The spring 2016 Assembly Series gets underway next week. First up is Kevin Ray, an attorney who focuses on art and cultural heritage law. He will speak at noon Thursday, Feb. 4, in Anheuser-Busch Hall. This semester’s lineup also will feature speakers offering perspective on this year’s presidential race.

Provost Holden Thorp has appointed a nine-member committee to identify candidates for the position of dean of the Olin Business School. Mahendra R. Gupta, dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, announced this month that he will conclude his deanship June 30.

University leaders and U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., celebrated a $2 billion increase in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding during a recent news conference on the Medical Campus. The funding — which Blunt fought for in the omnibus spending bill — amounts to a 6 percent increase over last year and comes after years of stagnant NIH budgets.