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A $10 million commitment has been made to Washington University by alumnus and philanthropist Harry Seigle, and his wife, Susan, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. It is the lead gift for the building currently under construction on the western end of the Danforth Campus that will serve academic functions for the three social science departments in Arts & Sciences and for the School of Law. When it opens for the fall 2008 semester, it will be known as Harry and Susan Seigle Hall. The name is significant, for it represents the first academic building on the Danforth Campus to be named for an alumnus living outside of St. Louis.

In most hospital emergency rooms, patients with head injuries typically receive computed tomography (CT) scans to assess the damage. But brain injuries that lead to concussions rarely show up as abnormalities on such scans. So Washington University physicians at Barnes Hospital’s Charles F. Knight Emergency and Trauma Center have decided to go one step further. They are the only doctors in the St. Louis area who give a simple neurocognitive test to head injury patients to quickly identify concussions.

Should weather conditions create potentially hazardous travel conditions, Washington University will evaluate the situation and take into consideration the safety of the University’s faculty, staff and students as well as the services that must be provided despite the inclement weather.

Jeff Gill, Ph.D., Caitlin Kelleher, Ph.D., Peter Schmelz, Ph.D., Roya Beheshti Zavareh, Ph.D.

Washington University’s Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, has been ranked 5th in the nation by Architect magazine in its first annual education survey. The survey, published in the magazine’s November issue, examined all 117 programs recognized by the National Architectural Accrediting Board.

Parents of school-aged children might consider giving their children an enduring holiday gift this year: enrollment in a supplemental mathematics program. Dan Kimura, Ph.D., senior professor of computer science and engineering, opened St. Louis’ first Kumon center in 1984 in large part because of his disappointment in the math education his sons were getting.

Fengtao Wu, a senior lecturer in Chinese in Arts & Sciences, offers one of the nation’s “very best” university courses in Chinese, according to a recent College Board Advanced Placement World Languages Best Practices Course Study.

Photo by Robert BostonDenise Wilfley studies the whole range of problems with eating — from anorexia nervosa to obesity from childhood throughout life.

Herman T. Blumenthal, Ph.D., M.D., research professor of gerontology in psychology in Arts & Sciences, died Nov. 5. He was 94.

Photo by Mary ButkusBecause many students and faculty are not able to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday, a variety of traditional holiday dinners are held around campus.