Arts & Sciences

Less than a month after national elections, veteran political journalist George Will delivers the fall keynote lecture for the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics. His talk, “Religion and Politics in the First Modern Nation,” begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4, in Graham Chapel.

Two Arts & Sciences seniors from Washington University in St. Louis were among 232 U.S. finalists for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. They are Madeleine Daepp, an enomics and mathematics student with an interest in agrigultural policy, and Jeremy Pivor, an environmental biology major with a passion for ocean conservation.

Washington University in St. Louis has taken a leadership role in helping to shape the future of online education by being a catalyst to bring together a consortium of the nation’s leading colleges and universities that plans to launch Semester Online. This program is a transformative new model for online education, offering undergraduate students the opportunity to take rigorous, online courses for credit from consortium schools.

Today, a group of the nation’s leading universities announced plans to launch a new, innovative program that transforms the model of online education. The new online education program, Semester Online, will be the first of its kind to offer undergraduate students the opportunity to take rigorous, online courses for credit from a consortium of universities. The program is delivered through a virtual classroom environment and interactive platform developed by 2U, formerly known as 2tor.

Over the course of 30-plus years and more than 20 documentaries, Ken Burns’ films have illuminated the country’s past and brought history to life through techniques such as first person narration. For these lasting contributions, Burns will receive WUSTL’s International Humanities Medal. The event on Friday, Nov. 16, includes a preview and commentary of his upcoming films.

On November 8, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the appointment of three new science envoys, including Barbara Schaal, the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. The science envoys travel in their capacity as private citizens and advise the White House, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. scientific community about the insights they gain from their travels and interactions.

Acclaimed poet Carl Phillips will help relaunch WUSTL’s Modern Literature Reading Series when he does a reading of the late poet Robert Creeley’s work at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12. The event, which is sponsored by University Libraries’ Department of Special Collections, will also feature two master of fine arts students reading the work of two 20th-century poets.

Angelina toils away for her two preening stepsisters. But when Prince Ramiro visits the household, disguised as a mere valet, it is love at first sight. In La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini offers a brisk, witty and emphatically non-supernatural variation on the traditional Cinderella story. On Nov. 15-16, the Washington University Opera Workshop will present excerpts from La Cenerentola and four other works in the 560 Music Center.

Some students enrolled in the Cognitive, Computational and Systems Neuroscience (CCSN) pathway, are sharing their love of science and improving communication skills through community outreach. CCSN is a specialization for graduate students in psychology, neuroscience and biomedical engineering. The students are coaching low-income area teens for an international competition called the Brain Bee, and participating in many events, including the Nov. 10 Amazing Brain Carnival held at the St. Louis Science Center. The free event introduces the public to brain science research in St. Louis. 

Maria Zuber, a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will deliver the fifth annual Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, in Room 100 in Whitaker Hall on the Danforth Campus. During the free, public lectures, she will discuss new information about water on the moon.