Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in the continuing series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars held biweekly on the Danforth Campus beginning Monday, Sept. 9, and running through Dec. 2. All lectures take place at noon in Seigle Hall, Room 348. The series begins with a lecture by Derek Neal, PhD, professor in economics at the University of Chicago titled “Designing Accountability Systems and Incentives Schemes for Educators.”

Marc Freedman, founder and CEO of Encore.org, will deliver a lecture about the role higher education can play in supporting adults looking for a career change in their second half of life. The talk will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Mildred E. Bastian Theatre at St. Louis Community College Forest Park Campus. Sponsors are the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis; the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health; St. Louis Community College Continuing Education; and the OASIS Institute.

Rob Reich, PhD, associate professor of political science at Stanford University, has been named the 2013-14 Wells Fargo Advisors Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship by the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. An expert on political theory, he will make four visits to WUSTL over the course of the 2013-14 academic year.

The first of five policy briefs — the hallmark of an ongoing, multi-disciplinary study titled “For the Sake of All: A Report on the Health and Well-Being of African Americans in St. Louis — has been released to coincide with the Aug. 28 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Titled “How Can We Save Lives — and Save Money — in St. Louis? Invest in Economic and Educational Opportunity,” the brief focuses on the need for a multidisciplinary approach to improve health by focusing on education and economic opportunities.

This summer, 75 teachers from five St. Louis area school districts and two charter schools spent two intensive weeks on the Washington University in St. Louis campus kicking off a yearlong professional development program called STEM Teacher Quality Initiative.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton welcomed more than 60 scholars from around the world — including Washington University in St. Louis and representatives from the McDonnell International Scholars Academy partner institutions — to Seoul, South Korea, in June for the Global Aging Initiative. The meeting, sponsored by the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health, was the first opportunity for scholars to connect and identify opportunities for collaboration on cross-national aging-related research.

Widespread social problems are nothing new, yet solutions today require a different, more innovative approach. A new book, Transdisciplinary Public Health: Research, Education, and Practice (edited by Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, the Joyce Wood Professor at the Brown School and associate dean for research, and Timothy McBride, PhD, professor) aims to fill that void by laying out a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving.​

The Brown School of Washington University in St. Louis is taking a leadership role in a new association that brings together schools and programs of public health. The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), launched Aug. 1, represents schools and programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The organization is the successor to the Association of Schools of Public Health.

William G. Powderly, MD, the J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine and co-director, Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named director of the Institute for Public Health (IPH), according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Powderly succeeds founding director Edward J. Lawlor, PhD, dean of the Brown School and the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor; Graham Colditz, MD, DPhil, the Niess-Gain Professor of Surgery and professor of medicine in the School of Medicine, will continue to serve as deputy director. The appointment is effective July 1.

Now that the Next Generation Science Standards have been developed and released, the real work begins: Helping states implement the standards. WUSTL’s Institute for School Partnership, under the leadership of Victoria L. May, assistant dean of Arts & Sciences and executive director, is taking an active role in helping with that implementation – especially in its home state of Missouri.