Newsroom Stories

The Black Rep and the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences together present the Tony Award-winning musical “Ragtime” as the fall Mainstage production beginning Oct. 16.

Three faculty have been named to the newly created position of faculty fellows in the Office of the Provost, announced Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. Marion G. Crain, J.D., the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law; Mark Rollins, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy in Arts & Sciences; and Elzbieta Sklodowska, Ph.D., the Randolph Family Professor in Arts & Sciences and chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, took on the additional responsibilities, effective July 1.

China’s population of adults over 65 tops 100 million. This number is steadily growing, putting China at the forefront of a global demographic shift that includes the United States and other developed nations. “While a common tendency is to focus on the burdens an aging population will place on a country’s economic and social welfare, an aging society represents an opportunity, not just a crisis,” says Nancy Morrow-Howell, Ph.D., productive aging expert and professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. “Expanding opportunities for productive engagement, including paid employment, formal volunteering, and mutual aid, may reduce social costs by reducing health care expenses and need for post-retirement income supports. (Video available)

Courtesy PhotoThe $235 million BJC Institute of Health at Washington University, the hub for WUSTL’s BioMed 21 initiative, will open in December after two years of construction.

A study of mental decline in the years prior to diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease suggests that changing the focus of testing may help physicians detect signs of the disease much earlier. School of Medicine researchers have found that visuospatial skills, evaluated with tasks such as connecting the dots or using a guide to build a structure with blocks, begin to deteriorate up to three years prior to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

Washington University will host The Center for Academic Integrity’s 18th Annual International Conference Oct. 16-18, 2009. Several hundred students, faculty and staff from around the world will discuss the practice and philosophy of academic integrity, focusing on issues germane to both college and high school education. The conference theme is “Creating a Culture of Integrity: Research and Best Practices.”

Cells in the retina quickly adjust to darkness by way of an intricate process.Ever wonder how your eyes adjust during a blackout? When we go from light to near total darkness, cells in the retina must quickly adjust. Vision scientists at the School of Medicine have identified an intricate process that allows the human eye to quickly adapt to darkness. The same process also allows the eye to function in bright light.

The 2009 seasonal flu vaccination program for School of Medicine employees has been a tremendous success. Given the high and early participation rate by WUSM faculty and staff, the originally published flu vaccination schedule has been shortened. If you have already received your free flu shot, thank you! If not, please protect yourself, your family, co-workers and patients by taking advantage of remaining vaccination offerings.

Scholars from across the country and Canada will gather at Washington University in St. Louis Nov. 6 and 7 for the inaugural International Creole Corridor Symposium. The public is invited to attend the symposium, sponsored by the University and Les Amis (The Friends), the region’s Creole cultural heritage preservationist organization located in St. Louis.

A new mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) closely resembles the paralyzing disorder in humans, researchers at the School of Medicine report online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.