Campus & Community

School of Medicine employees ignored the unexpected chill in the air Friday, Sept. 12, and came out in droves for the annual employee appreciation picnic on the Medical Campus. The picnic was sponsored by the dean’s office and the Medical School Management Council.

Michael S. Kinch, PhD, joins Washington University in St. Louis as associate vice chancellor and director of the university’s new Center for Research Innovation in Business. H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, made the announcement.

​Washington University in St. Louis’ Jill Stratton, the “world’s oldest RA,” hel​ps students, staff and faculty to find their joy. Stratton strives to develop common education experiences, multidisciplinary courses and expanded programming at university housing.

H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Washington University in St. Louis, will be named the inaugural holder of the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professorship during a ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14, in Emerson Auditorium in Knight Hall.

Washington University has been named Best Workplace for Commuters (more than 100 employees category) by the Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT), a leading regional advocate for light rail and public transportation. Kim Cella, executive director of CMT, said the university’s varied menu of alternative transportation programs benefits both the Washington University community and the broader St. Louis region.

Ellen Binder, MD, and Krikor Dikranian, MD, PhD, have been named the 2014-2016 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows at the School of Medicine. The two-year fellowships support awardees as they implement innovative ideas that enhance the education of medical students and residents.

On Sept. 17, Sherrilyn Ifill, the distinguished legal scholar and president/director-general of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. will visit campus to deliver an Assembly Series lecture, “From Brown to Ferguson: The Unfinished Business of Civil Rights” at noon in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom on the Danforth Campus. Due to an expected large turnout, remote viewing sites within Anheuser-Busch Hall will be available.

Sharon Stahl, PhD, vice chancellor for students at Washington University in St. Louis and longtime adviser and mentor to undergraduates in the College of Arts & Sciences, has announced that she will retire at the end of the academic year, June 30, 2015, according to Provost H. Holden Thorp.

The Assembly Series offers a rare look inside one of the U.S.’s most secret organizations, courtesy of Jack Devine, retired acting director of CIA operations at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept.16, in Steinberg Hall Auditorium. Devine’s presentation, “The Importance and Ethics of National Intelligence,” is the annual Elliot Stein Lecture in Ethics.

​​Leah Me​rrifield loves attending productions at the Rep, the New Jewish Theatre and the St. Louis Black Rep. She will share other St. Louis gems tonight at the St. Louis Up Close presentation in the Danforth University Center.