The Dec. 4 meeting of the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees focused on graduate and professional education, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.
The board also elected a new trustee. Distinguished alumnus F. Gilbert Bickel III (BSBA ’66), a senior vice president with Wells Fargo Advisors, was elected as a new Ethan A.H. Shepley Trustee for a four-year term ending in December 2020.
In addition, the trustees voted on and passed tribute resolutions for Barbara A. Feiner, vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer, who will retire Dec. 31 after 19 years at the university; Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, who concluded his deanship Nov. 30 after 12 years leading the medical school; and Donald Strom, assistant vice chancellor and chief of Campus Police, who has accepted a position as head of global security for Edward Jones after 16 years at the university.
The trustees also held a moment of silence and presented a memorial resolution for Douglass C. North, PhD, a beloved and iconic figure at the university who died Nov. 23, 2015, at his home in Benzonia, Mich., at the age of 95. North was co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the Spencer T. Olin Professor Emeritus in Arts & Sciences.
Following the opening presentations, which included remarks by Wrighton and a talk on the meeting’s theme, “Aspects of Graduate and Professional Education,” by Provost Holden Thorp, the trustees broke into small groups to discuss related topics. Members of the board and the administration facilitated the sessions.
In his report to the trustees, the chancellor welcomed David H. Perlmutter, MD, as the new executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.
Wrighton noted that Amy B. Kweskin, associate vice chancellor for finance and treasurer at the university, was named the next vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer, succeeding Feiner.
He also reported that Lt. Mark Glenn, a 14-year veteran of the Campus Police department with 26 years of law enforcement experience, will serve as interim director beginning Dec. 28 while a search is conducted for Strom’s replacement.
Athletics update
Wrighton was pleased to note the successful fall season for the athletics teams, including the No. 4-ranked women’s soccer team, which advanced to the national final in Kansas City Dec. 5.
The women’s cross country team raced to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championship, while the men’s team took home 16th place. Senior Ellen Toennies and junior Ryan Becker each earned All-America honors for the Bears.
The No. 1-ranked volleyball team made it to the NCAA Regional Championship, ending its season with a 34-3 overall record. Senior Allison Zastrow was named the AVCA Division III National Player of the Year.
The men’s soccer team, whose season ended with an 8-7 shootout loss to DePauw University in the second round of the NCAA tournament, finished its season with a 12-4-4 overall record, the most wins since 2011.
The football team finished the season with a 6-4 overall record, securing its 21st winning season under head coach Larry Kindbom. The Bears were co-champions of the UAA with a 2-1 mark.
He noted that the basketball teams are off to a solid start, with the men’s team 5-0 after winning the 32nd Annual Lopata Classic and the women’s team 4-1. Men’s and women’s swimming are both ranked in the top-10.
Wrighton also mentioned the contents of the time capsule that was buried Nov. 7 in the cornerstone of the Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center. Among the time capsule contents are a piece of the Francis Gym floor, an original Red Alert shirt and letters from Athletics Director Emeritus John Schael to the athletics director of 2065 and from Wrighton to the chancellor of 2065.
Construction updates
Wrighton gave updates on construction projects on both the Danforth and Medical campuses.
On the Danforth Campus, work continues on schedule for an August 2016 opening of the Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center, a more than 60,000-square-feet addition to the Washington University Athletics Complex.
Planning has begun for the Olin Library expansion and renovation as well as for the multiple projects that comprise the east end master plan, including Jubel Hall, Weil Hall, an addition to the Kemper Museum, a welcome center and an underground parking facility.
He also noted that renovations on Urbauer Hall and construction of the Rubelmann House replacement on the South 40 continue.
On the Medical Campus, a new research building for the Department of Genetics, the Center for Genomic Science, the Department of Medicine, Regenerative Medicine, Radiology, and the Cellular Imaging Core is nearly complete with move-in occurring now through January.
The Mid Campus Center, an administrative office building for joint use by the School of Medicine and BJC, is under construction. Several floors in BJC’s Center for Outpatient Health are being fitted out for medical school faculty and physician offices and clinics. The Medical Center’s Siteman Cancer Center has expanded its medical oncology area and construction continues on a new medical office building at Siteman’s South County location.
In his remarks to the board, Wrighton highlighted a number of recent university successes, among them a seven-year, $6.4 million Outstanding Investigator Award to Timothy J. Ley, MD, a leukemia researcher and hematologist at the School of Medicine. The award is from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
He also mentioned numerous other faculty awards and recognitions, research awards and achievements, and student activities and achievements.
He made note of the upcoming installations of Aaron Bobick, PhD, dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, as the James M. McKelvey Professor on Jan. 21, 2016, and Samuel Achilefu, PhD, professor of radiology, as the inaugural Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor on Jan. 28.
The chancellor also noted the recent deaths of four other members of the Washington University community: Stuart Weiss, MD, 85, a longtime professor of clinical neurology in the School of Medicine, who died Oct. 27; Patrick “Pat” Burton, 51, director of financial administration in Alumni & Development Programs, who died Sept. 29; Robert J. Iversen, 39, a third-year student in the School of Law, who died in October; and Lisa Cristine Simone, 25, a doctoral candidate in the Program in Physical Therapy at the School of Medicine, who died Sept. 29.
In addition, the trustees, under Chair Craig D. Schnuck, chairman emeritus of Schnuck Markets Inc., heard reports from the following committees: development, educational policy, nominating and governance, and university finance; and received written reports from the audit, medical finance, university finance and the Alumni Board of Governors committees.
More about F. Gilbert Bickel III
Bickel has built a distinguished career in the financial services industry.
Among his positions, he has served as president for Donelan Phelps Investment Advisors and vice president for both E. F. Hutton & Co. and Merrill Lynch. He then served as senior vice president at Morgan Stanley before taking on his current role as senior vice president – investments at Wells Fargo Advisors in 2011.
He earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Washington University and a master of science in commerce from Saint Louis University.
Bickel and his wife, Marty (AB ’66), are Danforth Circle Dean’s Level members and life patrons of the William Greenleaf Eliot Society. Gilbert is beginning his third term as the society’s president. A former chair of the university’s Alumni Board of Governors, Gilbert received the Distinguished Alumni Award at Founders Day in 2002 and the Olin Business School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005.
Bickel has been an active member of the St. Louis community for more than 45 years, including serving as chair of the St. Louis Arch Angels, a not-for-profit organization he co-founded that helps finance startup technology companies, and as chair of Innovate St. Louis, which helps accelerate successful innovative entrepreneurship in the St. Louis region. He is also a board member of the St. Louis Regional Chamber.
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