Author: Jessica Daues

The Washington University Police Department and Parking Services, in partnership with Hartmann’s Towing, will sponsor a free vehicle inspection service to students, faculty and staff Saturday, March 3. Persons anticipating traveling by car for spring break can bring their vehicle to the to the lower level of Millbrook Garage between noon-2:30pm for a free inspection. The staff will check tire pressure, fluid levels, wipers and head- and taillights.

Humans today struggle with environmental problems such as a depleted ozone layer and global warming — influences of humans on the environment that put our own existence at risk. But humans altering their environment with disastrous results is nothing new. Just ask archeologist T.R. Kidder, PhD, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, who has spent the past four summers excavating the Han Dynasty village of Sanyangzhuang.

This Valentine’s Day, flip through cable TV listings, and you’ll see a bevy of romances whose common themes and conflicts can be traced back to medieval times. What is considered “romantic” in contemporary Western society — love from afar, willingness to suffer, idealization of the love object — is partly a legacy of themes in medieval romantic poetry, says Jessica Rosenfeld, PhD, assistant professor of English in Arts & Sciences and author of the book Ethics and Enjoyment in Late Medieval Poetry: Love After Aristotle.

WUSTL anthropologist Peter Benson’s new book, Tobacco Capitalism, examines the impact of the transformation of the U.S. tobacco industry on farmers, workers and the American public. The book reveals public health threats, the impact of off-shoring, and the immigration issues related to tobacco production, specifically in the rural, traditional tobacco-growing areas of North Carolina. “There are whole groups of people — farmers and farm workers — in our society who dedicate themselves to growing a crop that is vilified,” Benson says.

The Women’s Society of Washington University (WSWU) is seeking nominations of full-time senior women students for the Harriet K. Switzer Leadership Award. Nominations should be sent to the WSWU Office at Campus Box 1081 or emailed to sharon_britt@wustl.edu by Friday, Feb. 10. This award is presented to the honoree at WSWU’s annual membership meeting in April.

The Washington University Libraries have acquired the archives of internationally recognized artist Ernest Trova (1927-2009). Trova’s archives, which will be housed in WUSTL’s Modern Graphic History Library, provide researchers a glimpse into his life and his art-making process. 

The following are among the new faculty members at Washington University in St. Louis: Derek Hoeferlin; Irena Knezevic; Seng Kuan, PhD; Gary J. Patti, PhD; and Monika Weiss.

Betty Birnbaum Hearsh, assistant in dress design in 1951 and instructor in design, art and fashion from 1964-1976, died Dec. 23, 2011. She was 84.

Michael Suarez, SJ, will speak on “Rare Books in the Digital World” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in Steinberg Hall Auditorium on the Danforth Campus. Suarez directs the Rare Book School, an independent, nonprofit institute for the study of books, printing, and related subjects located at the University of Virginia.

The East Loop and West Loop Special Business districts and Washington University in St. Louis have released the Delmar Loop Area Retail Plan & Development Strategy, the results of a study that found potential for retail growth in the Delmar Boulevard Loop area. The study was led by a steering committee of area property and business owners, residents, local government representatives and WUSTL administrators.