Newsroom Stories

More than half of all cancer is preventable, and society has the knowledge to act on this information today, according to Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH, the Niess-Gain Professor and other public health researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Siteman Cancer Center. 

Mike Peters, the 1981 Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial cartooning and creator of the award-winning cartoon strip Mother Goose & Grimm, has been selected to give the 2012 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. The university’s 151st Commencement will begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 18, in Brookings Quadrangle on the Danforth Campus. Peters earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from WUSTL in 1965.

Arthur Kleinman, MD, one of the world’s leading medical anthropologists, will speak on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis for the Assembly Series. His lecture, “The Quest for Moral Wisdom in Academic Life: Why William James Still Matters for the Art of Living,” will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in Graham Chapel.

Philosophy makes little mention of the theater except to denounce it as a place of illusion and moral decay. Theater tends to respond by steering away from philosophy, driven by the notion that theater consists of actions, not ideas. But in The Drama of Ideas, Harvard scholar Martin Puchner, argues that despite this mutual evasion, the histories of philosophy and theater have in fact been crucially intertwined. On April 5, Puchner will present Washington University’s 10th Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture.

With the cost of filing for bankruptcy going up, many cash-strapped American families are using their tax rebate to pay for it, finds a new study by Jialan Wang, PhD, assistant professor of finance at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School. The study is published as a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by Wang and colleagues at Columbia University and the University of Chicago.

Garry Kasparov, considered the best chess player of all time, a champion of democracy in Russia and a world-renowned financial expert, will offer advice on outmaneuvering opponents in politics and business at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, in Graham Chapel. His visit includes a 30-minute Q&A, a 45-minute reception and a chess demonstration.

WUSTL’s 12-member chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the international  honor society in education, recently presented a book to every single child in Northview Elementary School as part of a literacy service project. Junior Sarah Samborn, foreground, and  other members spent the day at the school March 23, reading to the children and leading them in fun activities. ​​​

More than 600 people took part in the 4th annual “Take Steps for Kids” 5K and one-mile fundraiser March 24 on the Danforth Campus. Event organizers doubled the fundraising goal this year — and still managed to surpass it — raising more than $8,200 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri. Hosted by Washington University Club Running, “Take Steps” is the largest student-run 5K in Missouri.

Members of the African dance company Creative Pandemonium perform during the Brown School’s 18th annual International Festival March 25 at the 560 Music Center. This year’s theme was “Around the World in 180 Minutes.”

What happens on the day before a colonoscopy may be just as important as the colon-screening test itself. Gastroenterologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that when patients don’t adequately prep for the test by cleansing their colons, doctors often can’t see potentially dangerous pre-cancerous lesions.