Founders Day

Headlining this year’s celebration of the 1853 founding of Washington University in St. Louis is Peggy Noonan, one of the country’s most eminent political analysts. The event also honors the university’s distinguished faculty, alumni and supporters.

Supreme Court expert Nina Totenberg will headline this year’s Founders Day celebration on Nov. 5 at St. Louis Union Station. Other highlights of the event include presentation of the university’s Distinguished Faculty Awards and Distinguished Alumni Awards.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, alumni and friends of Washington University in St. Louis will join the campus community for Founders Day, the annual commemoration of the university’s 1853 founding. Highlighting this year’s celebration at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel is noted writer and biographer Walter Isaacson. The event also will honor the recipients of the university’s Distinguished Alumni Awards and Distinguished Faculty Awards. In addition, three individuals will receive the Robert S. Brookings Award.

Six outstanding alumni will be honored for their service to and support of their alma mater at the University’s Founders Day celebration scheduled for Nov. 3 at America’s Center. Selected by the Alumni Board of Governors, the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are: Nathan O. Hatch, president of Wake Forest University; Charlotte D. Jacobs, oncologist and professor of medicine at Stanford University; Steven F. Leer, chairman and chief executive officer of Arch Coal, Inc.; William B. Pollard III, a partner in Kornstein Veisz Wexler & Pollard, LLP law firm; Philip D. Shelton, former president and executive director of the Law School Admission Council; and J. J. Stupp, chief financial officer of Exegy Inc., a technology licensing company.

This year Founders Day attendees will get a two-for-one bonus when the powerful political couple Mary Matalin and James Carville deliver the keynote address. Matalin and Carville, top political strategists for the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, and married since 1993, will appear at the Alumni Association’s annual gathering to commemorate the founding of Washington University at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at the America’s Center in downtown St. Louis.

The Right Honourable Sir John Major, former prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, will give the keynote address.

James P. Keating, Richard J. Smith, Karen Tokarz and Karen L. Wooley are being honored for outstanding commitment and dedication.

At the Founders Day celebration on Nov. 5, 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 six alumni to be honored Nov. 5 are James F. Barker, John Gianoulakis, Leonard Jarett, Stanley I. Proctor, Susan S. Stepleton and James M. Talent. The event also features a keynote address by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

GiulianiNational hero and legendary New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani will headline this year’s Founders Day celebration, which will be held on Nov. 5 at America’s Center. In addition to the talk, the event will include the presentation of awards for distinguished alumni and faculty, as well as the Robert S. Brookings Awards.