JoAnna Schooler has been appointed director of community relations and local government affairs at Washington University in St. Louis, announced Pamela S. Lokken, vice chancellor for government and community relations.
Schooler succeeds Cheryl Adelstein, who retired after 13 years in the position.
“Cheryl Adelstein’s enormous contributions are firmly embedded in the Washington University campus community and the St. Louis community,” Lokken said. “JoAnna Schooler stands ready to build on Cheryl’s work, bringing new energy, enthusiasm and experiences to inform our challenges and advance our community outreach. It is wonderful to have JoAnna join the Government & Community Relations team.”
Schooler has held leadership positions in communications and community and government relations for more than 20 years.
Most recently, she served as senior director of internal communications and community relations at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, where she had worked both in St. Louis and in Washington since 2006.
Prior to that, she was senior manager for communications at Agere Systems Inc. in Allentown, Penn., and for a year in Ascot, U.K., and manager of corporate public relations for Lucent Technologies Inc. in Murray Hill, N.J.
In her new position, Schooler serves as Washington University’s lead liaison and the chancellor’s representative to local governments, associations, organizations and neighborhood and community groups. She also will develop and communicate university positions on local policy issues to elected and appointed officials in Clayton and University City, Mo., as well as provide strategic leadership on significant local initiatives important to the university’s mission.
She was recognized for her leadership in business when she received the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2016 Business Performer Award during the foundation’s annual Salute to Excellence in Business event.
A member of the Public Relations Society of America, Schooler was selected for the Arthur Page Society Public Relations Executive Forum, an annual training and development seminar program for high-potential corporate communications and public relations executives. She also was selected to the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative Fellows Program, a 12-month leadership development program for minority professionals.
Schooler, who grew up in St. Charles County, earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1994 and a master’s in strategic communication from Seton Hall University in 1998.
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