UMSL Magazine: Fall 2020

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A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I S S O U R I – S T. L O U I S –

FAL

In this issue

CARING FOR LGBTQ+ PATIENTS PAGE 20

Presenting UMSL’s 8th chancellor Page 10 Ella Jones’ historic win Page 17 Revitalizing Union Station Page 25 Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease Page 29 1

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A singular start Though Move-In Days at the University of Missouri–St. Louis looked a bit different this year thanks to safety measures enacted because of the coronavirus pandemic, the excitement and joy of the new students lit up South Campus as usual. Students were assigned a specific time slot to move in to reduce the number of people going through the halls at any one time, and masks were required.

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IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS ISSUE ON CAMPUS

FALL 2020

FALL 2020

In this issue

6............. On Campus 28.......... A Minute With

Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, University City superintendent Ken Smith, genetic researcher Madeline Seefeldt, L'Arche development coordinator Kara Bailey, educator

UMSL College of Nursing student Tayler Avant (left) and an actor recreate the simulation portion of a new module designed to introduce students to the health care needs, barriers and clinical experiences often encountered by members of the LGBTQ+ community.

The college debuted the program in the spring and is now expanding it to fit throughout the entire nursing curriculum.

turned restaurateur

32.......... Class Notes

Correction: It has come to UMSL Magazine’s attention that the previous issue contained an incorrect spelling of Erica Koegler’s name.

Chancellor Kristin Sobolik

Photographer August Jennewein

Chief of Staff Bob Samples

Design

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Justin Roberts Editor-in-Chief Jessica Rogen Art Director/Design Wendy Allison

Erin Hart Writers Karen Holman Marie Carol Kenney Burk Krohe Jessica Rogen Steve Walentik Printer Ovid Bell Press, Inc.

The University of Missouri–St. Louis publishes for alumni and friends. The magazine highlights excellence at the university. Circulation is 106,900 and the magazine is released twice a year.

10 UMSL Magazine | Office of Marketing and Communications 60 J.C. Penney Building | 1 University Blvd. | St. Louis, MO 63121 magazine@umsl.edu | umsl.edu/magazine | 314-516-5851­ Address Updates | Office of Alumni Engagement 414 Woods Hall | 1 University Blvd. | St. Louis, MO 63121 umslalumni.org | 314-516-5833

The chancellor’s vision Kristin Sobolik leads UMSL for the betterment of the St. Louis region

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Photo by Tom Paule Photo, Ed Aller and The St. Louis Aquarium

15 Like father, like son Kei and Jo Pang chose UMSL for their DBA degrees

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17 For the people Ella Jones is the first woman, Black mayor of Ferguson

'A hotel with fish'

Steve O'Loughlin brings new life to Union Station with redevelopment

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highlighted by the St. Louis Aquarium

An innovative module Preparing future nurses for LGBTQ+ patients

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Food writing, production defines Aurora Blanchard’s UMSL experience

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orking at Astrid y Gaston, a fine dining restaurant in Lima, Peru, opened up Aurora Blanchard to a world of unique ingredients from the Amazon rainforest and the Andes and got her thinking about creating a Peruvian Spanish-toEnglish food dictionary.

That dream, born in 2016, became a reality this year when the University of Missouri–St. Louis student started writing it for her senior capstone project.

The dictionary is meant to serve as a “field guide” for quick reference to ingredients and equipment in the kitchen.

“My intention is to help other cooks and make life easier for them when they want to travel,” she says.

“My intention is to help other cooks and make life easier for them when they want to travel."

–Aurora Blanchard

Driven by a love of the Spanish language, travel and food, Blanchard dropped out of her first college experience after two years to cook at Sidney Street Cafe before making her way to the Culinary Institute of America, then to Astrid y Gaston. She enrolled at UMSL in 2018 to study English hoping to break into food or cookbook publishing.

That’s not the senior’s only food experience at school. She’s also the UMSL Community Garden supervisor and outreach coordinator and tended it in the wake of quarantine.

“We donated anything available to harvest in June to Operation Pathways,” she says. “That was what grew during quarantine without any human intervention.”

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After a four-month closure, the Recreation and Wellness Center reopened on Aug. 1. The Director of Campus Recreation Yvette Kell and her team have worked to provide a safe environment for members during the COVID-19 pandemic and be a positive refuge for the UMSL community.

“We know we’ve all been under a lot of extra pressure in the last few months; the world’s getting heavier and heavier,” she said. “But finding

time for yourself to really work on that well-being and that physical part of the well-being, whatever that may be for you, is important.”

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Two students stroll toward Villa Hall and the Ward E. Barnes Building on South Campus at the start of the fall semester, which saw reduced number of in-person students foot traffic on campus thanks to a mix of blended and online courses intended to keep students, faculty and staff safe.

3 Virtual INTERNSHIP AND JOB FAIR

forges connections to employers throughout St. Louis region The morning of the University of Missouri–St. Louis Fall Internship and Job Fair looked a bit different this year with students and alumni logging in from mobile devices as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19.

Career Services organized the virtual event, which attracted around 500 students and alumni. Attendees met with potential employers via the Career Fair Plus platform.

Through the mobile app, students were able to create a profile that included their major, graduation year, LinkedIn information, whether they were seeking an internship or full-time employment, a resume and a photo.

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ACROSS THE

QUAD “It was a good experience because you get 10 minutes of undivided attention from an employer,” says Sarah Thomas, a media studies student.

4 A Q&A WITH ANDREW SIMMONS, political science student and disability advocate Andrew Simmons’ path to the start of his University of Missouri–St. Louis experience is unique. Living with autism, a movement disorder and cerebral palsy, he is nonspeaking but found his voice in 2014 using augmented and alternative communications, primarily typing.

Hoping to study political science, he’s already started making his mark on the world through doing advocacy and sharing his story.

Can you describe your experience of being autistic?

What are your goals for yourself?

I try to think of myself like anyone else. I don’t see myself as autistic primarily. Really, I think it’s a combination of being super attuned to the world and being stuck in a physical body that doesn’t control itself like I wish it would. I think of those who can’t speak who have no way to communicate, and I consider it a mission to help those who have no voice.

I don’t know where I want to work yet, but I know I would like to be involved in advocating for others going through similar struggles. I would also be thrilled to meet others and get involved here at college.

Though some might describe being autistic as a challenge, what strengths does it give you that other people don’t have?

I feel I can sense things other people can’t because I am nonspeaking. I have to listen more than I talk, so I hear things others hope to hear, but they try to speak too much and miss out on brilliant findings by just listening.

5 Harris Center

launches full ride PROMISE AND OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP

Not long ago, Chyna Freeman felt like her goal of going to medical school was miles out of reach, and it seemed like nothing would work out.

Then she received a piece of news that changed everything. She’d been awarded a Promise and Opportunity Scholarship from the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

This is the first year for the scholarship, which is designed to help biology students enjoy a full college experience. It covers tuition, fees and a $1,000 book stipend per year for expenses not covered by other scholarships and grants. It’s funded by proceeds from the World Ecology Award Gala.

Freeman is entering her third year at UMSL, where she’s studying biology with an eye toward becoming an anesthesiologist or pediatrician.

“It means a lot because not only was I given money from donors to help perfect my craft, but it gives me a feeling of achievement,” Freeman says. “It definitely means a lot to me that my hard work isn’t going unnoticed. In the end, scholarships push me more to be the best me.”

The Harris Center promotes ecology and biodiversity conservation through education, research and training.

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George and Melissa Paz make largest single philanthropic gift in UMSL’s history

Marisa Omori This is

Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice

By Steve Walentik

Omori, who researches racial inequality in the criminal justice system, shared insight during our latest moment of national reckoning.

into the field necessarily thinking about racial inequality, but it’s such a central part of drug laws and policies and how they’re created.

Why do you think the inequity in criminal justice didn’t gain more widespread attention before the last five or 10 years with the killings of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, George Floyd and others?

I’m still doing work on people who are arrested for drug crimes, and I look at how inequalities are generated across different stages of the criminal justice system and how context matters. A lot of times, the biggest inequalities don’t necessarily occur at sentencing, but they occur on the front end. They occur during arrest, the bail process and prosecution and charging. I’ve done work looking at that middle process in the courts and how inequalities happen across multiple stages of the criminal justice system. Most of that is on people who are accused of drug crimes, but that became a way to look at inequality more broadly.

Massive racial inequalities happened as a function of longstanding politics and policies long before that—they are endemic to the United States historically, going back to slavery.

If you look at the levels of mass incarceration and mass criminalization specifically, they exploded, starting in the 1970s, in a way that disproportionately impacted people of color.

The public is paying attention now because it’s more visible and clashes with a narrative of a post-racial America.

How did you become interested in researching these issues?

My undergraduate background is in economics, and so I was interested in thinking about drug markets, drug use and drug policy. I didn’t come

Does most of your research still focus on drug crimes?

What are some of your current projects?

I am working on a project examining how facial recognition and machine learning contribute to inequalities in criminal justice. That is at the center of the debate for a lot of police departments that are trying to figure out how the technology works. Part of it is the application and where the technology is being deployed. Part of the problem is with the technology itself because a lot of times the algorithms are trained on predominantly white faces and, oftentimes, male faces, so the error rate for misrecognizing Black people, in particular, is much higher. As a result of COVID-19, I’m also working with an interdisciplinary team on the COVID Prison Project, which tracks cases of people in prisons. Coronavirus has disproportionately impacted people in jails and prisons, and so tracking these numbers is important.

