Fall concerts mark World’s Fair centenary

The Washington University Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will mark the centenary of the 1904 World’s Fair by including works performed at the fair in concerts throughout its fall season. The season will be launched Sept. 7 by the Washington University Chamber Orchestra.

Dance Close-Up

Photo by David Kilper/WUSTL Photo ServicesMary Jean Cowell and Cecil Slaughter perform “Sliders” as part of the 2004 “Dance Close-Up” Sept. 9-11.Ballet and modern dance will share the stage with Indian Bharata Natyam and multi-media work in Dance Close-Up, an intimate presentation of new and original choreography by faculty in the Dance Program Sept. 9-11.

Presidential Politics & Campaign Issue Experts

Washington University in St. Louis, host of a presidential debate scheduled for Oct. 8, 2004, offers the media a rich source of expertise on presidential politics and related campaign issues. The University has a strong connection to modern presidential politics, having been selected to host presidential debates in each election since 1992. Presidential debates were […]

An exile returns

Detail from Max Beckmann’s “Four Men Around a Table” (1943).H.W. Janson (1913-1982) is among the 20th century’s most influential art historians. Since 1962, his textbook History of Art, now in its sixth edition, has been used in countless college surveys and sold four million copies in 14 languages. Yet Janson, who emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in the mid-1930s to protest Nazi cultural policies, remains little known in his former country. That’s about to change, thanks to Exile and Modernism: H.W. Janson and the Collection of Washington University in St. Louis, a touring exhibition organized by the university’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Curricula that engages students is key to solving nation’s math education problem

Courtesy NASA/JPL-CaltechEngaging students in the power of mathematics is key to a strong curriculum.As parents are taking advantage of back-to-school sales and stocking up on supplies like calculators, pens and pencils, a math education expert at Washington University in St. Louis suggests they also may want to check out the quality of their children’s math education. According to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, the United States continues to lag further behind other developed nations in mathematics education. A critical part of the solution, says Jere Confrey, Ph.D., professor of education in Arts & Sciences, is for school districts to select and implement a solid curriculum with interesting, compelling and rigorous mathematics and then to carefully monitor and evaluate students’ progress while using that curriculum.

Tap water just as safe as bottled, says environmental engineer

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoBottled water or tap? A WUSTL environmental engineer specializing in aquatic chemistry sees no difference between the two in terms of health.Paying extra for bottled water? You may be wasting your money, says an expert in aquatic chemistry. Daniel Giammar, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Environmental Engineering Science Program at Washington University in St. Louis, says that tap water is just as safe to drink as bottled water. He also says that the pricey bottled water you value so highly might well be nothing more than repackaged tap water. “The tap water we drink meets very strict standards that are designed to protect our health,” Giammar says. “These are developed over many years of study and they all include fairly large factors of safety. Any differences between tap and bottled water, in terms of health, are negligible.”
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