U.S. secretary of education Linda McMahon pictured at her visit to WashU (courtesy of Whitney Curtis | WashU)

Linda McMahon, the U.S. secretary of education, visited WashU on Wednesday, Sept. 15, to participate in a roundtable on rural healthcare, meet with leadership at the Gephardt Institute, and talk with Chancellor Andrew D. Martin regarding higher education’s role in community development, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Missouri was McMahon’s 42nd stop on her Returning Education to the States Tour, an initiative to meet with educators and families across the country. WashU was the 12th university McMahon has visited thus far, following Auburn University, University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Montana State University.

In a written cutline provided to Student Life by Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives Erika Ebsworth-Goold, the University expressed appreciation for the Secretary’s visit.

“We are pleased that she was able to experience firsthand the commitment to life-changing research, excellence in teaching, and the development of future leaders all central to the WashU mission,” the statement read. 

According to a written statement from Associate Vice Chancellor for University Communications Kedra Tolson, the meeting focused on the University’s focus on “student success and the local community.”

The same day as McMahon’s visit, Chancellor Martin missed an appearance at a 4 p.m. forum of six faculty lightning talks that discussed the Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences Martin commissioned with the Chancellor at Vanderbilt University. 

According to metadata extracted from photos WashU shared with Student Life of McMahon’s visit, the Secretary was photographed on campus at 3:31 p.m. and 4:33 p.m.