Newsroom Stories

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, including Michael Holtzman, MD, have received an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the role of the barrier functions of the skin, gut, and airway in asthma and allergic diseases. Understanding the role of the epithelial cells in these tissues may help prevent and treat respiratory illnesses in the future, the researchers say.

Washington University in St. Louis has joined 600-plus universities in more than 100 countries as a member of United Nations Academic Impact. Academic Impact seeks to create a better world by engaging academia and fostering a culture of shared intellectual social responsibility.

More than 45 percent of undergraduate business students, and a larger fraction of MBA students, need financial assistance to attend Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Thanks to the Scholars in Business program, they can. Established in 1979, this named scholarship program is supported by hundreds of individuals and companies who provide more than 350 partial and full tuition named scholarships to Olin students.

University College — the professional and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis — will host a Preview Night at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, in Holmes Lounge in Ridgley Hall on the Danforth Campus. Preview Night features speakers who will discuss class and program offerings, admissions requirements and financial aid. Spring semester classes at University College start Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012.

Graduate and professional students within the McDonnell International Scholars Academy at Washington University in St. Louis shared their respective cultures with the general public Nov. 19 in an interactive fair at the Saint Louis Science Center. During “Planet Passport: Your Journey to Our Multicultural World,” scholars showcased the language, dress, history, government, educational systems and technology innovations of more than 15 cultures.

Jill D. Friedman has been named vice chancellor for public affairs at Washington University in St. Louis, effective Jan. 1, 2012, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Friedman, an alumna of Washington University, is a senior vice president and partner in Fleishman-Hillard’s public affairs practice at the firm’s world headquarters in St. Louis.

Carl Phillips, professor of English in Arts & Sciences and a 2011 finalist for the National Book Award in poetry, reads from his 2011 book Double Shadow during the National Book Awards’ Finalist Reading Nov. 15. Double Shadow — published this past March — is Phillips’ 11th collection of poetry and earned Phillips a fourth nomination for the National Book Award in poetry.

Mahendra Gupta, PhD (middle), dean of Olin Business School and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, chats with guests during the 17th annual Olin Thanksgiving Feast Nov. 24 in the Knight Executive Education Center.

The Supreme Court will hear several states’ legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that the court — in late June 2012 — will deliver a momentous statement about the ever-contentious constitutional balance between federal and state power. “The key element of the states’ lawsuits targets the act’s requirement that everyone in the country must purchase commercial health insurance,” says constitutional law expert Gregory P. Magarian, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nicole Aldrich will make her public debut as director of both the Washington University Concert Choir and the new Washington University Chamber Choir in a free performance at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, in Graham Chapel. Titled “Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind: Music for Fall and Winter,” the program will include works by Johann Kuhnau, Giovanni Gabrieli, Gustav Holst and Johannes Brahms, among others.