Newsroom Stories

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn campaign spending limits for corporations “strikes a serious blow against efforts to stem the dominance of corporations in our political process,” says Gregory  P. Magarian, J.D., constitutional and election law expert at Washington University in St. Louis.  “The Court overruled a longstanding decision that had struck a sensible, carefully drawn balance between the self-interest of corporations and interests of integrity and fairness in the political process.“

Shin-Ichiro Imai, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of developmental biology and of medicine, remains smiling while receiving a 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine Jan. 7 from Melanie Dill, a registered nurse for the Student and Employee Health Services at the School of Medicine. Despite an early morning snowstorm, many faculty, staff and students turned out to receive a vaccine. A vaccine clinic for Danforth Campus faculty, staff and students is planned for early February.

Four WUSTL faculty have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. The highest honor awarded by AAAS, the rank of fellow is bestowed upon members by their peers in recognition of scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

Nejla Yatkin, the 2010 Marcus Artist in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences’ Dance Program, will present an informal concert of her work at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26. Yatkin — who was born and raised in Berlin but has Turkish roots — draws on a range of dance traditions to explore issues of memory, migration, identity and multiculturalism.

Ira J. Hirsh, Ph.D., who did pioneering research in human hearing, auditory perception, communication, speech, language and communication disorders, died Jan. 12, 2010, of cardiopulmonary failure at Hillcrest Convalescent Center in Durham, N.C. He was 87.

HIV infection or the treatments used to control it are prematurely aging the brain, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California-San Diego have found. Blood flow in the brains of HIV patients is reduced to levels normally seen in uninfected patients 15 to 20 years older.

In remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Society of Black Student Social Workers at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work will host the fourth annual “Financial Freedom Seminar: Tying Loose Ends—Becoming Financially Secure,” from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, in Brown Hall, Room 100.

The Woman’s Club of Washington University marks its centennial in 2010, and the club will celebrate by offering special meals, lectures, exhibitions and gifts and creating a new endowed scholarship for undergraduate students. The centennial celebration kicks off Jan. 29 with “Honoring the Past,” a 1910-style luncheon featuring opera star Ann Hoyt, at 11:30 a.m. at the Saint Louis Woman’s Club.

Nearly all recyclable items can now be placed in one bin for recycling throughout the Danforth, West, North and South campuses. This change from the previous recycling system of separate bins began in January and comes in time for the 2010 RecycleMania competition. Those on most WUSTL campuses now will see only waste bins labeled “Recycling” or “Landfill.” Comingled recyclable items will be sorted off-campus by a vendor.

Washington University’s Eliot Trio will perform music of Robert Schumann, Antonín Dvořák and Germaine Tailleferre at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, in Holmes Lounge. The trio consists of Seth Carlin, professor of music and director of the piano program in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences; violinist David Halen, concertmaster for the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; and cellist Bjorn Ranheim, also with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.