Mark S. Wrighton

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, who will step down next spring after 24 years, delivered his 21st and final Convocation address to the 1,800 cheering members of the Class of 2022. The largely ad-libbed speech had more laughs, more applause and more emotion than its predecessors.

A search committee has been named to identify candidates for the position of executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will chair the search committee. Larry J. Shapiro, MD, announced last week he will step down from the position but will remain at the helm until his replacement is named.

Read the full text of Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton’s message to the graduates at Washington University in St. Louis’ 153rd Commencement ceremony May 16, 2014.

More than two-dozen WUSTL students have been invited to attend Clinton Global Initiative University in Arizona this weekend. One team’s project would help loved ones connect after disasters. And graduate student DeAndrea Nichols was chosen to help open the meeting. WUSTL hosted last year’s event.

Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University has raised a total of $1.459 billion, as of Jan. 31, from alumni, parents, faculty, staff, corporations, foundations and friends. The campaign was publicly announced Oct. 6, 2012. Its overarching goal is “to enhance our leadership today to benefit America and the world tomorrow.”

Women are underrepresented in the important fields of science, technology, engineering and math — minority women even more so. To help close the gender gap, Washington University will sponsor an innovate new charter school: the Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls, the first single-sex STEM charter school in St. Louis.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton shares his thoughts with the community about progress the university has achieved in making higher education accessible and affordable.

Marco Colonna, MD, has been named the Robert Rock Belliveau, MD, Professor of Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Shown (from left) are Colonna; Belliveau’s wife, Rita Deanin Abbey; and Belliveau.

Washington University in St. Louis administrators are urging Congress and the White House to reach a compromise to avoid wide-ranging, across-the-board federal spending cuts that would take effect March 1.

This week, Chancellor Wrighton travels to Ghana to meet with officials from the University of Ghana and sign official papers making the university the 28th partner – and the first in Africa — in the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.