Campus & Community

Marcus E. Raichle, MD, has been named an inaugural Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine. A professor of radiology, psychology, biomedical engineering, neurobiology and neurology, his many honors include the 2014 Kavli Prize for Neuroscience.

Things are looking much brighter on Skinker Boulevard between Forest Park Parkway and Delmar Boulevard, thanks to Washington University’s installation of new pedestrian-scale lighting and improvements to the street lighting.

Higher education reduces recidivism rates by as much as half. Yet today, only a small fraction of U.S. prisoners have access to such programs. In the fall of 2014, University College launched the Washington University Prison Education Project, a three-year pilot program supported by a grant from the Bard Prison Initiative.

For the Sake of All, the mulitdisciplinary project aimed at improving the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis, has partnered with the St. Louis County Library system to help further promote its recommendations.

A university-wide shoe drive, Battle of the Boot, is underway that pits Washington University in St. Louis against other regional universities to raise money for water wells in impoverished countries. Hosted by the Solea Water Project (formerly Shoeman Water Projects) in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability, Battle of the Boot is a shoe drive that also includes Fontbonne University, University of Missouri-St. Louis and Saint Louis University.

Two new laws in St. Louis will expand housing options for Section 8 renters in the city. Christine Ingrassia of the Board of Aldermen sponsored the measures, which were influenced by recent research from Molly Metzger, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced Feb. 23 that Kater Murch, PhD, assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded a 2015 Sloan Research Fellowship. He is among 126 outstanding U.S. and Canadian researchers selected as fellowship recipients this year. The fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders.

Washington University in St. Louis is 19th on the Peace Corps’ annual list of the top volunteer-producing midsized colleges and universities. Currently, 14 alumni are serving as Peace Corps volunteers. Students who want to learn more can visit a Peace Corps information table at 11 a.m. March 2, in Tisch Commons.

The next round of spring Assembly Series programs at Washington University in St. Louis will cover a variety of topics, from how society talks about contagious diseases to delving into major philosophical theory to the possibility of cloning a mammoth.

​​​Serving Washington University in St. Louis students for five decades, Lorena Smith, 81, has  done it all — prepared thousands of  sandwiches, pulled pints of beer at the university’s long-gone campus bar and issued parking tickets. “Some things don’t change,” said Smith, whom the students refer to as “Ms. Smitty.” “There have always been parking tickets, baby, always.” ​