Humanities & Society

America spoke in November, one month after the candidates collided in the presidential debate held Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis. In the days that followed the historic 2016 election, faculty experts across campus offered their perspectives on the economy, the legislative responses, the cultural and global ripple effects.

Betsy DeVos is arguably the most controversial figure ever nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Education. Yet in covering her nomination, many journalists have conflated valid concerns about experience, temperament and political beliefs with questionable assumptions about her religious background, argues Abram Van Engen, associate professor of English.

Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, has a strong commitment to rule of law values and is the best possible choice among the potential nominees that Trump circulated before the election, says a Supreme Court scholar at Washington University in St. Louis.

Enrollment in Medicaid grew more rapidly in metropolitan areas than in rural areas in states that did not expand the program under the Affordable Care Act, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Millions of low- and moderate-income Americans who claim certain tax credits will have to wait weeks longer than usual this year for their federal income tax refunds because of a new law aimed at reducing fraud. The delay could prove costly for countless families, finds a new study from the Brown School and the Tax Policy Center.

Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis,  is the lead author on several high-school and middle-school textbooks and videos in physical science and earth science, co-authored a kindergarten through eighth grade national-science program, and also is a co-author on a leading geophysics undergraduate and graduate college textbook. He […]

Stephen Legomsky, the John S. Lehmann University Professor Emeritus and noted expert on immigration law, urges the new Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Adia Harvey Wingfield, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, specializes in research that examines how the intersections of race, gender and class can affect social processes in the workplace. She offers advice to the Trump administration’s Department of Labor:   “I urge the Department of Labor to be mindful of […]

Lamar Pierce, associate professor of organization and strategy in the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, co-authored a 2015 paper, titled “Losing Hurts: The Happiness Impact of Partisan Electoral Loss.” His work focuses on the psychological and economic motivations for productive and destructive behaviors. He offers advice about the need for watchdogs […]

Joan E. Strassmann is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Charles Rebstock Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, where she studies the evolution of conflict and cooperation. She writes a popular blog on becoming a biology professor with the goal of diversifying the professoriate. […]