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Washington University in St. Louis is one of 32 colleges and universities joining in a national initiative to reduce high-risk drinking on campuses. The participating schools are working together to bring a new, evidence-based approach to an old problem. Through comprehensive evaluation and measurement techniques, The Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking will identify and implement the most effective ways to tackle an issue affecting nearly four out of 10 college students nationally.

Halfway through the WUSTL 2011 United Way campaign, the university community has raised approximately $450,000 toward its goal of $650,000 to support more than 170 United Way of Greater St. Louis agencies. These agencies — which offer an array of services to the St. Louis community — serve a large, diverse population of more than 1 million people each year in 16 counties in Missouri and Illinois, approximately one of every three in the St. Louis area.

A reception was held Sept. 28 in Holmes Lounge to launch the interdisciplinary Institute for School Partnership, Washington University’s signature effort to strategically improve teaching and learning within the K-12 education community. The institute, under the direction of Victoria L. May, builds on the partnerships and programs developed over the past 20 years through WUSTL’s Science Outreach and its founder, Sarah C.R. Elgin, the Viktor Hamburger Professor in Arts & Sciences. 

Faculty and administrators are invited to submit proposals for program initiatives that strengthen and promote diversity and inclusion at Washington University. Projects aimed at improving the university environment for women and members of underrepresented minority groups can receive up to $30,000 through Washington University’s Diversity and Inclusion Grant program. The deadline for submission of 2011-12 proposals is Saturday, Nov. 5.

Following the Sept. 6 death of James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton has announced a transitional leadership plan for the College of Arts & Sciences. Sharon Stahl, PhD, associate vice chancellor for students and dean of the First Year Center, and Wayne Fields, PhD, the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Professor of English in Arts & Sciences, have agreed to take on the additional responsibilities of leading the College of Arts & Sciences on an interim basis.

Art historian Elizabeth Childs reveals how expectations of an idyllic place informed artists’ work of the late 19th century, and how these works in turn framed perceptions of place thereafter.

After lying unidentified for more than 130 years, 74 books from Thomas Jefferson’s “Retirement Library” were discovered recently in the University Libraries. Some feature handwritten notes from Jefferson himself — notes that reveal a remarkable mind.

John Gannon, PhD ’76, whose distinguished 30-year government career includes service in the Navy, the State Department, the CIA and the Congress, shares his insights into past events and future prospects for global security.

Washington University Libraries present a book talk by Michael Sherberg, PhD, associate professor of Italian in Arts & Sciences, at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, in Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room, Level 1. Sherberg’s lecture — titled “Boethius in the Renaissance: What Recent Acquisitions Teach Us” — will discuss three 16th-century translations of Boethius’s influential 6th-century work, Consolation of Philosophy, and what the translations tell modern scholars about the politics and poetics of translation in the Renaissance.

Arts & Sciences starts the fall semester with a new program director and four new departmental chairs, two of whom are heading newly created and reorganized departments.The Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures (ANELL) and the programs in East Asian Studies (EAS) and Jewish and Islamic Studies (JINES) have been reorganized into two full-fledged departments.