Announcements

New, books, new professors, new classmates and new decor all signal the start of a new school year. New photographic displays in the Simon Hall alcoves by the main stairway feature news and updates on three Olin Business School initiatives for the 2012-2013 academic year.

As the country enters the final phase of an intense political season, the 2012 Assembly Series will feature individuals who bring passion and knowledge concerning issues that affect the way people think and potentially how they will vote. Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, opens the series.

More than 1,000 Washington University in St. Louis students, faculty and staff are taking part in Service First Saturday, Sept. 1. This community service event, held annually on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, is an opportunity for new students to volunteer with area public schools.

WUSTL is set to stream 62 live athletic events through Stretch Internet during the fall and winter seasons, starting with football, volleyball and soccer events next week. Stretch Internet is the official web-streaming provider for the university’s Department of Athletics. Live webcasting will kick off Friday, Aug. 31, with the No. 2-ranked volleyball team hosting Fontbonne University at 5 p.m. and the No. 9-ranked women’s soccer team taking on Alma College at 5 p.m.

The university is increasing composting opportunities on the Danforth Campus through pilot programs with schools and departments. Beginning in August, visitors to Brown Hall and Goldfarb Hall of the Brown School, Anheuser-Busch Hall of the School of Law, and Facilities’ office Millbrook Building will have an opportunity to compost some of their waste.

McLeod’s Way, a landscaped gathering place along the path from the Forsyth Underpass to the Clock Tower on the South 40, will be dedicated Saturday, Sept. 15, in memory of Jim McLeod, WUSTL’s beloved vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, who died in 2011 after a two-year battle with cancer. The gathering place, to be completed in early September, will feature wooden benches and granite and limestone walls inscribed with many of McLeod’s favorite, inspirational sayings.

More than 1,700 new students move onto campus starting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. Five full days of orientation, better known as Bear Beginnings, take place Aug. 23-Monday, Aug. 27.

A new session of free Freedom from Smoking classes begins Aug. 28. The classes are open to all university employees and go through Oct. 2.

The Danforth Campus at Washington University in St. Louis will host local and national organizations on Wednesday, Sept. 19, for the Fall Internship & Job Career Fair. The event is sponsored by the university’s Career Center. The fair will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. in the Recreational Gym of the Athletic Complex.

Forsyth Boulevard will be reopened to vehicular traffic at noon Thursday, Aug. 16. Forsyth and the underpass will remain closed to pedestrian traffic until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17.