Humanities & Society

Veterans are returning home to an abysmal economy and a tough job market. “After World War II, employers used to snap up veterans because of their tremendous skills sets gained in the service — whether that be technical, leadership, or other job specific aptitudes,” says Monica Matthieu, PhD, research assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert on veteran mental health. “But now, veterans are facing higher unemployment rates than civilians as employers may be concerned about veterans’ struggle with the mental and physical health aftereffects of military service,” she says.

Hanging out with friends after school and on the weekends is a vital part of a teen’s social life. But for adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, social activity outside of school is a rarity, finds a new study by Paul Shattuck, PhD, autism expert and assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and Major League Baseball’s most coveted free agent, is clearly the best player in the game. But whichever team signs him this offseason will be overpaying, says an expert on pay-for-performance at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Occupy protests present a classic First Amendment problem: balancing political dissent against government control of property. “In theory, the government has very limited authority to curb expressive activity in what the law calls ‘public forums,’” says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

The U.S. remains on track to spend twice as much for health care as for food, yet millions are without insurance or uninsured. “Health insurance premiums also continue to rise – on average another 9 percent in 2011,” says Merton Bernstein, JD, leading health insurance expert and the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis. “Medical care costs can change direction if policy makers stop whistling past a significant contributor – non-benefit costs.”

The School of Law is hosting a screening and discussion of the award-winning documentary Made In India at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The event is free and open to the public. The film explores the practice of “outsourcing” surrogacy arrangements to countries in which poor women agree to gestate pregnancies for intended parents from the U.S.

With Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on the way out of power, Italian debt has risen to record levels with few solutions in sight. An economist at Washington University in St. Louis who was born and raised in Italy warns that the Italian troubles may foreshadow what’s at stake for the United States as well, no matter how much more reliable its public debt may appear today.

Increased complexity in health care demands a greater body of knowledge for health social workers. The newly released Handbook of Health Social Work, Second Edition is a key resource for social workers, offering a comprehensive and evidence-based overview of social work practice in health care. “Social workers in health care are active problem solvers who must draw from knowledge at the social, psychological and biological levels to work constructively with other members of the health-care team,” says Sarah Gehlert, PhD, co-editor and the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the Brown School and the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “The Handbook covers practice and research areas ranging from chronic disorders to infectious disease, physical and mental disorders, and all areas in between.” US News & World Report listed medical and public health social work in their “Best Careers: 2011” article.

On Nov. 8, Mississippi voters will cast their ballots on Initiative 26, which would make every “fertilized egg” a “person” as a matter of law. “Many have rightly condemned this so-called ‘personhood’ initiative as an attack not only on abortion rights, but also on the ability to practice widely used methods of birth control, to attempt in vitro fertilization, and to grieve a miscarriage in private, without a criminal investigation by the state,” says Susan Appleton, JD, family law expert and the Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “But these criticisms fail to identify another flaw in the reasoning of the initiative’s proponents,” she says. “The proponents assume that attaching the label of ‘person’ to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses necessarily establishes a legal basis for criminalizing abortion, or even for requiring its criminalization.”

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service invites faculty to apply for grants to support their community-based teaching and learning (CBTL), also known as experiential education, engaged research, and most commonly, service learning. CBTL is a pedagogy that is used across the university. Distinguishing features include applied learning activities in service to an organization or community, faculty direction and oversight, and relevant course content and assignments.