Breathing new life into Bohemian Hill

Inspired by the results of a design exercise for a couple of graduate students, three architecture faculty members are pooling their talents to transform Bohemian Hill, a blighted area on St. Louis' near South Side, into vibrant new housing.

The metamorphosis of the five-block "no man's land" is a fitting challenge for Jo Noero, the Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture and director of the graduate program; Donald Royse, professor emeritus of architecture; and Carolyn Toft, lecturer.

Noero, who is currently designing the Apartheid Museum in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, launched his architectural career building desperately needed housing and education centers for black South African communities.

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Van Cleves endow new Arts and Sciences chair

A $1.5 million pledge from Georgia Dunbar Van Cleve and William Moore Van Cleve will establish an endowed professorship in Arts and Sciences at the University, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced June 1.

The new Dunbar-Van Cleve Professorship in Arts and Sciences will be awarded to a distinguished faculty member in history, English literature, anthropology, mathematics, sociology or a related field, art history, archaeology or genetics. Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and dean of Arts and Sciences, expects the appointment to be announced in the fall.

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Joe Deal accepts RISD post

Joe Deal, dean of Washington University's School of Art, has accepted a position as provost of the Rhode Island School of Design. Deal, who also served as head of the new Visual Arts and Design Center (VADC) currently being developed, will conclude his duties here as of June 30.

"I feel honored to have served as dean of the School of Art for the last 10 years," Deal said. "The school's hard-working faculty, together with our talented alumni, are the main reason for its outstanding reputation nationally and internationally. Without the efforts of the faculty and the support and encouragement of alumni and friends, we would not have succeeded to the degree that we have."

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AAAS elects Pollak, Robins

Robert A. Pollak, Ph.D., the Hernreich Distinguished Professor of Economics in Arts and Sciences and the John M. Olin School of Business, and Lee N. Robins, Ph.D., University Professor of Social Science and professor of social science in psychiatry, have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The international learned society has a dual function: to elect to membership men and women of exceptional achievement drawn from science, scholarship, business, public affairs and the arts; and to conduct a varied program of projects and studies responsive to the needs and problems of society.

Over the years, the academy, using multidisciplinary analysis, has produced influential and pioneering studies on significant contemporary issues such as arms control and international security, poverty, medical ethics, religious fundamentalist movements worldwide, ethnic and racial conflict, education reform and environmental protection.

"We are delighted that Bob Pollak and Lee Robins have received this honor from such an illustrious group," said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. "The honor is a testament to their great ability to contribute to society, representing past and present accomplishments and significant promise for the future."

Fellows are nominated and elected by academy members in a process involving two separate ballots. The principal criterion is high achievement in a candidate's chosen field, but the potential contributions of the nominee to the academy's interdisciplinary work also are considered.

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Plumbing Earth's depths

A seismologist at Washington University has provided an unprecedented view of Earth's blazing core-mantle boundary through analysis of seismic waves from a unique array of seismometers in the eastern United States.

Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts and Sciences, has found that the bottom of the mantle contains two types of rocks that are distinctly separated, much like the continental and oceanic crust at Earth's surface.

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