Newsroom Stories

Two WUSTL students have been selected as 2012 Truman Scholars: junior Arts & Science majors Madeleine Daepp and Ethan Lynch. WUSTL is one of six institutions nationwide to have multiple Truman Scholars. Because Lynch is studying abroad in Amman Jordan, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton (right) used Skype to share the good news.

Alaina Butler of Lawrence, Kan., dances during the 22nd annual Pow Wow March 31 in the Athletic Center. The Pow Wow, hosted by the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School, offered visitors and participants a full day of dancing, singing, drumming, arts, crafts and food.

Adding ultrasound exams to annual breast cancer screening can detect more cancers in women who have dense breasts and are at a higher risk of breast cancer, according to a three-year, multi-center trial appearing this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. But the scans carry risks that may outweigh their benefits.

Virginia Burrus, PhD, professor of early church history and chair of the graduate division of religion at Drew University in Madison, N.J., will give the Weltin Lecture in Religious Studies Monday, April 9. Her talk, “St. Helia Talks Back:
 Christianity and the Feminization of Rhetorical Voice,” will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

Students competed in tug-of-war during the 2012 Residential College Olympics March 31 on the South 40. This popular, annual event pits all of the residential colleges against each other in a day filled with fun activities. This year, Park/Mudd Residential College took first place overall.

Washington University’s academic programs in Washington, D.C., now are being led by the provost’s office, under the oversight of Priscilla Stone, PhD, assistant provost for international education. Kent D. Syverud, JD, dean of the School of Law and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor, has led the D.C. initiative since its 2009 launch.

In 1990, the Illinois Humanities Council presented a daylong event on the theme “Expressions of Freedom.” So was born the Chicago Humanities Festival, one of the nation’s premiere celebrations of the liberal arts. Now it’s St. Louis’ turn. On April 13 and 14, WUSTL’s Center for the Humanities — with the Missouri Humanities Council, Webster University and the University of Missouri-St. Louis — will present the first annual St. Louis Humanities Festival. One of the speakers is novelist and Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson.

Richard M. Frankel, PhD, was installed March 21 as the Beverly and James Hance Professor of Accounting at Washington University in St. Louis. Frankel joined Olin Business School in 2005 as associate professor of accounting and is an expert in financial accounting, which provides information to individuals outside a firm.

For Lewis Wall, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, a dream has come true. For almost 20 years, he worked doggedly to build a hospital in one of the world’s poorest countries to treat women with a devastating childbirth injury. His dream became reality in February, when a 42-bed hospital opened in Niger, Africa. The facility is dedicated to repairing fistulas, wounds inflicted by prolonged labor, which leaves women — and often girls — steadily leaking wastes.

Washington University biomedical engineer Lihong Wang, PhD, will explain his photoacoustic tomography technology April 3 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Chicago.