Washington University in St. Louis Annual Report 2006-2007

The McDonnell International Scholars Academy spring trip to Washington, D.C.

Ziyan Zhang and Yanjiao Xie, both of Peking University, visit outside the two furnished apartment buildings at Pershing Avenue and Skinker Boulevard where most of the McDonnell Academy Scholars reside.

After Leana Wen earned a medical degree from Washington University in May 2007, she traveled to Africa with The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to help draw awareness to social injustices.

Increasing globalization--in business and economic development, health and environmental issues, security threats, and more--argues for greater global leadership. An ambitious and innovative Washington University initiative--the McDonnell International Scholars Academy--addresses that need. The Academy recruits top international graduate and professional students to participate in a unique educational experience designed to groom them for future leadership in science, academia, law, medicine, and more.

Fielding its inaugural cohort of 18 fully funded students from 12 top Asian partner universities for the 2006- 2007 school year, the Academy seeks not only to provide them first-rate graduate education in their varied topics, but also to steep them in knowledge about American culture, critical international issues, and world organizational and political infrastructure. Twelve new scholars are expected in fall 2007.

"In today's world, powerful forces of globalization have been unleashed, and we all need to understand them and each other," says Academy Director James V. Wertsch, the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences. "The Academy is more than just a good deal to get through graduate school. It's a leadership program for future world leaders." The scholars' leadership training included a March trip to Washington, D.C., where they met with top governmental officials.

Funding for the scholars--including full tuition, housing, living expenses, and travel to and from their home countries--comes through a sustaining endowment gift from John F. McDonnell, vice chairman of the Washington University Board of Trustees and retired chairman of the board of McDonnell Douglas Corp. and the JSM Charitable Trust; additional endowment pledges; and 13 multinational corporate and one foundation sponsors. Those sponsoring corporations also offer internships and on-site educational opportunities for scholars.

The Academy boasts relationships with 20 partner universities across Asia and the Middle East with more in the planning stages. "We will be looking for additional partners in Latin America, Africa, and Europe, including Russia and Eastern Europe," Wertsch says. "And we may add a few more institutional partners in East and South Asia as well as Australia."

But just as the partner universities will be solidifying relationships and collaborating in research and administrative endeavors, so will the scholars. "One of the biggest benefits these students are going to get is the networking and relationships they're going to have in place by the time they leave here," Wertsch says. "Our hope is that 20 years from now they'll be 'movers' and 'shakers' in global society."

The path to leadership for Leana Wen, MD07, has been paved with hard work and discipline--both hers and her parents, who immigrated to California from China when she was 8.

While her mother and father, who had been academics in China imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution, worked cleaning hotel rooms and in restaurants, Wen worked to distinguish herself in the academic world from which her parents had been cut off. She entered California State University, Los Angeles, at 13 and graduated summa cum laude in biochemistry at 18. Now, at 23, she's earned a medical degree from Washington University and is studying economics, social history, and global health science at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar for two years before undertaking a residency in emergency medicine.

"Treating a patient is part of a larger issue of public policy and public health," Wen says. "I hope to affect world health policy, working either nationally or internationally for an intergovernmental agency like WHO," the U.N.'s World Health Organization.

Previously, Wen served as a global health fellow at the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, and as president of the 65,000-member American Medical Student Association in Washington, D.C., taking a year's leave from her medical studies to lobby for the group and oversee 125 national leaders, a staff of 33, and a $3.5 million annual budget.

June 2007, she traveled to Rwanda, Congo, and Burundi with The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to observe health and economic conditions as part of Kristof's annual Win-a-Trip contest. Wen was selected from more than 2,000 applicants in the contest, in which Kristof travels each year with a student and a teacher to raise awareness of African issues.

At the Boathouse in Forest Park, Enterprise Scholars Evan Sharp (left) and Lindsey Grossman (far right) meet with Carolyn Kindle Payne, daughter of Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, who helped establish the gift program. Enterprise Rent-A-Car also gave money to enhance the Boathouse.

