But both descriptions are true of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the legendary Afghan leader and Taliban opponent who was assassinated by two suicide bombers posing as documentary filmmakers on Sept. 9, 2001.

In the years that followed, Webster University alumna Marcela Grad was moved by descriptions of Massoud to dig deeper into his story – a story relatively unknown to Western eyes outside of its tragic end preceding the attacks of 9/11. FULL STORY

From Apartheid to Rebirth
Des Lee Scholar and activist Rashida Manjoo brings lessons of the South African experience

Rashida Manjoo, Webster University’s 2008-09 Des Lee Visiting Scholar for Global Awareness, has lived the story of South Africa.

“In the ‘60s, we didn’t know when the next bomb would be placed,” Manjoo recalls.

That was because a previously non-violent struggle against South Africa’s crude-yet-codified racial and ethnic stratification had become violent. FULL STORY

The Intersection of Science and Politics
Webster alumna chases malaria vaccine, preserves history, seeks to blend science and diplomacy

She’s a scientist. She’s a diplomat. She’s an example of a globally engaged, multi-disciplinary graduate of Webster University’s College of Arts & Sciences.

And that’s not hyperbole. Consider: While Erica Pasini earned her master’s in International Relations at Webster’s Leiden campus, the holder of a Ph.D. in Drug Chemistry was also working on a new malaria vaccine that was 20 years in the making. FULL STORY