Newsroom Stories

For years, the St. Louis region has attempted to promote itself as a new biotechnology hub. But if that is the case, how aligned are the local human resource development strategies with the economic goals of the area? If St. Louis does become a great biotechnology hub, where will the scientifically literate workforce come from? […]

Unraveling the mysteries of the human brain, and the mind it gives rise to, is within the reach of modern science, suggests a forthcoming issue of the journal Neuroscience. The special issue explores how sophisticated working memory processes — from the firing of a single neuron to the activation of multiple brain regions — help shape our understanding of the world, says issue co-editor Grega Repovs, a visiting post-doctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis.

Jeff FasanoImani WindsSt. Louis native Josephine Baker was one of the most acclaimed, controversial and ultimately beloved African-American performers of the 20th century. Her sensual allure and sharp comic timing caused a sensation in Paris during the 1920s, at a time when U.S. popular culture remained largely segregated. On Friday, April 28, the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series at Washington University will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Baker’s birth with a special, one-night-only performance of The Josephine Baker Project: A Life of Le Jazz Hot.

Mary Butkus/WUSTL Photo ServicesBallgown by Rachel LwinThe Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis will present The 77th Annual Fashion Design Show at Saint Louis Galleria Sunday, May 7. The fully choreographed, Paris-style extravaganza will feature more than 50 professional and volunteer models wearing close to 130 outfits created by six seniors and 19 juniors from the school’s fashion design program.

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo ServicesLingerie by Natalie AntinPress images for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ 77th Annual Fashion Design Show, which takes place at Saint Louis Galleria Sunday, May 7.

A newly opened clinical trial will evaluate the use of radioactive implants combined with surgical removal of small sections of lung to treat stage I lung cancer. The first patients are now being enrolled at the School of Medicine, and the trial will soon be opened at centers nationwide.

The Washington University Concert Choir will present an evening of French choral music at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in Graham Chapel. The program, which will feature Gabriel Fauré’s beloved Requiem, is dedicated to the memories of Elizabeth Gray Danforth, wife of Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth and first lady of Washington University for nearly a quarter century, who passed away last spring; and Sona Haydon, a longtime lecturer in piano for the Department of Music, who died last fall.

Opal Andrews*Violet: A Musical Pilgrimage*It’s 1964. An embittered yet deeply religious young woman, disfigured by childhood injury, boards a bus for the Deep South, in search of a TV evangelist who claims to possess healing powers. So begins Violet: A Musical Pilgrimage, one of the most acclaimed off-Broadway shows of the last decade. From April 21 to 30, the Performing Arts Department will present six performances in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

SansaloneMary J. Sansalone, Ph.D., professor of structural engineering at Cornell University, will become dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis on July 1, 2006, according to Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor.

John MajorThe Right Honorable Sir John Major, former prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and a leading authority on the changing global landscape, has been selected to give the 2006 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. The university’s 145th Commencement will begin at 8:30 a.m. May 19 in Brookings Quadrangle. Major’s talk is titled “The Changing World.”