Humanities & Society

The small increase in take-home pay that began in April 2009 through the Making Work Pay Credit (MWPC) could mean an unexpected bump in your tax bill says Cheryl Block, tax law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. The problem, according to Block, is that the Treasury Department’s new withholding tables do not take several individual employment circumstances into account. Some joint filers, college students and retirees, among others, may end up repaying all or part of the credit this tax season.

The face of America is changing rapidly, and Kip Fulbeck hopes that this change will lead Americans to explore the meaning of racial identity and challenge old ethnic stereotypes. Fulbeck will offer his insights at the Assembly Series program, “What Are You? The Changing Face of America,” at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, in Graham Chapel.

Anthropology professors Peter Benson and Carolyn Sargent will travel to Washington, D.C., Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 23 and 24, to speak with U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan of Missouri about the recently convened Healthcare Reform Task Force and new ways to link academic research and policy development.

The intricately intertwined relationship between the global economy and politics will be the focus of a public forum titled “Politics and the Global Recession” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25 in the Knight Center. The program is being sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy.

Donna Haraway, Ph.D., an internationally recognized theorist and historian of science and technology, is visiting the Department of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis as a Hurst Professor Monday, Feb. 22, through Friday, Feb. 26. As part of her visit, Haraway will give the opening talk Feb. 24 in a lecture series titled “21st Century Science Studies: Agents of Overlap in Biology and the Humanities.”

Africa Week, an annual event celebrating African culture sponsored by the African Students Association, begins Monday, Feb. 22, and continues through Friday, Feb. 26. The week’s focus is on myths about identity, art and legends and how they effect Africans around the world.

A new book, “The Missouri Botanical Garden Climatron: A Celebration of 50 Years,” by Eric Mumford, Ph.D., professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, chronicles the history and significance of the St. Louis landmark. In 1976, the Climatron was named one of the most important buildings in American architectural history by the American Institute of Architects.

St. Louis floodplains are in danger of contamination from radioactive wastes dumped years ago at a landfill in North St. Louis County, according to Robert Criss, Ph.D. professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Center for Social Development at the Brown School is advising and helping to test innovations in asset building — strategies that increase financial and tangible assets for families and businesses — in several countries in East and Southeast Asia.

Top experts in Chinese law will gather at School of Law Thursday, Feb. 25, for a panel discussion and open public forum. The event, co-sponsored by the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. A live webcast also will be available through the program.