University community comes together to honor alumni and faculty on Founders Day

At the Founders Day celebration tomorrow evening, four faculty members will receive Distinguished Faculty awards. In addition, Adele Dilschneider and Doris I. Schnuck will receive the Robert S. Brookings Award by the Board of Trustees for their extraordinary commitment to building bridges between Washington University and the St. Louis region.

The four faculty recipients who are being honored for their outstanding commitment and dedication to the intellectual and personal development of students are James P. Keating, School of Medicine; Richard J. Smith, Arts & Sciences; Karen Tokarz, School of Law; and Karen L. Wooley, Arts & Sciences.

The six alumni who received this year’s Distinguished Alumni awards were profiled in last week’s Record. They are: James F. Barker (GA73), John Gianoulakis (LA60), Leonard Jarett (MD62), Stanley I. Proctor (EN57, SI62, SI72), Susan Stepleton (GR73, SW79), and James M. Talent (LA78).

James P. Keating

Keating, the W. McKim Marriott Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine, is a founder of the field of pediatric gastroenterology. He began practicing pediatrics in 1968 at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH). After completing a fellowship in gastroenterology at Barnes Hospital, he established the division of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, within the department of pediatrics at Washington University, serving as its division head until 1992.

Other highlights of his career include directing the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit from 1980 to 1992, and following that, establishing the Division of Diagnostic Medicine, where he continues as director, as well as medical director of SLCH’s Diagnostic Center. In addition, as director of the pediatric residency program, a position Keating held from 1969 to 2002, he expanded hands-on experience and continues to provide guidance as co-director.

For his many contributions to medicine, Keating has received the Distinguished Service Award from the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition; the Murray Davidson Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics; and the Pediatric Award of Excellence from the St. Louis Pediatric Society. From the medical school, he has received the Distinguished Service Award, and from his residents a recognition of his contributions in the form of the James P. Keating, M.D. Outstanding Resident Award, recognizing residents who embody the attributes of their mentor.

In addition, Keating is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Nutrition, the American Pediatric Society, the American Public Health Association, and the Missouri State Medical Association. He received a bachelor’s degree and a medical degree from Harvard University, in 1959 and 1963, respectively. In 1983 Keating graduated from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He completed an internship at King County Hospital in Seattle, and residencies at both Boston City and Massachusetts General hospitals.

Richard J. Smith

In the 21 years that Smith, Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has been associated with Washington University, he has held a number of academic leadership positions. His first job at Washington University came in 1984, as professor and chair of the Department of Orthodontics in the School of Dental Medicine and as adjunct professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences. In 1989 he was appointed dean of the School of Dental Medicine, but spent the next two years completing the school’s closing. At that time, he moved to the Department of Anthropology and became its chair in 1993. Recently, Smith helped create the new Program in Applied Statistics and Computation in Arts & Sciences and served as its first director, from 2002 – 2004. Prior to this, Smith taught at the University of Maryland Dental School.

His research focuses on the ways in which new knowledge is incorporated into the general record of human evolution; specifically, how the human fossil record, being incomplete, can be studied and whether complex inferences drawn from the record can be validated. He is particularly interested in how this relates to the evolution of the human brain, the craniofacial skeleton, and the differences between gender in body size.

A good citizen of the University, serving in many administrative capacities, he is also popular with students, having been elected an honorary member of two honoraries on campus. Smith also has received the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award. During the sesquicentennial celebration in 2003, he led the environmental initiative and served as faculty advisor to the Committee on Environmental Quality during its formative years.

Smith received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1969, and a D.M.D. from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in 1973. While completing his dental education, Smith also worked on a master’s degree in anatomy, which was completed in 1973. After completing his orthodontics residency at the University of Connecticut Health Center, he went to Yale University, where he earned a doctoral degree in anthropology in 1980.

Karen Tokarz

Professor of law in the School of Law since 1987, Tokarz is an internationally recognized leader in clinical legal education and an expert in alternative dispute resolution and civil rights law. In addition to her teaching, she is very involved in many facets of the academic process at the School of Law. She directs the Clinical Education Program, which includes eight clinics based in St. Louis and one in Washington, D.C.; she administers the Public Interest Law Speakers Series; she coordinates the annual Access to Equal Justice Community Colloquium; and she oversees the publication of an annual volume dedicated to public interest law issues. In recent years she has helped develop law courses in negotiation, mediation and dispute resolution, and last year she was named director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program.

Before joining Washington University, Tokarz was a deputy juvenile officer at the St. Louis City Juvenile Court, then later she worked as an attorney for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. In addition to her duties at Washington University, she also serves as a mediator in a variety of legal disputes and lawsuits.

An active member of the Global Alliance for Justice Education, she has served as a clinical law trainer in several countries, and in 2001 she was awarded the Israel Treiman Faculty Fellowship to work with the University of KwaZulu – Natal in Durban, South Africa, to institute clinical legal education there. Since then, Tokarz has developed the School of Law’s Africa Public Interest Law Externship Project, which provides the means for WUSTL’s law students to give assistance to indigent and under-represented groups in South Africa.

