Author: Diane Toroian Keaggy

Explore Leader student volunteers are preparing international students for life on campus — greeting them at the South 40, helping them open checking accounts and even taking them shopping at Target.  Before classes start, the Office of International Students & Scholars will assist 250 undergraduates and 600 graduate students — many of whom have never traveled to the United States. ​

4,000 glow sticks, 50 academic progams, 100 First 40 events make the start of the school year special for new students.

Washington University’s main move-in day in the South 40 residence halls for new students is Thursday, Aug. 22. Some 1,600 new students (freshmen, transfer and exchange) are arriving for the 2013-14 academic year that begins Aug. 27. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will lead university staff members and upperclass student volunteers in a 7:30 a.m. pep rally as they prepare to welcome the new students and assist with move in throughout the day.

Washington University students still can enroll in one of the 11 online courses being offered this fall through Semester Online, a consortium of top peer universities. Students have until Aug. 26 to register. Courses include a live weekly class plus pre-produced online content that engages students, such as guest interviews and panel discussions.

Kevin Hays is considered one of the globe’s best Rubik’s Cube solvers, but he’s not the only Rubik’s Cube master on the Washington University in St. Louis campus. Provost Holden Thorp also won Rubik’s Cube competitions as a teenager.

University of Michigan IT innovator John Gohsman will serve as Washington University’s first chief information officer. During his 30-year career, Gohsman found new ways to use information technology to help in the classroom and labratory.

Trevor A. Dawes, associate university librarian at WUSTL, recently was installed as president of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Staff are invited to join a small group discussion of the critically acclaimed essay collection, Notes from No Man’s Land, by Eula Biss. The book, a provocative exploration of race and identity, is this year’s selection for the First Year Reading Program.