Arts & Sciences

Poet Carl Phillips, professor of English and of African & African American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, has won the 2006 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, given in memory of James Ingram Merrill. The fellowship is awarded annually to a poet for distinguished poetic achievement at mid-career and provides a stipend of $25,000. The academy’s board of chancellors, a body of 15 eminent poets, elected Phillips.

Bollywood film star Shabana Azmi will talk about South Asian social issues filtered through her perspective as an actress and a social justice advocate at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 29, in Graham Chapel. The program is free and open to the public. Her husband, Bollywood scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, will also give remarks.

A current student and a recent alumnus from Washington University in St. Louis have been named Rhodes Scholars. They are Aaron F. Mertz, 22, and Leana S. Wen, 23. The two were among 32 U.S. students chosen for graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. Winners of the highly acclaimed award were selected based on high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor.

Poet Susan Wheeler will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, for The Writing Program Reading Series. Wheeler is the author of four acclaimed collections: Bag ‘o’ Diamonds (1993), Smokes (1998), Source Codes (2001) and Ledger (2005). Her work has appeared in appeared in eight editions of Best American Poetry.

Kenneth F. Kelton, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, has been named the first Arthur Holly Compton Professor in Arts & Sciences. John F. McDonnell, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees and retired chairman of the board of McDonnell Douglas Corp., with JSM Charitable Trust, endowed the new professorship.

Costas Azariadis, professor of economics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, comments on the passing of Milton Friedman, a path-breaking conservative economist who passed away Nov. 16 at age 94.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Women’s Voices* by Christine Knoblauch-O’NealWashington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present BODYMIND/Art of Movement, its 2006 concert, Dec. 1-3 in Edison Theatre. Performances will feature close to 50 dancers, selected by audition, performing seven works by faculty and guest choreographers.

Major Indian film star and social activist Shabana Azmi, will give a talk at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 29, in Graham Chapel on the Washington University Danforth Campus. The lecture, “Bollywood and Beyond,” will explore South Asia’s socio-cultural climate. It is free and open to the public.

Jerry BauerOrhan PamukTurkish writer Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, will receive Washington University’s inaugural Distinguished Humanist Medal as part of “Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors,” the university’s fifth annual faculty book colloquium. The award — which includes a cash prize of $15,000 — is supported by the Center for the Humanities and the Office of International and Area Studies, both in Arts & Sciences. It will be given biannually to a distinguished scholar, writer or artist whose career merits special recognition for excellence and courage.

Steven SmithIf Democrats want to expand their House and Senate majorities, they need to protect new members who were elected from Republican-leaning districts while showing they can govern by passing a limited popular agenda: “Satisfying the base while appealing to moderates is squarely the central strategic problem for both parties in the new Congress,” suggests Steven S. Smith, a congressional expert at Washington University in St. Louis.