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Associate Professor Catalina Freixas has received a Provost Impact Award through WashU’s Confluence Collaborative for her research project, Segregation by Design. She was selected from more than 70 nominations and dozens of applications. Segregation by Design is a long-term, community-engaged project that analyzes racial segregation in American cities, using St. Louis as a starting point to study causes, effects, and mitigation strategies for residential segregation. The three pillars of the project are: analyzing historical and structural causes of segregation, implementing innovative neighborhood-based strategies for urban stabilization and revitalization, and promoting a sense of shared identity among St. Louis residents.

On Oct. 3, 2022, as the world was continuing to emerge from the grips of a global pandemic, Washington University unveiled a bold and ambitious strategic plan called “Here and Next.” Developed through a process that included 18 months of listening, outreach and work sessions — most of it on Zoom — and incorporating feedback from thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners, the plan mapped out a path forward for WashU for the next decade.

After finishing up their own schoolwork, WashU students travel to local schools, community centers and hospitals to shed the label of student and assume the position of instructor, dance group leader, basketball coach and role model. These undergraduate and graduate student volunteers are part of clubs committed to supporting the kids of St. Louis. Their projects range from teaching young hospital patients the fascinating — and slightly icky — science of slime, to introducing elementary students to the joys of dance, to helping high school students see themselves as future neuroscientists.

Math314 is WashU’s innovative program to boost math instruction and student achievement. For the past three years, instructional specialists from WashU’s Institute for School Partnership have partnered with math teachers in the St. Louis area to develop better lessons and assessments.

Thurtene Carnival, WashU’s student-run carnival, returns to campus this weekend with new attractions, new performances and a number of new safety measures. “This year’s Thurtene is going to be amazing with a lot of great food, rides and entertainment,” Thurtene President Ginger Schulte said. “We are excited to welcome St. Louis families back to WashU.”

WashU is one of 13 colleges nationwide participating in Campus Compact EnviroCorps, aimed at reducing waste, boosting energy efficiency and promoting conservation on campuses and in the community. WashU’s participation with the EnviroCorps program is funded by the Office of Sustainability, the School of Medicine, the Environmental Studies program, Facilities Planning & Management and the Midwest Climate Collaborative.

WashU has once again been named a Voter Friendly Campus, one of 272 campuses nationwide that have successfully implemented practices that encourage students to register and vote. WashU will host an on-campus polling location for St. Louis County voters on Tuesday, April 8, in Room 276 of the Danforth University.

Community engagement comes in all sizes and shapes — and is supported by many levels of funding. The St. Louis Impact Fund — a series of grants from the Gephardt Institute — aims to connect students with community partners across the St. Louis region. As part of these programs, in 2024, the Gephardt Institute supported five short-term, student-led projects that worked in partnership with a local nonprofit or civic organization. 

WashU Votes is a student-led committee within the Gephardt Institute that promotes voter engagement and education among undergraduates. By joining, students carry out a broad strategy for voter engagement, which reaches across campus and into the St. Louis community.

The University City Public Art Series, a decades-long collaboration between WashU’s Sam Fox School and neighboring University City, returns this spring with three temporary public art installations in Janet Majerus Park addressing the politics of progress, forgotten legacies, and the changing natural world.