Humanities & Society

Fourteen Washington University in St. Louis School of Law faculty, led by Gregory Magarian, JD, professor of law, played a prominent role in vetting new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

Genetic investigators, include Fiona Marshall, PhD, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, say that the partnership between people and the ancestors of today’s donkeys was sealed not by monarchs trying to establish kingdoms, but by mobile, pastoral people who had to recruit animals to help them survive the harsh Saharan landscape in northern Africa more than 5,000 years ago.

Want your student to stay calm and focused as they begin the new school year this fall? Make sure they eat a quality breakfast including protein and quality carbohydrates, says a nutrition expert at Washington University in St. Louis. (Includes video)

A district judge’s decision to overturn California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage technically puts the issue one step away from the U.S. Supreme Court. But Washington University in St. Louis experts say a final ruling may wait until other, similar cases work their way through the legal system.

The Senate’s approval of Elena Kagan as a U.S. Supreme Court justice marks the first time three women will serve together and gives the court its youngest member, among other shifts.

Missouri is getting national attention with the Aug. 3 Proposition C referendum on  federal health care reform. But Timothy D. McBride, PhD, associate dean for public health at the Brown School, says no matter the outcome, the vote will have little impact on the new health care law.

The Brown School has received a five-year, $2 million Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development award. The grant will fund research led by Patricia Kohl, PhD, to test the Pathways Triple P parent-training program in the high-risk child welfare population.

Matthew J. Gabel, PhD, professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, has been awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The award will support his work on judicial decision-making in the European Union.

A new Undergraduate Honors Program will be offered beginning this fall semester at University College, the adult, evening and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences. The honors program offers high-achieving students the opportunity to join a learning community dedicated to an exceptionally rigorous but flexible program of study that enables students to work closely with a faculty mentor on an independent project and earn the distinction of Latin honors.

A new bachelor of science in health care will be offered this fall semester at University College, the adult, evening and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences. The degree program, which begins with the start of the semester Aug. 31, provides an academic foundation for students pursuing managerial, clinical or research careers in health care.