Newsroom Stories

What challenges does globalization present for industrialized economies, such as the United States and the European Union? How will fluctuations in dollar and euro exchange rates affect economic growth, inflation and interest rates? Will globalization influence the role of the dollar and the euro in international financial systems? These are a few of the questions to be explored May 25 as high-ranking international finance policymakers from the European Union and the United States join scholars for a conference on “The Euro and the Dollar in a Globalized Economy” at Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University will bestow degrees on more than 2,630 undergraduate, graduate and professional students during its 145th Commencement at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 19, in Brookings Quadrangle. The university also will bestow honorary degrees on five individuals. Sir John Major, former prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and a leading authority on the changing global landscape, will deliver the 2006 Commencement address. His talk is titled “The Changing World.”

George Warren Brown School of Social Work students in Dr. Stephanie Boddie’s community development class have been working with the St. Louis County Planning Department and the Glasgow Village Trustees to lay the groundwork for a Community Improvement District for unincorporated Glasgow Village.

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, will deliver the 2006 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis. The university’s 145th Commencement will begin at 8:30 a.m. May 19 in Brookings Quadrangle. During the ceremony, Washington University will award honorary degrees to five prominent people, including a 2004 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and a pioneering scholar of African and African-American literature. The university will also bestow academic degrees on more than 2,500 students.

There are no campus watch items for this issue of the Record.

Assab and Massawa, the two camels that produced antibodies for the caffeine testThree llamas and two camels have provided a way to tell whether your waiter swapped regular coffee for decaf in your after-dinner cup. Using the heat-resistant antibodies these camels and llamas make, researchers at the School of Medicine are developing a quick test for caffeine that works even with hot beverages. The researchers plan to adapt their technology to a simple test (“dipstick”) that can be used to check for caffeine in a variety of drinks.

Five undergraduates pursuing unpaid public-service internships will be the first beneficiaries of a new Public Service Summer Stipend program.

Exercise and losing weight can help obese older people reduce their risks for impaired daily living, limited mobility and functional decline.

Photo by Robert BostonFirst-grader Fairah Jeffries closely inspects a dissected cow’s eyeball in the mini-medicine course at Adams School in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood.School of Medicine students led a pilot program to introduce minority grade-school students to medicine and spark their interest in health-care professions.

Older men who have recently fractured a hip or had hip-replacement surgery are needed for a study to see if restoring testosterone to youthful levels and exercise can improve functioning and quality of life.