Campus & Community

Washington University in St. Louis is embarking on a major transformation of the east end of its Danforth Campus. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held May 5 to recognize the generous donors who made the project possible and to mark the planned start of construction May 22.

Jean Holowach Thurston, MD, a pioneering pediatric neurologist at the School of Medicine, died April 29. She was 99. Thurston’s influential research served as a guide for colleagues in treating childhood seizure disorders.

Lizzy Crist, goalkeeper for the women’s national champion soccer team, will take numerous awards and honors along with a tremendous work ethic to her next stop in life: a PhD program in biomedical engineering at the University of Minnesota.

Three students arrived at Washington University in the fall of 2013 with a desire to do something to help the environment. This month, sustainability champions Nick Annin, Elise Fabbro and Nicola Salzman graduate and are poised to fight the globe’s most pressing problem with a powerful tool: the free market.

The Women’s Society of Washington University announced the winners of the Harriet K. Switzer Leadership Award and the Elizabeth Gray Danforth Scholarship during its annual membership meeting recently.

Gwendolyn Bolden has been appointed director of Parking & Transportation at Washington University, announced Dedric Carter, vice chancellor for operations and technology management. Bolden is a certified administrator of public parking and has worked at universities and municipalities across the nation.

Katia and Marielle Labèque are “the best piano duet in front of an audience today” (The New York Times). Susan Graham is “America’s favorite mezzo” (Gramaphone Magazine). The Calidore String Quartet boasts “understated but relentless intensity” (Los Angeles Times). For its 2017-18 Great Artist Series, Washington University in St. Louis will present three affordably priced concerts by some of today’s finest performers.

John M. Fredrickson, MD, former head of the Department of Otolaryngology and a professor emeritus of otolaryngology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died April 5, 2017, in Vancouver, Canada. He was 86.

Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.

Eliot Society members gathered at their annual gala recently to celebrate 50 years of contributing time, talent and treasure to Washington University in St. Louis. This year’s recipient of the Search Award was John Biggs, an eminent economist, philanthropist and longtime trustee who has been instrumental in helping advance the institutional mission through a variety of roles and across several decades.