Arts & Sciences

Acclaimed fiction and nonfiction writer Francine Prose, author most recently of Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, will receive the 2010 Washington University International Humanities Medal Nov. 30. Awarded biennially, the medal honors the lifetime work of a noted scholar, writer or artist who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the world of letters or the arts.

Washington University in St. Louis has received a $1 million grant over the next four years from the Amgen Foundation to provide hands-on laboratory experience to approximately 100 undergraduates through the Amgen Scholars Program.

The achievement gap separating black and white students has been known and studied for a number of years. However, new research focusing on black males shows the gap may be much bigger than originally thought. How to breach the divide? Better teachers, suggests a WUSTL expert in science education proficiency.

In her research, Jennifer R. Smith, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences and of environmental studies, both in Arts & Sciences, uses the tools of classic earth science to address questions of archeological interest.

Art historian Monica Amor will discuss “Affect and the Participatory Dimension of Brazilian Neoconcretism: 1959-1964” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, in Steinberg Hall Auditorium. Part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Public Lecture Series, the talk is co-sponsored by the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences and is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Rivane Neuenschwander: A Day Like Any Other, on view at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. 

Israeli violinist Eyal Kless will join pianist Seth Carlin, professor of music in Arts & Sciences, and two musicians from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra — violist Shannon Farrell Williams and cellist Bjorn Ranheim — for a free performance at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8. The program will feature music of Frédéric Chopin, Samuel Barber and Robert Schumann. 

Acclaimed poet and fiction writer Eileen Myles, named by BUST magazine as “the rock star of modern poetry” and author most recently of Inferno (A Poet’s Novel), will present a pair of events as part of the fall Writing Program Reading Series. Myles is the Visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences. 

Shirley H. Perry, a Washington University in St. Louis alumna and author of the recently released After Many Days: My Life as a Spy and Other Grand Adventures, will tell about her days as a CIA operative during the Cold War at a reading and book signing at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, in Tisch Commons in the Danforth University Center at Washington University.

In the wake of the 2010 election, Washington University in St. Louis congressional expert Steve Smith looks ahead to the next Congress and how the new majority in the House of Representatives and Republican gains in the Senate will affect President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda.

Some of the world’s leading social scientists will be on campus Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 4-6, as Washington University in St. Louis hosts an academic conference honoring the legacy of Nobel Laureate Douglass C. North, PhD. North, who celebrates his 90th birthday Friday, Nov. 5, is the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts & Sciences and co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.