Author: Liam Otten

Betsy DeVos is arguably the most controversial figure ever nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Education. Yet in covering her nomination, many journalists have conflated valid concerns about experience, temperament and political beliefs with questionable assumptions about her religious background, argues Abram Van Engen, associate professor of English.

Acclaimed pianist Jonathan Biss will launch Washington University’s new Great Artist Series with a solo recital Feb. 9 in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. The program will feature late works by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and György Kurtág.

For Parisians at the end of the 19th century, to attend the opera, the ballet or the Moulin Rouge was to see but also to be seen. This spring the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present “Spectacle and Leisure in Paris: Degas to Mucha.” Featuring a broad selection of prints, posters, photographs and film, the exhibition will explore how visual artists at once documented, promoted and participated in the distinctive entertainment cultures that defined the Belle Époque.

A kiss. A punch. A body braced for impact. The paintings of Rosalyn Drexler exude uncanny stillness, anticipation and, frequently, the dread of imminent violence. This spring the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?,” the first full-career retrospective for the multitalented artist.

The sharing economy is revolutionizing how consumers engage services and utilize resources. Could it also help solve the problem of hunger?

Casey O’Callaghan, professor of philosophy and of philosophy-neuroscience-psychology in Arts & Sciences, has won a prestigious Fellowship for University Teachers from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

James M. Kemper Jr., the former chairman of Commerce Bancshares and a major supporter of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis, died Thursday, Dec. 15. He was 95.

Rich O’Donnell, director of the Electronic Music Lab in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Jess Dugan, an exhibition preparator for the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, are among 10 recipients of the Regional Arts Commission’s 2016 Artist Fellowships. Also receiving a 2016 award is clay artist Ruth Reese, a 2002 alumna of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

A new program, organized by the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences and local nonprofit Maturity and Its Muse, brings together student vocalists and local memory care patients.

Eugene J. Mackey III, founder of Mackey Mitchell Architects, died Sunday, Nov. 27, after a long battle with cancer. He was 77.