In recognition of the role that Chancellor Emeritus William H. “Bill” Danforth, the late Elizabeth (Ibby) Gray Danforth, the Danforth family and the Danforth Foundation have played in the evolution of Washington University in St. Louis, the Hilltop Campus — home to six of the university’s seven schools — will be named the Danforth Campus.
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An official dedication ceremony will be held in Graham Chapel from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 17, when the new name takes effect.
The ceremony, which will be followed by a reception in Holmes Lounge and in Brookings Quadrangle, is open to the public, but registration is required at danforthcampus.wustl.edu.
The ceremony will feature remarks from Danforth; Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton; David W. Kemper, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Commerce Bancshares Inc. and chairman of the university’s board of trustees; Gerald L. Early, Ph.D., Washington University’s Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and director of the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences; and senior Laura Kleinman, a Truman and Danforth scholar at the university who is majoring in philosophy in Arts & Sciences.
The keynote speaker will be Harold T. Shapiro, Ph.D., president emeritus and professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, whose talk is titled “A Larger Sense of Purpose: Higher Education and Society” — the same as his most recent book.
Several other events have been scheduled throughout the fall semester in conjunction with the naming, all along the theme “A Higher Sense of Purpose.”
• Bill Danforth will give a presentation titled “Medicine & Society” at 4 p.m. Oct. 3 in Graham Chapel, and a reception will follow in the Women’s Building lounge.
• On Oct. 16, John C. (Jack) Danforth, brother of Bill, former U.S. senator from Missouri and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and current chair of the Danforth Foundation, will give a presentation at 4 p.m. in Graham Chapel titled “Faith & Politics,” which shares the title of his newly published book. A booksigning/reception will follow in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall.
• P. Roy Vagelos, M.D., chairman of the board of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., founder and past director of the university’s Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, and retired chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Merck & Co. Inc., will give a presentation titled “The Social Responsibility of Business” at 4 p.m. Nov. 13 in Graham Chapel. A reception will follow in Holmes Lounge.
• “A Higher Sense of Purpose” was the theme of Freshman Orientation. Accordingly, all incoming freshman were given the book “One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All” by Mark R. Rank, Ph.D., the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.
The Danforth contribution
“The name has been chosen to honor the 13th chancellor of the university, Dr. William H. Danforth, his family and the Danforth Foundation for the role they have played in the transformation of Washington University,” Wrighton said.
“Bill Danforth has been one of the most respected leaders in higher education. To many alumni he will always be dearly remembered simply as ‘Chan Dan,’ or as ‘Uncle Bill.’ To all members of the WUSTL community over the past half-century, he will be remembered as the man who, together with his late wife, Elizabeth, loved the University and loved working hand-in-hand with faculty, staff, students and alumni to increase its strength and the contributions that only a university can make to modern society.
“Having been a member of the Washington University family since 1951 when he joined the medical school faculty as an instructor, he personifies Washington University.”
After joining the School of Medicine, Danforth rose to become a professor of internal medicine. In 1965, he was named vice chancellor for medical affairs and president of the Washington University Medical Center at age 39.
Danforth was named chancellor when Thomas Eliot retired in 1971.
During his 24 years as chancellor, Danforth oversaw the establishment of 70 new faculty professorships, built a $1.72 billion endowment, tripled the number of scholarships for students and completed what was then the most successful fund-raising campaign in U.S. higher education — the ALLIANCE FOR WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, which raised $630.5 million.
Nearly 60,000 students graduated during his chancellorship and retention of undergraduate students and the recruitment of minority students increased significantly. He became one of the longest-serving university chancellors or presidents in the country.
In addition to the Danforth family, the university is grateful to the trustees of the Danforth Foundation, which included Bill, Don and Jack, and their father and grandparents, for important financial support.
“Our thanks go to Bill Danforth and the trustees and staff of the Danforth Foundation for helping to build in St. Louis ‘a world-class university’ that continues to grow in strength, reputation, and — most of all — in service to its students and to the world,” Wrighton said.
“The drive for excellence continues, and the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis will help to remember a man who, with his wife and thousands of colleagues and friends, worked to keep alive the dream of a great university located in the Midwest, to build upon the accomplishments of their predecessors, and to hand on to us, their successors, both the dream and a healthy edifice on which to build.
“The Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis will be a tribute to a man, a family and a foundation — all of whom envisioned a world-class future for this institution and worked to make it happen,” Wrighton added. “In this way, the Danforth name will live prominently, forever at Washington University in St. Louis.”