Arts & Sciences

Washington University in St. Louis recently was named one of the top producers of U.S. Fulbright students, based on outcomes of the 2011-2012 competition. The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program, recently announced the complete list of top-producing colleges and universities in the Oct. 24 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

“Well, Anatol,” says Max, “I envy you.” And what’s not to envy? Anatol is young, rich and good-looking, blessed with charm and taste and a hedonistic nature, unencumbered by family, scruple or employment. Later this month, Washington University’s Performing Arts Department will present an original adaptation of Anatol, Arthur Schnitzler’s strikingly modern deconstruction of a dapper but self-deluding would-be Don Juan.

In American Romances, her 13th book and first collection of essays, Rebecca Brown bobs and weaves though 300 years of American history, mixing social and literary critique with pop culture, autobiography, playful fantasy and misremembered movie plots, riffing on the stories we tell and the stories we don’t. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, Brown will read from her work as part of The Writing Program’s fall Reading Series.

Greece’s government is teetering on the brink of collapse, backing away Nov. 3 from a referendum on staying in the Euro. While events continue to evolve and change rapidly, Greece is likely to default on its entire debt, says an economist at Washington University in St. Louis.

The timing, process and archaeology of the peopling of Europe by early modern humans have been actively debated for more than a century. Reassessment of the anatomy and dating of a fragmentary upper jaw with three teeth from Kent’s Cavern in southern England has shed new light on these issues. 

Distinguished Visiting Scholar Jock Soto leads a master class for advanced ballet students Oct. 26 in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio in Mallinckrodt Student Center. Soto, an internationally acclaimed former principal dancer for the New York City Ballet, was in residence with the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences Oct. 23-30.

Ekphrasis is the literary description of a visual work of art. It is also a key apporach underlying the poetry of Cole Swensen, a former National Book Award nominee and Guggenheim Fellow. In each of her 14 collections, Swensen selects a single theme or subject, generally drawn from the arts or history, then explores it through her own writing process. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, the poet will read from her work for as part of the Writing Program’s fall Reading Series.

Historian Iver Bernstein, PhD, takes an exhaustive, interdisciplinary approach to any topic he studies. Colleagues say he asks the questions that no one else thinks to ask and brings fresh perspectives to the long-ago past. Bernstein is passionate about revealing unspoken or unremembered history that is suppressed in national stories. His book on The New York City Draft Riots is considered by some to be “the gold standard” on the topic.

Against a backdrop of harsh partisan political rancor, Steven S. Smith, PhD, the Kate M. Gregg Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will present a series of three lectures in November on “The Dysfunctional Senate.”

Amal Al-Lozi, senior environmental biology major in Arts & Sciences, presents her work on temperate Oak-Hickory forests to Kelsey Brod, a junior in printmaking and environmental studies, at the Fall 2011 Undergraduate Research Symposium Oct. 22. The event, showcasing the summer projects of more than 150 undergraduates, was held during Parent & Family Weekend.