Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement 2016–2017 YEAR IN REVIEW
Engaged Citizens Strong Communities
2 Civic Engagement 4
On Being a Voter
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Student Engagement and Service
12 Community Engagement 14 Community-Engaged Teaching 18 In St. Louis 22 Alumni Are Advancing Our Mission
24 Looking Ahead
ON THE COVER: Mallory Nezam, a multimedia public artist and founder and director of STL Improv Anywhere, speaks to first-year students during a Meet St. Louis excursion on public art and public space in St. Louis. Participants traveled to Citygarden and several other destinations in downtown and midtown St. Louis to discuss the complicated history of the built environment and consider its implications for residents in the present .
I am pleased to share the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement’s 2016–17 Year in Review. It has been a year of substantive growth and achievements, including a university-wide voter engagement effort that led to a tripling in student voter registration, the convening of over 600 future civic leaders at the 2017 IMPACT conference, the expansion of community-engaged courses across our seven schools, and the introduction of new signature initiatives that bridge between campus and community. Chancellor Wrighton and I are so pleased that Stephanie Kurtzman agreed this year to become the inaugural Peter G. Sortino Director of the institute. Stephanie brings a wealth of experience in St. Louis and at Washington University, and she is widely admired by stakeholders inside and outside the university. Her appointment will add to the already appreciable momentum that we are enjoying. The Gephardt Institute is advancing the civic mission of Washington University through these and numerous efforts. The staff cultivates engaged citizens—students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends— who are inspired and equipped to serve, lead, and partner with communities near and far to effect positive change. The institute’s civic mission is also about the university’s identity as a citizen of St. Louis. We understand our collective responsibility to be good neighbors and strong partners in strengthening the fabric of our region. The Gephardt Institute is working to infuse a civic mindset and effective community engagement skills across every corner of campus, amplifying the capacity of our university community to be partners in fostering thriving communities locally and globally. I invite you to join us in realizing the institute’s vision for civic and community engagement. Together, we can harness the energy and talent of the Washington University community to address our most pressing social challenges.
Holden Thorp, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor
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Civic Engagement Civic engagement combines knowledge, skills, and a commitment to helping address pressing community challenges. Through the Gephardt Institute’s voter engagement initiatives, service opportunities, workshops, and cohortbased programs, we are preparing civic leaders who are informed and ready to act.
“If there was ever a time we needed the Gephardt Institute to produce citizens, it is now. The presence of the Gephardt Institute is more important than it’s ever been.” — Congressman Dick Gephardt Founder, Gephardt Institute
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Leadership Through Service During Leadership Through Service, 90 first-year students formed a network of like-minded friends, gained a deeper understanding of social justice issues, and established a foundation for future community engagement. The program includes community service projects, St. Louis excursions, speakers, and dialogues.
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
On Being a Voter Throughout our 2016 voter engagement efforts, we emphasized the identity of being a voter rather than voting in a single election, and we focused on reducing the practical barriers to voting. At the Gephardt Institute, we approach voter engagement as a collaborative process that engages the full campus community. The institute, responsible for overseeing voter registration, engagement, and compliance for all students on campus, led an extraordinary effort to increase voter turnout in the past year. Beginning in spring 2016 through November’s Election Day, we registered WashU students and educated them on voting logistics and opportunities for involvement. WashU contracted with TurboVote to complete voter registration through a nonpartisan, web-based platform. “Instead of hosting traditional voter registration drives where students have to come to us, we utilized tablets to make registration available to students after campus events, on their way to class, and during orientation,” said Voter Engagement Fellow Cassie Klosterman, AB ’16. This platform enabled us to support students as they registered as voters in all 50 states. Building an Effective Team: In 2016 we coordinated a Voter Engagement Team of over 80 faculty, staff, undergraduates, and graduate students to keep the campus informed of voter engagement efforts and to build a supportive base of involved constituents. The Voter Engagement Team had a subcommittee of 25 passionate students and staff interested in voter registration. This Voter Registration Squad met regularly with Gephardt Institute staff to review plans and brainstorm strategies. (continued on page 6)
VOTER FRIENDLY CAMPUS RECOGNITION In April, WashU was nationally recognized as a Voter Friendly Campus. Following a competitive application process, 83 universities received the designation, which recognizes campuses doing excellent work to empower their students to participate in the democratic process. The Voter Friendly Campus initiative is led by Campus Vote Project and NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
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Cassie Klosterman
Voter Engagement Fellow, AB ’16
“The Gephardt Institute’s vision of WashU students as future leaders and change makers in their communities has inspired me in many ways. My experiences with the institute gave me the fortitude to move to Washington, D.C., in order to pursue work about which I am passionate, and which I believe can impact our communities.”
