Humanities & Society

With an election right around the corner and the media saturated with political pundits, the role of government may seem “all politics.” Students can get a fresh perspective on how government works with a series of events Oct. 20 and 21 that demonstrate how people are making a difference through careers in civil service.

“Since the founding of the Peace Corps 50 years ago, international service programs have grown dramatically across the public, private and nonprofit sectors,” says Amanda Moore McBride, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School and expert on civic service as Research Director at the School’s Center for Social Development (CSD). To date, most research on the field of international service has focused solely on the volunteers themselves. While impacts on volunteers are important, CSD researches not only the impacts on volunteers but also the impacts on the host communities and organizations that they serve. In their most recent study, McBride and colleagues looked at the impact of international service on the development of volunteers’ international contacts and how those contacts, in turn, are used to further host community development around the world.  

The world has been captivated by the amazing rescue of 33 miners trapped underground for 69 days in Chile. The miners’ survival and rescue were made possible by collaboration, says R. Keith Sawyer, PhD, associate professor of education and of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Sawyer is an expert on the science of creativity and collaboration.

Sociologist William Julius Wilson, PhD, the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University and a leading authority on race and poverty in the United States, will deliver the biennial lecture for Washington University’s Center on Urban Research and Public Policy at 1:10 p.m. Oct. 19 in the Danforth University Center, Room 276.

Recent calls to cut Social Security benefits are grounded in misinformation and misunderstanding, says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, the Walter D. Coles Professor Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “Cutting the program will lead to undiminished deficits, more poverty, less purchasing power, less business income and more unemployment,” he says.

Eric Edmonds, PhD, associate professor of economics at Dartmouth College, will speak about “Poverty Alleviation and Child Labor” at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Washington University’s Goldfarb Hall, Room 132. His talk is a follow-up discussion to Nicholas Kristof’s recent WUSTL presentation on his book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

The Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences is presenting a seminar series throughout this academic year and into next titled “Interrogating Diversity: Race, Gender, and Class Across Time and Space.”

Faculty and administrators are invited to submit proposals for program initiatives that strengthen and promote diversity and inclusion at Washington University. The Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants, which will review the proposals, is particularly interested in proposals that address work environment, recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and administrative staff, and cultural competence.

Jon Meacham, former editor of Newsweek, will present “God and Politics: From George Washington to Barack Obama” at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26, in Graham Chapel on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis with a book signing and reception to follow.

The School of Law is hosting a screening and discussion of the award-winning documentary “Off and Running” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The event is free and open to the public. In “Off and Running,” filmmaker Nicole Opper chronicles the coming-of-age story of Avery, the adopted daughter of white Jewish lesbian parents and sister to two adopted brothers — one mixed-race and one Korean.