Alumni Awards Brochure

DistinguisheD Alumni AwArDs2 0 12

welcome AnD introDuctionBarbara schaps thomas AB ’76 chair, Arts & sciences national council

opening remArksgary s. wihlDean of the Faculty of Arts & scienceshortense and tobias lewin Distinguished professor in the humanities

presentAtion oF DistinguisheD Alumni AwArDsrobert A. Ansehl AB ’76by Barbara Schaps Thomas AB ’76 Distinguished Alumna 2001

samuel halperin AB ’52, mA ’52, phD ’56 by John Michael Clear AB ’71 Distinguished Alumnus 2001

naomi g. lebowitz ms ’55, phD ’62by William B. Pollard III AB ’70 Distinguished Alumnus 2005

susan Fisher sterling AB ’77 by Diane DeMell Jacobsen MLA ’95, MA ’00, PhD ’03 Distinguished Alumna 2005

mark steinberg weil AB ’61by mark e. mason AB ’51Distinguished Alumnus 2003

presentAtion oF DeAn’s meDAlrobert l. VirgilmBA ’60, DBA ’67, honorary Doctor of laws ’09by Gary S. Wihl

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DistinguisheD Alumni AwArDs

the Distinguished Alumni Awards honor Arts & sciences graduates who have exemplified the ideals embodied by an Arts & sciences education and have brought honor to washington university through their lives, work and service. During the traditional awards ceremony, the honorees share personal stories about the impact of their educational experiences on their lives and accomplishments.

DeAn’s meDAl

the Dean’s medal is awarded to a special friend whose dedication and support have been exceptional and whose leadership, advice and inspiration have served to place Arts & sciences at the heart of one of the world’s premier universities.

the celeBrAtion

the Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner is hosted by Dean gary s. wihl and the Arts & sciences national council, led by Barbara schaps thomas. national council members are front-line ambassadors for Arts & sciences, advancing its mission and providing counsel to the dean.

AwArDs ceremony march 22, 2012

wAshington uniVersity in st. louis

A partner at Clyde & Co, transactional lawyer Robert Ansehl has been involved in some of the most significant insurance transactions in the international insurance world. His representation of U.S. and international insurance and reinsurance companies, commercial and investment banks, private equity and hedge funds, and derivative and financial products companies involves decisions that help determine the organizations’ immediate direction. Among his challenges is being knowledgeable about exceedingly complicated developments ranging from potential industry impacts of a European Union breakdown (or the consequences of survival and growth) to the effects of events in Asia and the Middle East.

Mr. Ansehl built his career, including past partnerships in four major law firms, on “a series of fortunate accidents” and extremely hard work. Accolades include recognition by Chambers 500, EuroMoney Institutional Investor and as a Super Lawyer.

At Washington University, which he found “incredibly nurturing and supportive,” professors such as Norris K. Smith, art history; Edward Spitznagel, mathematics; Nancy Stein, psychology; and William Gass, philosophy, opened his mind to new worlds. Mr. Ansehl has remembered the university, too, through an endowed scholarship in Arts & Sciences and service on the New York Regional Cabinet.

Beyond his university, he supports Columbia University’s School of Nursing; the University of Chicago, his daughter Jessica’s alma mater; the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; a fund for cancer research and more. He and Amy Ansehl, AB ’78, assistant professor at New York Medical College School of Health Sciences, celebrate their three children, who also include their son Larry, a senior at Washington University, and William, an 8th grader.

ARtS & SCIENCES 2012 DistinguisheD Alumnus

robert A. AnsehlAB ’76

An immensely respected leader in academia, government and nonprofit organizations during his career of more than 50 years, Samuel Halperin has devoted his life to serving disadvantaged children and non-college-bound youth. In the practical world of education politics, he helps policy-makers bridge research, policy and practice in education, youth develop-ment and career readiness.

Dr. Halperin’s 1960s crucial Washington roles include directorship of the U.S. Office of Education’s Office of Congressional Relations and leader-ship as Assistant U.S. Commissioner of Education for Legislation. He helped develop the flagship Elementary and Secondary Education and Higher Education Acts of 1965, the Adult Education Act and student aid programs. All remain bulwarks of the federal role in education and youth development. then as deputy assistant secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the drive for the Great Society, he helped pass myriad educational and social service legislation.

From 1969–81, Dr. Halperin led the Ford Foundation-established Institute for Educational Leadership. A prolific writer, he co-authored the ground-breaking studies The Forgotten Half: Non College Youth in America and The Forgotten Half: Pathways to Success for America’s Youth and Young Families (William t. Grant Foundation, 1988).

the recipient of major awards and a board member of action-oriented organizations, Dr. Halperin is today senior fellow at the American Youth Policy Forum, which he founded in 1993 with underwriting from seven foundations. this highly regarded nonpartisan communications/advocacy initiative advances the tenets of his “Forgotten Half” reports by providing nonpartisan information and education for policymaking staff nationwide.

