Campus & Community

The new home of the Center for Career Engagement and alumni welcome building at Washington University in St. Louis — set to open in early 2027 — will be named the Neil S. Hirsch Center in recognition of a pledge to support the facility from Hirsch’s widow, Laura DeLuca Hirsch, through the Neil S. Hirsch Foundation.

The American Society for Engineering Education has awarded Janie Brennan, a senior lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, the Ray W. Fahien Award for early-career excellence in chemical engineering education.

WashU graduate and women’s track and field standout Emma Kelley has been awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. 

Career Catalysts is a new series by WashU interns, about WashU interns. In this installment, see how Fiona Sun, a McKelvey School of Engineering student, is working with Equine Smartbit to develop a sort of smartwatch for horses at Fairmount Park.

John F. Bade, a former executive of The Boeing Co. and a longtime professor of practice, has been named executive director of the Henry Edwin Sever Institute in the McKelvey School of Engineering.

William J. Maxwell has been installed as the inaugural Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. A lecture and reception to celebrate his appointment were held recently in Whittemore House.

Gary Wihl, the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, died July 17 in Clayton, Mo., after battling Parkinson’s disease. He was 72. Wihl served as dean of Arts & Sciences from 2009 to 2012.

A project that could help scientists identify novel ways to fight disease is one of the research efforts that will get a significant boost under a new collaboration agreement that Washington University in St. Louis has signed with science and technology company MilliporeSigma.

The WashU Arboretum, home to more than 7,000 trees, has received a national sustainability honor.

Building on strong early outcomes, WashU has been awarded a $1.1 million four-year grant to extend its participation in the Kessler Scholars Collaborative and deepen its work to assure opportunity and success outcomes for first-generation, limited-income college students.