Peter Jones | Student Life

The panelists of the Innovation and Infinite Possibilities in the 21st Center listen to a question from an audience member. The panel took place in May Auditorium in Simon Hall.

Professor of medicine William Powderly, professor emeritus of botany Peter Raven and Provost Holden Thorp offered perspectives on the strengths afforded and the challenges facing the St. Louis region and worldwide. They touched on everything from the environment to town-gown relationships and the need for scientists to become more locally active to demonstrate how the University can benefit its wider community.

Part of the City of Clayton’s centennial-year observance, the panel took place in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium.

Raven opened the discussion by stressing the importance of the University fulfilling its social contract.

“We’re in a very good position with our educational and other institutions to make a very wonderful contribution,” Raven said. “We have the assets here that give us a marvelous advantage if we use them.”

Public health was a primary theme discussed at the event.

“We want to treat patients not just as individuals but as persons in society,” Powderly said.

The panelists addressed a mixed audience of Clayton residents and members of the University community. Local issues were also discussed, in particular the political fragmentation in the region.

“Unless we pull together as an area, we’ll never be as strong as we should be,” Raven said.

Thorp spoke on growing interest in entrepreneurship at the University, the need to apply knowledge created at the University and the relevance of the humanities.

“The way we confront data will be more holistic and less reductionist than the way that we have dealt with information up until now, and that’s why it’s important that we preserve and protect the humanities,” Thorpe said. “We need students to embrace uncertainty in problems, and humanities are the disciplines that have done that for higher education for years.”