Campus & Community

Ken Burns, director and producer of some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, has been selected to give the 2015 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Wrighton made the announcement to the Class of 2015 during the annual senior class toast Thursday, April 2, in the Danforth University Center. Commencement is Friday, May 15.

Louis W. Sullivan, MD, president emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine, and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), will speak about healthy equity and diversity in the health professions in two talks April 9 at Washington University.

David C. Beebe, PhD, the Janet and Bernard Becker Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, died at his home in St. Louis on Friday, March 27, 2015, from complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was 70.

​“Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis,” a yearlong initiative at Washington University in St. Louis, will invite scholars, medical professionals, community leaders and citizens to take a hard look at the serious, tragic public health consequences of gun violence in America. Beginning this month, the university will host a series of events and discussions designed to explore three key themes: What we know, what we need to know, and what to do about this critical issue.

Music industry insiders, including Sean Douglas, songwriter and 2005 alum, shared advice with Washington University students during a March 27 panel discussion “Making It in the Music Industry” at the Danforth University Center.

While the location of the annual Pow Wow is changing this year, the tradition and excitement are not. The 25th annual Pow Wow, a festival of American Indian cultures at Washington University in St. Louis, will be held Saturday, April 4, at the Dunham Student Activity Center on the campus of nearby Fontbonne University.

Six researchers at Washington University are being honored as outstanding scientists by the Academy of Science-St. Louis. University recipients are faculty members Ralph Quatrano, Jennifer K. Lodge, Samuel Achilefu, Charles M. Hohenberg, Gautam Dantas and Steven Teitelbaum (right), who received a lifetime achievement award.

​Since the quiet phase of the campaign began in 2009, some 39 percent of Washington University’s faculty and staff – nearly 5,000 employees so far – have contributed $33.4 million to the campaign. That money helps to fund scholarships, supports academic and scientific initiatives, advances learning and enhances facilities.

In 1972, a group of 20 New York artists founded the A.I.R. Gallery, the first not-for-profit cooperative exhibition space for women artists in the United States. On Tuesday, March 31, former A.I.R. director Kat Griefen will serve as keynote speaker for “A.I.R. Refreshed: Women in the Art World from the 1970s to Today” at Olin Library on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.

Match Day, when medical students across the country find out where they will head for their residency programs, was March 20. At the School of Medicine, more than 120 students gathered for the delivery of envelopes that contained news of where the soon-to-be graduates had matched. Shown is medical student Justin Krogue and his family.