Faced with the decision of whether to take a third term as vice president of the National Academy of Sciences or become Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University, biology professor Barbara Schaal chose the latter. Schaal, whose work in evolutionary biology has taken her everywhere from Washington D.C.

Clusters, the core of the College of Arts & Sciences’ Discovery Curriculum introduced in 2001, have been replaced for students in the class of 2016 and beyond. They have been replaced with “Integrations,” and the Discovery Curriculum will be succeeded by the new “Integrated InQuiry” (IQ) system, developed collaboratively over a four-year period.

I have no problem with the cluster system in theory. It ensures that our curriculum is at least somewhat balanced without forcing students into specific “core” classes that half are bound to hate. It supports depth through related courses and encourages students to explore intellectual areas outside of their comfort zones. It sounds great, and it is great—for some.

More than two dozen students are vying for seven abandoned Student Union spots—a notable increase in interest in seats historically given to write-in candidates. Thirteen students applied last week for the one open spot in SU Treasury, and 12 applied for the two open Arts & Sciences seats in SU Senate.

He was a seemingly unlikely choice. A professor with no formal engineering background, Ralph Quatrano was selected as the new dean of the engineering school—a school with five distinct departments. But Quatrano—former interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and former chair of the biology department—said that his unique background would help integrate interdisciplinary studies within the engineering school.

For the first time in recent history, the former dean of Arts & Sciences is the dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science.
Biology professor Ralph Quatrano was named the dean of the School of Engineering on Friday afternoon.

Proposed changes to the Arts & Sciences curriculum were passed overwhelmingly in April by both faculty and students on the ArtSci Council. These changes are currently in the process of […]