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George

Paz never doubts the value of his college education. His George and Melissa Paz family didn’t have many make largest single financial resources growing up, philanthropic gift in but he worked his way through school at the University of UMSL’s history Missouri–St. Louis to get into the business world. Later, he climbed the corporate ranks to become chairman and CEO of a Fortune 20 company.

Saying goodbye to Wayne Goode, father of UMSL

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ayne Goode was only a few years removed from his own college graduation and serving as a freshman legislator in the Missouri House of Representatives when he drafted legislation that allowed for the transfer of the old Bellerive Country Club from the Normandy School District to the University of Missouri. The purpose of House Bill 153 was to set the stage to bring public higher education to the St. Louis region. Introduced in January 1963, it contained only 78 words, but they helped facilitate the creation of the University of Missouri–St. Louis and, in turn, unlocked educational opportunity for legions of students to chase their dreams and advance their futures.

More than 105,000 graduates in the 57 years since stand as perhaps Goode’s greatest legacy from his 42 years representing north St. Louis County in Jefferson City – as a member of the House of Representatives from 1963-1984 and in the Senate from 1984-2005.

Goode, who served on the University of Missouri Board of Curators after leaving elected office, died Oct. 5 after a battle with leukemia. He was 83.

A statue of Goode was installed on the UMSL campus in 2006. He never would have predicted himself being honored in such a way when he was writing his first piece of legislation 57 years ago.

“I’ve been connected to the university a long time,” he says in the spring 2013 issue of UMSL Magazine. “It will be over 60 years when I complete my Board of Curators term, and when I look back on introducing legislation to create UMSL 50 years ago, I never imagined I’d still be this involved with the university.

I’m so happy to have been a part of this.”

Now, the retired Express Scripts executive and his wife, Melissa, are working to ensure other students have access to some of the same opportunities at his alma mater. They have made a gift of $4 million to support scholarships for UMSL students.

It is the largest single philanthropic donation in the university’s history.

“My father was insistent that education was key to building better lives for ourselves and strongly encouraged us to get a college degree,” says Paz, who earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting in 1982. “UMSL offered a quality, affordable education and flexibility, so I could work and attend school – everything I needed to be successful. It was outstanding preparation for what I would experience in the business world. I learned more than what comes from textbooks. I saw opportunities and what the future may hold.”

Paz, who serves as president of the Chancellor’s Council, has maintained a strong connection with UMSL since he graduated, even relocating Express Scripts corporate headquarters onto North Campus in 2007. Express Scripts is a primary benefactor for the Bridge Program’s Saturday Academy and has supported internships, academic programs, diversity initiatives and community betterment projects.

Vice chancellor roles bring FRESH LEADERSHIP to UMSL Tanika Busch was named vice chancellor for finance and administration and chief financial officer in October.

The two-time alumna will set the university’s financial strategy and long-term planning while overseeing major business operations, including an annual budget of more than $200 million. She comes to the role with 22 years of experience at the university.

Tanisha Stevens was appointed the first-ever vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion in July. She now leads strategic diversity and inclusion initiatives to ensure that all students, faculty, staff and community members thrive. This expanded position coincides with increased resources allocated to the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Stevens has 17 years of experience at UMSL. Chris Spilling assumed the newly created position of vice chancellor for research and economic and community development in June. Spilling will lead and guide research at UMSL as well as community and economic development, which includes the Anchor Institution Initiative headed

by Assistant Vice Chancellor Karl Guenther and the Community Innovation and Action Center.

Spilling has been at the university for 31 years.

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IT WAS A SUNNY AFTERNOON

in mid-August, and Kristin Sobolik was back in her corner office in Woods Hall after spending most of the previous five months working remotely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Had she looked out her windows, Sobolik could have seen the Science Complex to the west and the J.C. Penney Conference Center to the north and, way in the distance, the University Libraries. But her mind at that moment was trained even farther away as she talked about her new position and what she’s hoping to accomplish in it.

It is time to take our “rightful place in

St. Louis as the leader that we are and own it. We have really relied on being a young institution for too long. We’re too long in the tooth for that.

”

–Kristin Sololik

Topping that list is a desire to see UMSL grow its influence in the St. Louis region.

“It is time to take our rightful place in St. Louis as the leader that we are and own it,” Sobolik says. “We have really relied on being a young institution for too long. We’re too long in the tooth for that.”

She would also like to see the university take a more active role in pushing the region forward.

UMSL alumni make up an outsized share of the St. Louis workforce with nearly 75 percent of the university’s graduates living and working in the region. Those deep connections can help facilitate dialogue and forge solutions to large-scale issues.

Sobolik’s calendar is often filled with meetings with other civic and business leaders as well as friends, donors and advocates that support UMSL’s efforts to be an institution promoting opportunity for all people, regardless of their backgrounds.

Lately, Sobolik has been working closely with counterparts at some of the region’s leading institutions to develop a plan for more equitable economic development, including in the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. It includes more conscious hiring and purchasing practices in underinvested communities.

“The way we’ve carved up our society and the way we’ve carved up opportunity and concentrated low-income people and people of color in very specific spaces is not healthy for our region,” says Karl Guenther, UMSL's assistant vice chancellor of economic and community development, who has been working closely with Sobolik on these issues. “It leaves a tremendous number of people out of the equation and makes it difficult for them to reach their full potential.”

solutions

Sobolik had moved into the space the previous fall when she took over as the interim chancellor at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, but she still had a few things she hadn’t had a chance to unpack – items she decided to bring over only after learning she’d be keeping the office with her appointment as the eighth chancellor in the university’s history in April.

inclusion

inf l uence

economy

New Chancellor Kristin Sobolik sees UMSL as integral to fostering inclusive prosperity in the region

By Steve Walentik

development

facilitate

advocacy

st. Louis City

ty n u o C s i u o L st. ty n u o C es rl a st. Ch 11

There’s an increasing realization that the status quo is not sustainable. The region has watched its population remain relatively flat over the past two decades while some of its biggest companies have departed for other cities. To reverse those trends will require lifting up more people and incorporating their talents as an integral and essential part of the solution.

Sobolik and her colleagues have been building broader plans for regional economic development that create and enhance connections and collaborations with some of the larger institutions in the region. UMSL has a unique role to play in promoting equity and inclusive

“The way we’ve carved up our society and the way we’ve carved up opportunity and concentrated low-income people and people of color in very specific spaces is not healthy for our region.” –Karl Guenther economic growth and prosperity because it provides high-quality, affordable education to so many of the students who grow up in the region’s underinvested communities. About 30 percent of UMSL students are underrepresented minorities, 48 percent are Pell Grant-eligible, and they have a median household income of about $34,000 annually.

“I think we can be at the forefront of finding solutions because of who we are as a public, urban institution and the student demographics that we serve,” Sobolik says.

That’s in addition to the research and expertise UMSL faculty and staff direct toward solving civic and regional challenges.

UMSL has been recognized nationally as a leader in social mobility. The degrees students earn can transform their financial futures, and they in turn can use their skills to enhance the St. Louis workforce.

Sobolik knows as well as anyone the power of education. She grew up in Charles City, Iowa, and was the first member of her family to attend college, working her way through school at the University of Iowa to earn a degree in biology.

She spent the summer between her junior and senior years doing an archeological excavation in the Southwestern United States, sparking a love for anthropology. That led her to Texas A&M University, where she earned both her master’s and PhD and helped pioneer the fields of archaeobiology and paleonutrition.

After a postdoctoral fellowship at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Sobolik launched her career in higher education when she landed her first faculty position in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maine in 1992. The job came with a joint appointment to the university’s renowned Climate Change Institute, and her work there – first as graduate director and eventually associate director – helped foster her passion for tackling societal problems, even outside her academic area of expertise.

I think one of the first things that Kristin said, “which I appreciated as a native of St. Louis, was that she was reading a book to learn more about the history.

–Tanisha Stevens

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Sobolik spent more than 20 years at Maine, rising to the rank of professor as well as associate dean for research and external affairs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

After much thought, she and her husband, Scott Peterson, decided to make a move that took them closer to their roots in the Midwest. Sobolik accepted a position as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Wright State University.

She knew the decision to come to UMSL, first as provost in 2017 and now as chancellor, would mean familiarizing herself with a whole new set of challenges and opportunities.

“I think one of the first things that Kristin said, which I appreciated as a native of St. Louis, was that she was reading a book to learn more about the history,” says Tanisha Stevens, UMSL’s vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion.

“She was being intentional and trying to understand more about the community, with issues like the Delmar Divide. She had a willingness to learn more, the willingness to understand why it has been difficult.”

Recently, Sobolik read “The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States,” by historian and Harvard University Professor Walter Johnson. The book traces the turbulent history of the city, from Lewis and Clark’s expedition in 1804 through the civil unrest in Ferguson in 2014 and shows the racial dynamics at play throughout that history that have served to continually disadvantage minority communities.

Above: Tanisha Stevens is the UMSL vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Left: Karl Guenther is UMSL's vice chancellor of economic and community development.

Opposite page: The University of Missouri System Board of Curators appointed Kristin Sobolik to the role of UMSL chancellor in April.

“I felt like I was reading about certain aspects of history for the first time, and this was as an anthropologist,” Sobolik says.

It’s only strengthened her resolve to ensure UMSL is doing everything it can to promote investment and opportunity in the communities that need it most.

“I’m motivated by tackling big issues and forming the team to be part of the solution, whether it’s environmental policy or whether it's how to advance inclusive prosperity as foundational for economic development,” Sobolik says. “When I was working on environmental policy, I thought, ‘What can be bigger and more important than climate change?’ I think foundational, racial inequality may top it, and it’s going to take all of us working together to help solve it.”