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
To further engage voters and celebrate their participation, often as first-time voters, squad members led voter registration at over 25 events on campus and volunteered to staff the on-campus polling place for Election Day—held in the Athletic Complex for the first time to accommodate both South 40 and North Side residents. The WashU Votes Programming and Funding Committees, led collaboratively by Student Union and Graduate Professional Council, provided additional structure and resources to engage students in events leading up to the election, including on-campus debate watch parties and a Debate Fair. A University-Wide Effort: Through coordinated efforts across the Gephardt Institute, WashU Votes, and the Voter Registration Squad, WashU registered 3,608 students on TurboVote over a three-month period leading up to the Missouri registration deadline— tripling the number of students registered through the Gephardt Institute during the 2012 election. Washington University ranked third in the nation for the largest number of registered voters among nearly 200 universities using TurboVote. From National to Local: After the election, we turned our attention to a major local mayoral race and organized “What’s at Stake in the St. Louis City Election?” in partnership with the Brown School’s Clark-Fox Policy Institute and Tom Irwin, executive director of Civic Progress. The event took place in February and brought St. Louis civic leaders and citizens together to discuss the major issues facing the next mayor, like public education, health care, crime, and regionalism.
3,608 NUMBER OF VOTERS REGISTERED AT WASHU
PROGRAMMING GRANTS In conjunction with the Presidential Debate hosted on campus, the Gephardt Institute offered an Election Year Programming Fund that supported faculty across schools and departments to implement activities, events, and projects related to the election.
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Politics 365 Beyond the election cycle, our broader vision is to increase political participation 365 days a year and cultivate active, informed citizens. We are engaging in political and policy issues throughout the year, even outside of major presidential elections—we call it Politics 365. We are framing our work in the context of a participatory democracy. The political rise of Donald Trump, and his ascendancy into the presidency, represents one of the most surprising and contentious events in American history. Civic education and engagement are critical across party lines as individuals and communities consider their role in the democratic process. In March, the Gephardt Institute collaborated with faculty to offer a symposium titled American Democracy and the Rise of Donald Trump: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. “The United States democratic state hasn’t been so divided and contentious since the Civil War and its aftermath,” asserted Adrienne Davis, vice provost of the university and William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law. “Slavery may have been the first test of our democratic institutions, but it certainly is not the last.” Davis and five other WashU professors considered these dynamics from distinct yet interdisciplinary perspectives. They spoke to more than 150 students, faculty, and community members regarding the polarized political climate and the importance of exercising our political rights. Several themes emerged, including the need for interdisciplinary approaches to thinking about and responding to our changing democracy. Additional co-sponsors were the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy; the Department of History; the Department of Political Science; the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences; and the Department of Sociology.
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Student Engagement and Service “Gephardt’s many programs and the individuals who support them make a profound impact on this campus and in the wider St. Louis community, creating a kind of ripple effect.” —Madeline Pensiero, AB ’17, Gephardt Institute Intern
Inspired to Lead: Our Civic Scholars The Gephardt Institute’s Civic Scholars Program continues to inspire students toward a deeper understanding of their roles as civic agents. Now approaching its sixth year, the program includes two years of intensive academic course work and leadership training, multiple levels of mentorship, and a substantial summer civic engagement project. Our full cohort of junior and senior Civic Scholars visit Washington, D.C., during fall break every other academic year. The trip brings theory into action by inviting Civic Scholars to explore politics and policy through a civic engagement lens at the national level. In alternating years, our Civic Scholars immerse themselves in local politics through a St. Louis regional trip. To date, 40 Civic Scholars have completed the program and remain committed to civic engagement post-graduation through the Rhodes Scholarship, KIPP Fellows program, Harvard Medical School, Teach For America, Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and other endeavors. Thanks to the generosity of Maxine Clark and Bob Fox, the program will be at a steady state in the coming year with 32 scholars.
GROWING OUR IMPACT “Our trip to D.C. was memorable both because of different political leaders who shared their experiences with us and the opportunity the juniors and seniors had to bond over what the Civic Scholars Program means to us. It was a time when we came together as a program and initiated conversations about what civic engagement looks like at the grassroots and at the highest levels of government.”
