Author: Barbara Rea

The 2016 Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award was presented to Anabeth and John Weil in recognition of the couple’s exemplary dedication in advancing educational, cultural and social service institutions in the metropolitan area.

At 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis and the Assembly Series welcomes to campus John Paul Stevens, who served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court for 35 years until his retirement in 2010.

John Paul Stevens, who served as a Supreme Court associate justice from 1975 to 2010, will speak at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, in Graham Chapel. Afterward, he will take part in a panel discussion on the Second Amendment.

Political insiders, art scholars and memoirists are all part of the spring 2016 semester Assembly Series lineup. The series kicks off at noon, Thursday, Feb. 4, with Kevin Ray, a legal expert on cultural assets.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, alumni and friends of Washington University in St. Louis will join the campus community for Founders Day, the annual commemoration of the university’s 1853 founding. Highlighting this year’s celebration at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel is noted writer and biographer Walter Isaacson. The event also will honor the recipients of the university’s Distinguished Alumni Awards and Distinguished Faculty Awards. In addition, three individuals will receive the Robert S. Brookings Award.

Amy Suelzer, PhD, director of Overseas Programs in Arts & Sciences, came to Washington University in St. Louis for graduate studies in 1990, and stayed. Today, she helps guide students through the myriad study abroad programs, hoping they have the life-changing experience she did.

In 2014, in the wake of unrest following the death of a Ferguson, Mo., teenager, the Washington University Assembly Series and its campus partners tackled issues of race and social justice head on. This fall, the university’s signature lecture series — which has, since 1953, brought some of the most important voices in contemporary society to campus — reflects this continuing interest with five programs that delve into these issues and more. The series kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 16, with social scientist Melvin Oliver.


Author and veteran journalist Carla Power will deliver the Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman/Phi Beta Kappa Lecture for the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in Umrath Lounge on the Danforth Campus.

An entire generation grew up watching the hit PBS show “Reading Rainbow” from 1983-2006, but a new generation of children have vastly different technological skills and habits. Not a problem for LeVar Burton, who has combined the power of storytelling with today’s advancements in technology to boost the “Reading Rainbow” franchise. That will be the subject of his lecture for the Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 2, in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus.

At the forefront of ancient DNA research is evolutionary biologist and MacArthur Fellow Beth Shapiro, DPhil, who will deliver the annual Ferguson Science Lecture at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, in Knight/Bauer Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. The program, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the Woman’s Club of Washington University.