The annual celebration of the University’s founding, to be held Nov. 5 at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis, will feature a presentation by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and will honor members of the University community for their dedication, contributions and service.
The six alumni who will be honored on Founders Day for their contributions to their alma mater are James F. Barker, John Gianoulakis, Leonard Jarett, M.D., Stanley I. Proctor, Susan S. Stepleton, Ph.D., and James M. Talent.
James F. Barker
Barker is an architect and Clemson University’s 14th president. As such, he has led Clemson to new heights as a major educational institution by doubling research in a three-year period, creating new economic development initiatives, increasing the quality of the student body and shepherding a strong rise in national rankings.
As a leader in the American collegiate arena, Barker serves as chair of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (the region’s accrediting agency) and has served that body in a number of ways.
To stay connected to the classroom, Barker team-teaches an undergraduate course that explores “a sense of place” in architecture, literature and history.
As an architect, he has been honored with the National Distinguished Professor Award of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and by being named a fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Before entering academia, Barker was a partner in an architectural practice.
The native of Kingsport, Tenn., earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson in 1970, and a master’s degree in architecture and urban design from Washington University in 1973.
John Gianoulakis
After graduating from Washington University in 1960 with a degree in political science in Arts & Sciences, Gianoulakis went to Harvard Law School, where he earned a law degree in 1963.
He returned to his native St. Louis and joined the law firm Thompson, Walther & Shewmaker, eventually becoming a partner. Since 1971 he has been a founding partner with Kohn, Shands, Elbert, and Gianoulakis & Giljum LLP, where he practices trial law and business litigation.
He has represented school districts on a wide variety of issues and served as negotiator and lead attorney for the St. Louis County school districts in the historic interdistrict desegregation case.
His lifelong service to law has been distinguished by being named a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In addition, he is listed in the 2006 publication Best Lawyers in America.
Over the years, Gianoulakis has served his community and his profession in significant ways. He has been a member and president of the Board of Directors and for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, a member of the Governor’s Conference on Education, and a member and president of the University City School Board.
For Washington University, he has given generously of his time and talents, most notably as chair of the Alumni Board of Governors, as an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees and as executive co-chair of his 45th reunion committee. His leadership extends to the William Greenleaf Eliot Society, for which he serves as the benefactors co-chair and as a member of the Endowed Scholarship Committee.
Gianoulakis and his wife, Dora, are great supporters of scholarships in Arts & Sciences.
Leonard Jarett
Jarett is a leader in the field of diabetes research, and his work has led to advances in understanding how insulin is internalized in the cell nucleus.
He graduated from Rice University in 1958 and from Washington University’s School of Medicine in 1962, where he also conducted his residency in anatomic pathology.
His career at WUSTL, beginning in 1966 as a fellow in internal medicine, was marked by two firsts: he was appointed the first head of the Academic Division of Laboratory Medicine in the departments of Pathology and of Medicine in 1969; and he served as the first full-time director of Barnes Hospital Diagnostic Laboratories.
In 1973, he was named a full professor of medicine and of pathology.
In 1980 he joined the pathology and laboratory medicine department at the University of Pennsylvania as chair. Also at Penn, he served as vice president of its medical board, as chairman of its clinical practices and as a member of the boards of the diabetes and cancer centers at the university.
In addition, Jarett was assistant dean of faculty affairs and was the inaugural holder of the Simon Flexner Chair.
Jarett has received wide recognition for his achievements in research, teaching and service to his profession. Among these are the David Rumbaugh Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the Distinguished Scientist Award of the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry, and in 1990, an Alumni Achievement Award from the WUSTL School of Medicine.
With his wife and 1959 alum Arlene, they serve on the University’s Philadelphia Regional Cabinet.
Stanley I. Proctor
Proctor’s career with Monsanto began in 1959 as a systems engineer, working in the emerging area of process simulation using computers. Throughout his long career with Monsanto, he held many technical and managerial leadership positions in the fields of engineering, manufacturing and process technology, as well as in research and development.
