Campus & Community

Washington University faculty, students and staff routinely travel around the world to conduct research, study and strengthen relationships with partner institutions. Getting hundreds of WashU community members back from abroad during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic presented an enormous challenge. Here’s how it happened.

From digital memory books, Class of 2020 regalia T-shirts and messages of congratulations from celebrities and athletes, Washington University in St. Louis staff found new ways to celebrate students and honor the tradition of Commencement in the era of coronavirus.

Washington University in St. Louis plans to welcome the graduating Class of 2020 back to campus for an in-person Commencement ceremony on May 30, 2021. This event will take the place of the ceremony originally scheduled for May 15, 2020, that was canceled due to public health concerns in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While they can never replace the exhilaration of being in a cap and gown sitting in Brookings Quadrangle surrounded by friends, family and faculty, plans are in place at Washington University in St. Louis to recognize our graduates’ important milestone through online ceremonies and celebrations.

Help celebrate and show your pride for the WashU Class of 2020 by visiting the Commencement website and downloading social media stickers and frames, Zoom backgrounds and printable signs.

Listen to the cast and crew of “Twins: The Musical”; the singers of the Sensasians a cappella group; and the alumni members of Mosaic Whispers, the oldest all-gender a cappella group at Washington University in St. Louis, perform songs both beautiful and heartbreaking. We challenge you not to cry.

With the cancellation of the May 15 Commencement ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin has appointed a 22-member Alternate Commencement Committee to provide recommendations on how the university can appropriately recognize the Class of 2020 in an in-person gathering when it is safe to do so.

In yet another major change with the key focus on protecting the health and well-being of the Washington University community and the St. Louis region in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university has announced the suspension of all in-person summer programming, both on campus and internationally, until at least Aug. 1.

Roommates and best friends Zach Eisner and Max Klapow, juniors at Washington University in St. Louis, have both won a Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders. Chancellor Andrew D. Martin surprised the students with the news on Zoom.

In the video series “WashU Between the Lines,″ students share honest, personal stories about their lives on campus. Students Shelly Gupta and Rory Mather, both subjects and co-creators of the series, hope the project will encourage students to get to know each other, as we say at Washington University, by name and by story. And not just the stories posted on Instagram or Facebook.