Past Events

This forum will focus on education policy, and address topics including suburban inequality and why it matters. Featured experts: Jerome Ellis Morris, E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (in conjunction with St. Louis Public Schools) and Nadirah Farah Foley, Assistant Professor of Education, at Washington University in St. Louis This event is co-sponsored by the School of Law Public Interest Law & Policy Speaker Series.

Dr. Adriana D. Kugler took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on September 13, 2023. She is currently on leave from Georgetown University where she is a professor of Public Policy and Economics and was vice provost for faculty. Prior to her appointment at the Board, Dr. Kugler served as U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank Group. Previously, she served as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2011-2013. Dr. Kugler was also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and of the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University.

As a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian, Hilke Schellmann writes about holding artificial intelligence (AI) accountable. In her book, "The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired, And Why We Need To Fight Back" (Hachette), she investigates the rise of AI in the world of work. Drawing on exclusive information from whistleblowers, internal documents and real world tests, Schellmann discovers that many of the algorithms making high stakes decisions are biased, racist, and do more harm than good. In the talk she will also share what jobseekers can do to "beat the machines." Hilke Schellmann is an Emmy award winning investigative reporter, assistant professor of journalism at New York University and a Pulitzer Center Grantee / 2022 AI Accountability Fellow.

Dr. Mark S. Wrighton is the James & Mary Wertsch Distinguished University Professor and Chancellor Emeritus.

Professor Steven Fazzari, Bert A. and Jeanette L. Lynch Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Sociology, will sit down with Weidenbaum Center Director Andrew Reeves for a conversation about his research and career at Washington University.

This event will bring together academics and practitioners to discuss efforts to promote the inclusion of immigrants in St. Louis and across the country. Expert panelists including those from the fields of sociology, law, and journalism, will share their perspectives and field questions from the moderator and the audience. 

Join WashULaw professors for a discussion of important recent and upcoming U.S. Supreme Court cases.  

Please join WashU Olin's Koch Center for Family Enterprise and the Weidenbaum Center for continued dialogue around private enterprise and a special sneak peek at the WashU Olin Brookings Commission findings on the topic. 

Jeff Spinner-Halev (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

Join us for the Dean's Distinguished Lecture with Diana Z. O'Brien, Professor of Political Science and the inaugural recipient of the Bela Kornitzer Distinguished Professorship. Diana Z. O'Brien was a featured speaker at the Weidenbaum Center November 2023 Women's Networking & Public Policy Lunch, as well as the recent EmpowHer event.

A dialogue and discussion with John Inazu on his new book, Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect.

Thomas Kelly (Princeton University)

Melanie Fontes Rainer serves as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. She will discuss privacy and civil rights issues in healthcare.

A discussion between Barbara Bradley Hagerty, author of "Bringing Ben Home: A Murder, A Conviction, and the Fight to Redeem American Justice," and Ben Spencer, a man who fought tirelessly to maintain his innocence through a wrongful conviction until he was free.

Jason Fichtner, Former Chief Economist of the Social Security Administration and now Chief Economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center, will discuss retirement security policy, sharing innovative ideas to ensure Social Security's viability through a reinvigorated system for financial security in later life.