Brookings star on St. Louis Walk of Fame dedicated

Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth, MD, spoke about the contributions of Robert S. Brookings to Washington University, St. Louis and the United States during the June 23 dedication of the Brookings star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Brookings served as president of WUSTL’s Board of Trustees from 1895-1928. Brookings’ star is located on the corner of Delmar and Skinker boulevards, just outside WUSTL’s Corner Building.

Surprising culprits behind cell death from fat and sugar overload

Excess nutrients, such as fat and sugar, don’t just pack on the pounds but can push some cells in the body over the brink. Unable to tolerate this “toxic” environment, these cells commit suicide. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered three unexpected players that help a cell overloaded with fat initiate its own demise.

Gerald Early brings a mystery to PBS’ History Detectives

A rare 1950s comic book, titled Negro Romance, that Gerald Early, PhD, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in Arts & Sciences and director of the Center for the Humanities, bought on Ebay is the focus of a mystery in an upcoming episode of PBS’ History Detectives. Early wants to know: Did black artists create this book? Who was the intended audience? Host Gwendolyn Wright gets the answers. The episode will air locally at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, on Nine PBS. It will be repeated at 1 a.m. Thursday, July 14, and 4 p.m. Sunday, July 17. 

Managing editor named for Danforth Center on Religion & Politics’ forthcoming online journal

Tiffany L. Stanley, most recently a reporter-researcher at The New Republic magazine, has been named managing editor of a forthcoming online journal from the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. R. Marie Griffith, PhD, the center’s new director and the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, announced Stanley’s appointment, which was effective July 1, 2011.

Summer construction update

The summer months can be quiet at Washington University, but construction crews are hard at work throughout the Danforth and Medical campuses renovating and building to create new and better places to work, study, teach and live.

Sports update July 2011: Phillips named academic All-American

Rising senior Liz Phillips of the women’s track & field team was named a Capital One First-Team Academic All-American June 23. She is the first WUSTL women’s track & field student athlete to garner academic All-America honors since Morgen Leonard-Fleckman received first-team accolades in 2008. Other WUSTL sports updates will be added throughout the month of July, 2011.

University College hosts ‘Food For Thought’ reception for prospective MLA students Aug. 4

WUSTL’s University College in Arts & Sciences will host a reception titled “Food For Thought” for prospective students of the Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) program at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, at Jimmy’s on the Park in Clayton, Mo. The evening’s topic will be “Why Shakespeare Matters.” At the event, prospective students can meet faculty, staff and students from University College and learn about the MLA program.

WUSTL law students featured in TIME Bill of Rights special

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law students Kailey Burger, Deona DeClue and Joseph Franklin are featured in TIME magazine’s online Fourth of July coverage focusing on the U.S. Constitution. Visit time.com. Reporters filmed people across the United States reading the Bill of Rights. Burger, DeClue and Franklin read the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Amendments, which focus on due process, speedy trials and civil trials by jury. The students were filmed in St. Louis’ historic Old Courthouse, site of the Dred Scott case.