Campus & Community

​Next week marks the one-year anniversary of events in Ferguson that have since reverberated across the entire St. Louis community and the nation. The tragedy in Ferguson and subsequent events across the country have affected all and raised consciousness to major challenges that must be met. This special issue of the Record includes perspectives and updates intended to give us the opportunity not only to look back, but also to learn, engage and think about the road ahead.​

The Center for Diversity and Inclusion, which launched last fall, has given students and the broader university community a place to connect around the issues of diversity and inclusion both on and off campus. Director LaTanya N. Buck, PhD, outlines the center’s five strategic priorities and provides an update on some significant progress on these initiatives.

The Institute for School Partnership (ISP) is partnering once again with the Monsanto Fund to bring high quality science education to students in St. Louis through its MySci program. This month, the Monsanto Fund awarded ISP with a $1,935,000 grant to create, over the course of a three-year grant period, a hands-on, inquiry and project-based science curriculum for middle school students that integrates elements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

As a member of the Ferguson Commission, Rose Windmiller traveled across the region to learn more about the issues that divide St. Louis. Next, the commission will find ways to put its ideas into action. “This is where the rubber hits the road,” Windmiller says.

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis has launched three new joint-degree programs and a dual-degree program with Fudan University to begin this fall, expanding class offerings and learning opportunities both in St. Louis and around the world.

Each year, Larry J. Shapiro, MD, dean of the School of Medicine surprises employees with the highest accolades given to staff: the dean’s service awards. The top honor, the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award, this year went to Shirley R. Vaughn, of the Department of Anesthesiology. She is pictured with the dean.

Images captured in and around the Washington University campuses.

​Victims of chronic flooding, dozens of homes in Baden neighborhood will be demolished this summer. But a team of Washington University in St. Louis researchers, together with the City of St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Missouri Department of Conservation, are determined to help the community create something better in the neighborhood.​

​The Lifelong Learning Institute of Washington University in St. Louis is celebrating in 2015 its 20th anniversary of educating adults age 55 or older. Since its founding, the program has served some 2,000 students from across the region and has offered hundreds of courses, all taught by fellow students or, in institute lingo, “facilitators.”

​​The Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis announces the finalists for the second Global Impact Award. The award, given with the support of Suren G. Dutia (BS ’63, AB, MS ’67) and his wife, Jas K. Grewal, honors the vision and passion of WashU students, postdoctoral researchers and young alumni who create scalable and sustainable ventures with global impact.