Humanities & Society

Fewer than half of Americans, around 49%, believe that all people in this country have the ability to achieve the American Dream, according to a recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute. Among those under age 30, it falls to 36%. This should serve as a wake-up call for all of us, says WashU’s Mark Rank.

The right to free speech and judicial independence — two foundational values our nation is built upon — were born of the founders’ distrust of unchecked power, according to Andrew D. Martin, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and an expert in judicial politics.

Researchers at the WashU Brown School have received a $311,796 grant from the Brady Education Foundation to continue a landmark 18-year study examining how early asset-building policies influence children’s educational success.

The WashU Brown School’s Social System Design Lab has received a $75,000 Spencer Foundation grant to study pathways from high school to careers in St. Louis. 

Gerald Early, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in WashU Arts & Sciences, has been nominated for a 2026 Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportwriting.

WashU Libraries host “Unalienable Rights: America at 250,” a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, at 2 p.m. July 2 at Olin Library. The free event features a talk about the Declaration and children’s activities.

Fatherhood today is shaped by two powerful expectations: to be actively involved in caregiving and to provide financially, according to research by Patrick Ishizuka, assistant professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the WashU Brown School, has received a $612,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health as co-principal investigator on a new project titled “Community-Driven Solutions for Sustainable Systems Change.”

Inside a World War II-era bunker at Tyson Research Center, preserved birds, handwritten logs and mold-covered artifacts tell a story of science, stewardship and changing times.