Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Washington University in St. Louis will add another architectural jewel to its historic campus later this year when an Olympic Rings “Spectacular,” a five-ring sculpture, is installed at the end of Olympian Way, on the southwest corner of the Danforth Campus.

Meet the Washington University Crew team, a group of 40 men and women with an incredible work ethic and a determination that has them poised to break out on the national collegiate rowing scene. And it all starts at 5:30 a.m., on a lake 16 miles from campus, with the sun rising and morning calling.

The process to select the next chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis is in full swing, with the final two members added to the search committee, Susan B. McCollum and Empress Sanders. Listening sessions are underway on the Danforth Campus, with sessions scheduled on the Medical Campus in January.

John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a $6 million outstanding investigator award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support research aimed at improving therapies for leukemia.

The School of Medicine has received a $10 million commitment from longtime benefactors George and Debra Couch to support research that advances personalized medicine. In recognition of their generosity, the research building at 4515 McKinley Ave. has been named the Debra and George W. Couch III Biomedical Research Building.

Lizzy Crist, a May 2017 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, was named 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year. She is the second student-athlete from Washington University to win the award, joining 2012 winner Elizabeth Phillips. She is also the fifth NCAA Division III student-athlete to claim the honor.

Anthony J. Azama, the John M. Schael Director of Athletics at Washington University, has been on the job a little more than three months. But he’s already developed a rapport with the student athletes, and he has a clear vision where he wants to help them go.

Nearly 200 years after the publication of “Frankenstein” in 1818, we still employ Mary Shelley’s dream vision to interpret and explain our world today — but why? Perhaps because the troubling dialectic between Creator and Monster reflects some basic anxiety that has still not been resolved. Henry Schvey writes an essay in advance of the Oct. 13 conference “Frankenstein at 200” in Umrath Hall on the Danforth Campus.

On Sept. 7, the Assembly Series’ first fall program welcomed British playwright Nick Dear Nick Dear, author of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s 2011 production of “Frankenstein” to Graham Chapel. See photos of the event here.

Washington University in St. Louis researchers have developed a test that quickly detects the presence of Zika virus in blood.