Research reveals staple crop's roots

Discovery holds promise of help for Third World

As the 20th century draws to a close, still little is known about the origins of a staple subsistence crop that feeds an estimated 600 million Third World people.

The plant is cassava (Manihot esculenta), a bushy plant producing tubers -- the starchy underground stem of the plant -- that have fed the indigenous people of the Americas for millennia and much of Africa since the 17th century.

But now biologists at Washington University have written the ultimate roots story for this plant in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research lays the groundwork for breeding improved varieties that can better feed the developing world, said Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts and Sciences.

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$4 million pledge

Anheuser-Busch funds to support scholarships, executive education

The Anheuser-Busch Foundation has pledged $4 million to Washington University, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, who said half the gift will establish the Anheuser-Busch Scholars Program for Undergraduate Minority Students and half will support the new executive education center for the John M. Olin School of Business.

"Both the executive education center and the minority scholarship fund are essential to the future success of Washington University and to strengthening its service to this region and to the nation," Wrighton said. "We are grateful for the extraordinary support that Anheuser-Busch has given and continues to give to our institution. Our historic partnership has helped build this University as a world-class center of education and research."

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New lab building to be built

Construction will begin within a month on the 129,500-square-foot Arts and Sciences Laboratory Science Building that will focus on undergraduate teaching in the chemical sciences.

The four-level building will be located between the Ann W. Olin Women's Building and McMillan Hall and will be constructed of reinforced concrete with a granite and limestone exterior.

The firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Architects is finalizing plans for the building. BSI Constructors, the construction manager, is expected to complete the project in 27 months.

The Department of Chemistry provides nearly 10,000 credit hours of instruction yearly, primarily to undergraduate students in Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. An important and substantial part of that instruction involves hands-on laboratory experience.

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Jeff Pike is new art dean

Jeff Pike, associate dean of the School of Art and associate professor of illustration in the Visual Communications Program, was named the school's dean July 1, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Pike succeeds Joe Deal, who left June 30 to become provost of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. In addition to overseeing the art school, Pike's responsibilities will include helping develop the University's Visual Arts and Design Center (VADC).

"I am delighted that Jeff has accepted this appointment as dean of the School of Art," Wrighton said. "His 16 years of experience as a faculty member and associate dean -- including 10 years of close collaboration with Joe Deal -- have prepared him admirably for this responsibility. I look forward to working with Jeff and to the continued strengthening of our School of Art."

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New professorships

Maloney, Saffitz named to medical school chairs

Two new professorships have been created at the School of Medicine, in the departments of orthopaedic surgery and pathology. Charles F. and Joanne Knight have established the Knight Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, which will be filled by William Joseph F. Maloney III, M.D. Former faculty and others affiliated with the Department of Pathology helped create the Paul E. Lacy and Ellen Lacy Professorship, to which Jeffrey E. Saffitz, M.D., Ph.D., has been named.

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and William A. Peck, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, announced the new chairs.

"We are grateful to the Knights for their generous commitment," Wrighton said. "At our John M. Olin School of Business, the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center is under construction even now, and with this gift the Knights also are helping ensure success at our School of Medicine. Chuck and Joanne are great citizens of St. Louis, who have contributed immensely to the community. We are honored that their names will be associated with Washington University in perpetuity through this endowed professorship for one of our most outstanding faculty members."

Said Peck: "This distinguished professorship will forever recognize and honor two individuals who have meant a great deal to Washington University. Chuck and Joanne Knight have worked hard to make the University and the Medical Center what they are today. This would be a very different place -- indeed the health-care system in St. Louis would be very different -- without their generosity and vision." Joanne Knight is a community leader who has been involved with many charitable causes. She has served for 15 years on the boards of directors at Central Institute for the Deaf, the St. Louis Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and St. Luke's Hospital, where she was the first woman to serve as chairman.

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