Arts & Sciences

America’s satisfaction with government is hovering at all time lows according to recent polls by Gallup and the Pew Research Center, but don’t assume these sentiments spell doom for the Democratic Party in coming elections, says a congressional expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Washington University Symphony Orchestra and the Washington University Concert Choir will join forces at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 25, for the 2010 Chancellor’s Concert. The annual performance, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences and will highlight the work of French composer Francis Poulenc. 

Richard E. Norberg, PhD, retired professor and longtime chair of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a pioneer in using nuclear magnetic resonance as a practical analysis tool, died April 20, 2010, at Bethesda Dilworth in St. Louis. He was 87.

Arts & Sciences teaching assistants listen as they are recognized for their “exemplary” performance during the annual Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence ceremony, held April 19 in the Danforth University Center. The ceremony, in which 13 graduate students were recognized, coincided with the kickoff of Graduate Education Week in Missouri, April 19-24, as designated by Gov. Jay Nixon.

Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences and author of The Encyclopedia of Catholicism (2007) comments on the damage the pedophilia scandal has caused the church and claims the Vatican’s own laws are responsible.

The dark clouds of volcanic ash that have closed airports and stranded travelers for days on end may have a silver lining, suggests an expert on human creativity from Washington University in St. Louis. Like it or note, stranded travelers around the globe are suddenly finding themselves with a lot of unscheduled time on their hands, and idle time is a key ingredient to becoming more creative in your personal and professional lives.

The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences has announced its first grant recipients for two newly established programs: the Faculty Seminar Grants and the Reading Group Grants for Faculty and Graduate Students.

“The myth is a public dream.” So argues playwright Mary Zimmerman in Metamorphoses, her hypnotic, Tony Award-winning adaptation of myths by the Roman poet Ovid. Beginning Friday, April 23 and for two consecutive weekends, the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present Metamorphoses, perhaps the most acclaimed theatrical work of the last decade, as its spring Mainstage production. 

Critic Marjorie Perloff, a Visiting Hurst Professor in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences, will present a lecture titled “Unoriginal Genius: Poetry by Other Means in the New Century” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 14. The talk — adapted from the opening chapter of her forthcoming book of the same title — will examine the practices of allusion and quotation in modern poetry. 

John Stern, PhD, a pioneering psychophysiologist who conducted research at Washington University for nearly 60 years, died April 3, 2010 in St. Louis. He was 85.