Arts & Sciences

Issues that tap into the past, present and future of higher education and its impact on American society will be explored this month. The Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Saturday Lecture Series begins Saturday, Feb. 6. It is sponsored by University College in Arts & Sciences.

Faculty, staff and community leaders interested in learning more about grants from The Divided City: An Urban Humanities Initiative are invited to an informational reception at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, in Umrath Hall Lounge. RSVP to attend. Funding proposals are due Feb. 15.

A memorial service to honor Nobel Prize-winning economist Douglass C. North, PhD, will be held at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, in Graham Chapel. A reception will follow in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. North died in November.

Evolution educators continue to face resistance from parents, lawmakers and school boards. And a recent Pew Research Center survey on science and society shows that one-third of the population denies evolution. The Institute of School Partnership, through Darwin Day and other programs, help K-12 teachers bring this core concept to their classrooms.

Wilfred R. Konneker, PhD ’50, a trustee emeritus of Washington University, died Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in St. Louis. He was 93.

The Washington University Choirs will host open auditions today through Monday, Jan. 25, for the 2016 Chancellor’s Concert. Presented by the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, the Chancellor’s Concert is among the university’s largest annual events.

While an adverse ruling for unions would certainly be bad news for organized labor, the expected setback need not be as dire as some are predicting, suggests Jake Rosenfeld, a labor union expert.

Given that antibiotics are losing effectiveness faster than we are finding replacements for them, chemist Timothy Wencewicz in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis suggests a new approach. Drugs that hobble the production of virulence factors — small molecules that help bacteria to establish an infection in a host — would put much less selective pressure on bacteria and delay resistance.

The husband-and-wife team of violinist Joo Kim and cellist James Czyzewski will join pianist Patti Wolf to launch the Danforth University Center’s spring Chamber Music Series Jan. 20.

Many negative consequences are linked to growing up poor, and researchers at Washington University St. Louis have identified one more: altered brain connectivity.