A graduate of Webster University, Tokarz received a law degree from Saint Louis University and a graduate law degree from the University of California – Berkeley. She is active in the Association of American Law Schools Section on Clinical Legal Education and has been president of the Clinical Legal Education Association. The author of several books and journal articles, Tokarz also serves as a faculty advisor for the School’s Journal of Law & Policy.

Karen L. Wooley

As soon as she began an academic career, Wooley began receiving awards. Early on she was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and one each from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, to name just a few. She joined Washington University’s Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor in 1993 and was promoted to professor in 1999. In addition, she holds an appointment in the Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Bioorganic Chemistry Program.

Her research interests involve the synthesis and characterization of degradable polymers, unique macromolecular architectures and complex polymer particles that mimic viruses and show potential for a new direction in gene therapy and other biomedical applications. Her work with nanoparticles shows promise for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

As a leader in her research field, Wooley is active in professional organizations. Just this year, she will serve as vice chair for the 2005 Polymers (East) Gordon Research Conference; as a co-organizer for the 2005 US-Japan Joint Seminar on Polymer Chemistry; and as the U.S. area coordinator for Materials Science and Nontechnology for Pacifichem. In addition, she serves as an alternate councilor for the American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry, and serves in an advisory role for the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network. Her work with scholarly publications include serving as editor for the Journal of Polymer Sciences, Part A: Polymer Chemistry, and as a member of the editorial advisory boards of Nano Letters, Soft Matter and Supramolecular Chemistry.

Under Wooley’s leadership, Washington University was chosen as a Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology (PEN) by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Three additional PENs will be established here in the future.

Wooley received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oregon State University in 1988 and a doctoral degree in polymer/organic chemistry in 1993.

Receiving this year’s Robert S. Brookings Award for their outstanding commitment to and support of Washington University are Adele Dilschneider and Doris I. Schnuck. Through their life-long philanthropic and volunteer efforts, both persons have exemplified the best type of alliance between the University and the community.

Adele Dilschneider

Adele Dilschneider has been a St. Louisan for most of her life. It is where she went to school – Mary Institute – and where she raised her two children. She is devoted to her family and their traditions, which include philanthropic and community support. Her grandfather, John M. Olin, and her great-uncle, Spencer T. Olin, along with the foundations they established, have been among the most generous supporters of Washington University and to other institutions in the greater St. Louis community, and Dilschneider is following in their footsteps.

She is particularly interested in helping preserve her grandfather’s legacy on campus by supporting those components that bear his name: the John M. Olin School of Business and the John M. Olin Library. During the Campaign for Washington University, Dilschneider provided the lead gift for the extensive renovations to Olin Library.

Another passion for Dilschneider is owning, breeding and racing horses. Many of her horses have competed at Churchill Downs and have won major races, including the Lane’s End Stakes, the 1998 Louisiana Super Derby, and the Louisiana Derby. In 2003, in partnership with Claiborne Farms of Paris, Ky., she received The Gold Bowl, an award given to owners whose horses have won 24 graded stakes races. Her interest in the thoroughbred horse industry extends to active involvement in a number of organizations, such as the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the American Horse Council, the Kentucky Derby Museum, the National Museum of Racing, and the Thoroughbred Club of America.

She is managing general partner of Nuarbour Partners, LLC, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Lupus Foundation of America – Missouri Chapter. Furthermore, Dilschneider serves on the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Board of Directors. In addition, she has been active in several cultural, civic and educational organizations, including the Junior League of St. Louis, Barnes and Cardinal Glennon hospitals, and the former Country Day School.

Doris I. Schnuck

The St. Louis native graduated from Beaumont High School and worked at Boatmen’s Bank and later, at Emerson Electric. In 1941, she met Donald Schnuck; they were married in 1944.

Soon after, they opened the newest Schnucks grocery store in South St. Louis, where she helped out until their first child was born. For the next several decades, Schnuck made family her primary focus. As the family grew, friends jokingly asked if they were raising their own staff. As it turned out, they were: All six have joined the family business and have helped it grow into a major supermarket company.

While her children were growing up, she volunteered in their schools, serving as room mother, bookstore assistant, and Scout leader. Following her husband’s death in 1991, she established the Schnuck Wing at John Burroughs School. As the children grew, Schnuck’s volunteer efforts continued to focus on children’s causes. She joined with Schnuck Markets to support St. Louis Children’s Hospital, assisting her husband as chair of the hospital board during the early 1980s. From 1991 to 2005, she served on the board of directors of The Children’s Tumor Foundation, formerly known as the National Neurofibromatosis Foundation.

Her generosity extends throughout the community, from the establishment of the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professorship of Neurology and continued funding for neurofibromatosis research at Washington University’s School of Medicine, to the creation of business education programs for youth through Junior Achievement. Last year, her children paid tribute to Schnuck with the donation of the lead gift for the Doris I. Schnuck Children’s Garden under construction at the Missouri Botanical Garden.