Author: Ken Duenke

Held biweekly through May 1 at WUSTL, the series features one-hour presentations on research interests of faculty from local and national universities.

On MLK Day Jan. 16, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton addressed WUSTL’s continuing efforts to strengthen diversity, improve gender balance and be more inclusive & accepting.

Undergraduate tuition will total $32,800 for the 2006-07 academic year — a $1,700 (5.5 percent) increase over the 2005-06 academic year tuition.

Photo by Mary ButkusThe American Physical Society has designated Washington University as a site of historical significance to physics.

Photo by Robert BostonA job fair Jan. 10-11 at Java Joe’s Coffee House connected local veterans with area employers, including the School of Medicine.

Influential civil rights expert and Harvard law professor Lani Guinier will deliver the Chancellor’s Fellowship keynote address at 11 am. January 25 in Graham Chapel. Her talk, “Meritocracy INC: How Wealth Became Merit, Class Became Race, and College Education Became a Gift from the Poor to the Rich,” coincides with the commencement of the Assembly Series’ spring installment. A panel discussion will be held at 2 p.m. in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Most Assembly Series lectures are held in Graham Chapel at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays, and all lectures are free and open to the public. For a complete schedule and up-to-date information, check the Web site at http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 314-935-5285.

BagenstosThe United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously on January 9 in favor of a Georgia inmate in a disability rights case, United States v. Georgia. Samuel R. Bagenstos, J.D., professor of law, argued the case on behalf of the inmate, Tony Goodman. The ruling paves the wave for Goodman to seek damages against the state of Georgia. According to the ruling, Goodman’s “more serious allegations” were that he was “confined for 23-to-24 hours per day in a 12-by-3-foot cell, in which he could not turn his wheelchair around” and that “the lack of accessible facilities rendered him unable to use the toilet and shower without assistance, which was often denied.”

In an effort to foster and encourage productive and proactive dialogue about race within the School of Social Work at Washington University and the St. Louis region, the Society of Black Student Social Workers (SBSSW) will host “Celebrate King Holiday 2006: When Does a Dream Become Reality?” Jan. 16 from 1-4 p.m. in room 100 of Brown Hall. This event is free and open to the public. The celebration will begin with a keynote address by Kristal Brent Zook, Ph.D., an award-winning investigative journalist and author. She will reflect on the past and current status of Black America to determine if there has been real progress in race relations.

The thin, single-cell boundary where a tumor meets normal tissue is the most dangerous part of a cancer according to a new study by scientists at the School of Medicine. The researchers found that tumor cells bordering normal tissue receive signals that tell them to wander away from the tumor, allowing the cancer cells to establish deadly metastatic tumors elsewhere in the body.

John Landsverk, Ph.D., has been named senior scholar at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. Edward F. Lawlor, Ph.D., dean of the School of Social Work and the William E. Gordon Professor, recently announced Landsverk’s appointment, effective Jan. 1.