Humanities & Society

Photo by David KilperSt. Louis teachers gather at WUSTL to compare notes.At Washington University in St. Louis, teachers from five school districts are working with science and math education faculty in an effort designed to align curriculum to the NCLB standards and to improve instruction. Their work is supported by $6.5 million from the National Science Foundation, through funding from NCLB.

David D. Cole, professor of law at Georgetown University, author of numerous books on terrorism and civil liberties, and cooperating attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, will discuss “John Ashcroft’s Paradigm of Prevention and the Future of Civil Liberties”. After graduating from Yale Law School and clerking with the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Cole joined the Center for Constitutional Rights where he litigated several First Amendment cases, including the case that established protection allowing flag burning under the First Amendment. As a volunteer staff attorney for the Center, Cole continues to litigate First Amendment issues.

St. Louis Jewish LightFlanceFor retired physician I. Jerome Flance, more than 60 years of helping people as a doctor and teacher wasn’t quite enough. So six years ago, at age 87, he accepted the appointment of special associate for community redevelopment and began what is planned to be a 10-year project to revitalize the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. Read more in the following article published by the St. Louis Jewish Light Simcha magazine.

Viet D. Dinh, professor of law and director of the Asian Law and Policy Studies Program at Georgetown University, will speak about “Liberty and the Rule of Law After September 11” for the Assembly Series. As the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy under John Ashcroft from 2001 to 2003, Dinh worked on a number of important initiatives, including the U.S.A. Patriot Act.

An important debate among the three candidates for Missouri’s hotly contested 3rd District seat in the U.S. Congress will begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 in the May Auditorium of Simon Hall. Free and open to the public, the candidate debate is sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, and three local media outlets: KETC-TV Channel 9, KWMU public radio and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

EarlyGerald Early, Ph.D., the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in the Department of English and director of the Center for the Humanities, both in Arts & Sciences, has received a $222,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Division of Education Programs. The grant will fund “Teaching Jazz as American Culture,” an NEH Summer Institute to be held at Washington University in 2005.

Why do some people live longer?Researchers at the School of Medicine will head an ambitious study of people who live exceptionally long and healthy lives to identify the factors that account for their longevity. A team led by Michael Province, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics and genetics, received a $4 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to establish a Data Management and Coordinating Center for the Exceptional Longevity Family Study.

It’s a compilation of essays spanning four decades; they offer clear, no-nonsense economic policy analysis.

During her talk Sept. 15 in Graham Chapel for the Assembly Series, she will be “Handicapping the Presidential Election.”

One goal of these talks is to provide a forum for the University community to engage in a discussion of legal, social and ethical issues.