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DB A new family tradition: the Pangs make up two generations of lifelong learners

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Despite differences in their career paths and stages, father and son Kei Pang (right) and Jo Pang (left) both found academic homes in the UMSL DBA program.

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By Karen Holman

KEI PANG was at the apex of his career in 2018.

He’d served as chief executive officer of the multibillion-dollar electric motor manufacturer Nidec Motor Company since 2013.

Prior to that, he’d earned a BS in materials engineering from the University of London then his MBA from the University of Michigan before rising through the ranks at Emerson Electric Company and Nidec, holding august titles such as president, chief operating officer and vice chairman along the way.

So deciding to head back to school – that was a move seemingly out of nowhere.

Kei enrolled in the Doctor of Business Administration program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis at the urging of a friend – Charles Hoffman, dean emeritus of the College of Business Administration.

“I’m here for the learning aspect of it,” Kei says. “I look forward to getting away from my day-to-day routine and going into an intellectual, academic learning environment where people collaborate and help each other. It’s a learning and sharing experience.”

Poised to graduate the program as a member of the debut cohort, he’s part of a storied moment in DBA program history. But even after he wraps up his dissertation, he’ll be leaving the program a different kind of legacy: his son, Jo Pang, an organizational consultant and mindfulness teacher who recently founded his own consulting company, Culture Wise. He began courses this semester as part of the program’s fourth cohort.

That two generations of Pangs found an intellectual home in the DBA program speaks to its broad appeal and versatility.

“The DBA program offers a unique opportunity for accomplished business professionals to transform their business and industry through engaged management scholarship,” says Ekin Pellegrini, founding director. “The curriculum equips practitioners with the knowledge and the tools to inform business problems through scholarly research. In essence, they learn to marry rigor with relevance.”

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THE TERMINAL BUSINESS DEGREE

is tailor-made for lifelong learners who want to continue their educations beyond an MBA. While PhD programs focus on answering theoretical questions, DBA students research answers to real-world problems that impact businesses’ daily operations, crossing lines between disciplines in order to find solutions.

The DBA, which is Missouri’s only Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accredited program of its type, has been rated highly since its inception.

But that’s not what appeals most to Kei and Jo. “The professors can rival anyone I’ve met at private universities,” says Kei, who is also a member of the UMSL Chancellor's Council. “They’re more patient and more attentive to individuals’ needs. That’s why I encouraged Jo to apply to the program.

You may not get the brand name, but from a learning experience, you get more.”

change the technology. They could implement a new multimillion-dollar platform, but some of the roots of their biggest dysfunctions and hindrances were in the people. The people part is so often the least understood, the most mysterious and also the least regarded, and my interest has been to go right for that.”

He plans to use the DBA program as an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of organizational behavior and culture in order to help purpose-driven companies.

Though students typically have 10 to 20 years of management experience, the program design appeals to businesspeople in a range of career phases. For Kei, pursuing a DBA provides a transition between working and retirement while giving space for self-examination and potentially a more meaningful postretirement vocation. When he decided to step back from his role as the CEO of Nidec, he’d sought a new outlet for his business drive.

His emphasis on improving organizational culture through effective leadership goes hand-in-hand with his passion for social justice. He focuses on mindfulness and how companies can assist employees on becoming more aware, personally and socially, which ultimately makes an organization more impactful and better able to serve a multicultural customer base.

His resulting dissertation focuses on how private equity firms differentiate themselves in creating value for investors. One of the surprises for Kei has been the value he’s gained from honing and expanding his communication and research skills from typical business bullet points to the in-depth analysis demanded in academia.

“A lot of organizational practices were made up in the industrial age for machine factory line scenarios and don’t bring out people’s most creative, authentic parts of themselves,” Jo says. “It seems like a very

“I was working in places where I realized the biggest hindrance was not necessarily technology or process but the culture.” –Jo Pang

“The professors can rival anyone I’ve met at private universities. They’re more patient and more attentive to individuals’ needs.”

–Kei Pang

“In business, there’s more of a disconnect between practitioners and academia than other professions,” Kei says. “But you really benefit from the time and money you invest in the program. The challenge is writing the dissertation. It’s a little less structured than coursework, so you have to basically find your own way.”

Jo, who previously earned his master’s in information systems at UMSL, discovered an interest in improving organizational culture and promoting diversity and inclusion as his career progressed. He also attributes his passion to his personal journey of transformation as a transgender man.

“I was working in places where I realized the biggest hindrance was not necessarily technology or process but the culture,” he says. “They could

big disservice. I help leaders and clients diagnose and understand their culture and unblock certain things that they might be doing that are contributing to not having the culture that would most effectively serve the organization’s vision.”

As Jo begins classes, Kei doesn’t anticipate any competitiveness between them in terms of research productivity. Instead, they share a deep sense of curiosity and are eager to learn from instructors and classmates as well as bridge the divide between practice and academics.

Kei is inspired by his son’s determination to help improve society, particularly in the context of a multicultural and LGBTQ+ environment.

“In the past decade, I have begun to embrace more of an ecocentric view,” Kei says.

“That means caring for and valuing humans of all creeds and nationalities as well as all living creatures on the planet. Having gratitude for all creation and doing all I can to support this recently developed awareness is where a lot of my fulfillment comes from.

“My son has a very strong focus. He’s spent a lot of time to find himself through music, writing, contemplative practices and building community. It’s problematic that some leaders today support divisiveness, and the ‘us versus them’ mentality has led to great imbalances. Thankfully there are young people coming up through the ranks who have better awareness and intuition that can help lead the way to greater compassion, respect and harmony for all those who share the earth.”

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When Ella Jones speaks, she is

personable, unflinchingly positive about the future, yet also analytical.

These are traits of a natural politician, but the University of Missouri–St. Louis alumna says it was her late husband who had an innate interest in politics, not her.

“I never had an interest in politics,” she says with an effusive laugh. “My husband was the political person in the family. He was in the Ferguson Township Open Democratic Club. He would go to all these political meetings and drag me along with him.”

That changed after her husband Tim’s passing in 2013 and the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Looking for a challenge and a way to support her community, Jones ran for and won a seat on the Ferguson City Council in 2015.

By Burk Krohe

Alumna Ella Jones leads Ferguson as mayor after historic win

It was the first time a Black resident was elected to the council, despite making up 67 percent of the population. In June, she made history again as the first woman and Black resident elected mayor of the city. It’s a moment she — and many other Ferguson residents — will never forget.

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“The only thing I was thinking about was, now the people have a voice. The people have hope. That’s all I was thinking about, the people.” –Ella Jones Photo courtesy of the Ur ban L eag ue

Ella Jones entered politics in 2015 after a successful career as a chemist and Mary Kay consultant and sales director.

“When I looked at the results, I was not leading for the first round,” she recalls. “I got up and said, ‘This is not happening.’

My campaign manager, policy director and field instructor all said, ‘Sit down. Don’t worry about it. We’ll watch the returns.’ Later, they came over and said, ‘You won with 1,500 votes.’ They convinced me the numbers were correct, and I jumped up, hollering and having a good time.”

Her momentous entry into politics came after earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UMSL and successful careers in two fields – experiences that would be essential to her work in local government.

Jones’ interest in science and mathematics started at a young age.

“When I was in high school, I was good at math, and I always wanted to be a chemical engineer or a pharmacist,” she says, explaining that she’d married and taken a break from school. “When I went back, I took up chemistry.”

She attended St. Louis Community College – Florissant Valley for two years before finishing her BA in chemistry at UMSL in 1986.

“It was a great experience,” she says. “Three people played a major role in me staying in the chemistry department. Dr. Rudolph Ernest Winter, he was the organic lab professor. He was always challenging us to do more and more.

Of course, Dr. Charles Armbruster for organic chemistry. He would take time to make sure we understood everything. Then, Dr. Lawrence Barton, the chair of the department. If he could do anything to help us, he would.”

After graduation, Jones embarked on a career as a chromatographer and analytic chemist synthesizing peptides and amino acids in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

In her next position at the KV Pharmaceutical Company, she focused on dissolutions and time-release drugs. For the 30 years Jones worked in labs, she also juggled roles as a Mary Kay consultant, then sales director.

Peptides are far from the world of politics, but the analytical nature of chemistry, especially collecting data, has been incredibly useful to Jones.

“It’s the key to everything that I do,” she says. “I don’t do anything without the results in mind. When you’re in the lab running an experiment, you have to look beyond what’s going on for the results.”

Appropriately, her campaigns are run by the numbers with quantitative goals tracked for growth.

“Staff members would come in, and I would ask, ‘How many people did you talk to today?

How many positive responses?’” Jones says.

“I got that from being in chemistry.”

There were basic aspects of running for office Jones wanted to learn before her first election. At the suggestion of a friend, she returned to UMSL for training in municipal leadership at the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life.

“It was very helpful,” she says. “It helped me to understand the quality of literature I needed to put out, getting quality people to support you, fundraising.”

A seat on the Ferguson City Council was a start, but Jones aimed for more.

“I ran for city council knowing that I was going to run for mayor,” she says. “When I told people that my next step would be mayor, they laughed. But that’s the next progression. I’m not going to be satisfied just sitting in one seat.

“The higher you go, the more elevated your platform is, so I had to be mayor. That comes from being in Mary Kay. You never want to be at the entry level. You always want to move up.”

That’s exactly what she did.

Now that she’s taken office, Jones is employing a servant-leadership model designed to empower her constituents.

