​Installation of Professor James V. Wertsch as the David R. Francis Distinsguished Professor

​A new professorship in honor of one of our most distinguished alumni.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Dean Barbara A. Schaal look forward to your attendance at the installation of James V. Wertsch, Vice Chancellor for International Relations, Director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and Professor of Anthropology and International and Area Studies, as the inaugural David R. Francis Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences.

Professor Wertsch, who received his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1975, joined Washington University in 1995. In addition to his work as the Director of the McDonnell International Studies Academy, he pursues research in collective memory and identity, especially in Russia, Estonia, and the Republic of Georgia.

David Rowland Francis was an 1870 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, governor of Missouri, president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, U.S. ambassador to Russia, and president of Merchants Exchange. Francis planned a career in law, but upon returning home to discuss his $450 college debt, he learned of an opening in the family grain business. After more schooling, and years of hard work, he eventually became a partner, and then president.

To RSVP or for more information, contact Marissa Engeling at 314-935-4785 or mengeling@wustl.edu.