Arts & Sciences

As a child in New Mexico, Robert Mirabal awoke at dawn and “ran to the sun.” The ritual, a fusion of physical and spiritual discipline, was an important component of daily life in many Native American cultures. Now, that memory has helped inspire Music of the Sun, a collaborative concert between the Grammy Award-winning flutist and the pioneering string quartet Ethel, which comes to the 560 Music Center March 22.

President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton announced the program and featured participants for the sixth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) to be held at Washington University in St. Louis April 5-7. In addition to President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, Stephen Colbert, Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and WUSTL’s Michael Sherraden are among the featured speakers.

The Henry Luce Foundation named Jeremy I. Pivor one of 18 scholars in the 40th class of Luce Scholars this February. Chosen from a field of 168 nominees, he is the third Washington University student to be named a scholar in the past four years.

Marvin Jay Cummins, PhD, a longtime member of the Washington University Arts & Sciences faculty in sociology and political science, died Friday, March 1, 2013. He was 77.​

In his first two books, Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality, Ariely shows how we often fail to act in our own best interests. With his third book, The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – especially Ourselves, Ariely examines dishonesty in American culture and has some surprising findings to share at an Assembly Series presentation at 2 p.m. Wed., March 6 in Graham Chapel.

Two biologists at Washington University in St. Louis were delighted to discover a meticulous dataset on a plant-pollinator network recorded by Illinois naturalist Charles Robertson between 1884 and 1916. Re-collecting part of Robertson’s network, they learned that although the network has compensated for some losses, battered by climate change and habitat loss it is now weaker and less resilient than in Robertson’s time.

The Academy of American Poets has selected Mary Jo Bang’s translation of Dante’s Inferno as one of the Notable Books of 2012. Bang is a professor of English in Arts & Sciences. Her Inferno: A New Translation was one of only 12 books that made the notable list for 2012. The American Library Association also recently selected Bang’s Inferno as one of only two books of poetry to make its Notable Books for Adults 2013 list.

Rodolfo Manuelli, PhD, professor of economics in Arts & Sciences, has been named a James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences. A formal installation ceremony was held Feb. 25.

During the installation ceremony of Vincent Sherry, PhD, as the first Howard Nemerov Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences, Sherry delivered an address titled “‘By Degrees’: Howard Nemerov, Poetry, and the English Department.” During his talk, Sherry, chair and professor of English in Arts & Sciences, acknowledged the literary great for whom the professorship is named. To read Sherry’s Jan. 24 talk, visit here. 

Vincent Sherry, PhD, chair and professor of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the first Howard Nemerov Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences during a Jan. 24 ceremony in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. Sherry delivered a talk in which he recognized the literary great for whom the professorship is named.