Author: Leslie Gibson McCarthy

In remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr., the Society of Black Students for Social Welfare and the Office of Student Affairs at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will host their annual Financial Freedom Seminar on Saturday, Jan. 18. “Your Money, Your Future,” takes place from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in Brown Hall, Room 100. It is free and open to the public.

Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are chronic diseases that account for $1.1 billion in hospital charges, affecting many individuals and families. The need to better understand these issues is examined in the fifth and final policy brief from the groundbreaking study “For the Sake of All: A Report on the Health and Well-Being of African Americans in St. Louis.”

Tours of the MySci Investigation Station housed at the MySci Resource Center were in full force Nov. 19 at the latest event of the STL PREP (Perception, Reality, Engagement and Partnership) orientation series. The MySci Resource Center hosted a learning session for WUSTL faculty and staff called “Impacting K-12 Education.”

Amanda Moore McBride, PhD, associate dean of the Brown School, was on hand Nov. 11 to congratulate two Brown School students on receiving commissions in the United States Air Force as part of the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program. The Brown School was the only school with two recipients — only 11 were given nationwide out of 152 applicants. “The military is the No. 1 employer of social workers, and this is real tribute to both our students and the Brown School that it has found the best and the brightest right here,” McBride said.

Chef Nephi Craig, founder of the Native American Culinary Association, conducts a traditional Native American cooking demonstration in the Danforth University Center Nov. 3. Craig’s presentation, sponsored by the Buder Center for Native American Studies, was titled “Maatibi. Imokwayli. Ittanahli. Hunt. Fish. Gather.” He talked about Native American foods and their resurgence in American cooking culture.

A unique, long-term partnership between Washington University and the Hazelwood School District is showing eye-popping, unprecedented success in elementary and middle school science test scores — and in the process providing a roadmap for other districts to follow. The district saw scores on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) tests increase 22.4 percentage points for fifth graders, and 12 percentage points for 8th graders over a five-year period beginning in 2008, the year it began a collaboration with WUSTL’s Institute for School Partnership.

A new academic survey conducted by Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Social Development and national veterans nonprofit group The Mission Continues points to community volunteerism as an effective tool for addressing veterans’ reintegration challenges.

A groundbreaking multidisciplinary study on African-American health in St. Louis, ‘For the Sake of All,’ releases its fourth brief. This one examines the long-term effects of how segregation affects access to health-promoting resources and health outcomes such as chronic disease and death.

Close to 3 billion people in the developing world rely on biomass combustion — burning fires in rudimentary stoves — for cooking and heating needs. As a result, 4 million people die each year, and the large amount of black soot created has a staggering negative impact on the poor. This fall, Gautam N. Yadama, PhD, professor and director of international programs at the Brown School and photographer Mark Katzman are taking that issue to a broader audience with the publication of Fires, Fuel and the Fate of 3 Billion: The State of the Energy Impoverished (Oxford University Press 2013), a 152-page collection of photos and essays that tell an eye-opening, insightful story about energy access in the rural villages of India, where the hunt for safe, affordable energy is often a matter of life or death.

Renee Cunningham-Williams, associate dean of doctoral education at the Brown School, leads by example.