Campus & Community

Five student-athletes earned individual University Athletic Association titles to lead the Bears to a sweep of the men’s and women’s team conference championships Feb. 26 at the New Balance Track & Field Center in New York. Updates also included on men’s and women’s basketball season finales; swimming and diving; men’s tennis; and the opening series of the baseball season.

Burton M. Wheeler, PhD, professor emeritus of English and of religious studies, both in Arts & Sciences, and a beloved teacher and former dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Friday, Feb. 17, at his home in Warson Woods, Mo., after a long battle with cancer. He would have turned 85 March 12.

The No. 24 men’s basketball team scored the last 11 points of the game and clinched the 2012 University Athletic Association (UAA) championship with a 74-68 victory at New York University Feb. 19. Updates also included on women’s basketball, track and field, swimming and diving and women’s tennis.

The School of Engineering & Applied Science will host a week of special events beginning Sunday, Feb. 19, to inspire current and future engineers. WUSTL’s EnWeek is one of many similar celebrations taking place at engineering schools across the country under the auspices of the National Engineers Week Foundation.

Vicki Kunkler, director of publications and communications at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, of cancer. She was 64.

The No. 3 men’s tennis team defeated NCAA Division II No. 19 Drury University 5-4 Feb. 12 at the Creve Coeur Racquet Club in Creve Coeur, Mo. The victory over Drury was the Bears first in four tries under head coach Roger Follmer. Updates also included on men’s and women’s basketball and track & field.

The No. 25 men’s basketball team snapped No. 17 Emory University’s 17-game home winning streak with a 92-83 victory Feb. 5 in Atlanta. The victory enabled WUSTL, who lost Feb. 3 at the University of Rochester, to remain in a tie for first place in the University Athletic Association standings with New York University. Updates also included on women’s basketball, track and field and men’s tennis.

Betty Birnbaum Hearsh, assistant in dress design in 1951 and instructor in design, art and fashion from 1964-1976, died Dec. 23, 2011. She was 84.

Researchers working together at the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center imagine ways to adapt plants’ mechanisms, in hopes of producing renewable fuels and other beneficial outcomes.

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