Brown School

The Brown School’s Transdisciplinary Problem Solving course on global hunger and undernutrition hosted a Hunger Banquet Oct. 18 in Brown Hall Lounge to recognize World Food Day. Hunger Banquet guests were given tickets as they entered the event representing food allowances from different income levels around the world. Mirroring the current crisis, food prices rose throughout the event, limiting the amount of food people could purchase. Video features comments by Brown School students Tess Thompson and Susan Vorkoper. 

Front-of-package nutrition labels already exist on many foods in the U.S., but an Institute of Medicine (IOM) panel recently recommended standardizing and simplifying this information through a rating system modeled after the Energy Star program. “You shouldn’t have to be a nutrition scientist to make healthy food choices for your family,” says Matthew Kreuter, PhD, member of the IOM panel and director of the Health Communications Research Laboratory at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other legislators are calling for baseball players to stop using chewing tobacco on the field and in front of their fans. “This is an important public health issue,” says Douglas Luke, PhD, director of the Center for Tobacco Policy Research at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “Not only is smokeless tobacco use hazardous, but young people who use smokeless tobacco are more likely to also start smoking cigarettes.” Luke notes that smokeless tobacco use is a growing problem, particularly for the youngest baseball fans.

Washington University in St. Louis has received a five-year, $3 million grant to establish a new center to develop better ways to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes in high-risk patients, including American Indians and Alaska Natives, says Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, director of the new center. 

Through the Social Change Grant program, students are encouraged to use their creativity and knowledge to find solutions to world problems. The program provides $5,000-$6,000 in funding for a summer service project. The many projects — from water purification in Uganda to family planning in India — will be highlighted during an Oct. 12 showcase in Danforth University Center. 

Interest in social entrepreneurship — using innovation and enterprise to address social problems — has exploded, but training has always been from a business perspective. This fall, the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will be home to the first social entrepreneurship program based in a social work setting.

People head to the beach to escape the stress of everyday life, but a new study out of the Brown School at Washington University In St. Louis finds that there are peak times to reap the restorative benefit. “Mild temperature days and low tides offer the most restorative environments when visiting the beach,” says J. Aaron Hipp, PhD, environmental health expert and assistant professor at the Brown School.

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University in St. Louis has selected seven juniors for the inaugural cohort of the Civic Scholars Program. Civic Scholars will enroll in two years of academic course work related to civic leadership and receive mentorship to prepare them for a life dedicated to public service.

Americans are remaining in the workforce longer and many are changing or advancing their careers well past age 40. “With this trend towards working longer, educational institutions have been trying to figure out their role in keeping up with the needs of our aging society,” says Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. The Brown School decided to study the experiences of their students who came to get their MSW after the age of 40. The survey focuses on pathways to graduate school, their experience in the classroom as well as field, and their post-MSW careers. Morrow-Howell says that these results can be applied to other graduate programs, particularly in fields that may face labor shortages in the future, such as education, health and social services.

The Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis will host its fourth annual conference, titled “Beyond Borders: Transforming Health at Home & Abroad,” from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus.