Arts & Sciences

A search is under way to fill a new vice provost position in the Office of the Provost whose initial focus will be on diversity and faculty development, among other areas of university-wide importance. An advisory committee has been formed that will identify and recommend candidates from within the Washington University community.

University College, the continuing education and professional studies division in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will host a symposium titled “The Sustainability Challenge: Local to Global” at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 in Steinberg Auditorium. The symposium will feature experts from Washington University and the greater St. Louis region as they discuss questions and challenges facing the environment, community development and organizational life.

Tony Award-nominated actor Stephen McKinley Henderson will discuss his life and work as part of an informal, Inside the Actors Studio-style dialogue at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, in Edison Theatre. Titled “An Evening with Stephen McKinley Henderson,” the event is presented in conjunction with the symposium “Uncovering/Discovering The Other,” which runs through Friday.  

The French senate approved a law Sept. 14 banning any veils that cover the face, making France the first European country to nationally impose such a ban. A WUSTL anthropologist who has written extensively on this subject says that the French government is finding it easier to fight clothing than to fight poverty and violence.

Viola da gambist Elizabeth Macdonald, director of strings in Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, and harpsichordist Charles Metz, PhD, will launch WUSTL’s fall Danforth University Center Chamber Music Series at 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20.The concert, titled “The Golden Age of the Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord,” will highlight music for these two instruments, which reached their “golden age” during the first half of the 18th century.  

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service and the American Constitution Society at the School of Law will commemorate Constitution Day with a panel discussion on “The First Amendment in the 21st Century” from 12-1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17, in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Registration is required by Wednesday, Sept. 15, to Robin Hattori, assistant director at the Gephardt Institute, at rhattori@wustl.edu. Lunch will be provided to the first 35 registered attendees.  

The Edison will launch its 2010-11 Ovations Series with Of Bodies of Elements, a new evening-length concert by Dancing Earth, the premier indigenous contemporary dance ensemble working today. Led by choreographer Rulan Tangen, this acclaimed troupe is poised at the intersection of ritual, culture and ecology, employing Native American traditions and perspectives to explore contemporary — particularly environmental — issues and concerns.  

The haunting modern fairy tales of Kate Bernheimer both echo and update stories and motifs drawn from traditional German, Russian and Yiddish folklore. On Sept. 16 and 23, Bernheimer, the Visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, will present two events as part of the Writing Program Reading Series. 

Christopher Field, PhD, one of the leaders of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis as an I-CARES Distinguished Speaker at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in Graham Chapel. Field and a team of scientists have calculated how fast temperature zones are likely to move across the planet in the future and whether plants and animals will be able to migrate fast enough to stay ahead of the heat.

The St. Louis Nu-Jazz 5tet will launch Washington University’s fall Jazz at Holmes series with a free concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9. The popular series features professional jazz musicians from around St. Louis and abroad performing in Holmes Lounge — a casual, coffeehouse-style setting — most Thursday evenings throughout the academic year.