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The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research has announced the six winning teams of the 2011 University Research Strategic Alliance (URSA) grants. URSA grants offer a one-year, $25,000 award to full-time faculty members at WUSTL who begin a new collaboration with investigators from different disciplines. Researchers who receive the grant work together in a new area of research, or plan to approach a problem in a different way.

Take a walk on the second floor of North Brookings Hall past the Bridge Conference Room, and you’ll see a different take on a familiar face. A painting of Robert S. Brookings, president of WUSTL’s Board of Trustees from 1895-1928, arrived in September and now hangs on the west-facing wall. The new portrait was painted in 1905 by noted American Impressionist artist Richard E. Miller and replaced another painting of Brookings in the Bridge Conference Room.

James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences who died Sept. 6, was remembered through song and speech during three events at WUSTL this past week, including an intimate Liederabend Sunday, Oct. 9, in Holmes Lounge. The performance, with baritone Sidney Outlaw (left), was dedicated to the memory of McLeod, who initiated the university’s first Liederabend, translated as “evening of song,” nearly 30 years ago.

The Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present a special “Celebrate the Staff” preview performance of Hairspray: The Broadway Musical at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in Edison Theatre. The preview is open to all staff members of the WUSTL community (including Aramark and Bon Appetit employees). Tickets are $10 flat — a fifty-percent savings off the regular faculty/staff price.

Through the Social Change Grant program, students are encouraged to use their creativity and knowledge to find solutions to world problems. The program provides $5,000-$6,000 in funding for a summer service project. The many projects — from water purification in Uganda to family planning in India — will be highlighted during an Oct. 12 showcase in Danforth University Center. 

Kent Theiling Jr., grounds and landscape design manager for the Danforth Campus, will lead a Fall Arbor Tour Wednesday, Oct. 19. The guided tour will start at 11 a.m. at the Danforth Garden in front of Brookings Hall and is expected to last approximately an hour. The tour will take participants on a walk throughout the Danforth Campus to learn more about the different kind of trees located on campus.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will celebrate Campus Sustainability Week Oct. 17-21 with various speakers and information stations around the campus.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton cuts the ribbon during a ceremony Sept. 28 to celebrate the Campus Store’s recent reopening after an extensive renovation. The renovation, which was completed this past summer, expanded the store; updated the interior space with new carpeting, lighting, fixtures and more; created a more open floor plan; and added a new glass entrance off of Forsyth Boulevard.

As the fall keynote speaker for the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, E.J. Dionne, PhD, will present his thoughts on the question “Can Religion and Politics Make Us More Civil and Not Just Angry?” His talk, which also is an Assembly Series program, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, in Graham Chapel.

Washington University will test its emergency notification system, WUSTLAlerts, at approximately 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13. The WUSTLAlerts test will take place unless there is the potential for severe weather that day or some other emergency is occurring at that time. For the test, WUSTLAlerts will send emails to @wustl.edu addresses, text messages to cell phones and voice messages to cell phones.