Newsroom Stories

Ida H. Early has been named secretary to the Board of Trustees, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.The appointment is effective July 1, when Harriet K. Switzer, Ph.D., steps down from that post. “Ida Early brings many years of University experience to her new role, and I welcome the opportunity to work with her,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “Ida is very familiar with the St. Louis community and our University, and is a person of enormous ability, sensitivity and integrity who, I am confident, will be successful as the next Secretary to the Board of Trustees.”

MugliaAfrican-American women are three times more likely to deliver babies three to 17 weeks prematurely than Caucasian women, according to a review of Missouri birth statistics by a group of researchers headed by professor Louis Muglia. In addition, African-American women are more likely to deliver babies prematurely in subsequent pregnancies.

All undergraduate students recently received an e-mail from James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, with a personlized link to the survey. The survey must be completed online by Feb. 26.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 2004Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s recently announced plan to nationalize the telecommunications and electricity industries in his country sent shockwaves through the boardrooms of multinational corporations with large holdings in Latin America. While some see Chavez as the leading edge of a “socialist revolution,” research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests this latest nationalization push is nothing more than politics as usual, part of a predictable pattern of political tensions that often arise when corporations make large foreign investments.

Human memory, the ability to recall vivid mental images of past experiences, has been studied extensively for more than 100 years. But until recently, there’s been surprisingly little research into cognitive processes underlying another form of mental time travel — the ability to clearly imagine oneself participating in a future event. Now, University researchers have used advanced brain imaging techniques to show that remembering the past and envisioning the future may go hand in hand, with each process sparking strikingly similar patterns of activity within precisely the same broad network of brain regions.

Photo by Kevin LowderRichard Ayres, a dancer and choreographer with Paul D. Mosley Dance Inc. in New York, works with fellow company member Lanileigh Ting during a recent master class with the dance program in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.

Alcoholism experts from around the United States will present their research at the 7th Annual Samuel B. Guze Symposium on Alcoholism at the Eric P. Newman Education Center from 8 a.m-5:30 p.m. Feb. 15. This year’s event at the School of Medicine focuses on “Alcohol Use Across the Lifespan.”

Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis, Hillary Petrie and Tyler Survant”Interface”Three teams from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts took top honors in the St. Louis Gateway Mall Follies Ideas Competition. Sponsored by the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the competition sought to generate innovative and unexpected ideas for the Gateway Mall downtown. Projects would serve as “visual anchors” for the area while helping to guide public movement along the Mall to the Gateway Arch.

Photo by Robert BostonKathryn M. Diemer helps prevent musculo-skeletal injuries, osteoporosis

Nuruddin Farah will be on campus Feb. 13 and 14 to speak on “Political Islam and Clan in Present-day Somalia” for the Assembly Series, and to present a reading/discussion of his works for the Department of English in Arts & Sciences.