The Cherry-Price Visiting Leaders Series Program

5:00 PM-7:00 PM: Pre-Lecture series event: Dinner at Bek’s in Fulton, MO. Day One speakers invited, along with invited participants.

9:00 AM-11:00 am: Day one speaker schedules vary (classroom visits, meeting with organizations or faculty, etc.).

10:00 AM-11:00 AM: Speaker event

• Mahogany Thomas, Location: HAC Hermann Lounge.

11:00 AM-12:00 PM: Speaker events

• Meredith Bolen, Location: CSC 207.
• Shambavi Natarajan, Location: CSC 204.

12:00 PM-1:15 PM: Lunch (Marsh Jones Room) with speakers (Meredith Bolen, Shambavi Natarajan, and Mahogany Thomas) and interested students.

1:30 PM-5:00 PM: Day one speaker schedules vary (classroom visits, meeting with organizations or faculty, etc.)

5:00-7:00 PM: Dinner at Bek’s. Day Two speakers (Andrew McHugh and Jerry Middleton) invited, along with invited participants.

9:00 AM-11:00 am: Day two speaker schedules vary (classroom visits, meeting with organizations or faculty, etc.).

11:00 AM-12:00 PM: Speaker events

• Andrew McHugh, Location: CSC 204.
• Jerry Middleton, Location: CSC 207.

12:00 PM-1:15 PM: Lunch (Marsh Jones Room) with all Speakers (Andrew McHugh and Jerry Middleton) and interested students. 

1:30 PM-5:00 PM: Day one speaker schedules vary (classroom visits, meeting with organizations or faculty, etc.)

As a seventh-year teacher, Meredith Bolen spent two years teaching at Rwamagana Leader’s School (RLS) in Rwamagana, Rwanda and five years teaching at Energy Institute High School in Houston, Texas. She currently teaches AP Human Geography and PBL Skills at Energy, a STEM PBL-focused public school. She previously taught AP English Language and Composition, On-Level English, Information Communications and Technology (ICT), a bridged class of English and ICT, Subsidiary History, World History, and Crew. She graduated in 2020 with her M.Ed. for Specialized Studies focused on policy and technology barriers in the classroom from Harvard. Meredith graduated in 2016 from Westminster College as a quadruple major in Elementary Education, Middle School Education, Secondary Education, and General History with an independent study in Geoscience Research. In her spare time, she works with teachers in East Africa to train them on lesson planning, spends time assisting in the construction of a Technology Learning Center in Tanzania and helped build a library in Rwanda, and mentors students in paleontology at Westminster College.

Shambavi Natarajan is from South India, and she completed my BA in Physics and Mathematics at Westminster College in 2016. Following her undergraduate education, she pursued an MA in Mathematics at the University of Missouri, Columbia. It was during her master's program that she became interested in statistical mechanics, which led me to embark on a PhD in Computational Physics. Currently, her research centers on investigating the intramolecular dynamics of polymer glasses. In addition to research, she enjoys painting, pottery, and playing the sitar.

The Reverend Mahogany S. Thomas works at the intersections of social justice and advocacy for marginalized communities based in Washington, D.C. As a Missouri native and Washingtonian transplant, Mahogany believes in creating more equitable futures through radical hospitality. She is the Chief Program Officer for Bread for the City, a local non-profit committed to human flourishing by meeting the basic needs of Washington, D.C. residents through food, clothing, legal, social services, and medical care to reduce the burden of poverty. Mahogany is an ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC). In addition to her work at Bread for the City, she serves as the Womanist Theologian in Residence at Calvary Baptist Church, where she works to bridge the gap between the academy and the church, often by cultivating alternative and exploratory worship experiences. Mahogany is also an award-winning public speaker who received her Master of Divinity at Yale University and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies summa cum laude at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

Andrew McHugh is driven by intense curiosity and an interdisciplinary aptitude. Today, he is the founder and CEO of Wist Labs, a startup building an application for stepping inside memories. Andrew graduated from Westminster College in 2013 with majors in Philosophy and the Science of information, as well as minors in Math and Physics. As a student, he led EcoHouse, launched the campus bikeshare programs, campaigned for a sustainability fund, and cofounded the What If...? Conference. Since, he has earned a master’s in human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon, wrote a children’s book, had his VR and morality research covered by the Wall Street Journal, authored 11 patents, and previously led an AR/VR team at Samsung.

Jerry N. Middleton, M.D., a native St. Louisan, graduated Westminster in 1959 Magna cum laude, then attended Washington University School of Medicine. After internship at University of Oregon Hospital and residency in Ob-Gyn at Barnes Hospital he served two years in the Air Force. He returned to St. Louis to begin private practice at Barnes and St. Luke's Hospitals. Now retired, he continues to serve on Washington University School of Medicine Admissions Committee and on the Board of Keystone Mutual Insurance Company.