Newsroom Stories

Computer Comfort classes, offered through Olin Business School, connect local seniors with Washington University students who help them learn how to use and get comfortable with their computers — and the Internet, email and Skype, too.

The Assembly Series will feature next week speakers who explore issues of race, culture and identity — in two distinct ways. At 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, race and gender scholar Roderick Ferguson, PhD, will deliver the annual James E. McLeod Lecture on Higher Education. At noon Tuesday, Sept. 30, legal and literary scholar Patricia J. Williams, JD, will speak for the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities’ annual lecture series. Both are free and open to the public.

​On Sept. 11 — just one week into the 2014 NFL season — running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on charges of beating his four-year-old son with a tree branch. In the uproar that followed, Peterson was suspended from professional football and pilloried by pundits left and right. Washington University in St. Louis Associate Professor Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., PhD, who writes about masculinity, performance studies and popular culture, shares his thoughts.

Resident Ruth Groff pets Boo at a pop-up dog park constructed by Washington University staff and student volunteers Sept. 13 for “Rock The Block: A Skinker DeBaliviere Better Block Project.” The event encouraged residents to reimagine their neighborhood through temporary installations such as the dog park and other community activities.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a report last week from an advisory group on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences, chaired the advisory group that was tasked with creating a strategic vision and guide NAS’ Gulf Research Program.

Washington University in St. Louis has partnered with the National University of Singapore to establish the Next Age Institute, an international collaboration to design, study and test social innovations. The institute, a program of WUSTL’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy, will address global challenges facing many families and communities, among them aging populations and rising inequality.

Cellist Kenneth Kulosa and pianist Patti Wolf launch the fall Danforth University Center Chamber Music Series on the campus of Washington University in St. Lous at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, with the music of Sergei Rachmaninov and Igor Stravinsky.

As part of Washington University Libraries’ ongoing commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, the Washington University Film & Media Archive will host a Q&A with actor Richard Beymer and a free screening of his film, “A Regular Bouquet.” The event takes place at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Steinberg Auditorium on the Danforth Campus.

Joni Westerhouse, a longtime veteran in public affairs at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named associate vice chancellor and associate dean for Medical Public Affairs.

​A group of researchers have used a special camera developed by Viktor Gruev, PhD, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, to discover that female northern swordtail fish choose their mates based on a display that is similar to a peacock showing its feathers.