Humanities & Society

Where a child lives makes a difference in how demographics and other factors influence algebra performance, and policies should take into account local variation, research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests. Here, a map illustrates the relationship between the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches and Algebra I scores in Missouri school districts.

As President Obama gives a speech on national security — including defending U.S. use of drones to combat terrorism — Leila Sadat, JD, international law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, argues that such targeted killing by unmanned planes may violate international humanitarian law. Legalities aside, she also questions whether it promotes U.S. interests abroad.

A new comprehensive, multi-disciplinary study, led by the Brown School’s Jason Q. Purnell, PhD, on the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis could have far-reaching impacts on an entire population. The research findings and a series of related policy briefs will culminate in a community conference in 2014, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

The Sustainable Land Lab project, a partnership between WUSTL and the City of St. Louis, officially broke ground May 18. The lab will tranform vacant lots in Old North St. Louis into assets to advance sustainability and community involvement. Winning projects include a chess garden and a restaurant made from a surplus cargo container.

Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD, professor and director of the Brown School’s Health Communication Research Laboratory (HCRL), has been named associate dean for public health, according to Edward F. Lawlor, PhD. dean and the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor. The appointment is effective July 1.

Read the full text of Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s speech at Washington University in St. Louis’ 152nd Commencement May 17, 2013.

Read the full text of Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton’s message to the graduates at Washington University in St. Louis’ 152nd Commencement ceremony May 17, 2013.

Washington University’s 152nd Commencement begins at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 17, in Brookings Quadrangle. The university will award 2,873 degrees to 2,752 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The university also will bestow honorary degrees on six individuals, including Commencement speaker Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J.

An executive branch Inspector General played a critical role in exposing the IRS’s practice of targeting Tea Party groups, says Kathleen Clark, JD, anti-corruption expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “As we see with the IRS controversy, an Inspector General investigation can cause heads to roll. Perhaps that’s why some government agencies have been without an Inspector General for a very long time – measured not in months, but in years.” Clark notes that the State Department has been without an Inspector General for more than five years.

Three WUSTL doctoral candidates were inducted into the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society at the annual Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Graduate Education April 19-20 at Yale University. The Bouchet Society, named for the first African American to earn a doctorate in the United States, recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate.