Newsroom Stories

What is the state of the humanities? How are they taught, what do they teach us, and how do they serve the public good? Earlier this month, cultural leaders from across the state gathered at the Missouri History Museum to discuss “The Importance of the Humanities and Social Sciences for Public Life.” Convened by WUSTL’s Gerald Early, the meeting was the third in a series of regional forums presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Students registered to vote Sept. 18 in Danforth University Center during an all-day campaign sponsored by the Gephardt Institute for Public Service. People are invited to stop by the institute’s office in Danforth University Center and register to vote before the Oct. 10 Missouri deadline.

Richard A. Loomis, PhD, associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, received the David Hadas Teaching Award during the Arts & Sciences’ annual faculty reception, held Sept. 6 in Holmes Lounge. The Hadas award recognizes an outstanding tenured faculty member in Arts & Sciences who demonstrates commitment and excellence in teaching first-year undergraduates.

McLeod’s Way, a new landscaped gathering place on the South 40 that honors the late James E. “Jim” McLeod, WUSTL’s beloved vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, was dedicated Sept. 15 at Graham Chapel. Shaun C. Koiner, a 2004 WUSTL alumnus and one of McLeod’s former students, speaks during the ceremony.

In August, the university welcomed a freshman class of approximately 1,640 students who came to WUSTL from across the United States and from 26 countries. Julie Shimabukuro, director of admissions, calls the Class of 2016 “a terrific group of students” who are “bright, talented and already engaged in the community.”

The Public Interest Law and Policy Speakers Series continues Thursday, Sept. 20, with Goodwin Liu, associate justice of the Supreme Court of California, on “Federal Law in State Court: Handling Conflicts over Arbitration, Immigration, and Constitutional Rights” at noon in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom (Anheuser-Busch Hall, Room 310). The 2012-13 series features judges, lawyers, authors and academics with expertise in public interest law and policy. For a full list of the 2012-13 speakers visit http://law.wustl.edu/pilss/.

Britain’s royal family has obtained an injunction against the French magazine Closer to prevent it from publishing topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. “The case would likely come out differently if it were brought in the United States,” says Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Richards, an internationally recognized expert in privacy and free speech law who hails from England, explains that English and European courts have been very aggressive in stopping media from publishing pictures delving into the sex lives of celebrities.

Washington University undergraduate students with great solutions to problems can win $25,000 to take their innovative ideas from concept to their own business. The School of Engineering & Applied Science has launched the Discovery Competition with the goal to promote new and innovative discoveries to solve challenges or needs.

The employees are getting restless. Trapped in a nameless, New York company, they are buffeted by Orwellian management-speak, inter-office sabotage and inappropriate contact. And then the Firings begin. Welcome to Personal Days, the acclaimed corporate satire by fiction writer Ed Park, who will read from his work Thursday, Sept. 20, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have taken one of the first detailed looks into how Alzheimer’s disease disrupts coordination among several of the brain’s networks.