Campus & Community

Olusegun Obasanjo, an economic innovator in Africa and two-time leader of Nigeria, will make his first stop in the Midwest to kick off the third annual Olin Africa Business Forum at Washington University in St. Louis.

Singer. Writer. Performer. Visual artist. Over the course of her 45-year career, Patti Smith has established herself as one of the most prolific and influential artists of her generation. In fall 2020, Smith will receive the International Humanities Prize from Washington University in St. Louis.

Richard A. “Red” Watson, professor emeritus of philosophy in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Sept. 18, 2019, in Wellesley, Mass. He was 88. 

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis has received a $40,000 grant from the Art Works program of the National Endowment for the Arts.

In the debut of The Record’s new series, “I Made This,” senior J.T. Bridges shares the story behind his song “Discord,” which he recorded at the Harvey Media Center with the help of student group High Note Music Industry Collective. Like contemporary stars Daniel Caesar and Khalid, Bridges specializes in chill R&B with earnest lyrics and acoustic rhythms. 

A new fellowship for Washington University undergraduates further deepens the university’s commitment to educating and preparing the next generation of entrepreneurs. The program, offered by the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship, will directly connect students to, and immerse them in, the St. Louis startup scene.

At the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees meeting Dec. 6, several faculty members were appointed or promoted with tenure, with most becoming effective Jan. 1.

“Masquerade,” Black Anthology’s 31st annual production, will question past and present ideas of utopia through the lens of Afrofuturism — a genre that fuses black culture with science fiction to create a universe where black identity is both central and celebrated. Black Anthology will be staged at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1, in Edison Theatre.

Nancy Berg, professor of Hebrew language and literature in the Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies in Arts & Sciences, has won a National Jewish Book Award for best anthology for the 2018 book “What We Talk About When We Talk About Hebrew (and What It Means to Amer­i­cans).”

Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.