Notables

Matthew Mutch, MD, a nationally known clinician and educator in the laparoscopic treatment of colorectal cancer, has been named chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Todd Decker, PhD, chair of music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, spoke this month about musical film star Fred Astaire at a study day titled “Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers: A London Celebration” at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Pratim Biswas, PhD, chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected to receive the 2015 Lawrence K. Cecil Award in Environmental Chemical Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Sam Bhayani, MD, has been appointed chief medical officer of the Faculty Practice Plan at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, effective Nov. 1. The university’s Faculty Practice Plan, known as Washington University Physicians, ranks among the five largest academic group practices in the United States.

Ramesh Agarwal, PhD, the William Palm Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis, will receive an honorary fellowship from the Royal Aeronautical Society, the highest distinction for global aerospace achievement.

“Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing” (2014), by Washington University in St. Louis associate professor Jeffrey McCune, PhD, has been named Book of the Year by the National Communications Association’s GLBTQ Communications Studies Division and Caucus on GLBTQ Concerns.

Saul Noam Zaritt, PhD, the Friedman Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has launched a new digital journal of Yiddish studies.

Hillary A. Sale, JD, the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law and professor of management at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, recently attended a conference of securities and corporate governance experts in Vienna, Austria, gathered to comment on a model statute for corporate law throughout the European Union.

Thirty-six staff members in the Facilities Management Department at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis recently earned the Sustainable Facility Professional credential from the International Facility Management Association.

Several Washington University in St. Louis faculty and staff members have received collaborative awards through The Divided City, an urban humanities initiative organized by the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design.