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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.

For nearly two decades, cinematic art that counters negative stereotypes, combats false narratives and offers first-hand insight about the continent of Africa have been showcased at Washington University in St. Louis. On Friday (March 28) the 19th Annual African Film Festival returns to campus. 

Some great classical music is coming to St. Louis next year. After several years of planning, Washington University in St. Louis has announced its schedule for the 2026 Great Artist Series.

The St. Louis nonprofit BioSTL is taking a leading role to turbocharge neuroscience in St. Louis. BioSTL is partnering with Washington University in St. Louis to lead a new program for the St. Louis region, called the NEURO360 initiative.

Juan Williams Chávez is founder and director of Northside Workshop, an indoor workspace surrounded by a teaching garden divided into a variety of habitats. Visitors learn about bees and ecosystems and make art projects. He’s also one of 10 artists in an exhibition at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum that showcases people who use their artwork to call for a better balance between humans and the natural world.

More than 150 nominations were submitted for the St. Louis Business Journal’s annual Best Places to Work Awards program for 2025. The 80 companies identified including WashU stand out as the finalists in this year’s program.

Black pediatric patients believed to have neurological conditions are falling through the cracks. Half of Black pediatric patients completed the necessary genetic tests for diagnosis and treatment. That puts them well behind white pediatric patients at 75%. This is just one disparity highlighted in a new study from Washington University’s School of Medicine. WashU Medicine neurology professor Dr. Christina Gurnett said these tests are necessary to unlock treatment options.

It wasn’t until 1961 that Washington University in St. Louis’s architecture program saw its first Black graduate – renowned modern architect Charles E. Fleming, who passed last July. From the start, he was destined to break barriers through his craft.

WashU Pledge scholarships, first announced in 2019, provide free undergraduate education to all incoming, full-time students from Missouri and southern Illinois whose families make $75,000 or less. Gateway to Success, announced two years later, is a $1 billion investment in student financial aid and support that has allowed WashU to adopt need-blind admissions, meaning that an applicant’s financial situation no longer factors into admission decisions.

A new Washington University program seeks to use business principles to improve health care systems and operations, and spur new innovations. Launched late last year, the Business of Health initiative leans on research originating at WashU’s Olin Business School to solve industry challenges, help students launch careers on the business side of the health care field, and turn fresh ideas into real-world solutions.

Washington University’s Olin School of Business is trying to streamline communication between people who specialize in health business and medical professionals. The university last week announced a new “Business of Health” initiative, which the head of the program says will “improve individual and societal well-being” through communication.

As Forest Park Forever raises $85 million in donations to make the Steinberg Skating Rink a year-round attraction – along with the 22 acres around it referred to as “the Glade” – the park’s leadership also has a list of “next-up big ticket items” over five years.

St. Louis is a forgotten place in a way. In fact, it has long been on lists of the most underrated cities in America. Back in 2016, Thrillist called St. Louis the “most overlooked city in America.” Perhaps the low-profile is due to the humility of its mid-west residents, who are easily approachable and nice, even when you’re wearing the wrong jersey at Busch Stadium. Or maybe it’s because of the city’s location, far from the coasts. No matter, the secrets of St. Louis, like they always have, await those who pass through.

The Pulitzer Arts Foundation’s Cara Starke shares must-see art experiences in St. Louis, from museums to monuments and beyond.

Across the metro area, transplants can quickly make an impact, both in the community and in their own careers.

The Washington Post recently named the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) as one of the top art museums in the nation. The Post’s art critics ranked SLAM as #12, citing its geography in the “huge, gorgeous” Forest Park and calling its art collection “broad and deep.”

Joi Riley is one of three female business owners selling products in Park Central Development’s Eric Outlaw Business Center at 4256 Manchester Ave. The Grove neighborhood’s business incubator, which opened Oct. 10, helps women in the St. Louis region develop their businesses online and in store.

The employment gain by the St. Louis metro area that ranked as the fourth highest percentage increase in the nation is an indicator of progress, but it must be sustained for the rest of this decade to charge the region’s narrative, some officials say. Federal data released Oct. 4 showed that the number of non-farm employees in the St. Louis region grew 2.6% from August 2023 to August 2024. That’s an addition of 36,600 employees, from 1,422,200 a year ago to 1,458,800 in August, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Only the metro areas of Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Indianapolis showed larger percentage increases.

The number of employees in the St. Louis region grew 2.57% from August 2023 to August 2024, the fourth-highest percentage increase in the nation, according to federal data released Friday. The St. Louis metro area in the time added 36,600 employees, growing from 1,422,2000 a year ago to 1,458,800 in August, according to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Only three U.S. metro areas posted larger percentage employment increases: Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Indianapolis.

It’s the result of concerted efforts to attract immigrants here by organizations including Greater St. Louis Inc., the International Institute of St. Louis and the St. Louis Mosaic Project. By raising private donations for targeted recruitment, the campaign has attracted Latin American and Cuban immigrants and provided job training and placement with the help of the Missouri AFL-CIO. More than 1,300 Afghan refugees have come for programs including entrepreneurial grants. Mayor Tishaura O. Jones has created a city Office of New Americans to help facilitate immigrant settlement.

Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that efforts to increase the St. Louis metro’s immigrant population are succeeding, as the 15-county bi-state St. Louis metropolitan area recorded the highest percentage increase in foreign-born population among the 30 largest metro areas in the United States from 2022-2023.