Twelve Arts & Sciences alumni of Washington University in St. Louis earned Fulbright awards to travel abroad to conduct research or to teach English.

Dr. Michelle Purdy recently joined Dr. Jason Johnson for a conversation, “Back to Black Colleges?,” on Dr. Johnson's podcast, “A Word…with Jason Johnson.” Jason Johnson is a political contributor at MSNBC, host at Sirius XM, politics writer at theGrio.com, professor of politics and journalism at Morgan State University, and author of the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell.

Juneteenth is believed to be the oldest continually celebrated commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the United States. The Juneteenth celebration originates in Galveston, Texas, where on June 19, 1865  the Union Major General Gordon Granger arrived and publicly read Order No. 3, declaring that enslaved African Americans were now free. On June 17th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. There are many Juneteenth celebrations and commemorative events in St. Louis every year in the month of June. This story shares more about the remembrance of Juneteenth, including Juneteenth events at WashU and around greater St. Louis.

Washington University Professors Danielle Dutton & Martin Riker run the feminist independent press, Dorothy, A Publishing Project.

Ariela Schachter and Margot Moinester, both assistant professors of sociology, recently won a $174,500 grant from the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) for a national study on fear of deportation. Schachter and Moinester’s project tackles the question, “can fear of deportation and its consequences be reduced?” with the aim of understanding how the immigration enforcement system contributes to inequality in the United States.

Truman Scholar, Ranen Miao, discusses his journey to Sociology, advice for others applying to the Truman Scholarship, and what self-care looks like to him.

At the university-wide Commencement ceremony on May 20, a handful of students will represent Arts & Sciences by carrying banners for the College and the Office of Graduate Studies. It’s an honor to be selected; each student marshal was chosen for their exemplary student career. Ahead of the big day, the ArtSci student marshals reflect on their journeys and share their favorite memories.

What does it take to join the professoriate – and would you want to? Those questions ground Arts and Sciences’ two undergraduate honors fellowships in the humanities, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and the Merle Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellowship. Faculty directors Jonathan Fenderson and Jean Allman discuss the push-and-pull of teaching the research process, the students’ “fingerprints” on one another’s work and the moments of self-discovery they make along the way.

As incoming director of the Weidenbaum Center, Andrew Reeves plans to further support researchers and build collaborations with campus and community partners.

Residential segregation based on racial and economic inequality is a pre-existing condition that exacerbates any transmissible health threat – from tuberculosis to COVID-19 to AIDS. René Esparza, assistant professor in the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, takes up the latter in a case study of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in his new book-in-progress, “From Vice to Nice: Race, Sex, and the Gentrification of AIDS.”