Campus & Community

Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor and chief administrative officer, will transition to the newly created role of executive vice chancellor for civic affairs and strategic planning, with a sharp focus on regional equitable economic development, community engagement and partnership with the university’s neighborhoods and civic and community leaders.

Across campus, students, faculty and staff are finding creative ways to welcome the Class of 2024 despite ever-evolving public health directives and university policies, said Katharine Pei, director of First Year Programs. There have been calls from WUSAs, peer mentorship programs, Spotify playlists and gooey butter cake. 

Washington University in St. Louis remains committed to strengthening global ties and collaboration despite the COVID-19 crisis. On Aug. 25, the university adopted a new partnership with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, India, one of that country’s premier research universities.

A call for proposals is now open for academic units interested in welcoming one of 12 recently announced faculty cluster hires to their schools or departments.

While the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum remains closed to the general public due to COVID-19, the museum will be open to Washington University students, faculty and staff by appointment beginning Sept. 14.

What type of face mask is most effective? Will classrooms and other campus environments be safe for faculty and students this fall? What is the latest guidance for staying healthy? Get answers to these questions and more at a special “Ask the Doctors” town hall for the Danforth Campus community. 

Derek Hoeferlin, chair of landscape architecture and urban design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has been named a University Design Research Fellow for Exhibit Columbus 2020-21.

Robert L. Williams II, professor emeritus of psychological and brain sciences and founding director of Washington University’s Black Studies program (now the Department of African & African-American Studies) in Arts & Sciences, died Aug. 12, 2020. He was 90.

Bradley Jolliff, the Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences and director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, has been awarded the 2020 Eugene Shoemaker Distinguished Scientist Medal by NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, recognizing significant contributions to planetary science throughout his career.

Natalie Sorenson, a first-year student at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, died May 5, 2020. She died as a result of emotional challenges during lockdown for COVID-19. Natalie Sorenson was 18.