Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

R. Marie Griffith, PhD, the John A. Bartlett Professor at Harvard University, has been named director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Griffith, whose appointment takes place July 1, is known as a pioneer in the study of modern evangelical women.

Standing beneath a portrait of Washington University co-founder William Greenleaf Eliot, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, British ambassador to the United States, delivers the annual T.S. Eliot Lecture March 4 in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. The lecture is named in honor of the famed poet and author who was the grandson of William Greenleaf Eliot. Sheinwald titled his address “Britain and America: An Easy Commerce of the Old and New,” taking a line from T.S. Eliot’s Little Gidding, the final poem of his Four Quartet.

James E. McLeod (right), vice chancellor for students, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and a cancer survivor, walks the lead lap with other cancer survivors in the annual Relay for Life March 5-6 at Francis Field. Nearly $260,000 was raised for the American Cancer Society during the 12-hour event that began at 6 p.m. March 5 and ended at 6 a.m. March 6.

A Cannes Film Festival-winning science fiction film from Kenya, Pumzi (Air), is one of the highlights of the sixth annual African Film Festival Friday, March 25, through Sunday, March 27 at Washington University in St. Louis. This year’s eight films, all of which will be shown in Brown Hall, Room 100, focus on themes of immigration and personal responsibility.

Chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, the top-ranked chess player in America and 8th in the world at age 23, was on campus Feb. 26 for a question-and-answer session and an opportunity for students to test their skills against the best. Nakamura needed just two-and-a-half hours to win 42 games of bullet chess. The event was sponsored by the Washington University Chess Club.

WUSTL sports updates for the week of March 7, 2011.

At the Washington University Board of Trustees meeting Thursday and Friday, March 3 and 4, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton reported on a number of recent developments on the Medical and Danforth campuses.

Wayne Fields, PhD (left), the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Professor of English in Arts & Sciences and director of the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics leads a discussion that includeded three members of Congress on the roles that citizens, elected leaders and the media play in promoting civility in a democratic society during a forum titled “A Vision of Civility” Feb. 24 in the Knight Center.

The annual Relay For Life will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6, at Francis Field’s Bushyhead Track at Washington University in St. Louis. The relay is a 12-hour family-friendly event that raises money for the American Cancer Society. More than 1,700 volunteers, participants and supporters will be on hand for the fundraiser that already has generated $180,000 this year for cancer research, advocacy, patient services and education.

Joel Seligman, JD, president of the University of Rochester, will discuss the future of financial institutions at the 2011 Tyrrell Williams Lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 3. Seligman, former dean of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, will speak in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The lecture will be followed by a reception in the Crowder Courtyard. The event is free and open to the public.