Arts & Sciences

In Modern Life, her third book of poems, Matthea Harvey offers a whirling, riffing, buoyantly ironic take on post-9/11 America. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, Harvey, the Visiting Hurst Professor of Creative Writing at Washington University in St. Louis, will read from her work for The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

What is the state of the humanities? How are they taught, what do they teach us, and how do they serve the public good? Earlier this month, cultural leaders from across the state gathered at the Missouri History Museum to discuss “The Importance of the Humanities and Social Sciences for Public Life.” Convened by WUSTL’s Gerald Early, the meeting was the third in a series of regional forums presented by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Richard A. Loomis, PhD, associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, received the David Hadas Teaching Award during the Arts & Sciences’ annual faculty reception, held Sept. 6 in Holmes Lounge. The Hadas award recognizes an outstanding tenured faculty member in Arts & Sciences who demonstrates commitment and excellence in teaching first-year undergraduates.

McLeod’s Way, a new landscaped gathering place on the South 40 that honors the late James E. “Jim” McLeod, WUSTL’s beloved vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, was dedicated Sept. 15 at Graham Chapel. Shaun C. Koiner, a 2004 WUSTL alumnus and one of McLeod’s former students, speaks during the ceremony.

Two topics often avoided in “polite conversation” will be the buzz in the room as the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics hosts an open house from 5-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, in its new Umrath Hall location. The celebration offers the community a chance to meet new faculty, mingle with center staff and get an update on recent progress.

The employees are getting restless. Trapped in a nameless, New York company, they are buffeted by Orwellian management-speak, inter-office sabotage and inappropriate contact. And then the Firings begin. Welcome to Personal Days, the acclaimed corporate satire by fiction writer Ed Park, who will read from his work Thursday, Sept. 20, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

Pianist and conductor William Schatzkamer, professor of music in Arts & Sciences, died Wednesday, Sept. 12, of congestive heart failure at his home in Olivette. He was 96.

No Child Left Behind was the signature education bill of the Bush administration. No Child… is an award-winning one-woman play by Nilaja Sun, who spent eight years teaching in the New York City public schools. From Sept. 21-30, The Black Rep will revive its acclaimed production of this Obie Award-winning play in WUSTL’s Edison Theatre.

Developing new and innovative approaches for the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) is the primary goal of an interdisciplinary conference to be held Sept. 27-28 at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education & Conference Center at Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University’s John B. Ervin Scholars Program, considered a nationally pre-eminent program that fosters and enhances the overall quality and diversity of WUSTL’s student body, is recognizing its 25th anniversary this weekend. More than 1,000 alumni, family and friends of the Ervin program are expected to be on campus Sept. 14-16 to participate in “Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence: Our Names and Our Stories.”