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Each year at Commencement, the Washington University in St. Louis Record presents its annual Gallery of Outstanding Graduates.

Bolstering its emphasis on interdisciplinary efforts, Washington University will offer five new courses rooted in a partnership between two or more schools. In tandem with the growing trend of cross-collaboration in research and the professional arena, the Office of the Provost created its Cross-School Interdisciplinary Teaching Grants Program in 2010. The first of those grants was announced last month.

The Guggenheim Foundation has selected Pascal Boyer, PhD, from among 3,000 nominees to be one of its fellows for 2011. Boyer, the Henry Luce Professor of Collective and Individual Memory and professor of sociocultural anthropology and of psychology, all in Arts & Sciences, was one of only 180 scholars selected for the highly esteemed honor.

Many Danforth Campus students, faculty and staff are gone for the summer, but WUSTL Dining Services is keeping notable locations open to serve those remaining on campus.

Planning one of the best-attended senior weeks doesn’t appear, at first glance, to be a major initiative to bridge cultural and racial divides, but to organizer and Senior Class President Alex Kiles, it is. Kiles, who will deliver the student speech at the 150th Commencement May 20, says that one of his missions since a pivotal experience in high school is to help people find common ground.

In a new tradition, 66 flags representing the home countries of graduating students were hung this week on January, Ridgley and Duncker halls in preparation for Washington University’s 150th Commencement Ceremony in Brookings Quadrangle this Friday. Hanging the flags of (from left) Indonesia, Iran, Israel and Italy are Larry D. Turnbough and Tony Knickmeyer, mechanics in WUSTL Maintenance Operations. 

Seniors enjoyed an entire week of fun in the days leading up toward Commencement, including the Chancellor’s Dinner at America’s Center Ballroom May 16, where 1,200 seniors enjoyed a reception, dinner, and awards ceremony before attending the Senior Gala. Other events of Senior Week included a “spooning” world record attempt; a freshman floor reunion, a float trip and a bus trip to a winery.

View 2011 Commencement-related news releases, background on honorary degree recipients and a gallery of feature stories on some of our most interesting graduates. Commencement day coverage includes a celebratory slide show and a story on the speech by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.

The bravery of a lone cellist who faced down snipers to play in the streets of war-torn Bosnia as an honor to the dead will be the tale incoming students read before they begin classes this fall at Washington University in St. Louis. Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo, a book that renders vivid snapshots of the human side of war, is the selection for the annual First-Year Reading Program.

Friday marks a new beginning for members of the Class of 2011. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will confer degrees at the 150th Commencement ceremony, which begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 20, in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus.