Those of you who attended the 9:00 mass last night at the CSC were witness to Chancellor Wrighton receiving the first-annual Catholic Campus Ministry Association's Exemplary Administrator Award. Below is a photo of the chancellor receiving the award, as well as the full text of the essay that was submitted to nominate him for the honor.
Mark S. Wrighton, Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and champion of the Catholic Student Center at that institution, is a chemist at heart. After graduating from Florida State University with a B.S. degree with honors in chemistry in 1969, Chancellor Wrighton spent the next 21 years in chemistry-related academia. He is blessed with the skills of joining covalent bonds to charged particles, of linking elements together to form complex compounds. He is blessed with the ability to make connections.
Upon his election and appointment as the Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis in 1995, Chancellor Wrighton took his abilities in the field of chemistry and transferred them to the student body and greater community. Instead of melding molecules, he forged relationships between donors, alumni, parents, faculty, and the people of St. Louis. He recognized that the Catholic Student Center and its director, Fr. Gary Braun, were important assets in keeping those bonds firmly in place. He also saw the CSC as a house open to students of all denominations, a home away from home for students who need a place to feel grounded and comfortable in their own skin. By identifying and affirming the CSC’s efforts to be open and inclusive, Chancellor Wrighton established a precedent for Washington University to welcome students and organizations of all faiths. Chancellor Wrighton continues this tradition by making several appearances at Interfaith Alliance meetings every year.
During his years in the field of chemistry, a major focus of Chancellor Wrighton’s research interests was discerning and creating new catalysts. In his role as the Chancellor, he himself has embodied the role of a catalyst as he has sought to expand the Catholic Student Center’s potential energy. When the CSC determined that it needed to expand its chapel to accommodate the crowds of students that filled the seats every Sunday, Chancellor Wrighton was there to support the initiative from the beginning. At the campaign kickoff for the chapel expansion in 2005, which coincided with Chancellor Wrighton’s birthday, he served as the keynote speaker. Even though Chancellor Wrighton is not Catholic, and even though the university’s charter does not allow it to support any particular religion or religious university, he extended the generosity of his time to the CSC community to support the cause.
But Chancellor Wrighton has acknowledged from the beginning that the CSC is more than a chapel. He believes that the CSC plays an integral role in student life, not just as a physical place, but also as a living campus ministry that positively affects the lives of the students at Washington University. Through Chancellor Wrighton’s guidance, the university now receives over 22,000 applications for about 1,350 openings in a typical entering class (a two-fold increase from before his appointment), and he has opened his arms to campus ministers walking among those students.
Despite his impressive academic background, Chancellor Wrighton continues to learn from those around him. Immediately following the tragedy on September 11, 2001, one of the first people he called was Fr. Gary. He welcomed Fr. Gary’s counsellorship, and he sought to better understand the spiritual side of how to deal with the aftermath of the terrorist act. Chancellor Wrighton has also striven to give students the opportunity to learn more about faith and religion, most recently by adding a full-time Chair of Catholic Studies to the university’s faculty. The addition, he noted in his announcement, allows Washington University to “foster a deeper understanding of the historical, philosophical, theological and social impact of the Roman Catholic Church. And it will create new opportunities for greater interaction with the St. Louis Catholic community.” This position complements the previously established programs in Jewish and Islamic studies.
In the chemistry lab, Mark S. Wrighton successfully replicated photosynthesis, the conversion of solar energy into usable, chemical energy in biological organisms. As the Chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis, he has found a way to connect students to the various sources of energy in their lives. The Catholic Student Center and other campus ministries are vessels of such energy, and we are blessed to have Chancellor Wrighton as a champion of our ministry.
Upon his election and appointment as the Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis in 1995, Chancellor Wrighton took his abilities in the field of chemistry and transferred them to the student body and greater community. Instead of melding molecules, he forged relationships between donors, alumni, parents, faculty, and the people of St. Louis. He recognized that the Catholic Student Center and its director, Fr. Gary Braun, were important assets in keeping those bonds firmly in place. He also saw the CSC as a house open to students of all denominations, a home away from home for students who need a place to feel grounded and comfortable in their own skin. By identifying and affirming the CSC’s efforts to be open and inclusive, Chancellor Wrighton established a precedent for Washington University to welcome students and organizations of all faiths. Chancellor Wrighton continues this tradition by making several appearances at Interfaith Alliance meetings every year.
During his years in the field of chemistry, a major focus of Chancellor Wrighton’s research interests was discerning and creating new catalysts. In his role as the Chancellor, he himself has embodied the role of a catalyst as he has sought to expand the Catholic Student Center’s potential energy. When the CSC determined that it needed to expand its chapel to accommodate the crowds of students that filled the seats every Sunday, Chancellor Wrighton was there to support the initiative from the beginning. At the campaign kickoff for the chapel expansion in 2005, which coincided with Chancellor Wrighton’s birthday, he served as the keynote speaker. Even though Chancellor Wrighton is not Catholic, and even though the university’s charter does not allow it to support any particular religion or religious university, he extended the generosity of his time to the CSC community to support the cause.
But Chancellor Wrighton has acknowledged from the beginning that the CSC is more than a chapel. He believes that the CSC plays an integral role in student life, not just as a physical place, but also as a living campus ministry that positively affects the lives of the students at Washington University. Through Chancellor Wrighton’s guidance, the university now receives over 22,000 applications for about 1,350 openings in a typical entering class (a two-fold increase from before his appointment), and he has opened his arms to campus ministers walking among those students.
Despite his impressive academic background, Chancellor Wrighton continues to learn from those around him. Immediately following the tragedy on September 11, 2001, one of the first people he called was Fr. Gary. He welcomed Fr. Gary’s counsellorship, and he sought to better understand the spiritual side of how to deal with the aftermath of the terrorist act. Chancellor Wrighton has also striven to give students the opportunity to learn more about faith and religion, most recently by adding a full-time Chair of Catholic Studies to the university’s faculty. The addition, he noted in his announcement, allows Washington University to “foster a deeper understanding of the historical, philosophical, theological and social impact of the Roman Catholic Church. And it will create new opportunities for greater interaction with the St. Louis Catholic community.” This position complements the previously established programs in Jewish and Islamic studies.
In the chemistry lab, Mark S. Wrighton successfully replicated photosynthesis, the conversion of solar energy into usable, chemical energy in biological organisms. As the Chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis, he has found a way to connect students to the various sources of energy in their lives. The Catholic Student Center and other campus ministries are vessels of such energy, and we are blessed to have Chancellor Wrighton as a champion of our ministry.
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