MLA Saturday Lecture Series to explore happiness

Happiness will be the focus of Washington University’s Master of Liberal Arts Saturday Lecture Series that runs throughout February. Free and open to the public, the series is sponsored by University College, the professional and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences. All talks are set for 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in January Hall, Room 110, on the Danforth Campus.

WUSTL privacy law expert says Obama’s surveillance reforms a good but incomplete start

3.5 out of 12 — That is the score the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave President Obama’s highly anticipated address on NSA spying last week. And while lauding Obama for recognizing the dangers of government surveillance and the importance of discussing it, Washington University in St. Louis privacy law expert Neil Richards agrees that the president did not quite go far enough to protect individual privacy.

PB&Joy seeks volunteers

PB&Joy, WUSTL’s annual food drive, is looking for students, staff and faculty to assist in this year’s effort to collect kid-friendly foods for 135,000 St. Louis-area children.

Daydreaming about summer excursions?​​

Along the Missouri River between St. Louis and Hermann, a restored German settlement, is an enchanted valley blessed by low-density land use where people grow North American grapes for Missouri wine, groundcover in interlocking trays for green roofs, vegetables for St. Louis locivore restaurants and native trees for environmentally conscious landscapers. WUSTL readers will recognize many of the contributers to Missouri River Country, a book that celebrates this land and the people who have lived there. All proceeds from the book’s sales will go to land conservation.

Institute for School Partnership’s Darwin Day celebration to highlight evolution education

WUSTL’s Institute for School Partnership is committed to evolution education as part of a sound K-12 science curriculum, and it kicks off its second annual Darwin Day celebration Friday and Saturday, Feb. 7 and 8, with workshops for teachers and students. Darwin Day is celebrated internationally on or around Feb. 12, Darwin’s birthday, as a celebration of science and humanity. Highlighting the weekend on the WUSTL campus: a visit from alum Sean B. Carroll, PhD, vice president for science education at Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

2014-15 tuition, board and fees announced

Undergraduate tuition at Washington University in St. Louis will be $45,700 for the 2014-15 academic year — a $1,600 (3.6 percent) increase over the 2013-14 current academic tuition of $44,100, announced Barbara A. Feiner, vice chancellor for finance.

Svetkey kicks off new lecture series on female leaders in public health

WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health is launching a new series of talks: the Women Leaders in Public Health Career Lecture Series. Laura Svetkey, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University, will give the inaugural speech Feb. 6. The series’ goal is to offer broad perspectives from female leaders about their careers in diverse fields related to public health.