Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

Three faculty have been named to the newly created position of faculty fellows in the Office of the Provost, announced Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. Marion G. Crain, J.D., the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law; Mark Rollins, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy in Arts & Sciences; and Elzbieta Sklodowska, Ph.D., the Randolph Family Professor in Arts & Sciences and chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, took on the additional responsibilities, effective July 1.

An historian of politics and American institutions at Washington University in St. Louis says that there is a “profound” difference between the awarding of a Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama and ones to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. And it has nothing to do with the fact that President Obama is only eight months into his first term as president and Presidents Roosevelt and Wilson were both near the end of their second terms when they received theirs, says Peter J. Kastor, Ph.D., an associate professor of history and of American culture studies in Arts & Sciences.

The new faculty who were introduced at the Arts & Sciences annual faculty reception are: Roshan Abraham, Ph.D., assistant professor, classics and religious studies; William Acree, Ph.D., assistant professor, Romance languages and literatures; Pannill Camp, Ph.D., assistant professor, performing arts; Shefali Chandra, Ph.D., assistant professor, history and international and area studies; Frederick Eberhardt, assistant professor, […]

Photo by Mary ButkusGary S. Wihl, Ph.D. (right), dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, meets with Phyllis Goldberg, niece of the late Hortense and Tobias Lewin, after the Sept. 16 ceremony in which he was installed as the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities.

A new tradition was started at the Arts & Sciences’ annual faculty reception, which was held Sept. 10 in Holmes Lounge. In addition to the usual introduction of new faculty at the beginning of the fall semester, two new awards that recognize the contributions of tenured faculty were presented to three faculty members during the reception.

Ramanath Cowsik, Ph.D., professor of physics and director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received the 2009 O’Ceallaigh Medal for his “outstanding contributions to cosmic ray physics.” Cowsik, whose scientific contributions span over four decades, received the award during the opening ceremony of the 31st biennial International Cosmic Ray Conference, held in Lodz, Poland.

Gary S. Wihl, Ph.D., who joined Washington University in St. Louis July 1 as dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, will be installed as the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities during a 4:30 p.m. ceremony Sept. 16, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Wihl, who also is a professor in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, came to WUSTL from Rice University, where he was dean of its School of Humanities and the Francis Moody Newman Professor of the Humanities.

Gary S. Wihl, Ph.D., who joined WUSTL July 1 as dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, will be installed as the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities during a 4:30 p.m. ceremony Sept. 16.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that individual cells isolated from the biological clock can keep daily time all by themselves. However, by themselves, they are unreliable. The neurons get out of synch and capriciously quit or start oscillating again.

Photo by Randy KorotevLunar geochemist Randy Korotev, Ph.D., a research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, said that there are still many answers to be gleaned from the moon rocks collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic moonwalk 40 years ago July 20. And he credits another WUSTL professor for the fact that the astronauts even collected the moon rocks in the first place.