Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Because Wednesday, July 4, is a staff holiday, the summer edition of the Record email will not publish next week. The Record website, record.wustl.edu, will be updated regularly and the Record email will return Wednesday, July 11. The Record staff wishes everyone a safe and happy 4th of July!

Each spring, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences recognizes outstanding teaching assistants who have been nominated by a department or a program. This year, 18 graduate students received the 2011-12 Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence. A ceremony was held April 19 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

Sports updates for the month of June include items on WUSTL’s finish in the Learfield Director’s Cup standings; all-America honors for a baseball player and a tennis player; and a pitch for the W Club.

Crow Observatory was open June 5, 2012, for a viewing of the twice-per-century transit of Venus across the Sun. The 154-year-old Yeatman telescope projected an image of the Sun about two feet in diameter that several people could simultaneously and safely view.

Parkway South High School senior Will Mertz explains the design of his team’s custom-built hand glider to Chris Kroeger, associate dean for students in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, during the Boeing Engineering Challenge May 4 in the Athletic Complex Field House. Mertz was among some 80 area high school students in 24 teams competing in the Boeing Challenge to determine which team’s glider had the farthest flight, straightest path, longest hang time or highest quality of flight.

Senior Erica Jackey led five individual All-Americans for the track & field teams at the NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 24-26 in Claremont, Calif. Updates also included on men’s and women’s tennis, women’s crew and the Director’s Cup standings.

Gloria Steinem — a pioneering feminist, award-winning journalist and best-selling author — talks with students of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program in Arts & Sciences May 17. Steinem, who was at WUSTL to receive an honorary doctor of humane letters at Commencement, took questions from students, offered advice and discussed her own life experiences.

Beginning Wednesday, May 30, the Record shifts into its summer schedule. Look for weekly emails on in your inbox each Wednesday through the middle of August. The website, record.wustl.edu, will continue to be updated regularly daily. Have a great summer!

Spontaneous bursts of joy broke out all day long on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis as the university held its 151st Commencement May 18 in Brookings Quadrangle. From the memorable speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters to the conferring of honorary degrees and singing of the “Alma Mater,” it was a day of smiles. A slideshow commemorates it all.

Senior class president Alex Cooper views his time at Washington University in St. Louis as truly “transformative.” When he takes the podium during the 151st Commencement ceremony May 18, he will urge fellow graduating seniors to reflect back on their time at the university, paying special attention to the key relationships that have fostered growth.