Author: Liam Otten

This summer, Christopher Stark, assistant professor of music in Arts & Sciences, presented two world-premiere compositions at major venues for contemporary classical music.

Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies and of African and African-American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, has been named co-editor of the inaugural “New Sexual Worlds” book series.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will dedicate its new William A. Bernoudy Architecture Studio, thanks to a $1.5 million gift from the Gertrude & William A. Bernoudy Foundation. Located within Anabeth and John Weil Hall, the 6,580-square-foot space will provide state-of-the-art facilities for the school’s nationally ranked Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design.

Images of children locked in prison-like conditions have sparked heated debates about U.S. immigration policy, the role of the built environment, and the line between legitimate security and intentional cruelty. But underlying such debates is a simple question: “Is it possible to design a border architecture that is welcoming rather than foreboding?”

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ 2019 MFA in Visual Art Thesis Exhibition features work by 17 graduating students. Works in various media explore themes such as the politics of race, the role of gender, the poetics of the everyday, and utopian or dystopian futures.

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) accused the Trump administration of “running concentration camps on our southern border,” a political firestorm erupted. But a question remained. Was the comparison justified? Arts & Sciences historian Anika Walke, a scholar of the Holocaust, offers perspective.

With speeds of nearly 700 miles per hour, hyperloop technology has the potential to revolutionize land-based transportation. But with that revolution comes new challenges for both urban destinations and rural environments. This spring, students and faculty from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts worked with Virgin Hyperloop One to investigate the impacts and potentials of the proposed Missouri route from St. Louis to Kansas City.

Kate Smith was the “songbird of the south” and “the First Lady of radio,” a 20th-century superstar whose recording of “God Bless America” was still being played during Philadelphia Flyer and New York Yankees home games. But recently, both teams distanced themselves from Smith due to racist lyrics in a pair of her early recordings. Arts & Sciences’ Todd Decker, chair of music, helps unpack the controversy for USA Today.

On May 22, the Washington University Prison Education Project (PEP) conducted its first Commencement at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center in Pacific, Missouri. Joe Angeles, director of Washington University Photo Services, documented the day.

Musicologist Todd Decker, of Arts & Sciences and author of “Hymns for the Fallen: Combat Movie Music and Sound After Vietnam” (2017), examines how films such as “Platoon,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Hurt Locker” shape how audiences view soldiers, veterans and the experience of war.