Evan Sharp, BU07, is working to fulfill his dream of helping lower- and middle-class families prosper thanks in large part to the generosity of a St. Louis-based company.

The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Endowed Scholarship Fund, initiated in 2001 with a $25 million gift--the largest ever made for undergraduate scholarships in the University's his-tory--aims to help "develop the best and brightest minds from all segments of our society," says the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andy C. Taylor. Taylor; his sister, Jo Ann Taylor Kindle, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation president; and their father, Jack C. Taylor, chairman emeritus of Enterprise and a longtime friend of Washington University, initiated the gift to support a "world-class university located in Enterprise's hometown of St. Louis." Andy and Jack both serve as University trustees.

And, in the case of Evan Sharp and scores of other Enterprise Scholars like him, the scholarships are succeeding. After graduating in spring 2007, the finance and accounting major went to work as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York City, in its Private Wealth Management department.

"I'm pursuing a career in asset management," Sharp says, "because I want to learn as much as I can about investing and wealth-building so that in some way in the future I can help lower- and middle-class income families build wealth."

Sharp embodies those qualities. While on campus, in addition to excelling academically, the Des Moines, Iowa, native served as president of Beyond the Surface, a yearlong program that brings students from Beaumont High School in St. Louis City and Parkway West High School in St. Louis County to Washington University to learn about community leadership through education, community service, and cultural events.

"Evan is an outstanding person and through his involvement has left Washington University better than when he arrived," says Steve Malter, associate director for undergraduate advising and student services in the Olin Business School. "He was always one to help other students and has a unique ability to connect with others." Sharp agrees that his Washington University experience has launched him on a promising career path.

"I personally feel very grateful for the opportunities that Washington University has provided me, and the Enterprise Scholarship was a major catalyst," Sharp says. "Being a member of the scholarship family, I was given several opportunities to network with and meet Enterprise professionals, including Andy Taylor and members of the Taylor family.

"Also, I was able to see how the generosity of an organization can help young people bud into the leaders of the present and future," Sharp says.

The 2007 Harry S. Truman scholarship winners, juniors Paul Moinester and A.J. Singletary, both demonstrate extraordinary leadership skills-- far beyond their years--says Ian MacMullen, assistant dean in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Their résumés attest to that. Moinester, a political science and environmental studies major, served as Student Union president and speaker of the Congress of the South 40. He worked to unite the campus environmental movement, lobbied the administration for large-scale environmental change, created a committee that educates students on how to live sustainably, and played on the soccer team.

Singletary, an earth and planetary sciences major, helped found the Roosevelt Institution, the nation's first student think tank; worked as a volunteer and then intern at the Saint Louis Science Center; and served as a resident adviser and undergraduate representative to the Washington University Board of Trustees. He also was active in Volunteers for Environmental Restoration, Development, and Education, teaching environmental science at St. Louis public schools.

Each Truman scholarship provides $30,000 toward two or three years of graduate study. Both Moinester and Singletary are looking toward careers in environmental policymaking.

"It is often hard to remain optimistic when contemplating the colossal environmental challenges we face in the next few decades," says MacMullen, "but it is a real comfort to know that people with the commitment and political acumen of Paul and A.J. will spearhead the response to those challenges."

The men's basketball team went to the Division III Final Four for the first time in March 2007, led by captain and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Player of the Year Troy Ruths, SU08.

The 6-foot-6-inch forward and computer science major in the School of Engineering has excelled on the court--University Athletic Association Player of the Year and Division III All-American--and academically, carrying a 4.0 GPA into his senior year. Ruths, who also was named to the USA Today Academic All-America Team, plans to earn a doctorate in computer science, with hopes of working in an industry research lab. But first, Ruths, who led the UAA with 19.1 points and 7.9 rebounds a game, will try to land a spot on a European pro team.