Author: Jessica Daues

Weekday $5 lunch specials are returning to the Bear’s Den on the South 40 this academic year. The specials, which are offered at each Bear’s Den eatery open during lunch, are available from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday. New this year is a $5 special at Paws & Go: a cup of soup, half sandwich and a fountain drink.

Danforth Campus eateries will offer meals made entirely of local food — with the exception of salt — Tuesday, Sept. 27, as part of WUSTL Dining Services’ Eat Local Challenge. Ingredients for Eat Local Challenge meals will come from farmers and artisans within 150 miles of WUSTL.

Tekno Bubbles employee Tim Tatz hands out bubble soap to children during the Family Learning Center’s one-year anniversary celebration Sept. 16 at the center on the North Campus. The event for the center’s parents and children featured a bubble artist, bounce house, face painter, children’s entertainer and more.

WUSTL is implementing two new programs this fall to expand and improve its emergency preparedness: a “My Emergency Preparedness Information” page in HRMS, on which employees can confirm their emergency contact information; and the designation of emergency response roles to department employees in the event of an emergency situation.

Because the Sept. 11 attacks happened on U.S. soil, it makes sense that they might have had a more profound impact in the United States than in Western Europe. But key differences in how Muslims were perceived before 9/11 in the United States and Western Europe also played a key role in how much — or how little — attitudes on Muslims changed after 9/11, says John R. Bowen, PhD, an anthropology and religious studies professor, both in Arts & Sciences, at WUSTL.

A search committee to identify candidates for the position of vice chancellor for public affairs has been appointed by Provost Edward S. Macias, PhD, executive vice chancellor and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, and Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration. M. Fredric Volkmann, the current vice chancellor for public affairs, will retire Sept. 30, 2011.

A quick glance through history books and today’s news headlines seems to support the idea that humans by nature are aggressive, selfish and antagonistic. But this view simply doesn’t fit with scientific facts, write researchers featured in the new book Origins of Altruism and Cooperation, edited by WUSTL professors Robert W. Sussman, PhD, and C. Robert Cloninger, MD. The book’s authors argue that humans are naturally cooperative, altruistic and social, only reverting to violence when stressed, abused, neglected or mentally ill.

Washington University in St. Louis’ Campus Card program has been expanded and renamed to become Bear Bucks. Bear Bucks can be used at dining locations on four WUSTL campuses, the Campus Store, campus laundry and vending machines, off-campus eateries Bobo Noodle House and Kayak’s Coffee, and more.

The Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) at Washington University in St. Louis will host an open house titled “Show Me LLI” for prospective members from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. LLI offers a variety of courses that emphasize peer learning and active class participation by senior adults. The event is free and open to senior adults ages 55 and older.

Renovations at Washington University in St. Louis’ Campus Store are complete. To celebrate and welcome the campus community to explore the updated Campus Store, the Campus Store is hosting a Back-to-School Bash from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29.