She’s already delivered a 90-day State of the City report and has been working with the Urban League on a housing initiative.

June’s election was historic and long overdue, but Jones wasn’t thinking about that during her campaign. More than the historic significance of her victory, she’s grateful to serve as a role model for those who have not felt represented.

“The only thing I was thinking about was, now the people have a voice,” she says. “The people have hope. That’s all I was thinking about, the people. They showed everyone who they wanted.”

18

Undergraduate vs. graduate studies breakdown:

60% UNDERGRADUATE

29%

7% 52%

17%

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

9%

17%

HISTORY

POLITICAL SCIENCE

CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE

PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION

OTHER

Top UMSL colleges, schools or programs of city leaders

PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION

24%

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

TO

Locations where alumni lead:

ILLINOIS Previous work experience held by city leaders:

CITY ADMINISTRATOR

Senior Recruiter

Municipal Market Manager

PLANNING TECHNICIAN

HR & Purchasing City Counselor

VP Administrative Services

Director of Administration

PASTOR

Assistant City Manager PL ANN I N G M A N A G E R

Project Planner

L S UM TY CI ALL H

M O R F

Top subjects studied:

21%

40% GRADUATE

Ella Jones is not the only University of Missouri–St. Louis graduate to lead at the city level.

Through roles as mayors and city managers, UMSL alumni have and continue to set policy and determine the future of their regions – St. Louis and far beyond.

Berkeley Black Jack Bridgeton Chesterfield Clayton Des Peres Ellisville Eureka Ferguson Glendale Greendale Kinloch Lebanon Normandy Northwoods O'Fallon Richmond Heights Rock Hill Shrewsbury St. Charles St. Louis University City Wentzville Wildwood

Alton

MISSOURI

Cherokee Village

ARKANSAS

MARYLAND Bowie La Plata

VP Finance

19

‘Knowledge through ‘Knowledge through a different lens’: aCollege different lens’: of Nursing teaches LGBTQ+ care College of Nursing through an innovative module care teaches LGBTQ+ through an innovative module

By Jessica Rogen

By Jessica Rogen

20

A

Simulation

patient walks into a clinic.

It’s his first visit, and he’s nervous. In the past, providers have been judgmental and unknowledgeable because he’s transgender. He’s also hopeful because the clinic has unusually progressive forms, which he printed out to fill in at home.

Need

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals face worse health outcomes when compared to their heteronormative counterparts.

“It’s a vulnerable population that experiences health disparities,” says Natalie Murphy, associate teaching professor and associate dean for academic programs in the College of Nursing. “This population is often afraid to even go for help or care because they’ve experienced stigma from providers in the past.”

The University of Missouri–St. Louis faculty member had already started to do something to combat the problem by incorporating education on LGBTQ+ population needs into her graduate courses. Then, her colleague, Assistant Teaching Professor Tonya Haynes, approached Murphy about creating something similar for undergraduates – they settled on an interactive learning module designed to incorporate education and dialogue specific to the health care needs, barriers and clinical experiences often encountered by members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“We wanted to present knowledge through a different lens,” Haynes says. “Many of our students have family members or friends in the community, or they may be part of the community, but we wanted to create something specific to health care.”

21

e us nt e i t pa e h t ke ma o t t no r be em rem *the words "I think" or "I cha oosmie"croawhggenresthsieyon'reantadlkcaingn about theistrrusidtentotwaity–rdit 'mes ! cause mi Roleplay he patient feels a stab of anxiety when the receptionist calls out his deadname instead of his chosen name. He approaches the desk, explains and requests to be called by his preferred name. The receptionist is flustered but accommodating at first, then resistant to using anything but the patient’s legal name.

Education When Associate Teaching Professor Alicia Hutchings started to research LGBTQ+ curriculums across the U.S., she was surprised to find very little.

“In general, nursing schools only spend about two hours working with the health care needs of this population,” she says. “Our feeling was that we wanted to add this missing component.”

Hutchings, Haynes and Murphy – along with Assistant Professor Sheila Grigsby and Assistant Teaching Professor Amanda Finley – created then debuted the module in spring 2020.

The group wanted to know if the module would work, so they engaged the College of Nursing’s research office to collaborate on the design of a study to run simultaneously to measure the undergraduates’ knowledge and attitudes before and after.

The three-part program was spread out over the semester and included an in-class portion, the simulation with a transgender patient and a panel with members of the LGBTQ+ community. The group knew students would have different levels of knowledge coming in, so starting with didactic instruction was key.

Opposite page, from left: Aleah Alonzo, Danielle Berry, Assistant Teaching Professor Tonya Haynes, Mitchel Becher, Tayler Avant and Taylor Mayberry debrief after the simulation.

“It was something completely new,” alumna Dajae Post says. “At that point, I was a tech, but we didn’t interact much with patients that weren’t cisgender.

I can’t prepare for something I didn’t know about.”

gain, the clinic gets his name wrong.

This time it’s the medical tech. He’s apologetic but blunderingly confused, then asks the patient to take off his shirt for vitals. The patient is uncomfortable.

He feels anxious and beyond frustrated – this clinic was supposed to be better.

Maybe it would be best to leave now.

*

T

A

Simulation

Simulation

The second phase of the module builds upon didactic knowledge with a simulation designed

by Haynes. It starts with a video created by Montgomery College in which a transgender patient experiences bias stereotype frustration coming into an appointment.

Then, in groups, the students work through the scenario with an actor playing the role of the patient.

“Learning how to communicate with someone who is very upset is a difficult situation,” Grigsby says. “We’re able to simulate that in a controlled environment, and they walk away with skills that they can take into reality. Nurses are supposed to be advocates for their patients, and if we find a situation happening, we have to intervene and fix it and make it better for that patient and train the rest of the health care team.”

Afterward, the students debrief with an instructor, investigate the implications of their choices and discuss opportunities to engage differently with the patient during subsequent encounters.

The high rates of cancer in the LGBTQ+ community made the worst-case scenario – where the patient leaves without care – hit home hard for alumnus John Gass, who is now a nurse on the oncology floor at Christian Hospital.

“One of the big fears in the training simulation was alienating the patient,” he says. “The importance of trying to reach out stuck out to me. A lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community are apprehensive about going to health clinics or going to the hospital for fear of judgment. If you are sick and not getting regular checkups, it could be too late by the time you find out that there is a serious problem.”

22

Top: Nursing students Tayler Avant (left) and Mitchel Becher (right) and an actor recreate in the simulation lab a roleplay scenario where the learners must make their transgender patient feel comfortable after experiencing bias.

On Nov. 13, the College of Nursing broke ground on a renovation and expansion of its Nursing Learning Resource and Simulation Center, which will become a 21,000 square foot, state-of-the-art training ground for the next generation of nurses and allow the college to increase the number of students it accepts by 20 percent annually.

23

T

*

Asbekcathl eedpawhtieennt whI fatirstthmeeyetwothulemd like to

Simulation he nurse enters the exam room after receiving an update from the tech. She apologizes to the patient for the name inaccuracies and experience thus far.

The nurse also explains that the medical record system is unable to support certain gender inclusive language. She displays empathy and assures the patient that priority will be placed on enhanced staff training. The patient seems a bit relieved and allows the nurse to proceed with the assessment. The nurse updates the provider and agrees to coordinate team training on cultural competency.

*

Change After participating in the simulation, the nursing students are given an opportunity to reflect on the experience and discuss the content, with rationale, that they would include in team training: gender identity and pronouns, welcoming signage and progressive language on intake forms and medical records.

BSN student Danielle Friz hopes to see records change even more dramatically.

“You need to consider individual circumstances that could impact someone’s care,” she says. “You can’t always assume female patients need birth control for pregnancy prevention if that’s not their sexual orientation. Typically, when I go to the doctor, I receive a medical form that’s for females. If I were not heterosexual, all those questions would not apply to me and extra questions would apply.”

Community

The final segment is a panel discussion that invites the students to connect with the stories and lives of LGBTQ+ community members.

“That was my aha moment,” Post says. “This is a real issue, and it’s something that needs to be focused on. Everybody has the right to proper health care. Your sexuality, your race, your gender – none of that should be relevant. You should have the resources and the opportunities available to everybody else.”

Results

The module proved to have a powerful effect, showing statistically significant results, which the group went on to present to the Nuts & Bolts for Nurse Educators Conference in August.

This brought about a second awakening – for the organizers.

“The earlier we can start training students, the more we can focus on developing better relationships,” Finley says. “We’ll have a better chance, with any group, to keep them healthy instead of having to chase after an illness that develops because they don’t feel comfortable coming for care.”

Since then, the team has received a grant from Sigma Nursing Honor Society to design and implement modules that will fit throughout the entire nursing curriculum, beginning this fall with students in their first semesters.

But the students carry within themselves the real results: knowledge, empathy, communication and collaboration skills and more.

“You have to be an advocate for your patients and treat them with respect,” Gass says. “You never want them to feel like they can’t get care. If you can refer to a person by the correct pronoun, if you can establish a relationship with your patient, it makes your job easier. When you have questions to ask them, they’ll answer them a lot more honestly, give you a lot more information. It makes the process a lot easier, a lot safer and a lot better.”

Afterward, Grigsby had the students complete two reflections, one about what they gained and one about what they’d like to learn more about.

“This should be something that’s taught across the board to everybody, not just medical professionals,” Post says.

“Everybody should be aware of the challenges that people of different sexual orientations face. People should be educated on this all the time.”

