Trustees meet, discuss international focus, elect new trustee

Chancellor also gives updates on admissions, construction projects

At the December meeting of the Washington University Board of Trustees Dec. 2 and 3, trustees discussed the university’s current and future international focus, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.

The board also elected a new Shepley Trustee and held a moment of silence and presented a memorial resolution for trustee Jai P. Nagarkatti, president and CEO of Sigma-Aldrich Corp., who died Nov. 13, 2010.

Mary Ann Lazarus, senior vice president and firm-wide sustainable design director at Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) of St. Louis, was elected as an Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee for a four-year term ending December 2014.

In his report to the trustees, Chancellor Wrighton noted that the admissions office is making its final review of early decision applicants and plans to mail acceptance letters within the next week or so. The deadline for regular decision applicants is Jan. 15, and Wrighton noted that applications appear to be on another record-setting pace.

Wrighton gave an update on construction projects on both the Danforth and Medical campuses, noting progress on Preston M. Green Hall, as well as renovations of Cupples II, Lopata Hall Gallery and Mallinckrodt Center.

Wrighton made special mention of the Oct. 27 grand opening for the new Family Learning Center on the North Campus, at which he held a paper chain as a tricycle parade “cut the ribbon.” The center, which opened in September, serves children — aged 6 weeks to 6 years — of faculty, staff and students.

Wrighton also gave updates on the design development phase of the Genome Data Center Phase III Expansion, which is being made possible through an ARRA stimulus fund grant.

Wrighton announced that the university has raised more than $651,000 in its United Way of Greater St. Louis campaign, surpassing its stated goal of $615,000. He also made special note that one of the university’s recent graduates, Priya Mallika Sury, a 2010 graduate in anthropology and Spanish, has been named one of 32 Rhodes Scholars from across the United States.

Wrighton invited trustees to two exciting athletic events happening on campus over the weekend. The women’s basketball team is hosting the 10th annual McWilliams Classic, and the men’s team is hosting the 27th annual Lopata Classic, which this year features the men’s basketball team from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. Tsinghua University is one of 25 partner institutions through WUSTL’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy.

In addition, the board heard reports from the following standing committees: development, educational policy, nominating and governance, and university finance.

Mary Ann Lazarus

Mary Ann Lazarus has more than 30 years of architectural experience at HOK and a background in project management on large institutional and corporate projects. She implements sustainable strategies in all of HOK’s work.

She is co-author of The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, Second Edition, and is a frequent speaker on sustainable design topics who is widely quoted in local, regional and national media.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College and studying at the Boston Architectural Center, Lazarus earned a master’s of architecture from Washington University in 1978.

At WUSTL, she has served as chair of the School of Architecture’s National Council and has been awarded both a Founder’s Day Distinguished Alumni Award (2009) and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Architecture (2005).