Brown School

​Building on a significant legacy of generosity and support to Washington University, business and civic leaders Maxine Clark and Bob Fox have committed $7.5 million for programs and facilities at the Brown School that will promote community engagement and bring sustained attention to significant policy issues.

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis has launched three new joint-degree programs and a dual-degree program with Fudan University to begin this fall, expanding class offerings and learning opportunities both in St. Louis and around the world.

​Victims of chronic flooding, dozens of homes in Baden neighborhood will be demolished this summer. But a team of Washington University in St. Louis researchers, together with the City of St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Missouri Department of Conservation, are determined to help the community create something better in the neighborhood.​

For Americans, the likelihood of experiencing relative poverty at least once in their lifetime is surprisingly high, finds a new study from noted poverty expert Mark Rank, PhD, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

A new publication, “Who’s Who Diversity in Color,” recently released its inaugural edition. The publication highlights minorities from the St. Louis region who have positively influenced their workplace or community, and eight faculty and staff members of Washington University in St. Louis are featured in the publication.

Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, associate professor and associate director of the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, received a one-year, $100,000 grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to continue the Refund to Savings partnership.

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to announce its decision in a lawsuit that threatens federal health insurance subsidies for more than 6 million Americans, health care economist Timothy D. McBride, PhD, professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, is confident the high court will side with the Obama administration. If the court decides otherwise, low-income residents in many states will have little access to affordable healthcare, he warns.

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis has launched the Evaluation Center to provide client-driven evaluation services and training for nonprofit organizations, funders, universities and governmental agencies.

An analysis of Twitter hashtag use on the subject of diabetes provides new insights about spreading health information through social media. The study, led by Jenine Harris, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, looked at the hashtag #diabetes and its interaction with two Twitter measures of engagement, retweeting and favoriting. The study found retweeting and favoriting was significantly lower for tweets about the number or percentage of people with diabetes, while favoriting was higher for tweets about health problems associated with diabetes.

The Affordable Care Act has great potential to improve health and health care for people with diabetes, finds a new study led by Derek Brown, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.