24

By Steve Walentik

Alumnus Steve O’Loughlin helps transform the once-dead mall and sees it through the pandemic

New glory for Union Station

S

Steve O’Loughlin takes regular strolls around Union Station, from the historic Grand Hall with its ornate archways, gold leaf detailing and art glass windows, across the wide walkways of the midway and even into the open air if he’s checking on what’s happening at the Soda Fountain or the Ferris wheel.

He’s always greeted by smiles and waves from employees, who often stop him to have a quick chat.

O’Loughlin’s face is well known around these parts, and it should be.

“I’m here every day,” says O’Loughlin, a 1989 graduate of the College of Business Administration at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

He’s a big reason those staff members – and thousands more patrons – are there, too.

O’Loughlin serves as the president and chief operating officer of Lodging Hospitality Management, which owns Union Station.

It was his vision and leadership, along with that of his father, LHM CEO Bob O’Loughlin, that helped reinvent and reinvigorate the structure – once the world’s busiest train station – after it had been all but abandoned over the previous two decades as a failing downtown shopping mall.

The centerpiece of the redevelopment is the St. Louis Aquarium, which opened with much fanfare last Christmas, drawing more than 9,000 visitors that first day and each of the nine after it.

It would’ve been expecting too much to maintain that pace indefinitely, but attendance had remained strong and steady throughout the first three-plus months.

The arrival of the coronavirus brought a sudden and unexpected test to the business’s viability.

“We had so much momentum going, and attendance had been just off the charts,” O’Loughlin said. “When we had to shut down because we were in the middle of this pandemic and the government and health officials started pulling levers, we weren’t surprised, but we were not expecting how long we were going to be out.”

Photo by Tom Paule Photo, Ed Aller and The St. Louis Aquarium

What he imagined would be a week or two stretched to almost three months.

Westport Plaza, another LHM-owned property. But they soon started imagining other possibilities.

O’Loughlin and his team did what they could to keep the Aquarium top of mind for families across the region. They hosted an online Turtle Derby as well as a series of “Quaranstream” videos and some virtual chats that introduced kids stuck at home to some of the wildlife – including otters, sharks and an anteater – who make the aquarium home.

But there was no way of knowing if crowds would return in person in any significant numbers with stay-at-home orders lifted but the coronavirus still looming as a public health threat.

By 2014, Steve O’Loughlin had noticed the success of Ballpark Village as a spot for nightlife near the other end of Clark Street, not far from the LHM-owned Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. He wondered if Union Station might be able to carve out a niche of its own.

“One thing that’s always sustainable is parents wanting to create memories for their families and for their kids and do something special,” he says. “So I started getting traction on this idea of family entertainment.”

At his father’s directive, O’Loughlin began traveling around the country to other facilities to see what attractions could be incorporated into such a project. He says Chicago’s Navy Pier – including its Ferris wheel – provided early inspiration.

But they needed the aquarium as the main draw. After initially exploring landlord-tenant relationships with a couple of the country’s most prominent aquarium operators, they made the decision to build their own.

It was a big departure from the hotel business in which That unknown had been weighing O’Loughlin had worked most of his life, starting at Mehlville on O'Loughlin as June 8 – the date High School and continuing after graduating from UMSL. of the aquarium’s reopening – He spent eight years working in management positions at approached. He was facing real Hilton and Marriott properties before joining LHM in 1997. financial pressures with the "It's just a hotel with fish," O’Loughlin expenses of caring for the "One thing that's recalls he and his father joking wildlife not going away and with each other when they were the company coping with always sustainable getting started. declines in revenue, not only from the aquarium, but from is parents wanting O’Loughlin spent months traveling the hotel properties that to different aquariums, including in to create memories Atlanta; Gatlinburg, Tennessee; account for the majority of LHM’s business. for their families and Monterey, California, to gain “Since we turned it back on, it’s been great,” O’Loughlin said. “In terms of how it relates to the overall company, the aquarium has been the best producer, along with the wheel. In terms of cash flow, it’s really carried everything during this downtime.”

and for their kids and do something special."

It’s validated a lot of the decisions the O’Loughlins made after Bob purchased Union Station with its hotel property for $20 million in 2012.

Early plans had been to operate the hotel and convert the rest of the building to a mixed-use development with restaurants and a major office tenant, not unlike

–Steve O'Loughlin

insight into the elements they'd have to replicate to be successful.

LHM eventually worked with St. Louis-based PGAV Destinations to design its concept, McCarthy Building Companies to carry out construction and Dubai-based zoOceanarium Group, led by Nashville native Chris Davis, to manage operations.

From the virtual train ride narrated by John Goodman to the river otter, shark and stingray exhibits, people have been eager to return since June with about 80,000 visitors each month.

“I think people being quarantined and locked down for so long, they just wanted to be with their families and get out,” O’Loughlin said. “Whether it’s visiting the aquarium, getting a burger at the Soda Fountain, riding the wheel or watching the fire show, we’ve provided a lot of different elements to do that.”

26

Steve O'Loughlin (center) traveled to aquariums across the U.S. as research for the St. Louis Aquarium (top).

A St. Louis landmark, the Grand Hall (bottom) showcases Union Station's historic beauty.

SHARONICA HARDINBARTLEY

works to close opportunity gaps at University City schools

By Karen Holman

Like many great teachers, Mrs. Vaughn encouraged her class to follow their dreams. Her words lodged in fourth-grader Sharonica Hardin-Bartley’s heart.

But unlike most students, Hardin-Bartley absorbed that faith from her teacher and headed back to the classroom.

Mrs. Vaughn didn’t know it, but she was one of the first influences that ultimately led Hardin-Bartley to a career devoted to changing children’s lives. Now in her fifth year as superintendent of the School District of University City, Hardin-Bartley works to advance social justice and racial equity by giving students a voice.

She’s a firm believer that effective educators have to love their jobs and their students.

“It has to be a passion that burns in the bottom of your belly,” she says. “It’s too hard, and it’s too important. Teachers have a tremendous amount of power to either positively or negatively impact a child. It requires courage and tenacity.”

Hardin-Bartley was drawn to serving the most vulnerable students and began her career teaching special education. A few years later, she became principal at Adams Elementary School, then served as chief human resources officer for the St. Louis Public School District and later as assistant superintendent for the Ritenour School District. Her passion for learning led her to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where she earned her PhD in educational leadership and policy studies in 2014.

In her current position as superintendent, she influences more than 2,500 students. It requires taking on widely varying roles – counselor, social worker, teacher, human resources and, this year, medical expert.

“I’m the orchestra conductor,” she says. “It’s my job to make sure we have one beautiful song that reflects all of the different parts doing their own thing but coming together for the good of a common cause – to ensure we create a modern learning experience for all children so they can realize their full potential.”

Within the district, she has redesigned the gifted program to include more children of color and made extracurricular activities like robotics affordable for all students.

Over the summer, several University City High School students conducted COVID-related research through the Collaborative Laboratory Internships and Mentoring Blueprint program at UMSL. Programs like CLIMB, established as part of the university’s commitment to the St. Louis region, drew HardinBartley’s attention.

“UMSL has really demonstrated an attempt to close some opportunity gaps, particularly with children of color,” she says. “I felt that I could explore my passion, which is equity and justice for all children, in a way that didn’t have a lot of limits.”

After decades in education, her passion hasn’t waned. She feels a sense of accomplishment every time she hears a former student is doing well.

“My students keep me motivated, centered, humbled,” she says.

“I’m amazed at their resilience and persistence and strength.”

28

Doctoral student

KEN SMITH

searches for patterns in genetic data for Alzheimer’s detection

By Jessica Rogen

Ken Smith didn’t get a yes when he first approached Assistant Professor Sharlee Climer about joining her lab.

It might have struck her as an odd fit to bring on the PhD student in data science and statistics because Climer is a computer scientist.

But Smith was so intrigued by her research identifying patterns in genetic data that he persisted.

“I kept bugging her and bugging her until she said yes,” Smith says. “I really liked that she was working on a problem I could see – I’ve known people with Alzheimer’s or dementia.”

Climer’s lab turned out to be a great match. Since joining in 2018, Smith has completed software for identifying clusters of related data in large sets, which he presented at the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference in 2019, and has embarked on a project developing an Alzheimer’s diagnostic technique in collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine genomicist Carlos Cruchaga.

a good chance those mutations either cause or are associated with Alzheimer’s.”

Working with DNA produces a vast amount of data – hundreds of thousands or even millions of samples.

That means the solutions from Smith’s program are approximations, so he chose spinal fluid proteins to examine next.

He’s taking a similar approach by looking for proteins that are present at higher levels in Alzheimer’s patients than non-patients. Smith hopes that by identifying these proteins, researchers can look at their functions in the body and use them as a screening mechanism for highrisk individuals.

He’s spent the last year creating and speeding up the program under Climer’s guidance and is now ready to start analyzing patient data.

“The problem with Alzheimer’s is that once you can identify that someone has it, it's typically too late to fix it,” Smith says. “If we can detect it earlier, we can prevent it from getting worse, and I think that’s reachable.”

The problem-solving elements of his University of Missouri– St. Louis research play into Smith’s background. After earning his bachelor’s in physics and a master’s in electric engineering, he’d started at Boeing. A few years in, he’d wanted to brush up and enrolled at UMSL part-time.

A little over a year later, he decided to go for his doctorate, started working with Climer and then switched to full-time.

“I’ve always liked problem solving,” Smith says. “This field has a lot of applications, so I can work in aerospace, in medical research, business. A lot of it is very similar math.

It’s how you apply it.”

Starting with Climer meant going back to the basics to learn about programming and artificial intelligence.

