During the Arts & Sciences Graduate Studies Hooding and Recognition Ceremony on May 9, students Jennifer Beatty and Ellen Schaaf will join alumnus Darrell L. Williams, MA ’86, PhD ’91, in addressing the Class of 2025.
Here, the speakers reflect on their time at WashU, their hopes for the future, and their wishes for the graduating class.
Doctoral Student Speaker: Jennifer Beatty
When she began applying to PhD programs more than five years ago, Jennifer Beatty knew she wanted to find a school that not only valued research but also prioritized new perspectives and ideas. She found all that and more in WashU’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences.
“Whenever someone moves to a new place, it can be difficult to anticipate the connections you're going to make,” Beatty said. “The people really make a difference.”
At WashU she found supportive mentors and classmates, including two friends who will be bridesmaids in her wedding soon after graduation. She also had opportunities to travel internationally, speak at conferences, and publish cutting-edge research. All of these experiences helped her forge her own path and develop a deeper sense of self. “I learned how to use my voice, value integrity, and stand up for things I believe in,” she said. “That feels hard-earned, and it makes me feel really proud of where I'm going next.”
Beatty will soon begin a career as an assistant professor in Cal Poly’s department of psychology and child development — one of four faculty offers she received when she went on the job market. “My mentors helped me remember that I have more capacity than I may realize, and everyone's route will be different,” she said. “You should trust the route that you know pushes you to sing a little bit higher than your normal octave.”
When she addresses her classmates, Beatty hopes to remind them of the power of hard work and perseverance. It’s tempting to think everything comes easy, Beatty said, “but I hope that people remember: You're writing your story.”
“You're the authors, and you get to write how the story continues and ends. And so I hope people just remember to keep betting on themselves and to continue to find their voice.”
Master’s Student Speaker: Ellen Schaaf
When she stands before her fellow graduate students, Ellen Schaaf hopes to impart a message of perseverance, resilience, and the importance of community. “It's easy to look out and see what's going wrong in the world,” Schaaf said, “but if we focus on the people standing by our side — whether that's on stage or in our community — we can make it through whatever life throws at us, together.”
It’s a message the graduate student in the Performing Arts Department would want her younger self to hear, too. While the path may not be linear, “you should enjoy the journey because it's going to take you to fantastic places you never even dreamed possible.”
That has certainly been the case during her time at WashU. Schaaf applied to the Master’s Program in Theater and Performance Studies, looking to combine her work as an actor and director with rigorous scholarship. One of her favorite memories was visiting the Doughboy Foundation in Washington, D.C., and the Chicago Architecture Center for her thesis. Through interviews with executives at both institutions, she gained a greater understanding of how her economics studies as an undergraduate at Lehigh University could be combined with her master’s studies at WashU. Her work in and out of the classroom has led to findings that can benefit regional playhouses. “I was able to combine so many different interests in one paper that I hope is going to be very useful for a lot of people in the future,” Schaaf said.
After graduation, Schaaf will pursue a career as an actor and director, starting as an assistant director for Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis. “My time at WashU really prepared me to combine the scholarship I've learned and the theory I've applied in all of my coursework to the acting and directing that I'm going to be doing in the area — and, hopefully, across the country!”
Alumni Speaker: Darrell L. Williams
As part of his economics training at WashU, Darrell Williams, MA ’86, PhD ’91, learned to see the simplicity in complex problems. “If the answer is too complicated, you probably don’t have the answer,” he said in 2013 as part of the Distinguished Alumni Awards.
In his wide-ranging, storied career, Williams has used his economic insights to advise United States presidents, educate university students, run his own companies, and advance economic justice.
Williams has held positions at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, been a research economist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and taught as an assistant professor of economics at the University of California, Los Angeles. After serving as a founding partner of Economic Analysis LLC and as a director at the global expert services firm LECG LLC, he continues to advise corporations and government entities.
In every position, he has worked to help others find their place in the American economy. “Probably the most pressing issue in America today is how to create opportunity for all people,” he said in 2013. As part of that mission, he founded a website to provide resources and advice for young African-American professionals. And, more than a decade later, as technological advances promise to improve quality of life beyond imagination for many while threatening millions of jobs, he continues to pursue the promise of equal opportunity for everyday Americans.
Williams and his wife Paulithia, EN ’85, support Arts & Sciences students through the Darrell & Paulithia Williams Endowed Scholarship Fund. They have provided named scholarships at WashU since 2005.
Meet the 2025 undergraduate ceremony speakers and student marshals.
