Newsroom Stories

Hundreds braved an arctic chill the evening of Feb. 10 to experience the warmth generated by Parker Palmer, best-selling author and educator, who teamed up with singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer inside Graham Chapel to deliver a unique message of delivering democracy with an open heart. The event was the opening of the spring 2011 Assembly Series.

Three musicians from the St. Louis Symphony will join baritone Keith Boyer, a master’s candidate in vocal performance, and pianist Amanda Kirkpatrick, teacher of applied music in Arts & Sciences, for a free performance Feb. 21. Sponsored by the Department of Music and the symphony’s Community Partnership Program, the concert will feature music of Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt.

Do you understand what the IT guy is talking about? Really? Neither do The Water Coolers. Like a Seinfeld episode set to music, or a Dilbert cartoon sprung to life, this New York-based sketch comedy troupe both celebrates and eviscerates modern corporate culture in all its fast-talking, slow-moving absurdity.

Former Korean ambassador to the United States Han Sung-Joo, PhD, will be speaking on campus Friday, Feb. 17. His lecture, “North Korea After Kim Jong II,” is set for 4:30 p.m. in May Auditorium, Simon Hall. A reception will follow. The McDonnell International Scholars Academy is hosting the talk, as part of the S.T. Lee lecture series.

A three-day international conference is devoted to the lifework and 18-year papacy of “The Enlightenment Pope.” Pope Benedict XIV believed in the alliance between faith and the “new science,” even urging church parishioners to donate bodies of the deceased for medical dissection. The April 30-May 2 conference is sponsored by Washington University, Saint Louis University and the Missouri History Museum.

It’s no secret that battlefield trauma can leave veterans with deep emotional scars that impact their ability to function in civilian life. But new research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that military service, even without combat, has a subtle lingering effect on a man’s personality, making it potentially more difficult for veterans to get along with friends, family and co-workers.

Washington University in St. Louis has joined a national experiment to develop a new generation of college science and engineering faculty, one equipped to excel in the classroom as well as the lab. Founded in 2003 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), the mission of the CIRTL network of 25 research universities  is to prepare science graduate students to be as bold and creative in the classroom as they are in their programs of research.

Snoring is common in children, but in some cases it can be a symptom of a serious health concern called pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). OSA occurs in one out of five children who snore and can begin at any age, according to Allison Ogden, MD, assistant professor of otolaryngology.

Some of WUSTL students’ most common questions regarding the business dinner will be answered during the Etiquette Dinner Program Tuesday, Feb. 21. Held each semester, the program offers students a three-course meal and an opportunity to receive professional advice about dining and business protocol. RSVPs are being accepted now.

WUSTL anthropologist Peter Benson’s new book, Tobacco Capitalism, examines the impact of the transformation of the U.S. tobacco industry on farmers, workers and the American public. The book reveals public health threats, the impact of off-shoring, and the immigration issues related to tobacco production, specifically in the rural, traditional tobacco-growing areas of North Carolina. “There are whole groups of people — farmers and farm workers — in our society who dedicate themselves to growing a crop that is vilified,” Benson says.