Newsroom Stories

Twenty WUSTL schools, academic areas and departments at the graduate and professional levels currently hold top 10 rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of graduate and professional programs, which were released April 23.

A handsome prince, a distant land, a damsel in distress. Yet in the world of The Magic Flute, little is as it seems. Next week the Washington University Opera will present an abridged version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-91) beloved classic in Karl Umrath Hall.

The School of Medicine remains No. 3 among research-oriented medical schools, according to the 2010 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” The rankings appear in the April 28 issue of the magazine and in an annual guidebook.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will honor six outstanding architecture and art alumni at its second annual Awards for Distinction dinner April 23. Recipients will include Ralph Cunningham (BA 1983), Ann Fertig Freedman (BFA 1971), Tom Friedman (BFA 1988) and Harry C. Kendall (BA 1978). In addition, Sara Velas (BFA 1999) will receive the 2009 Young Alumni Award. Judy Pfaff (FA71) will receive the Dean’s Medal for distinguished service to the school.

Five finalists are vying for $150,000 — the largest social entrepreneurship award pool in the U.S. — tonight at Washington University in St. Louis. Winners of the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC) will be announced at 5p.m. in May Auditorium, Simon Hall, on the Danforth Campus. More than 40 non-profit ventures entered the competition last fall — all are dedicated to creating social enterprises that boost the regional economy by creating jobs and in many cases reducing government costs for social programs. A Q & A session with reknowned Pittsburgh-based social entrepreneur BIll Strickland will kick-off the event.

Photo by Robert BostonEmployees tried out a bicycle at the Bear Bikers booth at the School of Medicine’s Health Happening ’09 health fair April 9-10.

Washington University in St. Louis will bestow honorary degrees on four pioneers and leaders in their respective fields during its 148th Commencement May 15. During the ceremony, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Brookings Quadrangle, the university also will bestow more than 2,700 academic degrees on more than 2,600 students. Wendy Kopp, chief executive officer and founder of Teach For America, will deliver the Commencement address and receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree.

Washington University will bestow honorary degrees on four pioneers and leaders in their respective fields during its 148th Commencement May 15.

Courtesy PhotoThe Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum exhibit “Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future,” the first retrospective to explore the complete career of the acclaimed Finnish-American architect of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, closes its St. Louis run Monday, April 27.

To reduce waste and share goods typically thrown away during campus and off-campus move-out with people in need, Washington University in St. Louis campus groups are organizing “Share Our Stuff” drop-offs on and off campus this spring and summer to benefit Operation Food Search, the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Lydia’s House.