Arts & Sciences

A $10 million commitment has been made to Washington University by alumnus and philanthropist Harry Seigle, and his wife, Susan, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. It is the lead gift for the building currently under construction on the western end of the Danforth Campus that will serve academic functions for the three social science departments in Arts & Sciences and for the School of Law. When it opens for the fall 2008 semester, it will be known as Harry and Susan Seigle Hall. The name is significant, for it represents the first academic building on the Danforth Campus to be named for an alumnus living outside of St. Louis.

Washington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present its 2007 concert “rEvolutions,” Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in Edison Theatre.

Joyce Carol Oates, one of America’s most distinguished authors, will deliver the keynote address, “The Writer’s (Secret) Life: Woundedness, Rejection, and Inspiration,” as part of Washington University’s sixth annual faculty book colloquium “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors.” Her talk will be held at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in Holmes Lounge.

Washington University alumna Kathleen Finneran, author of the memoir “The Tender Land: A Family Love Story” (2003), will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, in Duncker Hall, Room 201, Hurst Lounge. The talk, part of The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences’ fall Reading Series, is free and open to the […]

Fengtao Wu, a senior lecturer in Chinese in Arts & Sciences, offers one of the nation’s “very best” university courses in Chinese, according to a recent College Board Advanced Placement World Languages Best Practices Course Study.

Early childhood education advocates have a new weapon at their disposal. Recent research by an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis provides evidence that preprimary education leads to more years spent in school based on the experience of children from relatively disadvantaged households in Uruguay.

Washington University alumna Kathleen Finneran, author of the memoir The Tender Land: A Family Love Story (2003), will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, for the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

Courtesy photoJoyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates, one of America’s most important and distinguished authors, three times nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature, will deliver the keynote address, titled “The Writer’s (Secret) Life: Woundedness, Rejection, and Inspiration,” for “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors,” Washington University’s sixth annual faculty book colloquium.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo(Left to right) Cindy Richard-Fogal, Ph.D., research scientist in biology in Arts & Sciences, Elaine Frawley, graduate research assistant, and Robert Kranz, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, examine an *E. coli* culture.Robert G. Kranz, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been awarded two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study pathways in bioenergy conversion. The first, for $1,203,250, is a long-term NIH R01 renewal that began Aug. 1 titled “Cytochrome c Biogenesis.” The renewal award means that NIH has funded Kranz continuously for 22 years.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Tensile Involvement* by Alwin NikolaisWashington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present rEvolutions, its 2007 concert, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in Edison Theatre. rEvolutions will feature more than 50 dancers, selected by audition, performing seven works by faculty and guest choreographers. These include original pieces by visiting dancers Diadié Bathily and Paula Weber, as well as a new setting of Alwin Nikolais’ classic Tensile Involvement (1953).