In St. Louis, For St. Louis

Mary Jo Bang, a professor of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will receive the 2024 Tradition of Literary Excellence Award from the University City Municipal Commission on Arts & Letters. Created in 2014, the award honors “the work of a living local author whose literary achievement has won national and international acclaim and, in so doing, has contributed to the distinction of the St. Louis area, upholding its tradition as a center of literary excellence.”

An initiative co-led by Diana Parra Perez, an instructor in WashU Art & Sciences’ new Program in Public Health & Society and assistant professor at the Brown School, aims to improve the health and lives of residents in the St. Louis Promise Zone that includes parts of North St. Louis City and North St. Louis County. 

St. Louis has a long history of welcoming refugees from across the globe. For people escaping war or political turmoil, the region can be a place of safety and opportunity. While migrants often encounter obstacles as they try to remake their lives, they also manage to hold on to personal goals, ambitions, and measures of success in their new homes, said Margot Moinester, assistant professor of sociology. Moinester helped conduct a unique study gathering interviews from 36 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq who settled in St. Louis and Denver.

The Center for Dissemination and Implementation announces the launch of a new Midwest Developmental Center for AIDS Research (D-CFAR) in Missouri, which brings together researchers from across the translational spectrum to address the HIV epidemic. This D-CFAR is part of a national network of 20 NIH-funded centers, and it is the first of its kind in the Midwest. The center is a collaboration between Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis University, and Harris-Stowe State University.

The best teachers never stop learning. That is why the School of Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) at Washington University in St. Louis, in collaboration with partner Teach St. Louis, has opened its Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning (MATL) program to veteran teachers who work in high-need classrooms. Initially designed for novice teachers in the Teach St. Louis Residency, now known as Teach St. Louis, the MATL program introduces educators to instructional strategies that accelerate better learning outcomes. CAPS also is introducing a new certificate for educators who already have a master’s degree but want to further their skills. 

A motion-activated nightlight in the hall. A bench in the shower. Non-slip tape on rug corners. Practitioners like Susan Stark, professor of occupational therapy at WashU Medicine, have long turned toward these simple, proven strategies to reduce a person’s risk of falling. Through the Home Hazard Removal Program (HARP), a one-on-one intervention system Stark designed, she strives to bring these kinds of solutions to as many older adults as possible. HARP has already reached nearly 1,000 St. Louis-area residences.

The Summer Teacher Researcher Program administered by WashU’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) is one of many ways the ISP supports partnership and outreach opportunities between WashU faculty and local educators.

The Prevention Research Center at WashU (PRC) was first funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1994. Its goal was to develop and implement evidence-based strategies to reduce health disparities and improve public health outcomes. Today, the PRC at WashU focuses on prevention strategies for chronic diseases, including cancer, obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Rather than working in isolation, this multidisciplinary team — comprising faculty, staff and students — engages directly with communities, taking a grassroots approach to co-design and implement solutions.

At its heart, the St. Louis Fellows Program at Washington University is a commitment to the region. And St. Louis Fellows make St. Louis stronger, healthier and more vibrant through their summertime actions, such as dressing bullet wounds at the Bullet Related Injury Clinic, supporting caregivers at the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Missouri Chapter, and developing education programs at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. WashU’s Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement manages the program and covers the full cost of stipends for the fellows.

A beloved St. Louis tradition for 52 years, the Great Forest Park Balloon Glow and Race attracted nearly 150,000 attendees over two days in September. WashU sponsored one of 47 balloons on display at Emerson Central Fields in Forest Park. At the main stage, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin expressed his pride in St. Louis, while WashU’s Chamber Choir serenaded the crowd with “Up, Up and Away.”