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— Jacob Metz, AB ’17 Cantor Family Civic Scholar
María José Ruiz
Stern Family Civic Scholar, AB ’17
“The Civic Scholars Program helped me develop my social justice practice and encouraged me to become an engaged citizen, student, and friend.”
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Goldman Fellows Program The Goldman Fellows Program, funded by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation, provides undergraduate students with a distinctive cohort environment and nonprofit and public service career experience. Participants secure unpaid summer internships in the St. Louis region and receive $5,000 summer stipends to cover living expenses. In summer 2016, students spent 3,150 hours in regional community-based internships. Goldman Fellows meet regularly as a cohort, learning about St. Louis culture, neighborhoods, and issues while contextualizing and reflecting on their summer experience. The 2016 cohort interned at a diverse mix of organizations, including Places for People, Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, Wyman Center, St. Louis City Mayor’s Office, Community Mediation Services, Arch Grants, St. Louis Public Schools, Casa de Salud, Williams and Associates, Inc., and Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
Meet St. Louis Meet St. Louis offers students St. Louis excursion experiences, which are customized around specific neighborhoods, issues, and communities in the region. Participants get to know the St. Louis community and interact with like-minded peers and campus and community partners. 213 first-year students participated in one of 21 excursions. In Design for America: Reimagining St. Louis Transportation, students visited the T-Rex startup space downtown and learned about the power of humancentered design. The Health Care and Immigration in St. Louis trip introduced students to Casa de Salud and the International Institute, exploring health care inequality and the immigrant experience in St. Louis. And the LGBT History of St. Louis: Is That Arch a Rainbow? presented a downtown walking tour led by Professor Brian Carpenter about St. Louis LGBT history and community.
IN 2015–16, WASHU COMPLETED NEARLY 1 MILLION HOURS OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH DEPARTMENTAL AND SCHOOL-LED INITIATIVES. The top five community engagement issues addressed were: • health, medicine, and mental health • children, youth, and family • poverty and hunger • education • urban affairs
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IMPACT Conference The Gephardt Institute hosted the 2017 IMPACT conference at Washington University, convening a diverse group of future civic leaders dedicated to service, action, and advocacy. Communities across the nation are facing pressing challenges. Now, more than ever, it is important to equip students with the knowledge and skills to contribute to positive change. Many are seeking to better understand the deep divisions impacting the country and the different movements to address equity and justice. Over 600 student leaders, higher education representatives, and nonprofit professionals explored these issues in February, when the Gephardt Institute and Washington University hosted the 33rd annual IMPACT conference on campus. The Gephardt Institute organized a pre-conference program, including visits with campus partners; a service project, tour, and discussion with Operation Food Search; and a “St. Louis Up Close” series that contextualized regional issues through the perspectives of residents. The institute also led skill-building workshops on topics such as entering and exiting a community; political engagement; civic identity development; building effective community partnerships; and assessment strategies. Additionally, the institute convened a stirring all-conference panel from local leaders doing racial justice work, who encouraged attendees to advocate for racial justice and “live into their citizenship.” Congressman Dick Gephardt delivered a provocative keynote address in Graham Chapel reflecting on democracy’s future and the urgent need for engaged citizens. Chancellor Mark Wrighton introduced Congressman Gephardt, who called on students to engage in public service and to support a vibrant democracy, summing up that, “Democracy is a fragile arrangement, and its continuation is never guaranteed.” BY THE NUMBERS
2017 IMPACT CONFERENCE
600
111
52
Participants
Universities
Nonprofit organizations
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Community Engagement Effective community engagement requires mutual trust, reflective dialogue, and strong, enduring roots in community. The Gephardt Institute values and models this process through the advancement of community-engaged teaching, development of community partnerships, and support of our alumni who can extend our reach.
“What is at the core of why our democracy functions as well as it does? In the end, it is because of the presence of our citizens, engaged in our governance and in the communities they live in— helping people who need help and being involved in the dialogue that has to go on in a democracy.” — Congressman Dick Gephardt Founder, Gephardt Institute
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K–12 Connections
Reaching Out
K–12 Connections invites youth from high-needs urban schools to WashU for field trip experiences that align with academic lessons and offer exposure to college life.
In 2016–17, the Gephardt Institute: > organized 20 field trips > hosted 1,210 local students > served 25 school partners in
St. Louis-area school districts
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Community-Engaged Teaching During 2016–17, the Gephardt Institute worked with faculty to expand our CommunityEngaged Teaching efforts. WashU now hosts more than 80 courses across all seven schools that bridge course work with community voices and real-world challenges. Community-Engaged Teaching, embraced by schools and departments across the university, offers course content and assignments connected to activities in the community, all with faculty oversight. To nurture growth in this area, we continue to offer technical and financial assistance, individual consultation, and facilitation of community partnerships. Shayel Patnaik, Class of 2018, was a student in When I’m Sixty-Four: Transforming Your Future, an interdisciplinary course co-taught by Professors Brian Carpenter from Arts & Sciences, Nancy Morrow-Howell from the Brown School, and Susy Stark from the School of Medicine. Students in the course examined a variety of organizations in the St. Louis area in terms of their readiness to deal with the challenges presented by an aging population, and shared their findings with classmates and the participating organizations. Patnaik said of the course, “I was immersed in new perspectives and encouraged to think critically and holistically about how policy and infrastructure affect older adults. It was the most enriching and transformative academic experience I have had the privilege of being a part of.”
86 COURSES SCHEDULED FOR FALL 2017
1,400 APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLED PER YEAR
ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY Under the leadership of Maxine Lipeles, senior lecturer in law and director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic, students represent area nonprofit groups, communities, and individuals who cannot afford the legal representation and scientific expertise required to pursue legal action to protect the environment and community health.
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Brian Carpenter
Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences
“The Gephardt Institute has pushed me to think about how the teaching and research I do is relevant and why it matters, and how our interests relate to problems that need to be solved in the real world.� 15
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The Civic Engagement Fund The Civic Engagement Fund cultivates community engagement initiatives that strengthen communities. Through Capacity Building Grants, Small Change Grants, and Need-Based Grants, all members of the WashU community may request funding and support for their proposed initiatives.
BY THE NUMBERS
41
$55,687
525
Number of FUNDED PROJECTS
FUNDING Awarded
Number of STUDENT PARTICIPANTS
Recently funded courses include:
> Destination Ferguson: Urban Sustainability Challenges through the lens of Engineering Ethics, Leadership, and Conflict Management
> Service Learning: Linguistics
> Social Entrepreneurship
> Dimensions of Wastelands
> Envisioning Alternatives: Public Anthropologies of Energy Transition and Public Health
> Translating Student-Led Fall Prevention Research into Community Practice
“I really appreciated the flexibility of the Civic Engagement Fund grant. It allowed us to enter the community respectfully, making a plan with our community partners as the project developed.” — Molly Metzger, Assistant Professor, Brown School
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In addition to funding community-engaged courses, we have supported 11 student-led initiatives with a focus on the St. Louis community. Recent grantees include: Erin Darnauer, Class of 2018; Mound 28: Mound 28 is an earthwork sculpture project that will be displayed in Heman Park. The sculpture intends to connect University City’s physical and social landscapes, providing a point of conversation within the community around an otherwise empty space in a public park. Benjamin Pockros, AB ’17; Teach Me to Help: This student-run emergency response training program is dedicated to instructing and certifying local St. Louis high school students. The goal is to reduce the risk of preventable deaths attributable to cardiac arrest by giving students the training they need to take action before medical professionals arrive.
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91
Number of FACULTY & STAFF PARTICIPANTS
Number of COMMUNITY PARTNERS
6,032 Approximate Number of COMMUNITY MEMBER PARTICIPANTS
WORKING WITH LOCAL SCHOOLS Dr. Sarah Garwood, left, speaks with the School Based Health Center (SBHC) Coordinator and Prevention Educator Chay Samuel, center, and Nurse Practitioner Terrane Lindsey at the SPOT at Jennings Senior High School. Garwood is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and received a Civic Engagement Fund grant to develop a safe, calming, and trauma-informed lounge area for youth within the SBHC.
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
In St. Louis: Strengthening Our Community Partnerships The Gephardt Institute’s mission extends beyond the individuals who are transformed through community engagement experiences. It is also about our identity as an institution, about Washington University as a citizen of St. Louis. Introducing the St. Louis Urban Fellows Program The St. Louis Urban Fellows Program is a new signature initiative, supporting recent college graduates with a passion for public service. The inaugural Urban Fellow, Michael Epsten, AB ’16, was assigned to assist Patrick Brown, chief resilience officer for the City of St. Louis, in developing a resiliency strategy. “If we, as a city, are to grow and find solutions, we need smart, young people at the table. The Urban Fellows Program provides civic-minded Washington University graduates with front row seats to craft public policy and impact decision makers in city hall,” Brown said. St. Louis has been chosen to participate in 100 Resilient Cities, a global initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to help cities better respond to economic downturns, natural disasters, and other setbacks. During his 10-month fellowship, Epsten also received professional development, mentorship, and access to a network of civic leaders in a broad range of sectors. The Urban Fellows Program is a partnership of Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis City Hall, and Arch Grants. The inaugural year was supported through seed funding from the Equifax Foundation and will be expanded in 2017–18 thanks to the generous philanthropic support from Karen Levenson and Bruce Levenson, AB ’71.
