Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

Social inequalities in schools and neighborhoods will be addressed by leading national scholars as well as prominent local scholars, experts and activists during a daylong conference Feb. 27 at Washington University. WUSTL’s Program in Social Thought & Analysis (STA) in Arts & Sciences is sponsoring the conference, titled “Inequalities in Schools & Neighborhoods: St. Louis and Beyond.”

Public intellectuals — a class of specialists, all-purpose thinkers — will gather from 10-11:30 a.m. Feb. 12 in Graham Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis to have a “Conversation” about, well, public intellectuals. As part of the university’s yearlong 150th anniversary celebration, Arts & Sciences is sponsoring “Conversations,” a four-part series bringing some of the nation’s top scholars together to discuss key issues that will affect the future of the university, the community and the world.

December/January Culture & Living Tip Sheet

Image by Trent L. Schindler, Nat’l Science Foundation, Arlington, VAComputer-based reconstruction of an arsinoithere, an extinct fossil mammal from Ethiopia that lived 27 million years ago.Tab Rasmussen, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, and two of his graduate students, were part of an international team of researchers that discovered new fossils in the highlands of Ethiopia that are filling gaps in scientists’ understanding of the evolution of African mammals. The results are reported in the Dec. 4, 2003, issue of the journal Nature.

Elliot F. Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, announced the names of the thirty-two American men and women chosen as Rhodes Scholars. They will enter the University of Oxford in England next October, almost exactly one hundred years after the first class of American Rhodes Scholars did in 1904. The Scholars were chosen today from 963 applicants—who were endorsed by 366 colleges and universities. The WUSTL recipients for 2004 are Allison Gilmore and Bethany Ehlmann.

“The Future of Freedom” will be the topic of “Conversation” when scholars gather Nov. 13 at Washington University for the second of a four-part series of discussions on key issues that will affect the future of the university, the community and the world. Arts & Sciences is sponsoring the four “Conversations,” which are free and open to the public, as part of the university’s 150th anniversary celebration. “The Future of Freedom Conversation” will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Graham Chapel.

November Culture & Living Tip Sheet

The National Conference on Graduate Student Leadership will bring to campus 42 graduate student delegates from 14 universities.

U.S. Administration on AgingAging is a women’s issue because women provide the bulk of care and support to older adults.An aging parent wants to keep the car keys, while his adult daughter thinks he is a hazard to himself and others on the road. Or a widow who has lived in her home for 55 years refuses to move out, although her children worry that she’s too frail to manage the stairs. As more and more adult children face caring for their aging parents in the coming decades, an expert on the clinical psychology of aging says the key to dealing with these types of situations is to discuss them before they become a reality. “Don’t procrastinate,” says Brian D. Carpenter, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “Start the process of talking to your aging parents early — before a crisis.”

The media are invited to cover Washington University’s 150th birthday party on Sept. 14. For more information on the day’s activities or to find out about media parking, media assistance or for story and photo ideas, refer to this media advisory.