Humanities & Society

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.

​Created 60 years ago, the Assembly Series is Washington University’s premiere lecture series. Its chief mission is to present interesting and important voices, and it is designed to spark meaningful discussion and lead to greater understanding of our world today. Assembly Series programs are free and open to the public. The fall 2013 schedule, below, opens with First Year Reading Program author Eula Biss on September 9.​​​

The newly renovated Whispers Café introduced frozen yogurt. Other new dining options include a sushi happy hour at Ibby’s, gyros at Ursa’s and Asian street food at the Bear’s Den.

4,000 glow sticks, 50 academic progams, 100 First 40 events make the start of the school year special for new students.

This summer, 75 teachers from five St. Louis area school districts and two charter schools spent two intensive weeks on the Washington University in St. Louis campus kicking off a yearlong professional development program called STEM Teacher Quality Initiative.

Explore Leader student volunteers are preparing international students for life on campus — greeting them at the South 40, helping them open checking accounts and even taking them shopping at Target.  Before classes start, the Office of International Students & Scholars will assist 250 undergraduates and 600 graduate students — many of whom have never traveled to the United States. ​

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton welcomed more than 60 scholars from around the world — including Washington University in St. Louis and representatives from the McDonnell International Scholars Academy partner institutions — to Seoul, South Korea, in June for the Global Aging Initiative. The meeting, sponsored by the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging at WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health, was the first opportunity for scholars to connect and identify opportunities for collaboration on cross-national aging-related research.

This native plant meadow, just northeast of the Athletic Complex, was in full bloom on a recent sunny day. The meadow is one of eight native planting sites and bioswales at the university managed by the Office of Facilities Planning and Management. Grounds manager Kent Theiling said native plant areas are hearty, more sustainable and reduce the time and money spent mowing grass.

Kevin Hays is considered one of the globe’s best Rubik’s Cube solvers, but he’s not the only Rubik’s Cube master on the Washington University in St. Louis campus. Provost Holden Thorp also won Rubik’s Cube competitions as a teenager.

Widespread social problems are nothing new, yet solutions today require a different, more innovative approach. A new book, Transdisciplinary Public Health: Research, Education, and Practice (edited by Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, the Joyce Wood Professor at the Brown School and associate dean for research, and Timothy McBride, PhD, professor) aims to fill that void by laying out a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving.​