Arts & Sciences

The Black Rep, one of the nation’s largest and most critically acclaimed African-American theater companies founded by Ron Himes in 1976 while a student at Washington University in St. Louis, will launch its 38th season with the Tony Award-winning musical “Purlie” in Edison Theatre Sept. 10-21. Himes is now the Henry E. Hampton Jr. Artist-in-Residence in Arts & Sciences.

Early in September, the X-Calibur mission, preparing for launch at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M., put its pointing system through its paces to make sure all of its parts were working in programmed harmony.

Soprano Jane Jennings and pianist Gail Hintz will perform Washington University in St. Louis’ annual Liederabend concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, in the 560 Music Center. Literally translated as “evening of song,” Liederabend is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century Austrian or German composers.

“Foundations of Diversity at Washington University and Throughout Academia” will be the focus of a campus conference Sept. 12 in honor of Robert L. Williams II, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology and of African and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

In the 1970s and ’80s, the St. Louis band Tracer was one of the area’s premiere exponents of fusion-style jazz. On Thursday, Sept. 11, the re-formed Tracer will launch Jazz at Holmes Series. The annual fall series also will include tributes to John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and Gaslight Square.

John G. Baugh, PhD, the Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, is one of 10 distinguished scholars to be honored as 2015 fellows of the Linguistic Society of America.   

It can be plain or embroidered, a single hue or richly patterned, a bold statement or a humble custom. In “Unveiled,” Chicago-based playwright Rohina Malik explores the significance of the traditional Muslim hijab through the lives of five contemporary women who choose to wear it for the Edison Ovations Series at Washington University Saturday, Sept. 27.

Ralph S. Quatrano, PhD, dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has announced that he will step down as dean at the end of the academic year, June 30, 2015. After a yearlong sabbatical beginning in July 2015, Quatrano will resume his position as the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences.

Jean Sutherland Boggs, the first woman appointed to full professorship in the Department of Art History and Archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Friday, Aug. 22, 2014. She was 92.

Rebecca Treiman, PhD, the Burke & Elizabeth High Baker Professor of Child Developmental Psychology in Arts & Sciences, received the 2014 Society for the Scientific Study of Reading’s Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award, given every two years for outstanding contributions to the field.