Author: Gerry Everding

“Improving Women’s Participation in Elected Office” will be the topic of discussion as women representing Missouri’s Republican and Democratic parties visit Washington University’s Hilltop Campus for a public forum at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27 in Room 201, Rebstock Hall.

“30 Years of Sisterhood,” a documentary film on the 1970s genesis of Japan’s women’s liberation movement, will be in the campus spotlight Feb. 28 as Washington University hosts a group of Japanese activists, filmmakers and scholars now touring the nation to promote the project. Plans call for a special screening of the film at 3 p.m. Feb. 28 in Room 201, Crow Hall, followed by a panel discussion and reception. Sponsored by the Visiting East Asian Professionals (VEAP) program and the Women and Gender Studies program, both in Arts & Sciences.

Benjamin Franklin’s myriad contributions as scientist, inventor, publisher and statesman will be back in the spotlight in coming months as America celebrates his 300th birthday on Jan. 17. Much of the hoopla, including major exhibits in London, Paris, Philadelphia and other American cities, will focus on Franklin’s role as an influential American diplomat. However, a new book by medical historian Stanley Finger contends that Franklin also deserves considerable recognition for important contributions to the healing arts. “With strong interests in bedside and preventative medicine, hospital care, and even medical education, he helped to change medical care in both America and Europe,” Finger says.

Photo courtesy of HerPlanet Inc.Avoid a holiday-shopping nightmare.Whether it’s a last-minute rush to the mall or a year-long obsession, the quest for the “perfect gift” has the potential to turn holiday shopping into an annual nightmare. A psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis who is an expert on helping people gain control of personal habits, such as smoking and overeating, says many of the same techniques can be used to get a grip on holiday shopping.

For Fatemeh Keshavarz, Ph.D., associate professor of Persian and of comparative literature, both in Arts & Sciences, poetry is much more than an academic discipline. It is a profoundly personal experience that requires both the poet and the reader to be fully involved in its consummation. “Poetry is the magic we perform with language,” she […]

Tasks requiring shifting of attention, like driving a car while conversing with a passenger, may be challenging for people in very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.People in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease have greater difficulty shifting attention back and forth between competing sources of information, a finding that offers new support for theories that contend breakdowns in attention play an important role in onset of the disease. Published in a recent issue of the journal Neuropsychology, the study suggests that subtle breakdowns in attention may offer one of the earliest reliable clues that a patient is grappling with early symptoms of Alzheimer’s-related dementia.

“Challenges to Public Education Financing Facing Missouri and the Nation” is the topic of a one-day public forum to be held Nov. 4. Co-sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the event features discussions by nationally recognized academic experts, state legislators and school superintendents. Free and open to the public; reservations required.

EpsteinHarriet Miers withdrawal from consideration for the U.S. Supreme Court is not surprising given the fact that she ranks among the least qualified candidates since the nomination of Hugo Black in 1937, according to an analysis by authors of a new book on the politics of Supreme Court nominations. “Despite the tremendous importance of politics in Supreme Court nominations, the single most important determinant of a successful confirmation is the qualifications of the nominee,” suggests Lee Epstein, WUSTL Supreme Court expert and co-author of “Advice and Consent: The Politics of Judicial Appointments.”

Malaria, along with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, is one of the three largest global killers of the world’s poorest people.

The Association for Political Theory’s conference Oct. 21-22 is designed to foster “intellectual sociability” among scholars.