Newsroom Stories

Painter Michael Ray Charles will launch the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Public Lecture Series Sept. 15. Charles is known for his aggressive appropriation — and scathing critiques — of racist imagery drawn from vintage illustration.

A new study led by Michael J. Holtzman, MD, at the School of Medicine suggests that a fundamental antiviral defense mechanism is intact in asthma. This indicates that another aspect of the immune system must explain the difficulty people with asthma have when they encounter respiratory viruses.

Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD (right), was installed Sept. 2 by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton as the inaugural holder of the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Family Professorship in Public Health. Kreuter is a professor of social work and of medicine, associate dean for public health and a faculty scholar in the Institute for Public Health.

Early in September, the X-Calibur mission, preparing for launch at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M., put its pointing system through its paces to make sure all of its parts were working in programmed harmony.

Members of the Washington University in St. Louis College Republicans will spend the evening of Sept. 10 on Mudd Field planting 2,977 flags — one for each life lost on 9/11. Junior Kaitlyn Cullen says it’s important that those too young at the time to comprehend the tragedy reflect on it now.

Soprano Jane Jennings and pianist Gail Hintz will perform Washington University in St. Louis’ annual Liederabend concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, in the 560 Music Center. Literally translated as “evening of song,” Liederabend is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century Austrian or German composers.

Open Streets initiatives temporarily close streets to automobile traffic, so that people may use them for walking, bicycling, dancing, playing and socializing. Although the movement is gaining popularity in the United States — more than 100 different cities have hosted Open Streets events since 2008 — little is known about planning and implementing them. Brown School researchers Amy Eyler, PhD, and J. Aaron Hipp, PhD, explore the development and implementation of Open Streets initiatives and make recommendations for increasing the capacity of organizers to enhance their success.

​The Washington University Libraries have received a $50,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will allow the library system, led by University Librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak, to implement Hydra, a powerful open-source software system that facilitates collaboration among institutions that want to share their digital collections and link them to related materials held elsewhere.

“Foundations of Diversity at Washington University and Throughout Academia” will be the focus of a campus conference Sept. 12 in honor of Robert L. Williams II, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology and of African and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

In the 1970s and ’80s, the St. Louis band Tracer was one of the area’s premiere exponents of fusion-style jazz. On Thursday, Sept. 11, the re-formed Tracer will launch Jazz at Holmes Series. The annual fall series also will include tributes to John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and Gaslight Square.