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A Close to our 2023-24 Year
Dear friend of the Weidenbaum Center,
As we close another academic year, I am honored to write to you, our esteemed donors, supporters, and attendees. Your support of the Weidenbaum Center has been the cornerstone of our success. I am deeply grateful for your commitment to advancing social scientific research and fostering informed public discourse.
Over the past year, we’ve accelerated the Center’s mission of bridging the gap between academia, policymaking, and the broader community. Thanks to your generous support, we have been able to fund groundbreaking faculty research, provide essential support for our prolific grant work, and host a diverse array of public affairs programs.
This year, we heard from TIME Magazine’s Aryn Baker on heat safety standards, explored the use of Artificial Intelligence in hiring with Hilke Schellmann, and we hosted Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler, who made news when she announced the possibility of lowering interest rates.
We hosted panels on education policy, the conflict in the Middle East, and the politics of higher education. We convened a group of non-profits, local elected officials, students, and academics to talk about the public policy challenges in our St. Louis region.
The Weidenbaum Center has awarded over a quarter million dollars to our faculty members this academic year alone. Though we work hand in glove with Arts & Sciences and the University, these funds are provided directly from the Center through its endowment and with financial support from generous donors.
The Weidenbaum Center is the center of external grant support in political science, economics, and sociology. We assist faculty in securing grants from external sources, including the federal government and foundations. During this academic year, the Center facilitated the submission of nearly two dozen grants for over $4.7 million, and collectively, we’ve been awarded over $1.3 million in grant awards so far this fiscal year.
It has been a challenging year. We are all still emerging from a pandemic that changed our lives and the trajectory of the world. There is untold suffering and instability around the world. On our own campus, we’re working as a community to let free ideas flourish without compromising our deep educational and research mission.
Making sense of it all is what we strive to do here at the Weidenbaum Center. We strive to not only inform but also to inspire action and dialogue, and we create spaces for meaningful exchange and collaboration.
Now, more than ever, we are reminded of the critical importance of our work and none of this would be possible without the support of our donors. This support enables us to fund vital research projects, provide resources for faculty and students, and host engaging events that reach audiences far and wide. As we look to the future, we are excited by the possibilities that lie ahead—but we cannot do it alone.
That is why I’m asking for your help. If you aren’t already, consider becoming a member of the Weidenbaum Center Eliot Society. Your contributions make a real and tangible difference, allowing us to expand our impact and continue our important work and mission.
If you are already a member, I thank you for your ongoing support. And if you are considering joining us for the first time, I invite you to become a part of our impactful community.
As we spend the summer planning for our next academic year, I want to assure you that we will remain committed to our passion for social science research and for the free exchange of ideas. We are thrilled to see what this coming year brings us and we are honored to count you as a member.
With warm regards,
Andrew Reeves, Director
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