Long flights can boost creativity, suggests expert

Sitting on a long national or international flight may may actually improve your creative thinking, suggests an expert on human creativity from Washington University in St. Louis. While reading a book or watching a movie may help fill up time on the plane, idle time can be a key ingredient to becoming more creative in your personal and professional lives, says R. Keith Sawyer, PhD, an associate professor of education and of psychology, both in Arts & Sciences.

Jason Echols: 2010 Outstanding Graduate in the Brown School

Jason Echols spent his time at the Brown School concentrating on gerontology — including helping to produce a contest-winning YouTube video on social work and aging. “We haven’t really done enough to talk about what happens when people grow older,” Echols says. Working with older adults is something he’s passionate about, and he’ll continue working toward that passion after he receives his master’s of social work from the Brown School May 21.

Deadline for entry into child-care center lottery May 27

The lottery for the first round of enrollment in the Family Learning Center at Washington University will be held Thursday, May 27. The Family Learning Center — scheduled to open Sept. 7, 2010 — will offer care for 156 children of faculty, staff and students from the ages of 6 weeks to 6 years.

Making nutrition fun

The School of Medicine’s Public Health Interest Group is holding a class at the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club Adams Park Unit to teach children and their parents how to prepare healthy meals. School of Medicine students spend the first hour discussing nutrition with the children and their parents separately, and in the second hour, the families come together to prepare and eat a meal.

Recession and recovery prime topics of top economists’ visits to WUSTL

Two prominent economists made headlines last week in visits to the Olin Business School when they shared their views on the economy and its recovery from the “Great Recession.” Former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker and St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank president and CEO James Bullard, PhD, offered different perspectives on jobs, financial reform and the global economy. One dared to suggest the need for increased taxes in the near future; one said the current crisis in Greece could slow the U.S. recovery.

Shriners Hospital resumes plan to build new facility

The Shriners Hospitals for Children has resumed plans to build a new hospital at Washington University Medical Center. The project was placed on hold in early 2009 due to the economic downturn and its effect on the international health system’s endowment fund.

Jack Duncan: 2010 Outstanding Graduate in the College of Arts & Sciences

Jack Duncan grew up in Virginia learning never to waste anything, especially those two most precious human and natural treasures — time and resources. Duncan, who will graduate May 21 with a degree in environmental studies, has been chosen by the Record as an Outstanding Graduate in the College of Arts & Sciences.