Brown School

Eric Edmonds, PhD, associate professor of economics at Dartmouth College, will speak about “Poverty Alleviation and Child Labor” at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Washington University’s Goldfarb Hall, Room 132. His talk is a follow-up discussion to Nicholas Kristof’s recent WUSTL presentation on his book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Playground, a film on child trafficking in the United States, will be screened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, in Steinberg Hall auditorium. A panel discussion featuring Libby Spears, the film’s director, and local experts will follow the documentary.

Nicholas Kristof, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times and best-selling author, will present “Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide” at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4, in Graham Chapel. Kristof’s talk, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Lecture in Social Policy, is free and open to the public.

A 10-year study on Child Development Accounts (CDAs) has confirmed their viability as a tool for long-term asset building. Beginning as early as birth, CDAs are investment accounts that allow parents and children to accumulate savings for post-secondary education, homeownership or business initiatives. 

p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:’Times New Roman’;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} Missouri has one of the highest statewide smoking averages in the country, more than 23 percent. And racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes and education levels, Medicaid recipients and the LGBT community smoke or experience secondhand smoke at a rate significantly higher than the state average. These findings are highlighted in a recent report by the Center for Tobacco Policy Research (CTPR) at Washington University in St. Louis. The report, “Who is Most Affected? Tobacco-Related Disparities in Missouri,” identifies statewide differences related to who is smoking, who is exposed to secondhand smoke and who is quitting. 

A search is under way to fill a new vice provost position in the Office of the Provost whose initial focus will be on diversity and faculty development, among other areas of university-wide importance. An advisory committee has been formed that will identify and recommend candidates from within the Washington University community.

Kevin Washburn, JD, professor and dean of the school of law at the University of New Mexico, will deliver a talk on “Improving Criminal Justice for American Indians,” at noon Thursday, Sept. 23, for the Assembly Series. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

The Gephardt Institute is sponsoring the annual Public Service Fair featuring more than 40 nonprofit organizations from 4:30-6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the Danforth University Center Tisch Commons and Edison Family Courtyard. The fair is open students, faculty, staff and the local community.

Current census figures show that one in seven Americans is living below the poverty level, a rate that nears the record poverty levels of 1960. “The latest rise in the poverty rate illustrates how many more Americans are at risk of poverty and economic insecurity in this country,” says Mark R. Rank, PhD, poverty expert and the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. 

The Gephardt Institute for Public Service and the American Constitution Society at the School of Law will commemorate Constitution Day with a panel discussion on “The First Amendment in the 21st Century” from 12-1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17, in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Registration is required by Wednesday, Sept. 15, to Robin Hattori, assistant director at the Gephardt Institute, at rhattori@wustl.edu. Lunch will be provided to the first 35 registered attendees.