Newsroom Stories

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton has announced two senior leadership appointments. Jennifer R. Smith, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences and of environmental studies, both in Arts & Sciences, has been named dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. Sharon Stahl, PhD, associate vice chancellor for students and dean of the First Year Center, has been named vice chancellor for students. They will fill the dual roles held by James E. McLeod before his death Sept. 6.

Bon Appetit, the food service company that manages WUSTL Dining Services, has announced its new farm animal welfare policy. The changes will affect meat, poultry and eggs served at WUSTL Dining Services locations. Under the new standards, Bon Appetit will employ the food service industry’s most comprehensive farm animal welfare policy to date, says Nadeem Siddiqui, director of WUSTL Dining Services.

Kathryn A. Dean, director of the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design and professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Professor of Architecture. The ceremony was held Dec. 2, 2011, in Steinberg Auditorium.

A lone tenor takes the stage. Her voice is hushed and plaintive over a pair of drums but quickly grows full and strong as she’s joined by a score of fellow singers. The song is Jesu Ngowethu, a traditional Zulu spiritual, and it marks the beginning of African Grace, the new program by Soweto Gospel Choir. On March 23, the Grammy Award-winning ensemble will return to Washington University as part of the Edison Ovations Series.

Doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, working with Shriners Hospital for Children and other institutions, have identified a promising new treatment for a rare and sometimes life-threatening bone disorder that can affect infants and young children. Known as hypophosphatasia, the condition upsets bone metabolism, blocking important minerals such as calcium from depositing in the skeleton.

Eighteen Washington University in St. Louis undergraduate students will have the opportunity to spend their spring break in a unique way — a 10-day immersion in various aspects of the Israeli economy, from innovation to government to high-tech start-ups.

Emergency physician Chris Carpenter, MD, is conducting a study of patients in the emergency room who are older than 65 and at increased risk of having dementia. He wants to determine if referring suspected Alzheimer’s patients to an outreach agency will reduce frequent returns to the emergency department and help them remain independent longer.

A three-phase construction project will bring the Gephardt Institute for Public Service into the Danforth University Center (DUC) and consolidate student media groups on campus. The Gephardt Institute and key student media — including Student Life, WUTV and KWUR 90.3 FM — will be grouped on the center’s third floor adjacent to the DUC Recording Studio. Construction begins March 19.

Wang Shu, the first Chinese citizen to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize, discusses his work with WUSTL architectural historians Robert McCarter, the Sam Fox School’s Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture, and Seng Kuan, assistant professor of architecture.

Students in the Program in Occupational Therapy talk with Liz Hanson of MarianJoy at the Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy Job Fair Feb. 23 at the School of Medicine. More than 200 students from Washington University and eight other schools attended the fair, which featured more than 50 representatives from employers in the two fields.