Arts & Sciences

Legendary guitarist Ralph Towner is one of the finest improvisers in modern jazz and one of the few to specialize in acoustic guitar. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, Towner will present an evening of both standards and original music for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series. In addition, on Oct. 26, Towner will take part in “The Music of Ralph Towner and The ECM Movement,” a symposium exploring both Towner’s work and the music of other artists associated with ECM Records.

A new series, called the Danforth Dialogues, demonstrates how persons with profoundly different views can engage each other forcefully and respectfully. Sen. John C. Danforth moderated the first discussion between Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. The series is co-sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics.

Twelve current or former Washington University in St. Louis students have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships to study, conduct research and/or teach English abroad for the 2011-12 academic year. They are among 1,600 U.S. citizens who will spend a full academic year in a host country through the Fulbright Program.    

Cultivars of popular ornamental woody plants that are being sold in the United States as non-invasive are probably anything but, according to an analysis by a Washington University in St. Louis botanical researcher published in the October issue of BioScience.

James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences who died Sept. 6, was remembered through song and speech during three events at WUSTL this past week, including an intimate Liederabend Sunday, Oct. 9, in Holmes Lounge. The performance, with baritone Sidney Outlaw (left), was dedicated to the memory of McLeod, who initiated the university’s first Liederabend, translated as “evening of song,” nearly 30 years ago.

Ward Stare is a rising star in the world of classical music, serving as both resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and as music director for the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. This fall, Stare adds to his portfolio as conductor of the Washington University Symphony Orchestra. On Oct. 23, Stare will make his regular-season debut with the WUSTL symphony in a performance featuring music of Ralph Vaughn Williams, Franz Liszt and Jean Sibelius.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education will name Washington University in St. Louis as the winner of its “Best Lessons Learned Case Study Award” on Tuesday, Oct. 11, during the AASHE 2011 Conference in Pittsburgh. The award, for the case study, “Getting to Net-Zero: Lessons Learned from a Living Building Challenge,” which outlined “the mistakes, corrections, and lessons learned that ultimately led to successful certification” of WUSTL’s Living Learning Center at Tyson Research Center as one of the first net zero energy “living buildings.”

Nationally acclaimed poet Lucie Brock-Broido will present a talk on the craft of poetry at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, for the Writing Program Reading Series. Brock-Broido is the author of three books of poetry: Trouble in Mind (2004), The Master Letters (1995) and A Hunger (1988). Her work often explores obsessions and anxieties — of influence, ritual, mortality and modernity — using shifting syntax and diction to create vivid, and sometimes disorienting, portraits of mind.

The VERITAS array of telescopes has detected pulsed gamma rays from the pulsar at the heart of the Crab Nebula that have energies far higher than the common theoretical models can explain. The finding is one of the most exciting in the telescope’s history, according to consortium members at Washington University in St. Louis.

Following the Sept. 6 death of James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton has announced a transitional leadership plan for the College of Arts & Sciences. Sharon Stahl, PhD, associate vice chancellor for students and dean of the First Year Center, and Wayne Fields, PhD, the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Professor of English in Arts & Sciences, have agreed to take on the additional responsibilities of leading the College of Arts & Sciences on an interim basis.