Beyond Boundaries Podcast

In this episode, Rob sits down with a pair of Assistant Directors with the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation & Entrepreneurship dedicated to fostering and empowering an inclusive community that finds opportunities in problems and transforms ideas into action. The center builds an ecosystem of education, research, and resources that engages all WashU students, faculty, alumni, and staff as entrepreneurial leaders and collaborators. Joining Rob to talk about the Skandalaris Center are Assistant Director of Programs Jessica Weldon and Assistant Director of Venture Development Cyril Loum. We talk about their journeys from towns both near and far, some amazing startup-stories or startups launched by WashU students, as well as their advice for current students looking to connect with resources at the Skandalaris Center. We also talk about Cyril's life-changing non-profit in Caring Ministries, Inc. and Jessica's role as a 4-year advisor in the College of Arts & Sciences. Don't miss this episode if you want to learn how to connect ideas and launch businesses in St. Louis and beyond!

On this episode, Rob chats with two Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Beyond Boundaries students based in the School of Architecture in BB24 student Brandon Perez and BB25 student Heidy Piña to talk about how architecture, when leveraged with public policy and communication design, can be a power for good in the world! We chat about the new Creative Practice for Social Change minor launched by Beyond Boundaries and Communication Design instructor Penina Acayo Laker, Brandon's time as a Goldman Fellow with the Creative Exchange Lab studying East St. Louis, and Heidy's first semester and "big question" that proposes a solution to homelessness through a combination of architecture, communication design, and public policy. Don't miss this great chat with two AMAZING Beyond Boundaries Program students! 

On this episode of the pod, Rob chats with Professors Meghan Kirkwood (Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts) and Phillip Maciak (Arts & Sciences) about their brand-new Beyond Boundaries course launching in the Spring of 2022 called St. Louis & the Documentary Image. Professor Meghan Kirkwood is a photographer who researches the ways landscape imagery can inform and advance public conversations around land use, infrastructure, and values and Professor Maciak's work explores the convergence between literature, visual media, and religious popular culture. He writes regularly for the LA Review of Books. The pair talk about this new course and how it will explore connections across their disciplines, afford students an opportunity to create their own documenatary work in different forms, and culminate in an exhibition of the work for the WashU and St. Louis community. Don't miss this episode about this exciting new course with these two dynamic faculty members! 

On this new Beyond Boundaries Podcast episode, Rob interviews the two dynamic Washington University in St. Louis faculty behind the NEW Beyond Boundaries course offered this Spring called Environmental Racism & the Health of Everyone in Dr. Angela Hobson, Assistant Dean for Public Health at the Brown School and Professor Scott Krummenacher in Environmental Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. They discuss this new course that focuses on environmental inequalities in St. Louis that threaten the health and well-being of low-income communities and communities of color who are increasingly on the frontlines in the fight against climate change, air and water pollution, food security, and many other urgent environmental problems. We also discuss their individual journeys from undergraduate school and beyond that led them to intersect in this new course open to ALL 1st Year students at WashU. Don't miss hearing this unique discussion about this important class.

On this episode of the Beyond Boundaries Podcast, Rob catches up with Chef Gerard Craft! Chef Craft is an award-winning chef as well as partner in Niche Food Group. Chef Craft was a guest in a Beyond Boundaries course called Designing Creativity at Washington University in St. Louis back in the Fall of 2015. Chef Craft and Rob chat about all kinds of topics related to the amazing work he does in St. Louis from the creativity in cooking to entrepreneurship to failure being an essential ingredient (pun intended) to any successful endeavor in life. You DO NOT want to miss listening to this episode and the wisdom Chef Craft imparts! 

On this episode, Rob sits down with Associate Dean of Students for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Dean Georgia Binnington. Georgia advises all students in the Beyond Boundaries Program that show interests in art and/or architecture. We talk about Georgia's upbringing in St. Louis, her time as a art history student at WashU and later as an advisor to what now represent hundreds of WashU alums and current students. Don't miss this wide-ranging and interesting talk with Georgia! 

On this episode, we visit with Senior Assistant Dean in the McKelvey School of Engineering Melanie Osborn who talks about advising students in Engineering and also advises Beyond Boundaries Program students with an interest in that area. We talk about her upbringing as the daughter of educators in a small Missouri town, her many advisory roles at WashU over a period of 23 years including in the College of Arts & Sciences, her desire to know as much as she can about her advisees including pet names, and the wisdom she has been able to impart to so many over a long period of time. We are joined by her two big rescue dogs Hugo and Remi and we find out how one "chose" the other. Tune in and listen! 

With this episode, we begin a series of podcast interviews with 4 undergraduate deans who advise all Beyond Boundaries Program students across 5 divisions at WashU: Arts & Sciences, McKelvey School of Engineering, Olin Business School, and Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. This pod episode features Assistant Dean and Director of Undergraduate Programs for Olin Business School Paige LaRose. We talk about everything from advice to students interested in the Olin Business School to Paige's own undergraduate, graduate, and law school journey. We also chat about her three kids and salute her on this Mother's Day. Give a listen!

On this episode of the Beyond Boundaries Podcast, Rob has a conversation with Beyond Boundaries Program Class of 2024 student RuthAnne Dunn. They chat about RuthAnne's journey to WashU as a early-decision Questbridge applicant and her year taking a number of courses Rob teaches from Designing Creativity to the Beyond Boundaries Seminar to the Intro to Theatre Production course. RuthAnne's interests cover the gamut from sustainability to linguistics. Her involvement all across campus ranges from programs like Deneb STARS (where she will be an Aspirational Peer Mentor next year) and Period Ambassadors to her association with student groups like the Aristocats (Disney-themed a capella) to the Association of Christian Youth Seekers (ACTS). 

In this pod episode, Rob talks with a couple of College of Arts & Sciences students in the Beyond Boundaries Class of 2024 in Kimberly Hwang joining the call from Taiwan and Nicole Chen in Los Angeles. We talk about how they know each other from grade school, awkward P.E. class events, WashU student groups, and the difficulty in properly raising succulents and fish without killing either.