Newsroom Stories

An expert on the Second Amendment says that gun owners and sellers should not be sweating bullets over Barack Obama’s election as president. Despite Obama’s record on gun control, David T. Konig, Ph.D., a professor of history in Arts & Sciences and a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms will not be an issue that Obama will address as president early in his term — if at all.

Olin Business School professor Jackson Nickerson says, “ChangeCasting” is the best way for presidents and CEOs to build trust, create understanding and enact change with all of their constituents and employees. Nickerson’s ChangeCasting is a new web-based approach to communication that allows executives to lead and accelerate change within their organizations. It opens up a two-way street between the corner office and employees at every level of a company.

Michael Lewis, marketing professor at the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis says the Obama brand was launched by a liberal and progressive web-based ‘net roots’ movement in the primaries, moved towards the center on some issues in the general election and now must figure out how it will it will position itself to govern.

EDITH L. WOLFF (nee Waldman), age 93, died on Friday, December 26, 2008, at Barnes Hospital after a brief illness. She was born in St. Louis on May 23, 1915. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Alan A. Wolff, who died in 1989. A longtime supporter of Washington University, Wolff recently committed $20 million to support biomedical research at the School of Medicine.

Karen Butler, Ph.D., has been appointed assistant curator for collections at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The appointment is effective January 2, 2009. Butler is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Matisse Studies at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA, where she also serves as an adjunct lecturer in art history at the University of Pennsylvania. Her primary research interests are early- and mid-20th-century American and European art — areas in which the Kemper Art Museum has particularly strong holdings.

Mark J. Brostoff will join the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis as associate dean and director of the Weston Career Center effective Jan. 9, 2009. Brostoff is a retired commander in the United States Navy and a WUSTL alumnus with a master’s degree in Health Administration, earned in 1982. He graduated from Alfred University in 1980.

The more an animal walks during the day, the less energy it has to reproduce. Makes sense right? Not so fast, say two WUSTL researchers. They claim, based on a study of 161 mammalian species, that on average, animals which travel the longest distance each day to find food have the most offspring. The study, the first of its kind aimed at disproving the long-standing theory that more walking equates to less reproduction, was conducted by Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., assistant professor, and Jason Kamilar, Ph.D., research associate, both in anthropology in Arts & Sciences.

Joshua Maurer, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a four-year, $1,216,000 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for research titled, “Unraveling Development: New Materials for Understanding Neuronal Wiring.” Maurer’s long term objective is to develop methodology that allows the study of a variety of neuronal wiring processes. He is starting by unscrambling a phenomenon known as midline crossing using zebrafish. During development, neurons from the right eye cross the midline of the brain to make a connection in the left hemisphere.

In small towns in the Midwestern United States, people who eat out often at buffets and cafeterias and who perceive their community to be unpleasant for physical activity are more likely to be obese. The findings are published in the December issue of Preventive Medicine.

GainesGenevieve L. ‘Jean’ Gaines, who served Washington University for more than 55 years in roles ranging from a secretary, to administrative assistant, to associate registrar and lastly, as director of commencement, died Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008. She was 86.