Assembly series

Teacher Erin Gruwell’s story of transforming students who were labeled stupid and apathetic into confident, motivated high school graduates became an inspirational best-selling book and movie. Gruwell will discuss “Becoming a Catalyst for Change” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, in Anheuser-Busch Hall Moot Courtroom. Part of the Assembly Series, the talk is free and open to the public.

​Six-year-old Ruby Bridges entered the history books when she entered first grade. As the youngest foot soldier in the battle to integrate public schools, she will have a powerful story to tell at the Ervin Scholars’ 25th anniversary keynote event at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, in Graham Chapel.  

​Veteran policy specialist and 2012 Washington University Distinguished Visiting Scholar Mariano-Florentino “Tino” Cuellar will present this year’s Constitution Day lecture on “Immigrants, Citizens and American Law.”

What’s more important for a child’s success: Learning math or learning resiliency? Veteran journalist and educational reform advocate Paul Tough will discuss his new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Washington University in St. Louis.

As the country enters the final phase of an intense political season, the 2012 Assembly Series will feature individuals who bring passion and knowledge concerning issues that affect the way people think and potentially how they will vote. Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, opens the series.

Just in time for spring baseball, the Assembly Series at Washington University in St. Louis presents its version of a doubleheader: back-to-back lectures in one day by prominent speakers. On Tuesday, March 5, Science historian Susan Lindee, PhD, will speak at 4 p.m. in McDonnell Hall on the evolution of a treatment for cystic fibrosis, once a fatal disease of children. Best-selling author, law professor and “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua, JD, follows at 5 p.m. in Graham Chapel. Both lectures are free and open to the public.

Ireland native Maria Bernadette Majella Doyle, MD, assistant professor of surgery at the School of Medicine and a member of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital organ transplantation team, will present the annual Women’s Society Adele Starbird Lecture at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, in Graham Chapel. Doyle’s talk, part of the Assembly Series, will provide insight into the life of a transplantation surgeon. It is free and open to the public.

Marianne Hirsch, PhD, a member of the Holocaust “second generation” and co-author of Ghosts of Home: The Afterlife of Czernowitz, will be on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, to deliver the Holocaust Memorial Lecture in Graham Chapel. The Assembly Series program, titled “Rites of Return: The Afterlife of the Holocaust in Jewish Memory,” is free and open to the public.

Kevin Washburn, JD, professor and dean of the school of law at the University of New Mexico, will deliver a talk on “Improving Criminal Justice for American Indians,” at noon Thursday, Sept. 23, for the Assembly Series. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Hip hop artist and actor Common will give the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Association of Black Students, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 29, in Graham Chapel. This event was originally scheduled to take place April 6.