Campus & Community

During remarks today at Washington University in St. Louis’ fifth annual Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action, Chancellor-elect Andrew D. Martin announced the creation of a universitywide Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity.

Senior Hannah Gilberstadt leads the Jazz Band at Washington University through a rendition of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s 1962 classic “Só Danço Samba” (“I Only Dance Samba”). The Brazilian composer was among the 20th century’s most influential songwriters, and a pioneer of the bossa nova style.

Washington University in St. Louis will introduce two pilot grants to help low-income first-year students buy college necessities. They include a $500 grant to cover or offset the cost of a computer and a $1,500 startup grant to cover necessities such as books, winter clothing and housing supplies. The grants are for first-year students entering in fall 2019 from families with less than $75,000 in family income or who are receiving a federal Pell Grant.

Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.

Four campus leaders — Adrienne Davis, Emelyn dela Peña, Nicole Hudson and Sherree Wilson — have joined forces to strengthen diversity and inclusion initiatives across campuses and populations. It’s a new effort and one that is unusual among universities. The leaders will speak this week at the Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action.

C. David Gutsche, professor emeritus of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Aug. 28, 2018, in Seattle. Gutsche was 97.

Joseph Kurz, professor emeritus of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, died Jan. 2, 2019, at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis County. His health had declined over the past several years. Kurz was 85. 

Bestselling author Irshad Manji, keynote speaker for the fifth annual Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action event Feb. 19 and 20, talks about her notion of moral courage and how that relates to diversity. Her talk, “Moving Beyond Labels: A Conversation About Diversity, Bigotry & Common Humanity,” begins at 5 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus.

Omari Mizrahi will conduct free master classes and a Q&A on the dance style known as AfrikFusion at Washington University and COCA Feb. 20 and 21. Mizrahi, who teaches voguing and ballroom dance at the Broadway Dance Center in New York, has performed at the MTV Video Music Awards and recently was featured in Janet Jackson’s “Made for Now” video.

Two Arts & Sciences faculty members, Leigh Eric Schmidt and Thomas Keeline, have been awarded prestigious research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities.