Newsroom Stories

The American dream is a fragile thing. Just ask the Tate family, a bickering, dysfunctional clan struggling to retain its dilapidated farmhouse on the edge of an unforgiving Western desert. Welcome to Curse of the Starving Class, Sam Shepard’s bitterly funny — and disturbingly prescient — family drama. This month, Washington University’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present the play for five performances in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre. 

Students in various disciplines throughout universities receive hands-on training through service-learning programs such as law school clinics. But that type of academic training is under attack from both big business and legislative bodies, say two professors from the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “Recent legislative and corporate efforts to interfere in the operations of law clinics indicate that academic freedom is at risk when hands-on student learning bumps up against ‘real-world’ disputes,” write Robert Kuehn, JD, and Peter Joy, JD, in “‘Kneecapping’ Academic Freedom,” the recent lead article for “The Conflicted University,” a special edition of Academe, the publication of the American Association of University Professors. 

Three new student residential buildings on the Danforth Campus — the South 40 House (Phase 2), College Hall and Eliot B — have received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. All three buildings are located on the South 40 area of campus. 

Decoding the DNA of a woman who died of acute myeloid leukemia has led Washington University researchers to a gene that they found to be commonly altered in many patients who died quickly of the disease.

Faculty, staff and students can recycle burned out or unwanted holiday light strings before, during and after the holidays at the Danforth University Center, the South 40 House and North Campus beginning Monday, Nov. 15. WUSTL’s Office of Sustainability is partnering with Green Earth Waste Recovery Inc. and Operation Food Search on the initiative, which runs through Saturday, Jan. 15.

Events to spark innovation, imagination and creativity are taking place on the WUSTL campus and around the world from Nov. 15-20 as part of a global initiative to promote entrepreneurship among young people. Got an idea? Learn how to turn it into a venture. Participate in an amazing race to discover innovative ventures in St. Louis or listen to other entrepreneurs as they bounce their ideas off a panel of judges.

The achievement gap separating black and white students has been known and studied for a number of years. However, new research focusing on black males shows the gap may be much bigger than originally thought. How to breach the divide? Better teachers, suggests a WUSTL expert in science education proficiency.

Fast Company / FC Expert Blog Turnaround built on non-stop unrelenting change 11/10/2010 Bob Weidner has been CEO of the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) for nine years. When he was recruited for the position the organization was in need of a turnaround. He has been more than successful. Early on they attacked cost structure. […]

Actress Marlo Thomas talks with Richard Wilson, PhD, director of The Genome Center, Oct. 28 in The Genome Center at the School of Medicine. The Genome Center is partnering with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis on the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project.

Washington University School of Medicine has partnered with Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital to open the first bariatric surgery program in the area for obese adolescents. The rate of obesity among teens has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Today, 18 percent are obese, which increases their risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and dying young.