Brown School

Shenyang Guo, PhD, was installed Nov. 25 as the Frank J. Bruno Distinguished Professor of Social Work Research. Guo is the McDonnell International Scholars Academy’s ambassador to Fudan University in Shanghai and also serves as assistant vice chancellor for international affairs-Greater China.

Thomas and Jennifer Miller Hillman, philanthropists and Washington University alumni, are helping the Brown School create maximum social impact with a major gift to support its programs. In honor of the gift for the Brown School expansion, the new building on the Danforth Campus will be named Hillman Hall.

You might want to stand up for this. Occupational sitting is associated with an increased likelihood of obesity, especially among black women, independent of occupational and leisure time physical activity, finds a new study from the School of Medicine and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Molly Tovar, EdD, director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies and professor of practice in the Brown School, has received a $710,505, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for her project, “Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training for Professionals and Paraprofessionals.”

Neighborhood features such as bike facilities and low crime rates are associated with increased leisure and workplace-related physical activity, according to a new study from the Prevention Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis.

Sadie Pierce (left) and her partner, Lilly Leyh, became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Missouri earlier this month. Leyh is set to graduate in May with master’s degrees in social work and business administration, and Pierce is a recent alum of the Brown School.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit targeting federal subsidies designed to help millions of Americans afford health insurance. The case is dubious on its merits, says Timothy D. McBride, PhD, professor at Washington University in St. Louis’ Brown School and a noted health economist, citing legal precedent as reason for allowing the subsidies to continue.

The Brown School Policy Forum at Washington University in St. Louis presents “The University, the Community, and Race” at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, in Brown Hall’s Brown Lounge. The talk, part of the “Ferguson and Beyond” lecture series, will be given by Larry E. Davis, PhD, dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh and director and founder of its Center on Race and Social Problems. 

Today’s freshmen students have a 50 percent chance of living to see their 100th birthdays. They are in the middle of a demographic revolution that will shape every aspect of their lives. A new interdisciplinary course for freshmen introduced this fall, “When I’m Sixty-Four: Transforming Your Future,” aims to prepare students for this aging revolution and to encourage them to examine their present and future lives in more detail.

“Long tail” thinking — a strategy employed by many new businesses — might yield greater progress the field of public health by eliminating health disparities, according to a study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis led by Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD.