Newsroom Stories

The Supreme Court appears very likely to strike down the most important provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitution law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “This was an unusually revealing oral argument, because two justices asked questions that reflected both fundamental misunderstanding of the law and disturbing indifference to the constitutional grounding of the Voting Rights Act,” he says.

In a boon for teenagers everywhere, scientists have discovered there are “bad” strains of acne bacteria associated with pimples and “good” strains that may protect the skin.

Two biologists at Washington University in St. Louis were delighted to discover a meticulous dataset on a plant-pollinator network recorded by Illinois naturalist Charles Robertson between 1884 and 1916. Re-collecting part of Robertson’s network, they learned that although the network has compensated for some losses, battered by climate change and habitat loss it is now weaker and less resilient than in Robertson’s time.

The Academy of American Poets has selected Mary Jo Bang’s translation of Dante’s Inferno as one of the Notable Books of 2012. Bang is a professor of English in Arts & Sciences. Her Inferno: A New Translation was one of only 12 books that made the notable list for 2012. The American Library Association also recently selected Bang’s Inferno as one of only two books of poetry to make its Notable Books for Adults 2013 list.

Peter G. Sortino, WUSTL assistant vice chancellor, is being inducted into the Missouri Recreation and Parks Hall of Fame. This year he is coordinating the effort to pass Proposition P to fund improvements to area parks and the Arch grounds.

In architecture and the visual arts, there is a long tradition of site-specific projects and temporary installations informing subsequent development. Now The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts have launched PXSTL, a national competition exploring the critical role of the arts and culture in building vital and dynamic communities.

Rodolfo Manuelli, PhD, professor of economics in Arts & Sciences, has been named a James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences. A formal installation ceremony was held Feb. 25.

During the installation ceremony of Vincent Sherry, PhD, as the first Howard Nemerov Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences, Sherry delivered an address titled “‘By Degrees’: Howard Nemerov, Poetry, and the English Department.” During his talk, Sherry, chair and professor of English in Arts & Sciences, acknowledged the literary great for whom the professorship is named. To read Sherry’s Jan. 24 talk, visit here. 

Vincent Sherry, PhD, chair and professor of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the first Howard Nemerov Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences during a Jan. 24 ceremony in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. Sherry delivered a talk in which he recognized the literary great for whom the professorship is named.

The No. 22 WUSTL men’s basketball team will host Spalding University in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship Saturday, March 2, at the Field House. Game time is set for 7 p.m.