Newsroom Stories

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis has announced faculty scholars receiving Innovation Grants for Community-Based Teaching and Learning. The grants provide faculty members with financial support for curriculum development and implementation.

Children with autism often have problems developing motor skills, such as running, throwing a ball or even learning how to write. But scientists have not known whether those difficulties run in families or are linked to autism. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis by Claudia List Hilton, PhD, points to autism as the culprit.

Antibiotics that doctors typically prescribe for sinus infections do not reduce symptoms any better than an inactive placebo, according to Jay F. Piccirillo, MD, and his co-investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Instead of giving antibiotics, the researchers suggest treating symptoms, such as pain, cough and congestion, along with watchful waiting to see whether further treatment is necessary.

A proposal by two WUSTL students to introduce turf reduction, large bio-swales, more cisterns and even sheep “lawnmowers” to campus as part of plan to make landscaping more sustainable at the university won the $5,000 first prize in the annual Olin Sustainability Case Competition.

Mike McLaughlin, MBA student Olin Business School, will spend the day in a hammock Feb. 15, doing homework, reading and raising funds and awareness for his 2,500-mile six-month hike4kids.com hike through the entire Appalachian and Ozark trails beginning in late February.

Washington University School of Medicine awarded 14 Distinguished Faculty Awards and three Goldstein Leadership Awards Feb. 9 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center. The Distinguished Faculty Awards recognize achievements in clinical care, community service, research and teaching. Among the award winners were Perry L. Schoenecker, MD (left) and M. Alan Permutt, MD.

This Valentine’s Day, flip through cable TV listings, and you’ll see a bevy of romances whose common themes and conflicts can be traced back to medieval times. What is considered “romantic” in contemporary Western society — love from afar, willingness to suffer, idealization of the love object — is partly a legacy of themes in medieval romantic poetry, says Jessica Rosenfeld, PhD, assistant professor of English in Arts & Sciences and author of the book Ethics and Enjoyment in Late Medieval Poetry: Love After Aristotle.

Chris Alexander, former basketball player and a member of Washington University’s newest Hall of Fame class, shows his son his plaque at the Feb. 10 breakfast honoring the induction Class of 2011. Joining Alexander were seven other former student-athletes; two head coaches, Mark Edwards and Nancy Fahey; and distinguished service honoree Jim Burmeister.

Recipients of the annual James M. Holobaugh Honor were recognized in a reception Feb. 10. The award honors individuals and organizations that promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, perform direct advocacy and service to the St. Louis metro community and incorporate education and dialogue as part of their practice.

The No. 3 men’s tennis team defeated NCAA Division II No. 19 Drury University 5-4 Feb. 12 at the Creve Coeur Racquet Club in Creve Coeur, Mo. The victory over Drury was the Bears first in four tries under head coach Roger Follmer. Updates also included on men’s and women’s basketball and track & field.