News highlights for February 16, 2011

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.

Financial Times (London, England)

A profile that spans the globe

2/14/2011

MBA and EMBA programmes — business degrees for working executives — are proliferating in China, mirroring the country’s economic growth. Such rapid growth, especially within the last decade, has meant that many of the top-tier universities in China have multiple and overlapping MBA and EMBA programmes. For example, Fudan University in Shanghai offers its own MBA and EMBA programmes, in addition to joint-venture degrees from a handful of diverse international institutions including Olin Business School at Washington University in St Louis and MIT Sloan of Management. Link to Article

Montreal Gazette (Montreal, Canada)

Top Canadian doctor’s report retracted due to plagiarism concerns

2/15/2011

When a medical ethics report co-authored by a top Canadian doctor was published, Dr. Samuel Wells Jr., of Washington University School of Medicine hailed it as “required reading” for all health-care providers and medical students. The paper has since been retracted due to charges of plagiarism. Now, people can’t distance themselves from the report fast enough. Link to Article

CBS/ MarketWatch


McDonnell Foundation announces 2010 grants for the 21st Century Science Initiative Awards
2/15/2011

The James S. McDonnell Foundation today announced more than $24 million in grants through their ongoing program, the 21st Century Science Initiative. Washington University in St. Louis will receive $1,170,403 over three years for a study of communities and criticality in brain networks across development and in ADHD. Steven E. Petersen is the principal investigator. Link to Article

Politico | THE DAILY CLICK: See and heard in D.C.


‘Glee’ actor replaces Bristol

02/16/2011

After some students at Washington University in St. Louis expressed anger about Bristol Palin coming to their campus to discuss abstinence, her appearance was cancelled, saving the school thousands of dollars in speaking fees. According to the school’s newspaper, Student Life, the money saved will go to another high-profile speaker: “Glee” star Harry Shum Jr., who plays Mike Chang on the hit Fox show. The Chinese Student Association has asked the actor and dancer to tell his story. Link to Article

Health Canal

Experts issue new heart disease guidelines for women
02/16/2011

New guidelines issued from the American Heart Association add new risk factors to a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Most notably, pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, pregnancy-induced hypertension and gestational diabetes have been added as additional risk factors for heart attack and stroke. If women have had a history of preeclampsia, they are at twice the risk of having cardiovascular disease as they age, says Jennifer Lawton, MD, Washington University cardiac surgeon at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Link to Article See also BJC Touching Base

HealthSCOUT

Calorie labels don’t affect kids’ fast-food choices
02/16/2011

Posting calorie counts of menu items at fast-food restaurants doesn’t appear to inspire teenagers and parents of younger children to order less-fattening meals, new research finds. This new research suggests that health information is needed before families visit fast-food restaurants. “Once a decision is made to go to a fast-food restaurant, nutrition information appears to not change choices,” said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis. Link to Article See also U.S. News & World Report, CBS 4 Quad Cities, Yahoo News, MSN Health & Fitness, ABC 5 Des Moines, Fox News Birmingham. 


Second Act

Translating the pain of eating disorders into art

2/15/2011

Five years ago, Judith Shaw was a 53-year-old woman battling acute anorexia. Today she’s a thriving artist. Last year, Shaw’s artwork exploring eating disorders was exhibited at the WUSTL School of Medicine. Catherine Butler, an MD candidate at the school and coordinator of the Mental Health Outreach Program, sees Shaw’s sculptures as powerful learning tools for doctors and future doctors. “The art draws on a personal and emotional understanding that we don’t get in the classroom,” Butler says. Link to Article

Colorado Springs Gazette
Will more revolutionary dominoes fall? We have to wait and see
02/16/2011

Mona El-Sherif, who teaches Arabic at Colorado College, is not alone in the opinion that the revolutionary events in Tunisia and Egypt have the potential to spread to some other countries in the Middle East. Born in Cairo but raised in Alexandria, Egypt, she took the long route to Colorado College. After graduating from Alexandria University, she went on to earn an M.A. in Islamic, Jewish, and Near Eastern Studies from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from University of California – Berkeley. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Dinner at Chancellor Mark Wrighton’s residence marks journal publication

2/16/2011

Washington University Chancellor Mark Wrighton and his wife, Risa Zwerling Wrighton, are hosting a small dinner on Feb. 24 to mark the publication of the Winter 2011 issue of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ journal, Daedalus. Gerald Early, director of the WUSTL Center for the Humanities, was guest editor of the journal, whose topic is “Race in the Age of Obama.” A meeting and panel discussion about the journal is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., Feb. 25 in Duncker Hall’s Hurst Lounge. Link to Article

St. Louis Beacon

Concert honors Robert Wykes at 85

2/16/2011

On Feb. 22, the department of music at Washington University will honor longtime WUSTL music professor Robert Wykes with a concert of his chamber music. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Danforth University Center’s Goldberg Formal Lounge. Wykes joined the faculty of Washington University in 1955 and was named full professor in 1965. He continued to play the flute with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. His life has been distinguished by work — composing, performing, teaching and serving as composer-in-residence. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis: A great jazz city deserves a great jazz radio station
02/15/2011

Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville has announced a renewed commitment to WSIE and its jazz format. Dean Minderman, a local music journalist and musician who blogs at stljazznotes.blogspot.com, believes there’s “an active community of listeners, musicians, teachers and students here that will support a local jazz radio station.” Indeed, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Webster University and Washington University have vibrant jazz studies in their music departments. Link to Article


News in Higher Education

The Baltimore Sun

Johns Hopkins, University Of Baltimore form medical-law center
2/16/2011

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Baltimore School of Law plan to open a new center focused on law and medicine, the schools said Tuesday. The center, slated to open in July, will be part academic center focused on educating practitioners and students of medicine and law and part think tank aimed at influencing health care policy. Two lawyer-physicians will co-direct the center. Link to Article

The Star-Ledger

Rutgers joins other colleges and universities in revising evaluation of presidents
2/16/2011

Rutgers is joining a growing number of colleges and universities taking a closer look at how they assess their presidents. With state funding shrinking and calls for more accountability on college campuses growing louder, university boards are turning to more structured, systematic evaluations to grade their top leaders. Link to Article

Wall Street Journal

College parties, minus the beer binges
2/16/2011

As more and more colleges and universities offer increasingly creative alternatives to campus activities involving alcohol, they say they see noticeable declines in drinking. Binge drinking in college is linked in research to risky sexual behavior, lower grades and a rise in violent crime, accidental injury and death. 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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