Newsroom Stories

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will speak about her vision for ending the mental health crisis at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 14, in Graham Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis.  In her recent book, Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis, Carter and co-authors offer an insightful, unsparing assessment of the state of mental health. Carter describes a system that continues to fail those in need, despite recent breakthroughs in treatment that can help most people with mental illnesses lead productive lives. A panel discussion with local and state representatives of the mental health community will follow Carter’s remarks.

WUSTL will host a free Saturday Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Seminar Series in February titled “The Value of Justice.” The annual seminar series features WUSTL experts from the areas of philosophy, social work, political science and anthropology to address one of the most enduring concepts in social, religious, ethical and political thinking: the idea of justice.

Washington University alumnus Julie Alexander will return to campus as the 2010-11 Marcus Artist in the Dance Program in the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences. While in residence, she will present a free informal performance, titled “Weaving Traditional Japanese Dance and American Postmodern Dance,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1. 

The Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the Brown School will host a “Roaring Twenties” trivia night at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in Brown Hall Lounge. Tables of 8-10 players are available for $20 per person. In addition to the trivia competition, a silent auction will be held from throughout the week of Feb. 7-11 in Room 336 of Goldfarb Hall.

Scientific American Orangutans join the genome gang 01/27/2011 Orangutans can now be added to the list of species that have had their genomes sequenced, offering conservationists a wealth of data in their efforts to save the endangered great ape. “We’ve developed a resource that could allow conservationists to prioritize populations for saving based on genetic […]

Yvonne Sparks, senior manager of community development for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, delivers the keynote address for the fifth annual “Financial Freedom Seminar: Recovering From the Recession, Reaching for the Future,” on Jan. 22, in Brown Hall. The Society of Black Student Social Workers at the Brown School hosted the seminar in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

An international team of scientists, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has decoded the DNA of a Sumatran orangutan. With this genome as a reference, the scientists then sequenced the genomes of five additional Sumatran and five Bornean orangutans, they report in the journal Nature.

The university’s Bearly Drivers carpool program celebrated its one-year anniversary in January by giving away an iPad through a drawing to a Bearly Drivers carpool member. The program, which includes 76 carpool members in 34 carpools, allows full-time employees on the Danforth, North and West campuses to save money through reduced driving and parking costs, reserve in-demand parking spots, and win prizes through monthly drawings.

The 2011 Geriatrics Symposium, organized by the St. Louis Times and hosted by the Brown School, was held Jan. 7 and focused on “Healthy Aging: Health Promotion & Disease Prevention.” “The event was a multidisciplinary look at aging,” says Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work at the Brown School who delivered a talk at the symposium. “The speakers made it clear that social, psychological, biological and spiritual aspects of aging must be considered in promoting a healthy aging society.”

A group of seven third-year physical therapy students went to Argentina for about 10 days in early January to work with the Missionaries of Charity, a religious order of nuns established by Mother Teresa.