Four faculty members will receive Distinguished Faculty Awards at the Founders Day celebration Nov. 5.
In addition, Adele Dilschneider and Doris I. Schnuck will receive the Board of Trustees’ Robert S. Brookings Awards for their extraordinary commitment to building bridges between the University and the St. Louis region.
The four faculty being honored for outstanding commitment and dedication to the intellectual and personal development of students are James P. Keating, M.D., School of Medicine; Richard J. Smith, Ph.D., Arts & Sciences; Karen Tokarz, J.D., School of Law; and Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., Arts & Sciences.
James P. Keating
Keating, the W. McKim Marriott Professor of Pediatrics, is a founder of pediatric gastroenterology. He began practicing pediatrics in 1968 at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH).
After completing a fellowship in gastroenterology at Barnes Hospital, he established the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition within WUSTL’s Department of Pediatrics, serving as its head until 1992.
Other highlights of his career include directing the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit from 1980-1992, and later establishing the Division of Diagnostic Medicine (where he continues as director), as well as serving as medical director of SLCH’s Diagnostic Center.
In addition, as director of the pediatric residency program, a position he has held from 1969-2002, Keating 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.
Keating has received the Distinguished Service Award from the School of Medicine. The James P. Keating, M.D. Outstanding Resident Award recognizes residents who embody the attributes of their mentor.
He 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 earned bachelor’s and medical degrees 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, the Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has been associated with the University, he has held a number of leadership positions.
His first job here 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 2002-04.
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 has also received the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award.
During the Sesquicentennial celebration in 2003-04, he led the environmental initiative and served as faculty adviser to the Committee on Environmental Quality.
Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1969, and a medical degree 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 also 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 doctorate in anthropology in 1980.
Karen Tokarz
A 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.
In addition to her duties at the 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 underrepresented groups in South Africa.
A graduate of Webster University, Tokarz earned 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 adviser for the law school’s Journal of Law & Policy.
Before joining the University, Tokarz was a deputy juvenile officer at the St. Louis City Juvenile Court and later worked as an attorney for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.
Karen L. Wooley
As soon as she began an academic career, Wooley began receiving awards. She was awarded the Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation and one each from the Army and the 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 U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar on Polymer Chemistry; and as the U.S. area coordinator for Materials Science and Nanotechnology 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 of the National Institutes of Health.
Wooley earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Oregon State University in 1988 and a doctorate in polymer/organic chemistry in 1993.
Adele Dilschneider
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 its 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 the 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. She sits on the boards of the Missouri chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America and the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.
In addition, Dilschneider 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
Schnuck, a St. Louis native, graduated from Beaumont High School and worked at Boatmen’s Bank and 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 1991-2005, 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 the 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.
Editor’s note: The six alumni who will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards were profiled in the Oct. 28 Record. They are James F. Barker, John Gianoulakis, Leonard Jarett, Stanley I. Proctor, Susan S. Stepleton and James M. Talent.