Arts & Sciences

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

Modern Humans may have been the divergent branch.Could it be that in the great evolutionary “family tree,” it is we Modern Humans, not the brow-ridged, large-nosed Neandertals, who are the odd uncle out? New research published in the August, 2006 journal Current Anthropology by Neandertal and early modern human expert, Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, suggests that rather than the standard straight line from chimps to early humans to us with Neandertals off on a side graph, it’s equally valid, perhaps more valid based on the fossil record, that the line should extend from the common ancestor to the Neandertals, and Modern Humans should be the branch off that. More…

Eric Woolsey*Hickorydickory*From Tennessee Williams to Shepherd Mead and A.E. Hotchner, Washington University boasts a strong tradition of original drama. This year the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will celebrate that tradition with four original plays by alumni, faculty and students. The series begins Sept. 29 to Oct. 8 with Hickorydickory, a playful, Magical-Realist-style work by recent alumna Marisa Wegrzyn.

Internationally acclaimed conductor and music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson, will present a talk for the Assembly Series at 4 p.m., Wednesday, September 20 in Graham Chapel. To promote the orchestra, Arts & Sciences is offering free tickets to WUSTL students for the September 21 concert.

The community forum, to be held 7:45-10:45 a.m. Sept. 22 on campus, will explore the project’s impact on residents and businesses.

A dilemma: You’ve just listened to the Assembly Series speaker and want to continue the discussion. But you’re hungry too. What can you do? You can sign up for the new Post-Assembly Series Students’ Discussion.

Author Patrick Ryan — whose debut novel, Send Me, was published earlier this year — will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, for The Writing Program Reading Series.

Anthropologist Erik Trinkaus argues that “in the broader sweep of human evolution, the more unusual group is not Neandertals, but it’s us — Modern Humans.”

Map of the I-64 reconstruction projectHelping St. Louis residents and businesses cope with commuting challenges posed by the planned reconstruction of Interstate 64 (Highway 40) is the goal of a Weidenbaum Center community forum to be held on campus 7:45 – 10:45 a.m. Sept. 22. Free and open to the public, the event kicks off with a presentation by MoDot Director Peter Rahn.

Eric Woolsey*Hickordickory*From Tennessee Williams to Shepherd Mead and A.E. Hotchner, Washington University boasts a strong tradition of original drama. This year the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will celebrate that tradition with four original plays by alumni, faculty and students. The series begins Sept. 29 to Oct. 8 with Hickorydickory, a playful, magical-realist-style work by recent alumnae Marisa Wegrzyn.