Arts & Sciences

As President-elect Barack Obama continues to fill key cabinet positions from the ranks of D.C.-based public policy think tanks, a new book by longtime policy adviser Murray Weidenbaum examines how the nation’s top think tanks came to play such critical roles in U.S. politics.

ElginWashington University in St. Louis is in the spotlight for its pivotal role in the Genomics Education Partnership, a collaborative effort to provide research experience in genomics to undergraduate classrooms across the country. At the helm of this mission is Sarah C.R. Elgin, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of biology and professor of education in Arts & Sciences, as well as professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics and professor of genetics in the School of Medicine.

In an attempt to reinvent itself as a “responsible corporate citizen,” tobacco company Philip Morris has begun an unlikely support of regulation of tobacco products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, a new study by Peter Benson, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, shows that proposed FDA regulation fails to address the suffering of migrant tobacco workers, the prevalence of smoking and the redistribution of leaf production to the developing world.

*To Kill a Mockingbird*Since its publication in 1960, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has become the best-selling novel of all time and is perhaps the most widely read book exploring race in the United States. In January Washington University’s Edison Theatre will join forces with Metro Theater Company, St. Louis’ foremost professional troupe for young people, to stage an all-ages theatrical production of the civil rights classic.

Photo by David KilperWashington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present “Common Ground” Dec. 5-7 in Edison Theatre.

Photo by David KilperWashington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present “Common Ground,” its 2008 concert, Dec. 5-7 in Edison Theatre.

Washington University’s Center for the Humanities and Program in Film & Media Studies, both in Arts & Sciences, will host the Fifth Annual Children’s Film Symposium Friday and Saturday, Nov. 21 and 22. Presented in conjunction with Cinema St. Louis, the festival will feature five screenings as well as introductions and postshow discussions by a […]

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shed light on a basic process that could improve future solar cells. Dewey Holten, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences and graduate student Hee-eun Song have directly measured the rate of hole transfer between identical porphyrin compounds in their ground states. These results are key to understanding the fundamental processes underlying charge separation in this sort of structure and have applications for improving the efficiency of solar cells.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Falling Petals*Washington University Dance Theatre (WUDT), the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present Common Ground, its 2008 concert, Dec. 5 to 7 in Edison Theatre. Performances will feature more than three-dozen student dancers, selected by audition, in eight works by faculty and guest choreographers. Pieces range from contemporary dance and re-stagings of modern classics to dances drawing on Chinese and Indian traditions.

Donald Finkel, poet-in-residence emeritus of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at the Schuetz Manor in St. Louis County. He was 79. Finkel joined the Washington University community in 1960 with his wife, the late poet Constance Urdang. He was the author of more than a dozen books of poetry. An obituary will appear in the Dec. 4 issue of the Record.