Arts & Sciences

Arts & Sciences will recognize the achievements of five alumni and a special friend at 4 p.m. May 18 in the Arts & Sciences Laboratory Science Building. Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor, dean of Arts & Sciences and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, will present Distinguished Alumni Awards to Mel F. Brown, J.D., (A.B. ’57, J.D. ’61); Alvin Rabushka, Ph.D., (A.B. ’62, M.A. ’66, Ph.D. ’68); Ronald M. Rettner (A.B. ’72); Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D., (A.B. ’67, M.A. ’69); and William Jay Smith (A.B. ’39, M.A. ’41). Macias will also present the Dean’s Medal to Harriet K. Switzer, Ph.D., secretary to the Board of Trustees, for her support and dedication to Arts & Sciences. More…

Rising health care costs and diminishing health insurance coverage will be among critical issues debated by leading medical-policy experts as the University hosts a daylong public forum on Medicaid financing June 8.

Proclaiming that “energy and environmental issues represent the greatest challenges of this century,” Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton today joined presidents of six other premier research universities in calling for universities worldwide to marshal their resources for a global effort to secure a brighter, sustainable future. Plans for collaborative academic programs involving education, research, university operations, social sciences and policy studies are detailed in a statement issued May 7.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will announce a call to action for research universities worldwide to focus on the energy and environment as the greatest challenge of this century. The announcement, which comes as part of a conference involving the presidents of 12 premier research universities from Asia and the Middle East, will be made at noon May 7 in Whitaker Hall Auditorium, Washington University’s Danforth Campus.

“A Temple of Texts” by William H. Gass, Ph.D., the David May Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences, is the 2007 winner of the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in Memory of Newton Arvin — the largest annual cash prize for literary criticism in the English language.

Three Washington University scientists are among the 72 members and 18 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer.

For the first time in the United States, the presidents of 12 premier research universities from around the world will gather at Washington University in St. Louis to discuss ways their institutions are addressing global energy and environmental concerns. From Israel and Turkey in the Middle East, and in Asia from Korea in the north, Indonesia in the south, Japan to the east and India to the west, 20 major research universities have joined Washington University in a partnership — the McDonnell International Scholars Academy — to build cooperation and understanding among people and institutions of the world.

The Washington University Opera will perform Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” — one of the most recognized motifs in Western music — as part of its Evening at the Opera concerts 8 p.m. May 4-5 in Umrath Hall.

Sir Michael Atiyah, one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century, will speak on “Beauty and Truth in Mathematics” at 5 p.m. May 11 in Room 201 of Crow Hall.

The Supreme Court’s decision April 30 to raise the bar for patents on products combining elements of pre-existing inventions is a landmark in the battle against so-called “nuisance patents” and just one more sign that the tide is turning against overly restrictive and costly intellectual property right protections, suggests a pair of economists from Washington University in St. Louis.