From there, he jumped to creating software that graphs connections among the DNA of individuals with Alzheimer’s.

Similar to how a social network such as Facebook draws connections among friends, Smith’s program clusters mutations.

“You try to figure out which mutations occur together,” he says. “You want to figure out which of those mutations occur often for Alzheimer’s patients but occur for nonpatients rarely. If you find that kind of pattern, then there’s

29

MSW student

MADELINE SEEFELDT

finds an unlikely home

Seefeldt was part of a service group that visited people with intellectual disabilities each week, and her family saw how much she enjoyed it.

“I first heard about L’Arche from my dad, who had read some books by someone who was part of a L’Arche community in Canada,” she says. “He thought I might be interested in doing a summer internship with them.”

L’Arche is an international organization that provides community and residential support for adults with intellectual disabilities. There are 18 communities in the U.S., but when Seefeldt interviewed with the national body for an internship, she had no idea where she wanted to go.

By Burk Krohe

The thought of living in St. Louis never crossed Madeline Seefeldt’s mind while attending Grove City College.

“They placed me in St. Louis,” she says. “It ended up being a really great experience, and I came back after graduating.”

To be fair, she says, most people in western Pennsylvania don’t think much about the Gateway City – unless the Cardinals are playing the Pirates. However, it’s where she’s built a career, found a family and advanced her education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis School of Social Work.

St. Louis started with one L’Arche house in 2011 and now has three, which are home to 11 adults with disabilities and several live-in caregivers, known at L’Arche as assistants.

The road to her new home started with a suggestion.

Everyone shares daily life, from chores to meals. It’s a unique arrangement for a social services provider, but the personcentered approach creates strong bonds.

“Each person in the home, whether it's somebody with or without disabilities, has responsibilities,” Seefeldt says. “It has a family feel.”

By Jessica Rogen

Seefeldt worked as a live-in assistant for three years before going to a large L’Arche community in Lithuania for six months. The experience was enlightening, as she had to mostly rely on non-verbal communication because of the language gap.

Back stateside, she started splitting her time between her role as an assistant and outreach work, hosting days of service and talking to schools and church groups about life at L’Arche. Eventually, she transitioned to local development coordinator and moved out of L’Arche into her own apartment. Though she’d never imagined going to graduate school, a degree in social work seemed appealing as her responsibilities grew.

She chose UMSL’s MSW program because it offers students opportunities to get to know their professors and customize the program to their interests, but it’s also helped her diversify her worldview.

“I've learned a lot academically,” she says, “But I am most appreciative of the ways my UMSL experience has challenged me to think differently and more broadly about the world and about St. Louis.”

Seefeldt is continuing her studies and figuring out how to do outreach during a pandemic, and though she no longer lives in a L’Arche house, it will always be home.

“When I'm walking outside of my apartment, I'll often see people out on the deck,” she says. “I can go and catch up.

That’s a big highlight because this community has become my St. Louis family.”

30

A Minute with

Education prepped

KARA BAILEY

to be top of the class in the St. Louis restaurant scene

O

ver the last decade, Kara Bailey has gone from lesson planning to menu planning.

Bailey and her husband Dave run Baileys’ Restaurants, operating seven restaurant concepts in St. Louis as well as event spaces and a catering company. The local culinary empire ranges in character and cuisine from the indulgent Baileys’ Chocolate Bar to Rooster – a hip brunch spot with two locations.

It’s a feat to keep one restaurant running, much less several, and it’s not something Bailey envisioned when she studied early childhood education at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“I've always loved children,” she says. “I was interested in the arts as well but found that early childhood education married those interests of creativity and children.”

Bailey was student teaching and working as a nanny when she met her husband, who was managing Sasha’s Wine Bar on De Mun. Soon after they started dating, he opened Baileys’ Chocolate Bar on a shoestring budget with help from anyone he could enlist, including Bailey.

“I would student teach during the day and then go into the restaurant at night and help with everything from hosting to payroll,” Bailey says.

After graduating with her BS, Bailey worked in the Affton School District for eight years, first as a second-grade teacher then as an English language learners teacher and district coordinator of the ELL program.

Gradually, her role with the restaurants evolved from helping where she could to working full time by 2011. Bailey’s touch can be seen in the design and ambiance of restaurants. She works with her sister, an interior designer, to create environments that are “comfortable and joyful.” The wall décor at Rooster’s South Grand location illustrates this – literally.

By Burk Krohe

“These were all rooster images created by 3rd and 4th graders from Captain Elementary School where my mom was teaching at the time,” she says. “We had them all blown up and printed on canvas. That was a fun project for me because of my love for elementary education.”

The planning and organizational skills Bailey cultivated as an educator have proven useful as the restaurant group expands. Though those skills have been put to the test by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Mid-March we shut everything down, which was difficult,” she says.

Slowly, the Baileys started reopening restaurants one by one this past spring and summer.

Daily operations at the restaurants also pivoted to meet local restrictions and the realities of a pandemic. The Baileys’ restaurants started offering curbside pickup and patio seating where available, and Rooster began selling grocery boxes.

“We're looking at any kind of creative way to safely provide services for guests,” Bailey says.

As for the enduring success in the industry even during difficult times, Bailey says there’s no trade secret – it’s just good food and good people.

“We want to try to provide an awesome experience,” she says. “We want to provide quality food. We want to also provide an environment where our employees can thrive and grow.”

31

What is your UMSL story?

I came here in August 1983 as an admissions counselor, not knowing a lot about UMSL or its mission and values. But over the years, as I moved from that first position to assistant director, then to associate director, I fell in love with the university. Everybody – from the faculty and staff to administration and students – cared about providing a quality education. They wanted to be here, and they were so welcoming. There is a real sense of family at UMSL. Another university offered me the position of director of admissions, and I knew that if I wanted to advance in my career, I had to take it, even if it meant leaving UMSL. But even so, I knew I would find my way back – UMSL was in my heart and soul. I did eventually return as director of admissions and then later was asked to be interim vice provost for student affairs. I always wanted to be a dean of students, and while the permanent position became available sooner than I’d thought, it was an easy choice to throw my hat in the ring. After a national search, Chancellor Blanche Touhill offered me the job. I was in that position for almost 20 years, and in my opinion, it’s one of the best jobs on campus. It was a joy getting up every day and going into the office. You get to know students beyond the classroom. You get to know their stories.

What are you most excited about in this new position?

I’ve stayed in contact with a lot of my former students throughout the years, and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with more. I’ve witnessed countless happy-ending stories from alumni, which really reinforces my decision to pivot to this role. I believe that everyone at UMSL wants to help students find their places, find their “why.”

I’ve been asked why I’ve been at the university for so long, and I reply: Why not stay at a place that has made such a positive impact on students and alumni? I love UMSL. When you’re not working, what do you like to do?

My wife, Diane, and I spend a lot of time with our two Shih Tzus, reading and working in our garden – she’s the green thumb. I haul dirt and rock. I like to play golf, but somehow, my game has not gotten better with time. But I’m always carrying the UMSL banner: I’ve got UMSL gear for every occasion, including polos and a necktie!

STAFF

Q&A

CURT COONROD PIVOTS TO ASSISTANT VICE CHANCELLOR OF ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS SERVING STUDENTS IN A VARIETY OF ROLES, MOST RECENTLY AS VICE PROVOST FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS.

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Let us know what you're up to!

Send class notes and life updates to: alumni@umsl.edu umslalumni.org 314-516-5833

Terry Freerks, BA 1977, MEd 1979,

1960s Gary Jacob, BS 1969, was appointed to the board of directors of VIRPAX Pharmaceuticals.

1970s James Brennan, BSBA 1974, received a 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University

received a 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Terry is the executive director emeritus of CSP Tideriders.

1980s Gerard Daignault, BSBA 1980, joined The Maschhoffs as vice president for support operations.

of Missouri–St. Louis. James is

Elizabeth Petersen, BA 1980, MEd

the owner and president of

1996, received a 2020 Distinguished

McKelvey Homes.

Alumni Award from the University

Howard Rosenthal, BA 1974, MEd 1976, is the author of the new second edition of “Human Services Dictionary: Master Reference for

of Missouri–St. Louis. Elizabeth is an Institute for School Partnership teaching facilitator at Washington University in St. Louis.

the NCE, CPCE, and the HS-BCPE

Michael Koehneman, BSBA 1981,

Exams,” intended to help counselors

was appointed to the board of

better prepare for comprehensive

Aspen Group, Inc. as a member of

and licensing exams.

the audit committee and corporate

Thomas Minogue, BA 1976, was

governance committee.

awarded the Robert Walston Chubb

Michael Smegner, BSBA 1982, was

Award for lifetime commitment by

promoted to chief financial officer

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

at Kaiser Electric.

Thomas also received an ICON

Sandra Van Trease, BSBA 1982,

Award from Missouri Lawyers Media.

retired from her role as group

Michael Prost, BSBA 1976, was

president of BJC HealthCare.

appointed to the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee.

Michael is the vice president and managing partner of Mueller Prost.

33

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI

Committee of Dietitians by Missouri

For over 50 years, the UMSL Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award has recognized alumni whose work in their fields and roles in their communities goes above and beyond typical levels of excellence. Every year, a call for nominations is announced, and without fail, the committee receives an abundance of first-rate candidates.

Gov. Mike Parson.

The honorees for 2020 are (from left) James Brennan, BSBA 1974; Terry Freerks, BA 1977, MEd 1979;

Alan Skrainka, BSBA 1983, joined

Stanley Freerks, MBA 1992; Stephen Kolodziej, BA 1987, PhD 1992; and Elizabeth Petersen, BA 1980,

Krilogy as chief market strategist

MEd 1996. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the honorees were celebrated during a special digital

and director of research.

