Celebrating the 2023 distinguished alumni

Each year, Arts & Sciences recognizes a few graduates who exemplify the ideals of a liberal arts education through their lives, work, and service. This year's recipients reflected on lessons from their time at WashU and offered advice to the next generation of students.

I learned that if you don't show up, you can't do anything. Showing up is probably the most important thing you can do in life. Showing up gives you the opportunity to get involved. Showing up gives you the opportunity to make a difference.

Carolyn Losos, AB '54, is a Dean’s Medal winner. She was executive director of the Leadership Center of Greater St. Louis, where she directed the highly respected Leadership St. Louis training program for 17 years. Her expertise has benefited a wide range of local and national organizations related to the arts, education, children, and health care.

I think I'm judging (WashU) better, more realistically now than I ever did when I was younger. I don't think I could step away and compare it to other universities. Now I think I can, and I'm crazy about it.

Georgie W. Lewis, AB ’47, is a Dean’s Medal winner. She established the Georgie W. Lewis Career Development Professorships to support emerging faculty scholars. She is a direct descendant of Pierre Laclede, who founded St. Louis with Auguste Chouteau around 1764.

I knew that in order to make an impact on the world in the way that was important to me, I was going to have to become a student of leadership.

Morgan DeBaun, AB ’12, is the Early Career Achievement Award winner. She is the founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., a venture-backed company that builds product solutions and media for Black consumers and the enterprises who want to reach them. She credits her experience as Student Union president with teaching her key leadership skills.

The education at WashU when I was here was very unique because there was a bit of a blur — a good blur — across departmental lines. So, even though I was an economics graduate student, I spent as much time in the political science department and the business school as I did in the economics department.

Thomas W. Gilligan, PhD ‘84, is an American economist who served as the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University from 2015 to 2020. He was also dean of the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin and a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House.

I think the university also fosters a natural curiosity that stays with you long after you graduate. We are energized by learning. To be successful in any business or career, I firmly believe that it's important that you learn something new about your area of expertise every day.

Kathy Kartalis, AB '82, is the senior vice president of global product at Skechers, where she oversees a marketing, communications, and design staff of more than 150 people. She is an active WashU alumna and volunteer, serving on the Arts & Sciences National Council and the Los Angeles Regional Cabinet.

Hear more from these alumni on what inspires them and how Arts & Sciences has impacted their lives.

artsci.wustl.edu/DAA23