Devine offers inside look into the CIA for the Assembly Series

The Assembly Series offers a rare look inside one of the U.S.’s most secret organizations, courtesy of Jack Devine, retired acting director of CIA operations at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept.16, in Steinberg Hall Auditorium. Devine’s presentation, “The Importance and Ethics of National Intelligence,” is the annual Elliot Stein Lecture in Ethics.

STL To Do: theater

​​Leah Me​rrifield loves attending productions at the Rep, the New Jewish Theatre and the St. Louis Black Rep. She will share other St. Louis gems tonight at the St. Louis Up Close presentation in the Danforth University Center. 

Wiens wins ocean sciences award

Douglas A. Wiens, PhD, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected to receive the 2014 Robert L. and Bettie P. Cody Award in Ocean Sciences.

Study sheds light on asthma and respiratory viruses

A new study led by Michael J. Holtzman, MD, at the School of Medicine suggests that a fundamental antiviral defense mechanism is intact in asthma. This indicates that another aspect of the immune system must explain the difficulty people with asthma have when they encounter respiratory viruses.

The Black Rep brings ‘Purlie’ to Edison

The Black Rep, one of the nation’s largest and most critically acclaimed African-American theater companies founded by Ron Himes in 1976 while a student at Washington University in St. Louis, will launch its 38th season with the Tony Award-winning musical “Purlie” in Edison Theatre Sept. 10-21. Himes is now the Henry E. Hampton Jr. Artist-in-Residence in Arts & Sciences.

Aiming for the stars

Early in September, the X-Calibur mission, preparing for launch at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M., put its pointing system through its paces to make sure all of its parts were working in programmed harmony.

9/11 to be remembered with 2,977 flags on Mudd Field​

Members of the Washington University in St. Louis College Republicans will spend the evening of Sept. 10 on Mudd Field planting 2,977 flags — one for each life lost on 9/11. Junior Kaitlyn Cullen says it’s important that those too young at the time to comprehend the tragedy reflect on it now.

Jane Jennings, Gail Hintz present Liederabend Sept. 14

Soprano Jane Jennings and pianist Gail Hintz will perform Washington University in St. Louis’ annual Liederabend concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, in the 560 Music Center. Literally translated as “evening of song,” Liederabend is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century Austrian or German composers.