Founders Celebration ceremony on Oct. 29.

Warner Baxter, BSBA 1983, was elected vice chairman of the board of the Edison Electric Institute.

Warner is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ameren Missouri.

Constance Diekman, MEd 1983, was appointed to the State

W. Timothy Edwards, MA 1984, MA 1987, presented “How Businesses Can Maximize Impact on Mitigating

Stephen Kolodziej, BA 1987, PhD

Beatrice Reed, OD 1989, was

Jennings School District’s Northview

Climate Change” at the annual

1992, received a 2020 Distinguished

appointed to the Arkansas State

Elementary, which is naming the

United Nations Climate Change

Alumni Award from the University

Board of Optometry in May by

school’s driveway “Weaver Way” in

Conference in Madrid. Tim is the

of Missouri–St. Louis. Stephen is an

Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Beatrice

her honor.

owner of St. Stephen Organic

associate research fellow at Pfizer.

is an optometric physician in

Vineyards and Growth Technical Marketing in California.

Elizabeth Lawson, BSBA 1988, was appointed to the Connections

Jane Fedder, BA 1984, joined the

to Success board of directors.

Spencer Fane law firm’s St. Louis

Elizabeth is the vice president of

office in the Environmental and

finance at BJC HealthCare.

Energy Practice Group.

private practice and serves in the Department of Defense and the Veterans Health Administration.

Sharon Reus, BA 1991, was promoted to president at CPG Agency.

Cathleen Arshadi, BSBA 1992, was

1990s

Stephen Littleton, BSBA 1988, was

named one of the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2020 Most Influential Business Women. Cathy is senior

Marc Jackson, MBA 1984, joined

elected vice president of investor

Michael DeCamp, BSBA 1990,

vice president and director of

Wolters Kluwer Health as vice

relations and corporate secretary

joined CoverCress as chief

financial management for Commerce

president and general manager for

for ExxonMobil.

operating officer.

Trust Company.

its health language business.

Laura McCallister, BA 1989, BSW

Timothy Hogenkamp, BSBA 1990,

Stanley Freerks, MBA 1992, received

Russ Hitzemann III, BSBA 1985,

1989, was named president and

was hired as chief financial officer

a 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award

was promoted to vice president

chief executive officer for Places for

and manager of investor relations

from the University of Missouri–

and chief individual giving officer at

People in St. Louis.

for Cullinan Properties.

St. Louis. Stanley is retired from Risk

Edward Protzel, MA 1989, wrote

Brian Weaver, BA 1990, MA 1998,

the Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis.

Placement Services of St. Louis.

“Something in Madness,” the

retired after 28 years of service as

Angela Abraham, OD 1993, was

Jean Roberson, BSBA 1985, was

third and final book in his

a teacher at Jennings Junior High

named the first-ever diversity and

appointed chief executive officer

DarkHorse trilogy, published by

School, along with his wife, Alice

inclusion liaison for the New England

of Inteliquet.

TouchPoint Press.

Weaver, BS 1991. Alice retired from

College of Optometry.

34

ALUMNI

QUESTION

From the spring 2020 issue:

What was your most fly fashion moment while at UMSL?

Kenneth Cella Jr., BSBA 1993,

Jodi Oliver, BSEd 2001, joined

became chairman of the St. Louis

the Wentzville School District as

Regional Chamber in September.

principal of Heritage Intermediate.

Ken is a principal at Edward Jones.

Patrick Dagon, MPPA 2002,

Pamela Duffy, MBA 1997, was

became the 22nd commander of

appointed president of the Saint

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

Louis Crisis Nursery board of

Europe district.

directors. Pamela is president of Rhodey Construction.

Stephanie Sachs, PhD 2002, was elected to the board of directors of

Thomas Addis, BSAcc 1998, joined

Court Appointed Special Advocates

the commercial practice group at

of St. Louis.

the law firm of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. as an associate.

Cassandra Blassingame, MEd 2003, was appointed chief executive

Matthew Shelton, BSAcc 1998, was

officer of the International

promoted to director of audit and

Association for Continuing

assurance at Midland States Bank.

Education and Training.

Bill Dickens III, BSBA 2003, was

2000s

named partner at Moneta in Clayton, Missouri.

Kabrina Forrest, BS 2000, was appointed vice president of clinical and residential services for Epworth Children & Family Services.

Steven Harris, BSAcc 2000, was elected to the board of directors of Parents as Teachers. Steven is a

Andrew Shenberg, BSBA 2003, joined Krilogy as a partner and portfolio strategist.

Jeffrey Eckerle, BSBA 2004, BSMIS 2004, was promoted to director of business intelligence for Kennedy Capital Management.

partner in RubinBrown’s Assurance

Mary Beth Ohlms, MEd 2004, was

Services Group.

awarded the 2020 Joan Goostree

David Warner, BGS 2000, joined Midwest BankCentre as senior vice

Stevens Excellence in Teaching Award from Fontbonne University.

president of commercial lending.

Outside of St. Louis? Interested in advocacy? Want to get more involved?

Contact alumni@umsl.edu.

When I was finishing my master’s degree in counseling at UMSL, I landed my first radio talk show interview related to my area of expertise. The interview would take place after my evening classes ended, so I came dressed in a light-brown polyester leisure suit replete with bell-bottom pants, accented by a bright-white belt with a silver-metallic buckle and brown, platform boots.

One of my professors actually commented how much he liked my boots, and I was feeling like a million bucks until one of the heels broke off, leaving one half of my body three inches shorter than the other.

—Howard Rosenthal, BA 1974, MEd 1976

My fly fashion moment in the years 1987-1989 is a pair of starched, creased jeans, polo shirt and a pair of glossy, polished black Stacy Adams shoes or sometimes high-top Stacy Adams boots!

—Brian Weaver, BA 1990, MA 1998 35

Welcoming messy lil' future Tritons!

Did you recently welcome a new addition to your family? Let us congratulate you and introduce ourselves to your future Triton with an UMSL branded gift! Drop us a note at alumni@umsl.edu or connect with us on social media @UMSLalumni.

In memorium

Angeline O’Neal-Hogrefe,

Robert Lowes, MFA 2007, wrote

BA 2004, BSEd 2009, MEd 2010,

“An Honest Hunger,” published by

EdS 2011, EdD 2013, became

Wipf and Stock Publishers. Robert is

principal of Robinson Elementary

a freelance journalist in St. Louis.

in Kirkwood, Missouri.

1960s —

Mary C. Fuller, BA 1968, on April 13, 2020 Donna L. Gnagi, BSEd 1968, MEd 1981, on March 1, 2020 Robert W. Schmitt, BA 1969, on Feb. 10, 2020 1970s —

James Swift, MEd 1970, on June 14, 2020 John S. Pearman, BSBA 1971, on June 14, 2020 Larry M. Dwyer, BSBA 1972, on Dec. 22, 2019 David J. Murnin, BS 1972, on Oct. 24, 2019 Ellen C. Shasteen, BSEd 1973, on April 8, 2020 Robert G. Taylor, BSBA 1973, on March 31, 2020 Charles Dieckhaus, BSBA 1974, on Aug. 6, 2020 James Hager, MBA 1976, on May 29, 2020 Fred Maechling, BSEd 1976, on July 7, 2020 Jane O’Shaughnessy, MEd 1977, on March 27, 2020 John Meyer Jr., BSBA 1978, on Aug. 25, 2019 1980s —

Shamara Stevens, BS 2007,

Kimberly Austin, MEd 2005,

launched her business consulting

EdS 2019, was promoted to

firm, SJS. Business Building & More,

associate principal of University

in June.

City High School.

Miranda Ming, BSEd 2008, MEd

Michael Nye, MFA 2006, wrote

2010, EdS 2011, PhD 2015, was

“Until We Have Faces,” published

named principal of EAGLE College

by Turner Publishing. Michael is the

Preparatory Tower Grove South in

editor-in-chief of Story magazine.

St. Louis.

Kimberly Allen, PhD 2007, was

Elizabeth Bleier, MEd 2009, was

named vice president for academic

named chief operating officer for

affairs at the College of Saint Mary

the St. Louis branch of Teach for

in Omaha, Nebraska.

America.

John Chwarzinski, BS 2007,

Andrea Harpring, BSEd 2009,

MA 2009, joined Lexicon as the

was promoted to director of

company’s first-ever business

engagement and learning at the

insight and analytics manager.

Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis.

Charles Drain, BA 1982, on Jan. 5, 2020 Danny Stephens, MEd 1983, on April 21, 2020 Elaine Litwak, MEd 1984, on Jan. 15, 2020 Martha Panetti, BSEd 1984, on March 27, 2020 Justin Lodato, BA 1985, on April 8, 2020 Joan Gilley, MEd 1989, on Jan. 4, 2020

Darryl Diggs Jr., BSEd 2007, was

1990s —

human resources for the Kirkwood

Warren Morgan, MEd 2009, was

Paul Dubuque, BSBA 1991, on March 28, 2020 Gina McCarthy, BSEd 1993, on March 5, 2020

School District.

named chief academics officer for

2000s —

named executive director of the

Jerilyn Overstreet, MEd 2004, on July 16, 2020 Tyson Abbott, MA 2006, on Nov. 18, 2019

Quincy Humane Society in Illinois.

