Revolution,” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 in Steinberg Auditorium on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The screening is co-sponsored by Cinema St. Louis and by the Program in African and African-American Studies in Arts & Sciences; the Center for Diversity and Inclusion; and the Washington University Film & Media Archive of Washington University Libraries.

​Some 120 ​Washington University students help mentor local high school students through the college application process in a national mentoring program called Strive for College. The program was started on the Washington University campus in 2007 by a group of Rodriguez Scholars and today thrives under the leadership of alum Michael Carter. On Monday, Feb. 16, local high school participants will visit Washington University, where they will shadow mentors in class and around campus. ​

​Class Acts takes a look at John Schmidt, a senior in Arts & Sciences and the white playwright behind this weekend’s Black Anthology. Schmidt also is an editor for Student Life, writer and director for Lunar New Year, a residential advisor and opera singer. Schmidt says his “listening ear” helps him in his various roles. Black Anthology takes place at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6 and 7.