Newsroom Stories

Is the American Dream slipping away? Maybe, says Mark R. Rank, PhD, one of the country’s foremost experts on inequality and social justice. “More than at any time in our past,” Rank says, “there are serious questions regarding the American Dream and its applicability to everyday people.” Rank’s new book, “Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes” (Oxford University Press 2014) is out.

New research at the School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University Medical Center has implicated a poorly understood protein called PLAC8 in the spread of colon cancer.

WUSTL students are riding a teeter-totter this week to raise money for the Campus Y Strong Community Campaign.

Although tobacco companies are barred by law from advertising their products to children, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine have found that many teens and pre-teens are getting tobacco advertisements and promotions through social media outlets or text messaging on mobile phones. More than one in 10 children under 18 reported receiving tobacco coupons or promotions on their Facebook or MySpace pages or in text messages.

Could a cup of coffee bring faculty across campus together to expand and enhance research and teaching while broadening perspectives? That’s the idea behind the Office of the Provost’s Bring Your Own Idea program, which awards grants to support gatherings of faculty from across Washington University in St. Louis around meaningful topics.

Tony La Russa, who recently was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and is considered one of the best managers in baseball history, has been selected to give the 2014 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis. The university’s 153rd Commencement ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 16, in Brookings Quadrangle.

Why are we driven to love, and how do we choose whom to love? Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, PhD, has been asking such questions for decades. She will discuss love for the Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Friday, April 4, in Louderman Hall.

Diversity and Inclusion Grants totaling nearly $112,000 were awarded to 10 projects designed to strengthen and promote diversity on campus.

Chris Carpenter, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine, co-chaired the national Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines Task Force, which created new recommendations intended to improve the care for older adults in emergency departments.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry has recognized School of Medicine researcher Ron Bose, MD, PhD, and his colleagues for work describing the combined structure of two proteins that, when bound together, drive growth of many breast cancers.