At the time of his retirement in 1993, Proctor was director for engineering technology and services for Monsanto’s Chemical Group. He also helped introduce awareness of diversity concerns in the workplace.
He now is president of Proctor Consulting Services.
He earned three degrees from Washington University’s School of Engineering & Applied Science: a bachelor’s in 1957; a master’s in 1962; and a doctorate in 1972, all in chemical engineering — and with the exception of the bachelor’s, all while pursuing a career at Monsanto.
Proctor has served his profession in a number of distinguished ways, among them as a representative and as past chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Council for International Engineering Practice, as past president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and as a past chairman of the Board of Trustees of AIChE’s foundation. For his significant contributions to the chemical engineering profession, he has received many of AIChE’s distinguished awards, as well as being named a fellow of the institute.
Furthermore, he is the recipient of the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award of the Society of Women Engineers and the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research.
A dedicated and active alumnus, Proctor has served as president of the Alumni Advisory Council and as a member of the Capital Campaign. He is a member of the School of Engineering & Applied Science National Council and chairs the Scholarship Committee and the External Advisory Committee for the Department of Chemical Engineering.
He and his wife, Carol, support two engineering school scholarships. In 1995, Proctor received the school’s Alumni Achievement Award.
Susan S. Stepleton
Stepleton, president and chief executive officer of Parents as Teachers National Center (PATNC), has dedicated her career to human services, nonprofit management and public policy. She is a recognized leader in the public policy arena and has worked to strengthen alliances for the support of children.
Prior to joining PATNC, Stepleton worked with Edgewood Children’s Center in St. Louis and with the Salvation Army Hope Center.
Under her direction, PATNC has expanded internationally, and has grown with a merger with Meld, a smaller national nonprofit agency. In addition, Stepleton continues her work lobbying on the state and federal levels on behalf of children and families in need.
At the state, regional and national levels, she holds a number of important offices, including co-chairing the National Advisory Committee for Family Support and Family Preservation for the Child Welfare League of America, where she serves on the National Advisory Council of Executives and on the Advisory Committee on Public Policy.
Locally, she serves on the Mayor’s Commission on Children, Youth and Families. Furthermore, Stepleton is a member of the Eden Theological Seminary board of directors and the Thomas Jefferson School board of trustees. She has received numerous distinctions for her professional service, including an honorary degree from Webster University and the Reinhold Niebuhr Servanthood Award from Eden Seminary.
Of her three master’s degrees, two are from Washington University — one in German studies in Arts & Sciences in 1973 and another in social work in 1979. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Butler University in 1970, and her third master’s degree, from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, in 1977.
Stepleton earned a doctorate in public policy analysis, focusing on nonprofit management and governance, in 2004.
For her many contributions and service to the social work profession, Stepleton received the George Warren Brown School of Social Work Outstanding Alumna Award in 2002. In addition to chairing the Dean’s Professional Advisory Committee at the School of Social Work, she has been a member of the school’s adjunct faculty and has served as a practicum field instructor and special guest lecturer.
James M. Talent
The native St. Louisan earned a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in 1978. After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School in 1981, Talent clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Talent’s public service career began in 1984, when he was elected to Missouri’s House of Representatives. He served as minority leader until 1992, when he was elected to Congress.
Even as a newcomer, he was an energetic and far-sighted leader, crafting legislation that would have future impact on the country, such as the Real Welfare Reform Act of 1994, which became the basis for the historic reform bill that changed the face of welfare under the Clinton administration.
During this time, Talent also helped design the Community Renewal Act, giving leaders the tools to strengthen their communities. In 1997, he was named chairman of the House Small Business Committee.
Since being elected a U.S. senator in 2002, Talent has served on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Aging Committee.
In addition, he chairs the Armed Services Seapower subcommittee and the Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee on marketing, inspection and product promotion. President Bush has chosen Talent to serve on the Export Council.
The Founders Day event, hosted by the Alumni Association, is open to all members of the University community. For ticket information, call 935-6503.