2010-2020 —

named executive director of Caring

Stephanie Polston, BFA 2011, on July 5, 2020 Joseph Salamon, BA 2018, on May 15, 2020 Stephen Tanner, MAcc 2020, on June 19, 2020

Solutions.

named principal of Hardin Middle

Eric Higgins, BSEd 2009, MEd

School in St. Charles, Missouri.

2010, EdD 2011, PhD 2018, joined

Howard Fields, BSEd 2007, MEd 2009, EdD 2012, PhD 2017, was named assistant superintendent of

Regina Freel, BSBA 2007, was

the Rockwood School District as assistant principal of Rockwood Valley Middle School.

Indianapolis Public Schools.

Shannan French, BSW 2007, was

36

The African American Alumni Chapter of the UMSL Alumni Association consistently demonstrates creativity in engaging alumni and students and commitment to its members. This year, two awards highlight its achievements in these arenas.

Shawntelle Fisher, BS 2015, BES 2015, was named one of the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2020 Most Influential Business Women.

Shawntelle is the founder and chief executive officer of The

In recognition of its efforts creating a myriad of engagement opportunities for alumni and current

SoulFisher Ministries.

students, the university honored the beacon affinity group with the Chapter of the Year Award. Then,

Matthew Freeman, MFA 2015, wrote

fundraising efforts for a memorial bench dedicated to the late Hubert H. Hoosman Jr. – Chancellor’s

“Ideas of Reference at Jesuit Hall,”

Council member, alumnus and community leader – landed the group the Project of the Year Award.

published by Coffeetown Press.

Chapter members (standing, from left) Doris Coleman, BSBA 1988; Debra Tolliver-Nash, BGS 2006; Mildred Simmons, BSBA 1978; Sharon R. Holbrooks, BFS 1996; Petra Baker, MEd 2003, EDSP 2008; Lynette Veal, BA 1974; (seated, from left) Linda Brown Reed, BA 1976; and Edward Scruggs, MEd

Bliss

2009, gathered by the bench, which was dedicated in Aug. 2019.

2010s Candace Hall, BA 2010, joined Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as graduate program

Tamar Hodges, BSN 2011, was

Tina Cummings, MEd 2013, founded

named membership chair of the

The Therapy Studio in St. Louis.

Young Lawyers Division of The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

Tamar is an associate at Husch Blackwell’s health care practice.

Elizabeth Eikmann, BA 2013, developed an archive of information related to 19th and 20th century suffrage activism for Gateway Arch

director and instructor for the

Daniel Rosner, BSBA 2011, BSAcc

National Park in conjunction with

college student personnel

2011, joined Southern Illinois

the 100th anniversary of Missouri’s

administration program.

University Edwardsville as associate

ratification of the 19th Amendment to

director of housing operations.

the Constitution. U.S. Courts featured

Haley Kell, BFA 2010, joined FGM Architects as a senior

Debbie Kostielney, MBA 2012,

interior designer focusing on

joined Amazon Web Services as an

pre-K-12 school and municipal

enterprise account executive.

design projects.

Tanisha Stevens, PhD 2012, was

Carly Maddock Hussey, BA 2010,

named vice chancellor for diversity,

was promoted to digital marketing

equity and inclusion at the University

manager for Darden Restaurants.

of Missouri–St. Louis.

Kenya Williams, BSN 2010, was

Matthew Wood, BSAcc 2012, MAcc

appointed deputy executive director

2015, was promoted to manager of

of the National Student Nurses’

income tax/tax operations at Charter

Association.

Communications.

her work on suffragist Virginia Minor in a video meant to inspire students to become politically active.

Shelby Davis, BS 2014, MA 2017, was promoted to senior data outreach manager at Measures for Justice.

Jennifer Chinn, OD 2015, was named one of the 2020 Most Influential

Kenny Truong, BSBA 2007, to La’Sha Simpson on Sept. 6, 2020 Rachel Romano, BA 2015, to Nick Santoro, MEd 2018, on Aug. 14, 2020 Patrick Nittler, BS 2016, to Elizabeth Panhorst on May 23, 2020 Brittney Dunworth, BSAcc 2017, to Elliott Sterett, BSEd 2017, on Sept. 5, 2020 Andrew Yeager, OD 2018, to Claire Winkelmann on Sept. 19, 2020

Women in Optical by Vision Monday.

Jennifer is co-owner of Dr. Chinn’s Vision Care in San Diego.

37

ALUMNI QUESTION continued

Evan Loveless, BA 2015, was

Matthew Goodwin, BSEE 2019,

elected president of the Maplewood

joined Process Control Solutions as

Public Library board. Evan is the

an automation control engineer.

human resources manager for 2e Creative.

Vielia Jeffries-Evans, EdD 2019, was awarded the 2020 Missouri

Delaram Shirazian, OD 2016,

Art Education Association’s

launched Humaneyezing

Larry A. Kantner Art Education

Healthcare, an Instagram account

Research Award Endowment

to help facilitate doctor-patient

for her dissertation “Generative

communication. Delaram is an

Pedagogies: Activating Learners

assistant clinical professor at

through Student-centered

the State University of New York

Practices.”

College of Optometry.

Christian Jensen, BSIS 2019, joined

Blaire Paubel, BSAcc 2017, MAcc

Daugherty Business Solutions as an

2018, was promoted to senior tax

associate consultant.

associate at Brown Smith Wallace.

Laura Cope, BSBA 2018, was promoted to branch manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

2020 the water and wastewater

MBA 2020, joined NewGround as

treatment division of Burns &

a digital marketing and social

McDonnell in Kansas City, Missouri.

Shellby Brannam, BFA 2020, and

Jeffery Jones, BS 2018, was

Maribel Ramirez-Bohenkamp,

promoted to residential director of

Teach in 12 2020, produced Show

Help at Home, LLC.

Me ART, a bi annual publication

Michael McKeever, BSIS 2018, received the Charter Achievement Award for improving the accuracy

of the Missouri Art Education Association. Shellby serves as editor of the magazine.

and efficiency of generating the

Kalynn Clinton, BSBA 2020, joined

company’s billing reports. Michael

Cigna as a TECDP Sr. Analyst.

is a software developer at Charter Communications.

Andrew Dubis, BA 2020, was awarded a NATAS Mid-America

Blaire Stillwell, BA 2018, BSIS

Student Emmy for his short

2018, was promoted to IT business

documentary “Why We Rip.”

analyst at Emerson.

—Vicki Anagnos Disch, BSEd 1968, EdD 1973, MEd 1973

Nick Barbeau, BSEE 2020, joined

Benjamin Goodrich, BSBA 2018,

media specialist.

The 1963-1964 University of Missouri–St. Louis Cheerleaders were the first, even though there were Normandy Residence Cheerleaders the year before. We cheered for the Tiger Cubs basketball team. Here I am with the other members of the squad (from left): Linda, Vicki (me) and Judy, all in the back row. Then: Judy and Sandy in the front row. Sandy and I were from Riverview Gardens High School.

Linda and the two Judys were from Normandy High School.

We couldn’t choose a captain because there were more girls from Normandy than Riverview.

I was the tallest, so I stood in the middle.

I wore UMSL tees and jeans/pajama pants almost every day, similar to my life now.

This is me with my roommate Ya Xiao visiting the Arch.

—Laura Kessler, BA 2012 38

s t e P L

S M

U #

Jeffry Faulkner Jr., BSCiE 2020, joined Parsons Corporation as an associate roadway engineer.

Derrick Freeman, BSBA 2020, was hired as a procurement agent

This summer, alumni and friends celebrated the Dog Days of Summer with a special giveaway designed to celebrate our furry companions, who are always with us offering their comfort and support when it’s needed most.

at Boeing.

Andres Hun Von Chong, MS 2020, joined Charter Communications as a software engineer.

Annyssa Millstone, BSBA 2020, joined the benefits and risk management team at Midwest

Photos of #UMSLPets at their goofiest, chillest and most mischievous – lounging on inner tubes in pools, playing

Petroleum.

with their families and sleeping with their tongues out – peppered our social media. Every dog or cat was given

Amina Muhando, BSN 2020, joined

its very own UMSL branded bandana and now wears it proudly. Want a bandana for your #UMSLPet? Shoot

Barnes-Jewish Hospital as a

us an email, and we’ll make it happen: alumni@umsl.edu

nurse on the cardiology floor.

Selma Omerovic, BSAcc 2020, joined BDO USA as an assurance associate.

McKenzie Schuessler, BA 2020, joined the University of Missouri–St. Louis as a student recruitment specialist.

Andrew Stoker, BS 2020, is

Do you have a career that surprises people based on your degree?

hey alumni!

Email your answer or your idea for our next question to magazine@umsl.edu. We'll run some of our favorites in the next issue.

spending a year with AmeriCorps, piloting an after-school program for teenagers from moderate-to low-income families who live in affordable housing in Coachella Valley, California.

Madilynn Woodham, BS 2020, joined the Rotational Development Program at Edward Jones.

ALUMNI

QUESTION

39

University of Missouri–St. Louis

nonprofit org.

U.S. postage

60 J.C. Penney Building

paid

1 University Blvd.

St. Louis, MO

St. Louis, MO 63121-4400

permit no. 3

2020261.106.9M.10/20.wa/eh-ovid bell press­

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Calling all alumni!

Choose UMSL for Graduate Education

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Take your education to the next level with an exciting learning experience at your alma mater! UMSL’s Graduate School is a great opportunity to advance in your field or prepare for a new profession. Choose from UMSL’s wide variety of graduate programs to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree or graduate certificate that will take you to your next step.

Meet with a graduate advisor today to learn more.

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