Newsroom Stories

Long before Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and even MySpace, early Mississippian Mound cultures in America’s southern Appalachian Mountains shared artistic trends and technologies across regional networks that functioned in similar ways as modern social media, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University in St. Louis will introduce two pilot grants to help low-income first-year students buy college necessities. They include a $500 grant to cover or offset the cost of a computer and a $1,500 startup grant to cover necessities such as books, winter clothing and housing supplies. The grants are for first-year students entering in fall 2019 from families with less than $75,000 in family income or who are receiving a federal Pell Grant.

Four campus leaders — Adrienne Davis, Emelyn dela Peña, Nicole Hudson and Sherree Wilson — have joined forces to strengthen diversity and inclusion initiatives across campuses and populations. It’s a new effort and one that is unusual among universities. The leaders will speak this week at the Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action.

A Washington University in St. Louis expert in African policy says Nigeria’s upcoming presidential vote is a consequential event, one that will determine critical steps forward for Africa’s most populous country and largest economy.

Stephen Legomsky, an immigration law expert at Washington University in St. Louis, comments on the Feb. 15 announcement of a state of emergency by President Donald Trump. “This much is crystal clear,” he said. “There is no national security emergency at the southern border.”

Bestselling author Irshad Manji, keynote speaker for the fifth annual Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action event Feb. 19 and 20, talks about her notion of moral courage and how that relates to diversity. Her talk, “Moving Beyond Labels: A Conversation About Diversity, Bigotry & Common Humanity,” begins at 5 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus.

Ray Arvidson, professor of Earth and planetary sciences and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, talks about the end of Opportunity’s longer-than-expected 15-year mission — he was the deputy principal investigator for the Mars exploration rover for NASA.

A survey of Medicaid members found that increasing levels of unmet social needs were positively associated with stress, smoking and chronic conditions, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Omari Mizrahi will conduct free master classes and a Q&A on the dance style known as AfrikFusion at Washington University and COCA Feb. 20 and 21. Mizrahi, who teaches voguing and ballroom dance at the Broadway Dance Center in New York, has performed at the MTV Video Music Awards and recently was featured in Janet Jackson’s “Made for Now” video.

The Performing Arts Department will debut its production of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches” Feb. 22 in Edison Theatre. “At the heart of the play is a question about who gets to be a citizen of this country,” said dramaturg Paige McGinley. “Gay people, people with AIDS, the addicted — these are often seen as society’s most disposable. Kushner puts them at the center of the American story.”