Author: Neil Schoenherr

Two former United States Congressmen will be on campus from March 30-April1 as the University participates in the national Congress to Campus program.

WrightonWashington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will be honored as the 2007 Citizen of the Year during a ceremony at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in Graham Chapel on the university’s Danforth Campus.

FlanaganKathryn Flanagan, Ph.D., senior scientist and head of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute, will deliver the 2008 McDonnell Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in Room 214 Wilson Hall on the Danforth Campus at Washington University in St. Louis.

At its spring meeting, the Board of Trustees heard a report on the strategic plan proposed by Arts & Sciences presented by trustee Earle H. Harbison Jr., chairman of the Harbison Corporation and retired president of the Monsanto Corporation. The presentation is part of an overall Plan for Excellence, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

Photo by Joe AngelesMcDonnell Scholar Ming Zu (center) rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange March 10 under the watchful eyes of Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton; James V. Wertsch, Ph.D. (second from left), the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences and director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy; and members of the McDonnell Academy.

Photo by Kevin LowderSenior Kathleen Rains, a cancer survivor, receives a flower on completion of the first lap of Relay for Life March 1 at Francis Field. More than 1,700 people helped raise $180,470 for the American Cancer Society.

Observing that the current presidential campaign is becoming “hyper-racial,” a noted linguist and African American studies expert at Washington University in St. Louis suggests voters participate in a “linguistic thought experiment” to determine the extent that candidates are able to discuss race or gender on the campaign trail.

The annual Thurtene Road Race, which raises both money for charity and awareness of the Thurtene Carnival in April, will be held at 8:30 a.m. March 30 on the Danforth Campus.

Student Health Services is making available an online Web-based resource, MentalHealthEdu, to help faculty and staff members recognize students who are in distress and determine the best ways to help them.

Poet Mary Jo Bang, professor of English and director of The Writing Program, both in Arts & Sciences, has won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry. Bang was recognized for “Elegy,” a book of 64 poems that chronicles the year following the death of her son.