Newsroom Stories

The new Stamps Leadership Scholarship will award the full cost of undergraduate attendance to an average of five incoming freshmen each year. This unique program also includes an enrichment fund of $10,000 per student to be used over four years to pay for outside-the-classroom educational experiences such as study abroad, research or unpaid internships.

While it is not unprecedented for a pope to resign from his position, it is unprecedented for a pope to resign for health reasons — as Pope Benedict XVI plans to do at the end of the month — says a leading historian of religion at Washington University in St. Louis. Daniel M. Bornstein, PhD, the Stella Koetter Darrow Professor in Catholic Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, says that Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation stands out as different from previous ones, but not simply because of his medical reasons. “Previous resignations either resulted from or led to grave crises in leadership. I do not see either of those as a concern in this case,” Bornstein says.

Charlottesville, Va. recently became the first town in the U.S. to pass an anti-drone resolution, calling for a restriction on the use of the unmanned surveillance vehicles. “For drones, I think the problem is that they do have some legitimate law enforcement purposes, but they raise massive problems of invasion of privacy and government surveillance that we need to think through before we deploy drones in vast numbers in our skies,” says Neil Richards, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.

A “Global Tea” event was held Jan. 31 in Danforth University Center as an opportunity for undergraduate students to learn about the new Global Certificate offered by the university. Event organizers obtained donations of tea from international students returning to St. Louis after winter break.

This week, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton travels to Ghana to meet with officials from the University of Ghana and sign official papers making the university the 28th partner — and the first in Africa — in the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School, in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel, and Onward Israel, is launching an Israel Summer Business Academy, aimed at providing students an opportunity to learn firsthand about business in Israel, one of the most vibrant hubs of entrepreneurship in the world.

If that headline doesn’t grab your attention, new research from Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School on the “Psychological and Sexual Costs of Income Comparison in Marriage”should. The study, by Lamar Pierce, PhD, professor of strategy at Olin, shows that men married to women with higher incomes are more likely to use erectile dysfunction medication than their male breadwinner counterparts.

Alonzo King cuts a unique figure in the contemporary dance world — an African-American choreographer creating original works within the traditions and structures of classical ballet. On Feb. 22 and 23, King and his acclaimed touring company, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, will return to Washington University for two shows presented as part of the Edison Ovations Theatre.

The School of Medicine’s 9th Annual Art Show opened Jan. 22 and will run through Feb. 17 in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center. The show features artwork by more than 60 artists within the School of Medicine. Shown is “Tree of Life,” a sculpture carved from black walnut by Gerald W. Dorn II, MD, the Philip and Sima K. Needleman Professor. Admiring it are first-year medical students Linda Ma (left) and Shruti Mishra.​

This week, Chancellor Wrighton travels to Ghana to meet with officials from the University of Ghana and sign official papers making the university the 28th partner – and the first in Africa — in the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.