Campus & Community

Two School of Medicine scientists have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. They are Kenneth M. Murphy, MD, PhD, and Herbert W. “Skip” Virgin IV, MD, PhD, both of the Department of Pathology and Immunology. Election to the academy is among the highest honors that can be awarded to a U.S. scientist or engineer.

“Between the World and Me” by acclaimed writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, is the 2016 First Year Reading Program selection. Written as a letter to Coates’ teenage son, the book is both a tender memoir and a biting polemic that explores America’s long and persistent history of racial injustice. All first-year students will participate in a discussion about the book this fall.

Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.

At its spring meeting May 6, the Board of Trustees elected six new members and re-elected eight members and its current officers, among other action, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

Members of the Eliot Society, who provide the largest source of unrestricted support to Washington University, gathered at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel April 21. Former first lady Laura Bush was keynote speaker, and the society’s Search Award was presented this year to retired medical school dean Larry Shapiro. Eliot Society president Gil Bickel welcomed the group of 700 and introduced the keynote speaker, former First Lady Laura Bush, who is a life-long advocate for literacy and education.

The histories of Archer Alexander, a fugitive slave, and William Greenleaf Eliot Jr., the university’s first president, intersect in a dramatic and inspiring story of courage and compassion.

After running for student government at Washington University, Eric Schultz, AB ’02, entered a life of politics. He helped on the Hilary Clinton campaign and eventually became principal deputy White House Press Secretary under President Barack Obama.

Alumni architects discuss how they transform the world through their dreams, plans and designs, ultimately remaking old spaces and creating new ones.

Washington University School of Law graduate Tiffany Harper, in-house counsel at Grant Thornton in Chicago, is one of the founders of Pilot Pipeline Program, which mentors black, female law students to help them succeed in law school and beyond.

As a judge for the Man Booker International Prize, Daniel Medin, MA ’00, PhD ’05, gets to do what he does best, spread the word about great literature in translation to the English speaking world, while also discovering excellent new authors and translators.