Addressing Hunger and Homelessness Operation Food Search has been a community partner with WashU for more than 20 years. We routinely partner with Operation Food Search by providing volunteers who do a variety of projects, such as holding emergency food drives for the over 300 food pantries they serve in the St. Louis region and sponsoring educational programs and Civic Engagement Fund projects that focus on food insecurity and childhood hunger.
The CarShare Fund is a transportation subsidy for students who face financial barriers to paying for transportation costs related to community service. The fund also supports student-led community service groups through funding support from Student Union.
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3,011 FUNDED RENTAL HOURS IN 2016–17
Michael Epsten
Urban Fellow, AB ’16
“Through Urban Fellows, I wrote speeches for the mayor, worked with business leaders, and helped craft policy, all before reaching my 24th birthday. I was able to give back to a city that has given me so much and build skills I will use for the rest of my life.” 19
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
K–12 Connections K–12 Connections is a partnership of the Gephardt Institute, the Institute for School Partnership, and the Office of Government and Community Relations. It connects the Washington University community with volunteer opportunities involving high-needs urban school districts in the St. Louis area, primarily through classroom field trips to campus for enrichment experiences and exposure to college life. BY THE NUMBERS
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undergraduate students gave 420 hours to promote college education and mentor local students
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faculty volunteered 50 hours to share their research and expertise with local students. Departments included Math, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Chemistry, Biology, and Classics
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graduate students and postdoctoral researchers volunteered 80 hours with local students
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staff members worked more than 780 hours planning and facilitating 28 separate events
St. Louis Community Bus Tours To promote a better understanding of our city and its history, we host a series of St. Louis Community Bus Tours with Bob Hansman, Community Engagement Faculty Fellow and associate professor of architecture. The tours provide a visual support to the narrative Hansman has shared for years about his involvement with City Faces and the neighborhoods of St. Louis. He explores the racial, sociocultural, and political context of St. Louis city and county, showing the present and explaining the past in each place, and gradually drawing a larger picture that connects across time and space: how the past created this present, how this place relates to that one, and how the entirety creates a picture of a city divided against itself. ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY BUS TOURS During the 2016–17 academic year,
379 students, staff, and community members attended Gephardt Institutesponsored tours. These tours were also scheduled as an integral part of the Identity Literacy course for first-year students, class and student group learning, and parent and alumni engagement.
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Nicola interned with sustainability and facilities staff at the St. Louis Public School District during summer 2016. She prepared a comprehensive master plan with research on best practices of school districts that champion sustainability and a master plan with recommended engagement, policy, and technology changes for increased energy efficiency and district-wide cost savings. In total, her policy and maintenance change savings were estimated at $605,892.
Nicola Salzman
Goldman Fellow, AB ’17
“The St. Louis Public School District’s priority is, as it should be, on academics. But I showed that a focus on sustainability can mean more money for its core mission.” 21
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Alumni Are Advancing Our Mission
WashU Engage Sees Successful Second Year WashU Engage, a partnership with the Alumni Association, aligns with the university’s commitment to supporting habits of lifelong learning and leadership for alumni, and advances our mission of cultivating informed and actively engaged citizens. This series of community engagement initiatives serves local communities, while providing alumni the opportunity to come together and reflect on their role in the communities where they live and work.
270 ALUMNI, PARENTS, AND FRIENDS PARTICIPATED
22 COMMUNITY PROJECTS SERVED 18 COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Meaningful Discussions In 2016–17, we partnered with the Washington University Alumni Association to host thought-provoking group discussions on the acclaimed book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which explores the notion of race in America and was the First Year Reading Program’s annual book selection. We organized 28 discussions in 14 cities throughout the fall. Due to the overwhelming success of these discussions, we organized a series of discussions in St. Louis in the spring. 333 alumni, parents, and guests attended these discussions. IMPROVING COMMUNITIES WashU Engage Austin volunteers helped clean up Waller Creek, which has been neglected for decades and is subject to frequent flash flooding. With the upcoming completion of a flood bypass tunnel underneath downtown Austin, residents have the opportunity to transform the creek and surrounding area into a linear park system. Alumni learned about the project from Waller Creek Conservancy staff while volunteering.
