Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

Washington University will host its fourth ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp June 20-July 2 for more than 45 St. Louis-area disadvantaged middle schoolers. The camp is a free, two-week academic residential camp designed to boost middle school students’ skills in math and science and their interest in related careers as well as introduce them to college life. Applications are being accepted through April 2.

John W. Lowe, Ph.D., a noted Americanist specializing in Southern literature and studies, is the visiting Hurst Professor in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences the week of March 1. Lowe will give two public lectures: one on “The Haitian Revolution’s Effect on Southern Literature”; the other on William Faulkner.

Students, faculty and alumni from the School of Engineering & Applied Science participate in the WUSTL chapter of Engineers Without Borders Service Project Day rehabbing a home in St. Louis’ North Grand Neighborhood. The project to help develop affordable housing was part of Engineers Week: February 14-20, the school’s week of special events to inspire current and future engineers.

Donna Haraway, Ph.D., an internationally recognized theorist and historian of science and technology, is visiting the Department of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis as a Hurst Professor Monday, Feb. 22, through Friday, Feb. 26. As part of her visit, Haraway will give the opening talk Feb. 24 in a lecture series titled “21st Century Science Studies: Agents of Overlap in Biology and the Humanities.”

Undergraduate tuition at Washington University in St. Louis will be $39,400 for the 2010-11 academic year — a $1,600 (4.2 percent) increase over the 2009-10 current academic tuition of $37,800. The required student activity fee will total $394, and the student health fee will be no more than $580. Barbara A. Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, made the announcement.

Ira J. Hirsh, Ph.D., who did pioneering research in human hearing, auditory perception, communication, speech, language and communication disorders, died Jan. 12, 2010, of cardiopulmonary failure at Hillcrest Convalescent Center in Durham, N.C. He was 87.

Having trouble figuring out what to get that high school senior on your gift list this holiday season? Or parents, want to make sure your 17-year-old keeps his or her mind on the right track while on winter break? A book might provide a simple solution. Washington University in St. Louis faculty offer their suggestions for the one book — in a few cases two or three — that a high school senior should read before heading off to college, whether to be better prepared for the college classroom or for living away from home or simply to be a more well-rounded person.

Washington University in St. Louis is establishing a scholarly and educational center that will focus on the role of religion in politics in the United States, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “The establishment of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics reflects the legacy of Jack Danforth and his belief in the importance of a civil discourse that treats differences with respect,” Wrighton said. The creation of the center, which includes the recruitment of five new faculty members with endowed professorships, is being made possible by a $30 million endowment gift from the St. Louis-based Danforth Foundation. It is believed to be the largest gift of its kind made to a university to fund such an academic center.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and former Sen. John C. Danforth, chairman of the Danforth Foundation, will hold a 3 p.m. media briefing Wednesday, Dec. 16, in WUSTL’s Alumni House to discuss a major announcement focused on religion and politics that they are making earlier in the day at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Gary C. Dollar, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, delivers remarks at the December Degree Candidate Recognition Ceremony in Graham Chapel Dec. 5. Looking on is Grand Marshal Robert E. Wiltenburg, Ph.D. (center), dean of University College in Arts & Sciences, and Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, who gave the Chancellor’s Message to the degree candidates.