Arts & Sciences

To mark National Poetry Month, the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences is inviting readers of all backgrounds to create short poems in response to daily prompts.

Todd Decker and Kelly Daniel-Decker launched the Department of Music’s new “Musical Postcards” video series with an intimate living room performance of the Gershwin classic “Love is Here to Stay.”

Feng Sheng Hu, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been appointed dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and professor of biology and of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, effective July 1, according to Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.

At a time when the world is focused on a global health pandemic, Brian Carpenter, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says it may be difficult to grieve for and memorialize an individual. But we must.

The $2 trillion plan to prop up a pandemic-reeling United States, amid the news that there were 3.3 million unemployment claims lodged in the previous week, is expected to pass the House on March 27. An array of Washington University in St. Louis experts offer perspectives on the plan.

Weedy rice is a feral form of rice that infests paddies worldwide and aggressively outcompetes cultivated varieties. A new study led by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that weed populations have evolved multiple times from cultivated rice, and a strikingly high proportion of contemporary Asian weed strains can be traced to a few Green Revolution cultivars that were widely grown in the late 20th century.

Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece, the “Decameron,” is set on the outskirts of Florence in 1348. His protagonists have retreated to the countryside in the wake of the Black Death, which is decimating their city both mortally and socially. The book offers important lessons as we confront the global threat of Coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to plenty of uncertainty. Tim Bono, assistant dean in Arts & Sciences and a lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, offers tips for managing parts of life that are still under our control.

As faculty, students and staff come to grips with a new reality, the Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington University in St. Louis has leapt into action to help make the sudden, universitywide transition to online learning.

Cindy Brantmeier, professor of applied linguistics in Arts & Sciences and faculty fellow for international research at Washington University in St. Louis, is the 2019-20 Merle E. Simmons Distinguished Alumna for Indiana University’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese.