Arts & Sciences

In 1976, as a business major at Washington University in St. Louis, Ron Himes began staging theatrical performances. Thirty-eight seasons later, Himes remains founder and producing director for The Black Rep, one of the nation’s largest and most respected African-American theater companies.

Washington University in St. Louis graduate student Andrea Karl found herself thrust into the national spotlight this month at the St. Louis GO! Marathon when an imposter at the finish line denied Karl her first-place accolades. She got to recreate the finish at Busch Stadium. Karl is working towards a PhD in molecular genetics and genomics in the Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) at the School of Medicine. DBBS is in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis recognized five alumni during its 17th annual Arts & Sciences Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony, held March 19 at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor, hosted the awards dinner.

Junior Kevin Hays has set a new record for standard Rubik’s Cubes solved while underwater: eight. Hays beat the previous record of five while sitting in a dunk tank April 19 on the Washington University in St. Louis campus at the annual Thurtene Carnival. The attempt took two minutes and five seconds.

Edward S. Macias, PhD, provost emeritus and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will receive an honorary degree from his alma mater Colgate University in May.

Erin McGlothlin, PhD (right), associate professor of German and of Jewish studies in Arts & Sciences, was among eight faculty to receive an Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. She is pictured with one of her graduate students who nominated her for the award, Ervin Malakaj, a PhD candidate in German.

Amy French, a junior majoring in economics in Arts & Sciences, is a goalkeeper for the Bears varsity team. She is also an accomplished jazz singer, and keeps busy accompanying Provost Holden Thorp, a jazz pianist in his free time, at events around the country.

The Department of Mathematics has announced that a Washington University team, consisting of junior Anthony Grebe, senior Alan Talmage and sophomore Jongwhan Park, placed 16th out of 431 teams in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition, the most difficult mathematics competition for undergraduates in the country. Washington University teams also took first and second place in the Missouri Collegiate Mathematics Competition.​

Lee Epstein, PhD, was installed as the Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis in a campus ceremony March 17.

Ram V. Dixit, PhD, assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a four-year, $1.17 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled “Mechanisms for the Function and Regulation of Katanin.”