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On the top, WashU Engage Atlanta volunteers partnered with Trees Atlanta to mulch and water trees near the Westview Community Garden. Trees Atlanta works to replace trees lost to development, conserve existing trees, protect green space areas, and educate the community’s residents and workers about the many benefits of trees. On the bottom, WashU Engage New York volunteers partnered with the United Jewish Council of the East Side, an agency that works to preserve and stabilize the Lower East Side of Manhattan community through a wide range of human services and community development programs. Volunteers served lunch, packed and distributed a "picnic in a bag� dinner, and played bingo with participants.
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Looking Ahead Our Priorities Foster Community Impact We cultivate engagement experiences and partnerships that advance both student learning and community impact, based on regional priorities and local community needs.
Invest in Campus Partners In service to the whole university community, we collaborate with departments, schools, scholarship programs, and student groups to share resources, build capacity, and infuse civic engagement across the WashU experience.
Stephanie Kurtzman Named Gephardt Institute Director Stephanie Kurtzman was named the Peter G. Sortino Director of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. Kurtzman, a 19-year veteran of Washington University, had served as interim executive director since April 2016. “We conducted an extensive, nationwide search and agreed the best person was, in fact, already at Washington University,” Provost Holden Thorp said. The position is supported through an endowment established in honor of civic leader Peter Sortino, who passed away in March. Sortino most recently served as assistant vice chancellor at Washington University and previously led the Danforth Foundation. During his distinguished career, he worked to renovate Forest Park, redevelop Washington Avenue, establish the bi-state parks and trails system, and reimagine the grounds of the Gateway Arch.
Advance Community-Engaged Teaching We support the growth of community-engaged courses across all schools through training, consultation, community partnership facilitation, and Civic Engagement Fund grants.
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said Kurtzman embodies the values that defined Sortino’s career. “Peter Sortino was a great contributor to the political and civic life of the St. Louis community for many years, as well as a trusted colleague and adviser here at Washington University,” Wrighton said. “I can’t think of a more fitting tribute than naming the directorship of the Gephardt Institute in his honor. Peter was known across
Cultivate Lifelong Civic Engagement
the region for his effectiveness in getting things done, and we
We encourage a culture and habit of civic engagement through lifelong participation in civic life. Our signature programs teach the skills and principles of ethical leadership, reciprocal partnerships, and informed political engagement.
and the mission of the Gephardt Institute.”
all have the same kind of expectations for Stephanie Kurtzman
“The Gephardt Institute is responding to the monumental challenges of our time by equipping our Washington University community to make substantive contributions as engaged citizens—now and in the future, across St. Louis, the nation, and the globe.” — Stephanie Kurtzman
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Director’s Message Every day, our team goes to work with a singular mission: We are focused on cultivating actively engaged citizens at WashU who are equipped to contribute to the health and vitality of communities—both near and far. We believe that when we do that—when we inspire, train, and activate our entire campus community—we are helping to foster thriving communities. We cannot do this work alone. To affect real and sustainable change in communities, partnerships are essential. It is our partnerships with community and nonprofit leaders that help us identify local needs and where WashU can assist in a substantive way to foster positive impact in people’s lives. Our students, faculty, and staff are working across disciplines, bridging theory and practice in response to these needs. Alumni and parents expand our reach across the nation and globe. And, our supporters invest in our work, offer advice and training, and open doors to new partnerships that bolster our efforts. The Gephardt Institute is responding to the monumental challenges of our time by equipping our Washington University community to make substantive contributions as engaged citizens—now and in the future, across St. Louis, the nation, and the globe. This work is vital to fostering thriving communities where people live, work, learn, and play. Thank you for your interest, partnership, and support of the Gephardt Institute. Please be in touch to share your ideas about how we can work together to advance our vision of engaged citizens and strong communities.
Stephanie Kurtzman Peter G. Sortino Director, Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement
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Engaged Citizens Strong Communities
For more information: Stephanie Kurtzman Peter G. Sortino Director, Gephardt Institute stephanie.kurtzman@wustl.edu Tammy Cavarretta Director of Development for University Initiatives tammy.cavarretta@wustl.edu
gephardtinstitute.wustl.edu