Campus & Community

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.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. recently awarded Washington University’s Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship a $100,000 planning grant as part of its Ascend 2020 Initiative.

Testifying on U.S. gun violence in Bogota, Colombia. Presenting on privacy in the digital age. Writing a dissertation on clinical whole-genome sequencing data. Making the Dean’s List. All in a day’s work for Jiyeon Kim, who will be graduating with a doctor of law from the School of Law and who plans a career focused on health and technology law and policy.

Entering college, Haley Allen knew she wanted to join ROTC so she could be an officer in the U.S. Army. But an ROTC trip Tanzania sparked a passion for Swahili and East African culture and history. She graduates this month with a degree in international studies and hopes to serve in Africa after completing helicopter training at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Marco Colonna, MD, the Robert Rock Belliveau, MD, Professor of Pathology (left), and Timothy J. Ley, MD, the Lewis T. and Rosalind B. Apple Chair in Oncology, both at the School of Medicine, have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The new members were announced April 30.