Newsroom Stories

Washington University’s Coordinating Council for Diversity Initiatives (CCDI) has awarded 13 diversity and inclusion grants to faculty and staff for initiatives that improve the campus environment for women and members of underrepresented minority groups who are on faculty or staff.

Members of the Visions Gospel Choir perform before a capacity crowd during the university’s 23rd annual celebration honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus. The theme of this year’s event was “Living the Legacy: Forging Our Path Through Leadership and Service.”

The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University have received from Alvin J. Siteman a commitment for an endowment that will provide at least $1 million annually to advance pioneering investigations into cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The new endowment establishes the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Research Fund, which will provide support for transformational scientific contributions that address the challenges associated with overcoming cancer. 

The Record, the source of Washington University news and information since 1974, launches an entirely digital publication today, Jan. 19. It is part of Newsroom, the new comprehensive Web site of the University News Service and Medical News Service that debuts today as well. The digital format will allow more timely coverage of events, sharing to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and seamless integration of RSS and other Web 2.0 technologies.

The third of four University-wide blood drives this year will be held Jan. 26 at nine locations throughout the University. FULL STORY

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will serve as chair of the steering committee for the Advance St. Louis campaign to pass a half-cent sales tax increase to support public transportation in the St. Louis area. St. Louis County voters will decide April 6 whether to pass the increase to provide $75 million annually to expand and operate the Metro system, which includes Metro bus, MetroLink and Call-A-Ride services.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton addresses the WUSTL community on how faculty, staff and students can help relief efforts in Haiti.

New calculations by an international group of theorists paint a better picture of the nature of quark stars and suggest a way for astronomers to find the quark stars among the neutron stars. But WUSTL physicist Mark Alford, commenting on the journal publication in a news article posted Jan. 15 at PhysicsWorld.com, suggests that the new work may not be the last word. Alford, who uses mathematical modeling to explore the properties of quark stars, contends that the mathematical theory it uses is only truly accurate when the quarks are millions of times denser than they are in real neutron stars.

The Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will launch its spring Danforth University Center Chamber Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, with a performance by harpsichordist Maryse Carlin and members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Steve Fazzari What will generate the growth necessary to put many of the unemployed back to work again?  That’s the question economist Steve Fazzari is asking as we move past the first recession of the 21st century.  “In the deep downturns of the 1970’s and early ’80’s, strong consumer spending growth led to strong recoveries. Unfortunately, I just don’t see that happening this time”  says Fazzari.  Includes video interview.