Humanities & Society

A panel discussion, titled “Conversations on Gender and Blackness in the Age of Trayvon Martin,” will open WUSTL’s African and African-American Studies fall colloquium series at 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. WUSTL faculty will lead the discussion, which includes a coffee reception at 10 a.m.

Washington University media specialist Brian Cohen loved music festivals so much that he created one here in St. Louis. Loufest features indie rock’s top acts including Wilco, the Killers, Alabama Shakes and the National. This year’s event runs Sept. 7-8 in Forest Park.

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in the continuing series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars held biweekly on the Danforth Campus beginning Monday, Sept. 9, and running through Dec. 2. All lectures take place at noon in Seigle Hall, Room 348. The series begins with a lecture by Derek Neal, PhD, professor in economics at the University of Chicago titled “Designing Accountability Systems and Incentives Schemes for Educators.”

Some 1,100 Washington University freshmen will paint murals, pull weeds and organize classrooms Saturday, Aug. 31, at 13 local schools for Service First, one of the university’s largest community service projects.

Mahendra R. Gupta, PhD, dean of Olin Business School and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, serves a burger to a student during the 19th annual Olin Cookout Aug. 27 at Simon Hall. The tasty tradition brings the Olin community together, with faculty and staff serving barbecued chicken, pork and hamburgers to hungry students.

Rob Reich, PhD, associate professor of political science at Stanford University, has been named the 2013-14 Wells Fargo Advisors Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship by the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. An expert on political theory, he will make four visits to WUSTL over the course of the 2013-14 academic year.

Washington University in St. Louis is launching a new Climate Change Initiative aimed at expanding scientific research, education and public understanding of global climate change. A signature initiative of the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability, the initiative will be led by Peter H. Raven, PhD, the George Engelmann Professor of Botany Emeritus and President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The United States must take military action against Syria, even though it may not deter Syria or other “belligerent nations” from using weapons of mass destruction, suggests Krister Knapp, PhD, a senior lecturer in the Department of History in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. 

The First Year Center offered free snacks and school supplies to freshmen on the first day of class. Volunteers also snapped photos to send home.

Service First,one of Washington University’s biggest and most beloved community service programs, returns Aug. 31. Some 1,1oo first-year students plus many more staff and faculty will paint murals, pull weeds and organize libraries at 12 St. Louis schools.