Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Chanelle Hardy, JD, a senior executive with the National Urban League, will be keynote speaker at the For the Sake of All Community Conference that begins at 8 a.m. Friday, May 30, at the Missouri History Museum. At the conference — the culmination of a yearlong, groundbreaking study of African-American health and well-being in the St. Louis region — researchers will issue a final report along with policy recommendations for the region. The conference is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, and registration is required.

Students from Eureka High School prepare their plane for launch during the Boeing Design Challenge at the Washington University Field House April 29. They were among 110 area high school students from six school districts on 26 teams who designed and hand-launched balsa wood gliders in different competitions, learning concepts of physics and engineering. The teams were assisted by engineers from Boeing Co.

Washington University in St. Louis will award six honorary degrees during the university’s 153rd Commencement May 16. During the ceremony, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus, WUSTL will bestow academic degrees on approximately 2,800 members of the Class of 2014.

The Brown School’s third annual Research Without Walls student symposium was held April 22 in the hallways of Brown and Goldfarb halls on the Danforth Campus, with students such as Jaclyne Smith presenting projects and research worked on throughout the academic year.

Robyn I. Stone, PhD, noted researcher and leading international authority on aging and long-term care policy, will deliver the annual Friedman Lecture Thursday, May 8, in Brown Hall on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis. A panel discussion will follow. The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon and is free and open to the public. For details and to register, visit here.

In the new health-care climate of the Affordable Care Act and efforts to expand Medicaid to accommodate more individuals and children, the need to closely examine ways to best use government funding is becoming increasingly evident. A new study from the Brown School examines racial and ethnic differences in Medicaid expenditures for children in the welfare system who use psychotropic drugs.

Has this year’s unseasonably cold weather given you spring fever? Indulge the urge to abandon your desk and join Washington University in St. Louis colleagues for some fun in the sun at the annual Staff Day, Monday, May 19.

Three beloved longtime Brown School faculty — representing 102 years of scholarship, research and collaboration — were elevated to new positions within the faculty April 2 during an installation ceremony in Brown Lounge.

Participants in the 24th annual Pow Wow at Washington University in St. Louis take part in the Grand Entry in the Field House April 5. The annual event, hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School, offered visitors and participants a full day of dancing, singing, arts, crafts and food.

The Brown School bestowed one Distinguished Faculty Award and five Distinguished Alumni Awards during its annual alumni awards celebration dinner March 26 at the Palladium Saint Louis. Among the five, two alumni were selected as outstanding Graduates of the Last Decade.