News highlights for December 8, 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.

Politico
Pelosi’s best bet: Just say no
12/08/2010

House Democrats enter the new Congress hoping their future still holds bright promise for a return to majority control in 2012. But the challenges are much more complex now for outgoing speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Her best bet is to fade out of the foreground a little bit, develop a strategy of shared spokesmanship for the party in the House and get ready to live with the frustration that your message isn’t getting through, because the House Democrats … are not going to be a major consideration,” Washington University political science professor Steven Smith said. “The action is going to be elsewhere.” Link to Article

Los Angeles Times
Tobacco firms take a deep draw on smokeless products
12/07/2010

As cigarette sales have plummeted, Snus and smokeless tobacco are becoming more popular. With smoking bans in place, many are looking for a replacement that gives the oral sensation they get from smoking. Douglas Luke, director of the Center for Tobacco Policy Research at Washington University in St. Louis, said, “The smoke-free policies tend to be around protecting people from exposure to secondhand smoke. So, since smokeless products don’t have that, the gold standards are silent on that.” Link to Article See also Chicago Tribune

Transplant News
HRSA award $2.2 million in grants to identify how to increase organ donation
11/01/2010

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced it has awarded more than $2.2 million in grants to six organizations/institutions to help identify effective strategies for increasing organ donation in the US. Washington University in St. Louis will receive $400,010 for social and behavioral Interventions to increase solid organ donation. More than 109,000 Americans are on waiting lists to receive organs for transplantation, and the number keeps growing. Read Full Text

KFDA-TV
WUSTL to pursue wind power research with USC, Mesalands Community College

Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, New Mexico, has partnered with two major universities to promote wind energy research. Students from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Southern California will get hands-on experience with Mesalands’ large wind center and commercial-sized turbine. They are currently limited to computer and small-scale models. “Our students will greatly benefit from this partnership,” said WUSTL professor of engineering Dave Peters. Link to Broadcast See also North American Windpower, Quay County Sun (Tucumcari, New Mexico)

atCarmel.com
Designer labels mean better community for Carmel High School grads
12/07/2010

If shopping for designer clothes, contributing to your local community and cleaning out your closet sound like a great combination for the holidays, then you’ll want to know about Syleta.org, an online marketplace for designer clothing. Website sales benefit such organizations as Kiva.org, local homeless and battered women’s shelters, Dress for Success and Volunteers of America. Relying on volunteers primarily on college campuses, the organization has an active presence at Indiana University, Harvard University, New York University, and Washington University in St. Louis. Link to Article

KTVI-TV
Bear’s Den at Washington University evacuated by small fire

News crews are headed to Washington University’s main campus where emergency responders are on the scene of a fire at a dining services facility known by students as “The Bear’s Den.” Preliminary indications are an electrical short in the motor of an ice machine was the cause of a small fire that forced the evacuation of patrons and staff of the Bear’s Den kitchen. The fire alarm came out at 9:35 p.m. Tuesday. No injuries reported in the incident. Link to Broadcast See also KMOV-TV, KSDK-TV

St. Louis Magazine
Pushing “adaptive reuse,” even further
12/07/2010

Brian Newman, a practicing architectural designer and adjunct faculty member of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, explores whether the new green mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle” can be scaled up and applied to projects the size of homes, buildings and cities. He says St. Louis is redefining what architectural provenance means and how we can reuse structures and neighborhoods in new ways. And yet, there is still much work to be done. Link to Article

St. Louis Business Journal
China’s Tsingtao beer president gets executive MBA from Olin, visits Schlafly, Anheuser-Busch
12/07/2010

Michael Sun, president of China’s second-largest brewer, Tsingtao, is in St. Louis this week to get his executive MBA degree from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. He and his classmates from Olin’s Shanghai Executive MBA program also plan to tour the Schlafly brewery in Maplewood tonight. President Sun and Jim Ottolini, an Olin EMBA alum and head of brewing at Schlafly, extended the invitation to the Shanghai-based class during its two-week residency in St. Louis. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Technology is pushing police sketch artists aside
12/08/2010

The police sketch as crime-solving tool may be yielding to video surveillance, computer software and other new technologies. Two St. Louis-area police sketch artists have discovered their skills more in demand as a curiosity in an art museum. They’re participating in an interactive “First Love” exhibit at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in which they interview museum visitors about their first loves and sketch portraits based on the interviews. Dozens of sketches will be on display through Jan. 10. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Railway Exchange Building solicits ideas for empty space
12/07/2010

The owners of the downtown St. Louis Railway Exchange Building are asking for ideas on how to use 100,000 square feet of empty building space at a public event Wednesday night. A fashion incubator for local designers is one idea that has generated some buzz in the local fashion community. A gym (including a running track) and a space for designers and entrepreneurs are some of the other ideas already submitted to Idea bounce, a program by Washington University’s Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, which is hosting the event. Link to Article See also St. Louis Business Journal

STLtoday.com

Stimulus grants to St. Louis area schools vary widely
12/8/2010

The U.S. Department of Education expected results when it provided stimulus funds to boost “persistently lowest-achieving schools,” including $1.7 million to a single middle school in the Hazelwood School District of north St. Louis County. Among the plan’s high points, says a Hazelwood school administrator, are partnerships with Washington University’s Brown School of Social Work to help keep students on track and with the university’s Olin School of Business to do the same for principals. Link to Article

Daily RFT
Recount in works for Barbara Fraser v. John Lamping for state senate
12/08/2010

The Secretary of State’s office is conducting an official recount of last month’s election for the Missouri Senate — District 24. Republican John Lamping won the election to represent mid- St. Louis County by just 133 votes out of a total of 61,091 cast. Last month the group Advancement Project challenged the District 24 election on charges that many Washington University students were turned away at the polls. It’s unclear how — if at all — that complaint might impact the recount. Link to Article


News in higher education


New York Times

In time of cuts, college enrollment in foreign languages is growing
12/8/2010

Even as more colleges consider cutting foreign language programs, the latest figures from the Modern Language Association show that enrollment in foreign language courses grew 6.6% between 2006 and 2009, achieving a high mark since the study began in 1960. Link to Article

Boston Globe

Harvard revamps its corporation
12/7/2010

Harvard University, which has come under fire in recent years for the shortcomings of its financial oversight, announced yesterday that it plans to expand the size of its governing board for the first time since 1650. Link to Article

PBS NewsHour

Dog-walkers to dominatrices: Many college grads face ‘malemployment’
12/3/2010

Conventional wisdom held that a college degree was a gateway to a better — and better-paying — career and lifestyle. But are those student loans worth it? Paul Solman looks at how a group of recent college graduates is faring in the dismal job market and how many are forced into “malemployment” jobs to make ends meet. Link to Article / Online video

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

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