Campus & Community

Alumni and students find professional development resources and community amidst uncertainty.

NBA great and social justice advocate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will deliver the 2021 Commencement address for Washington University in St. Louis, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin announced. The university plans to hold in-person ceremonies for the Class of 2021 on May 20 and 21.

The Bears baseball team was No. 1 in the nation when COVID-19 cut short their season. Now they’re back and undefeated.

Arts & Sciences archaeologists excavated around earthen mounds and analyzed sediment cores to test a persistent theory about the collapse of Cahokia, the pre-Columbian Native American city once home to more than 15,000 people.

Abby L. Spencer, MD, has been named vice chair of education and professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine; director of the School of Medicine’s Academy of Educators; and to the editorial board of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Claire Masteller, assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, won a $149,417 grant from the U.S. Army Research Office’s Early Career Program.

Washington University in St. Louis’ International Travel Oversight Committee recently announced that its international travel policies in place this spring will extend through July 2021.

While their annual showcase celebrating Asian culture and the Lunar New Year couldn’t happen in person this year due to the pandemic, members of the Lunar New Year Festival refused to give up. Instead, they pivoted to create their first virtual show. The production premiered on YouTube March 27 and is available online.

Justin M. Sacks, MD, a highly respected microvascular surgeon with expertise in complex surgeries involving cancer and trauma, has been named director of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the School of Medicine. Sacks also has been installed as the Sydney M. Shoenberg Jr. and Robert H. Shoenberg Endowed Chair in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, an endowment supported through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Jackson Butler, a junior studying physics in Arts & Sciences, received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award that honors students who conduct research in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.