Dear Friends,

One of my favorite children’s books to read to my kids is titled “Me…Jane”. In it, young Jane Goodall learns everything she can about the natural world around her as she takes her stuffed toy chimpanzee Jubilee everywhere she goes. She dreams of growing up and having “a life living with and helping all animals.” I always cry on the last page where we see a picture of the adult Jane in Tanzania observing real chimpanzees.

It’s a true story. Jane Goodall achieved her dream and had this tremendous impact as one of the world’s greatest primatologists. She passed away this month, and as I reflect on both this children’s book and of an academic life lived with such purpose, I wanted to use this space to emphasize the theme of hope that Jane Goodall shared.

As we enter this academic year, we face a world deeply divided with global conflicts rising, political anger increasing, and public trust in institutions eroding. As the political science chair, I want to share with you three components of our department that bring me hope, and to ask for your help with my goal of spreading hope through our department.

First, we have significantly expanded our faculty with experts who will fortify our department as we address the most important needs of our age with scientifically rigorous research. We have hired new faculty whose expertise in propaganda (Elaine Yao), Chinese politics (Peng Peng) and energy politics (Shiran Victoria Shen) are helping us understand our current, interconnected world. We are expanding our ability to understand climate change and lobbying (Juan Dodyk). We are pushing the frontier of understanding gender and justice with pioneering scholarship (Ophelia Vedder).

Second, we are engaging with a broad set of stakeholders to increase public trust in higher education. Whether this means being interviewed by KMOV or providing political, environmental and health data for the St Louis region, our faculty are working to engage and inform the community. We are also teaching a record number of undergraduates. Amongst so much global turmoil, WashU students want the knowledge and tools to be able to engage and build a different future.

Third, we are continuing our commitment to recruit and train the best PhD students. Our fierce cohort of first year students have arrived on campus and are enthusiastically starting their studies. We have four graduate students on the academic job market this year – you can read about them below – and if you’re hiring, we’d love to talk!

Now here is the chance for you to help. This summer, Professor Carly Wayne will direct our WUSTEPS program which is entering its third year. This program establishes a pathway to graduate school via professionalization experiences as well as exposure to political methodology for students who would not otherwise have this opportunity. We have successfully recruited several of the WUSTEPS alums to WashU as well as helped these students find placements in other peer institutions. We need help to continue this program. If you have the financial capacity to support this mission at any dollar amount, we would be very grateful – you can contribute HERE.

Hope is a revolutionary act in our world. I say to our faculty, staff and students all the time that we get the world we build. Each one of us has the capacity in our own lives to make a difference in the world. As Jane Goodell said, “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Let’s move forward with this academic year by making that difference together. Onwards!

Betsy Sinclair
Thomas F. Eagleton University Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science
Chair of Political Science Department