Brown School

As the nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence signing, experts at Washington University in St. Louis are reflecting on the events and ideas that shaped this nation and their continued relevance today.

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.

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. 

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.”

Through her international nonprofit, alumna Jue Jue Min Thu provides displaced people from her native Myanmar, Thailand and elsewhere access to mental health resources.

The Warshaws continue to invest in the university that brought them together more than 50 years ago.

Jin Huang, an expert in the development of social policies that support family and child well-being, has been installed as the Irving Louis Horowitz Professor in Social Policy at the WashU Brown School.

Washington University in St. Louis is formally partnering with St. Louis to expand environmental monitoring and public health research in city neighborhoods affected by the devastating May 16, 2025, tornado.

Soobin Park, doctoral candidate at the WashU Brown School, will receive a $10,000 grant from the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy to support her PhD dissertation project on “dementia care deserts.”