Author: Jessica Daues

The 2012 RecycleMania contest, which pits WUSTL against other U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities to see which campus can keep the greatest amount of waste materials from landfills, begins Sunday, Feb. 5. It lasts eight weeks and ends Saturday, March 31. Last year, the university community recycled approximately 278.3 tons of waste during the contest to launch WUSTL into a top 5 percent finish.

Help the university recognize a staff member who goes above and beyond to help students, faculty or others in the WUSTL community by nominating him or her for the Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award. The Gloria White award recognizes a staff member for his or her exceptional effort and contributions that result in the betterment of the university. Nominations must be submitted by Friday, Feb. 24.

Washington University in St. Louis students living in on-campus housing are shutting off lights, sharing fridges and unplugging their device chargers to win the WUSTL Green Cup. The Green Cup recognizes the South 40 residential college, North Side team and fraternity that reduce their energy use by the highest percentage during the four-week competition, which begins Wednesday, Feb. 1, and ends Wednesday, Feb. 29.

The Code of Conduct governs members of the WUSTL community: employees, volunteers and those who do business with the university. It states the ethical and legal standards that guide their decisions and actions as community members. 

Washington University Libraries has joined HathiTrust, a partnership of major academic and research libraries to preserve and provide access to the published record in a digital form. WUSTL now is partnering with more than 60 other major academic and research libraries from across the United States and the world in an effort to preserve and share the record of human knowledge.

Andrew Knight, PhD, leads an i teach 2012 session on polling as a teaching tool during the i teach 2012 symposium — a biennial event at which faculty gather to talk about teaching experiences and to learn about new teaching methods and technology — at Seigle Hall Jan. 12. Approximately 150 faculty attended the event, which offered 16 classroom sessions on topics ranging from “Twitter for Teaching” to “Academic Integrity at WU: Myths and Realities.”

Have budding young artists in the house? WUSTL campus sustainability committees want to show off their talents. The Children’s Sustainability Art Contest for Washington University community children attending kindergarten through high school will be held to raise awareness among university families of the importance of sustainable living. Entries must be received by Friday, March 9.

This spring, the WUSTLAlerts emergency notification system will change the way it alerts the university community of tornado warnings in and approaching St. Louis City and County.

Ancient clay cuneiform tablets. Books in Greek and Latin owned and marked by Thomas Jefferson. These aren’t items one might expect to see when visiting a typical library. But collecting and preserving these invaluable resources for future generations of scholars is the mission of Washington University Libraries’ Special Collections and of Anne Posega, head of Special Collections for University Libraries since 1999.

Twitter might appear to be one of many online attention drains, but tweeting often can prove practical. Washington University Libraries staff members are offering a series of free workshops aimed to help interested members of the WUSTL community explore how they can productively utilize this social media tool. All sessions are free to WUSTL students, faculty and staff.