News highlights for November 17, 2010

CisionPoint news monitoring provides this small sampling of the university's daily news coverage. Click headline to read full text via Cision or link directly to the online article where available. For questions or comments about this service, or to add or delete a name from the mailing list, please contact Gerry Everding

Yahoo News / MyHealthNewsDaily

Some brains might be compensating for autism risk
11/16/2010

Scientists say they have identified a distinct pattern of brain activity that may indicate whether a person is genetically predisposed to autsim. “The study is extremely innovative, and provides remarkable new clues to the origins of autism—which, if replicated, constitute major new inroads to understanding the development of autism,” said Dr. John Constantino, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies autism and was not involved in the new work. Link to Article

The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham WA)
Mark Twain, in his own words
11/17/2010

Gerald Early, the Merle Kling professor of Modern Letters at Washington University in St. Louis, reviews a newly published Mark Twain autobiography. “In the autobiography he is not always good, but he is good more times than not, and the book itself is a curiously grand literary accomplishment. Thank God it is now published the way it was meant to be,” Early concludes. Link to Article

NorwichBulletin.com (Norwich CT)
Healthy sports: Dancing can improve effects of Parkinson’s treatment
11/16/2010

A study performed at Washington University compared patients enrolled in Argentine tango classes to those receiving non-dance therapies. The tango group fared better regarding slowed progression and improved function. The Argentine tango was especially appropriate for this study since it requires dynamic balance, frequent turns, variable speeds and walking backward. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
KV’s Hermelin is banned from federal health care programs
11/17/2010

Marc Hermelin, chairman of KV Pharmaceutical Co., has become the first drug company executive to be banned from participating in federal health care programs. Jackson Nickerson, a professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University said the latest federal action involving KV might be a sign of over-regulation and unfair retribution or could stem from legitimate goals. “Once you’re viewed as a bad actor, you get that reputation, and that reputation attracts other agencies to revisit the actor’s history,” Nickerson said. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

St. Louis sports Hall of Fame Class of 2010
11/17/2010

Special achievement awards were given to Lindenwood University and the Washington University women’s basketball team, Budweiser’s 1950s bowling team, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Jack Clark, Cardinals Care, Monsignor Louis Meyer, former Cleveland High football coach Ray Cliffe and Special Olympics Athlete of the Year Michelle Conley.

Link to Article See also KMOX Radio (St. Louis)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lambert rolls out new art concept
11/16/2010

By next spring, passengers strolling through the A and C concourses at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport will have one more thing to look for besides flight display boards. The airport will introduce nine new pieces of public art on a series of glass panels within the two concourses. “I’m really excited that St. Louis airport is starting this with artists from the region,” said Joan Hall, a professor at Washington University and one of the nine artists chosen from more than 50 applicants to design the glass screens. “There are a lot of good artists who live and work in the city.” Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

College students are still making time for Harry Potter
11/17/2010

Washington University students are quite competitive when it comes to academics, Jessica Goldberg, a sophomore from New York, noted. But the competition is in good fun this week. Undergraduates are using the next Harry Potter movie to show off their trivia knowledge, build spirit among dorm dwellers and celebrate something they’ve all grown up with. More than 500 Washington University students snapped up $5 tickets to Thursday’s midnight showing of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.” Link to Article See also St. Louis Post-Dispatch / Quidditch at Washington University

News in higher education

Washington Post / Class Struggle blog

Veterans, struggling students need more college support
11/16/2010

There is no better gauge to what is happening on U.S. college campuses than the National Survey of Student Engagement. It is full of surprises. This year, based on forms filled out of 362,000 students on 564 campuses, the survey finds that the kinds of students I thought would be getting the most help – military veterans and new students in trouble – are often getting the least. Link to Article

New York Times

Digital keys for unlocking the humanities’ riches
11/16/2010

Members of a new generation of digitally savvy humanists argue it is time to stop looking for inspiration in the next political or philosophical “ism” and start exploring how technology is changing our understanding of the liberal arts. Digitally savvy scholars are exploring how technology can enhance understanding of the liberal arts. Link to Article See also New York Times /ArtsBeat: Digitally mapping the republic of letters


The Boston Globe

College chiefs’ salaries increase; More entering million-dollar ranks, survey says

11/15/2010

The club of millionaire college presidents is becoming less exclusive, with 30 heads of private colleges nationwide cracking the once-exalted barrier in a new salary survey. As recently as 2004, no college presidents received more than $1 million in annual compensation. But in 2008, the most recent data available, Ivy League and lesser-known colleges alike lavished their presidents with at least that much in salary and other compensation. Link to Article

For additional higher education news (subscription may be required):
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed
University Business

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