Following word that the requirements to the Dean’s List are changing this semester, the administration says there are no plans to change the requirements for College Honors. Students received an email alerting them of the change to the Dean’s List criteria from Dirk Killen, an associate dean in the College of Arts & Sciences at the beginning of the semester.

Bucking a national trend, graduates from Washington University’s class of 2011 are in less debt than those graduating in the years right before them, according to the most recent figures from Student Financial Services. Students who graduated last year owed an average of $19,265, down from $22,042 in 2007, said Bill Witbrodt, director of Student Financial Services.

Washington University is using online course evaluations as a new tool to monitor academic integrity on campus. Course evaluations now include two questions on academic integrity instead of asking students to report on their expected grade for the course.

A recent ranking of architecture schools placed Washington University’s Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, fourth in the nation. The ranking of “America’s Best Architecture and Design Schools” was published by Greenway Communications last week.

Study abroad options for psychology students are broadening this year with a new pilot program in Denmark. The program, led by the Danish Institute of Study Abroad (DIS) in Copenhagen, will offer psychology students academic opportunities they are not able to have on the Washington University campus.

A recent $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy is allowing Washington University to take part in a collaborative study on fuel-generating bacteria. The goal of the project is to find ways to modify certain photosynthetic bacteria to generate clean energy more efficiently, Dr. Himadri B.

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at the Olin Business School is aiming for an interdisciplinary approach by collaborating with the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Biology Professor Ursula Goodenough’s year-and-a-half-long experience as a science writer for NPR’s 13.7 blog gave her unique insight into how atmospheric climate change is debated in the blogosphere. Goodenough, a professor of cell and molecular biology at Washington University, started the 13.7 blog with a colleague from the University of Rochester.

The School of Engineering & Applied Science is increasing its offerings to diversify its approach and address the relevance of evolving subfields. In addition to creating a new energy engineering minor last year—expanding its current offerings to 10—the school is adding a new course, Energy & the Environment, next semester for seniors and graduate students.

Students will now be able to check the syllabi for their classes before registering for them. Junior Joseph Marcus and senior Jacob Novick created a new website, called Syllabi Central, that provides students with course syllabi before they register. The site went live last Friday, with 159 syllabi posted. Since then, the number of syllabi has grown to 173.