Campus & Community

A variety of distinguished speakers, faculty members and student leaders will take part in Commencement-related events for Class of 2019 graduates and their families and guests next week at Washington University in St. Louis.

How collective memories of wars, terrorist attacks and other traumatic events are fueling the surprising re-emergence of nationalist movements will be the focus of a national conference May 23-25 at Washington University in St  Louis.

Denise DeCou brings her own lived experiences to the table as the university’s manager of diversity and community outreach. Through training and learning opportunities, she encourages the campus community to grow in acceptance of one another.

The university’s interdisciplinary Center for Quantum Sensors aims to harness the power of quantum mechanics to detect and decipher some of the universe’s greatest mysteries. The effort is timely as Congress recently approved a federal program supporting the development of quantum technologies.

Michelle Purdy, assistant professor of education in Arts & Sciences, received the 2019 new scholar book award from the history and historiography division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for her book “Transforming The Elite: Black Students and the Desegregation of Private Schools” (University of North Carolina Press, 2018).

Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.

The William Greenleaf Eliot Society held its 52nd annual dinner April 18 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in honor of Washington University’s group of committed supporters. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton also presented the Search Award to Life Trustee Andrew C. Taylor.

Once undocumented, Brown’s Robert Sagastume is advocating for policies and laws that will help immigrants access higher education. Expanded access is a win-win for us all, Sagastume says. “Latinx people are very community oriented and often pursue careers in nursing and teaching — positions that are going unfilled in our state. Why wouldn’t you want to leverage all of that potential to benefit our state?”

James Schisler grew up 100 miles west of St. Louis in St. James, Mo., population 4,216. When only one-fifth of his high school class returned to college their sophomore year, Schisler was determined to find out why. He believes cohort programs, like the ones he belonged to, can help rural students access the support and resources they need.

Washington University in St. Louis will award seven honorary degrees during its 158th Commencement May 17. During the ceremony, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus, the university will bestow academic degrees on approximately 3,400 members of the Class of 2019.