Arts & Sciences

Photo by Mary Butkus / WUSTL PhotoStudy finds that the larger the bill, the smaller the tip percentage.As Americans are stuggling to make ends meet with rising gas and food costs, they are grappling more than ever with what’s appropriate when it comes to rewarding service providers with tips, gifts and other token gratuities, suggests Leonard Green, Ph.D., a psychology professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis who studies tipping behavior. Video available.

Parent/child interaction with a toy is key to inciting learning.Many parents around the country will purchase toys for their children this coming holiday season. While choosing toys that will further a child’s education development is important, it’s also a great idea for parents to remember to play with their children and engage with them in their new gifts. R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., associate professor of education in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, offers advice to parents worried about making the right toy choice for their children. Video available.

Taking classes with a friend can help adult students stay focused on their schoolwork.So it will soon be 2009 — the year you decided is the one to start or finish that degree you’ve always intended to earn. But if it’s been awhile since you’ve stepped foot inside a classroom — or at least one that wasn’t your kids’ — here are some suggestions to help you follow through on your New Year’s resolution.

SmithThe 2008 Iowa Caucuses may be the last time the conservative Midwestern state exerts such a huge influence on the presidential nomination process, predicts WUSTL expert Steven S. Smith.

To recognize the creative contributions and exemplary performance of its staff, Arts & Sciences presented eight of its own with the Arts & Sciences 2007-08 Outstanding Staff Award during a recent ceremony and reception in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., presented the awards May 1 for the last time as dean […]

For the first time, doctoral students on both the Danforth and School of Medicine campuses may apply for subsidies to help defray the cost of child day care.

To recognize the creative contributions and exemplary performance of its staff, Arts & Sciences presented eight of its own with the Arts & Sciences 2007-08 Outstanding Staff Award during a recent ceremony and reception in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., presented the awards May 1 for the last time as dean of Arts & Sciences. He stepped down June 30 after 14 years in the position.

Four faculty members from the 2008 Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops will read from their poetry and fiction at 7 p.m., Aug. 6 in Duncker Hall, Room 201, Hurst Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

LowryThe President’s call to end a decades-old ban on offshore oil and gas drilling highlighted key differences in the big-oil platforms of presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees Obama and McCain, suggests William Lowry, a WUSTL expert on the politics of environmental and energy issues.

WooleyAn interdisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, led by Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, is a step closer to delivering cancer-killing drugs to pediatric brain tumors, similar to the tumor that Senator Ted Kennedy is suffering from. Such tumors are often difficult to completely remove surgically; frequently, cancerous cells remain following surgery and the tumor returns. Chemotherapy, while effective at treating tumors, often harms healthy cells as well, leading to severe side effects especially in young children that are still developing their brain functions. In an effort to solve this problem, the Wooley lab has developed polymeric nanoparticles that can entrap doxorubicin, a drug commonly used in chemotherapy, and slowly release the drug over an extended time period.