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 |  143RD COMMENCEMENT: On May 21, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton conferred degrees on more than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate candidates in Brookings Quadrangle. Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas L. Friedman delivered the Commencement address and was one of six honorary degree recipients. Participants were attired in new green Commencement gowns in honor of the University's Sesquicentennial; for graduate students and faculty, black velvet tams replaced the traditional mortarboard.
KEMPER ELECTED BOARD CHAIRMAN: At its May 7 meeting, the University's Board of Trustees elected David W. Kemper, president and CEO of Commerce Bancshares Inc., as chairman of the board for the 2004-05 fiscal year. John F. McDonnell, retired chairman of the board of McDonnell Douglas Corp., and Stephen F. Brauer, CEO of Hunter Engineering, were elected vice chairmen. The trustees also elected three new members to the board: Cynthia Brinkley, president, Missouri SBC Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.; Jerald L. Kent, CEO, Cequel III, LLC; and Lawrence E. Thomas, principal, corporate bonds, Edward Jones.
OLIN LIBRARY REDEDICATED: Three years after renovation began on John M. Olin Library, the new-look building was officially unveiled and rededicated on May 7. The ceremony also featured the dedication of a statue of George Washington, for whom the University is named. It stands in the plaza in front of the new library entrance.
FOUR ELECTED TO AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: Carl Frieden, Ph.D., the Raymond H. Wittcoff Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics; Jeffrey I. Gordon, M.D., the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor and head of the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology; John F. McDonnell, chairman of the Board of Trustees; and Carl Phillips, professor of English and of African and Afro-American studies, have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They join an elite group that includes more than 150 Nobel Laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.
ARCHITECTURE DEAN TO STEP DOWN: Cynthia Weese, dean of the School of Architecture, has announced her intention to step down as dean on June 30, 2005. Weese has served as dean since 1993 and sits on the executive committee of the Sam Fox Arts Center.
Research
 LOW RECEPTOR LEVELS LINKED TO LOW MOOD: Most of us feel sad from time to time, even very sad, but during bouts of clinical depression, sufferers are unable to escape their low mood for several weeks at a time. Now neuroscience researchers at the School of Medicine have found that in people who are depressed, a key brain structure has an abnormally low number of cellular serotonin receptors.
SMALL WORLD, BIG ADVANCE: Using a technique pioneered by Karen Wooley, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, scientists have developed a novel way to make discrete carbon nanoparticles for electrical components used in industry and research. This technology could be adapted to produce solar panels that convert sunlight into electrical energy. A wide range of other applications, especially in energy storage/conversion devices and display technologies, are expected to follow.
BALANCE OF POWER: The European Union (EU) added 10 new member nations on May 1, enlarging the union to a total of 25 countries with a combined population of 458 million. The United States, with a total population of 293 million, is still the sole political and economic superpower of the world, but may yet be challenged by the EU for that status, according to William J. Streeter, adjunct professor of international business at Washington University.
Features
 LIFE AFTER NEWFOUND FREEDOM: For many college students who have just completed their freshman year, coming home for an entire summer after being on their own can be quite an adjustment. For their parents it can be just as tough. Issues of curfews, privacy, chores, and schedules can put a strain on family dynamics. The solution, says Karen Levin Coburn, associate vice chancellor for students and dean of the freshman transition at Washington University, is open communication and support for a student's burgeoning independence.
CRYPTOLOGY COLLECTION ACQUIRED: Landing on the beaches of France just six days after D-Day, Frank Guelker, B.S. '54, knew more than most soldiers about what opposing forces were up to. He was a cryptographer assigned to the 50th Signal Battalion of the VII Corps and entrusted with top-secret Sigaba equipment to intercept and translate messages from the enemy. Now, his cryptography-related correspondence, articles, and books have been acquired by Washington University for the Libraries' Philip Mills Arnold Semeiology Collection, which is devoted to the study of signs and symbols.
WEST NILE VIRUS RETURNS: The early bird may get the worm, but in several parts of the United States this spring, those birds are getting West Nile Virus. Heading into the summer of 2004, the question is: How great a threat will the virus pose this year, and how soon will the peak season begin? Michael Diamond, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine, molecular microbiology, and pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine says, "It's too soon to tell how bad this summer might get, but it's always important to take precautions."
Heard on Campus
"Imagine the America you want to wake up to and try to do something about it."
- Thomas L. Friedman, columnist for The New York Times, delivering the Commencement address on May 21, 2004.
Kudos
The American Association for the History of Medicine has named Kenneth M. Ludmerer, M.D., professor of medicine and history in Arts and Sciences, the recipient of the 2004 William Welch Medal for his book Time to Heal: American Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care. The award recognizes the author of the outstanding book on the history of medicine published during the preceding five years.
The American Society for Clinical Investigation, one of the nation's oldest and most respected medical honor societies, recently inducted as members four School of Medicine physician-scientists: Daniel C. Brennan, M.D., associate professor of medicine; David M. Holtzman, M.D., the Charlotte and Paul Hagemann Professor of Neurology and professor of molecular biology and pharmacology; Barry P. Sleckman, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology and immunology; and Dwight A. Towler, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of molecular biology and pharmacology and medicine.
Denmark's Environmental Assessment Initiative and The Economist magazine invited Douglass C. North, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences, professor of history, fellow of the Center for Political Economy, and co-winner of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, to serve on a panel of the world’s most distinguished economists at the Copenhagen Consensus 2004 conference. The aim of the conference is to improve prioritization of the numerous problems the world faces, including disease, environmental degradation, armed conflicts, and financial instability.
Ramanath Cowsik, Ph.D., professor of physics, is the 25th member of the University faculty to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Susan E. Mackinnon, M.D., the Sydney M. Schoenberg Jr. and Robert H. Schoenberg Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and head of that division, has been named president-elect of the American Association of Hand Surgery.
WUSTL Links
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