Dr. Halperin is married to Marlene Halperin, BS ’57. One of his many additional active interests is developing human and physical resources to help Israel’s Negev Desert bloom.



samuel halperinAB ’52, mA ’52, phD ’56


Speaking to faculty and students at the retirement party the English department threw for Naomi Lebowitz in 2000, her colleague Daniel Shea called Dr. Lebowitz — the Hortense and tobias Lewin Professor Emerita in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences — “their teacher, their prophet and their chanteuse.” (Years before, her late longtime friend in Duncker Hall, fiction writer and essayist Stanley Elkin, had bestowed an encomium, naming her “the Insight Lady.”)

Among other English professors paying tribute were Joseph Loewenstein, who spoke of Dr. Lebowitz’ “utterly miraculous personhood,” and Wayne Fields, who talked of the “profound knowing that made her work so urgent.” He also described how she “went into class with books in shreds from her repeated and obviously violent readings and with sheets of notes.”

Appreciative students included her dissertation advisee Brian Walter, who noted that each semester, Dr. Lebowitz designed two new courses — which covered “the full historical, philosophical and cross-cultural foundations of modern narrative.” Doctoral candidate Lisa Eck praised “a personality made mammoth by wisdom,” and marveled at the number of students who had regularly packed Dr. Lebowitz’ office, even as a line grew outside her door.

A voracious reader since childhood, Dr. Lebowitz keeps up her French, German, Danish, Italian and Spanish for her work in comparative litera-ture. She has published nine books and many scholarly articles.

Dr. Lebowitz and her husband, Albert, a novelist and attorney, have raised two fine Yankees fans who live in New Jersey, and a succession of canine homebodies.

ARtS & SCIENCES 2012 DistinguisheD AlumnA

naomi g. lebowitzms ’55, phD ’62

ARtS & SCIENCES 2012 DistinguisheD AlumnA


susan Fisher sterlingAB ’77

Director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., Susan Fisher Sterling has built her career and the stature of the museum around the message of equity for women through the example of excellence in the arts. When she signed on as associate curator of the new museum in 1988, she had just graduated from Princeton University with an MA and PhD in art history, specializing in modern and contemporary art. During her 24- year tenure, the museum has flourished, showcasing key American and international women artists in a stream of major exhibitions, while its collection has grown to include over 4,000 artworks. Among Dr. Sterling’s honors are Orders of Merit from Brazil and Norway, the President’s Award of the Women’s Caucus for Art and selection in 2011 as one of Arttable’s 30 most influential professional women in the visual arts.

Under Dr. Sterling’s leadership, NMWA marks its 25th anniversary in 2012 as the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to advancing women in the arts. Seeking to increase its role as a catalyst for change, she has recently initiated Great Washington Museums Celebrate Great Women Artists, and the New York Avenue Sculpture Project, the first public art space featuring monumental contemporary art by women.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Sterling embraced modern art in her studies at Washington University when Norris K. Smith, Lawrence Steefel and Mark Weil were Art and Archaeology faculty members. She also met her husband, Scott A. Sterling, AB ’77 (psychology, magna cum laude); the alumni have two daughters, Pamela and Leslie.

Whenever Washington University asks Emeritus trustee Robert Virgil to take on a new challenge, his answer — always — is yes. Business school dean during 16 years of growth and rising national recognition, Bob has spear-headed memorable university initiatives ever since. (In each enterprise, and in the course of his deanship, he says, Arts & Sciences was integral.) In October 1992, he chaired the group that organized the first nationally televised three-person presidential debate, held in the Athletic Complex — with only one week’s advance notice. He chaired the commission that planned the university’s Sesquicentennial year. He chaired the campaign for the Danforth University Center. And today, Bob is chairing Opening Doors to the Future: The Scholarship Initiative for Washington University, which addresses a crucial need he heard every school dean at the university articulate before the trustees.

Bob’s honors from Washington University include the Eliot Society’s “Search” award, the Olin Business School’s dean’s medal, and the honor-ary Doctor of Laws degree. In 2010, Bob and his wife and partner, Gerry, received the Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award, recognizing their contributions to the St. Louis region. the Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award, now in its ninth year, is given to Washington University community members who exemplify a character of service to the St. Louis region.

From 1993–2006, Bob was general partner of Edward Jones, responsible for management development.

First in Bob’s heart, however, are Gerry, who is “part and parcel of every-thing,” and their four children and nine grandchildren (their tenth is due in July).

ARtS & SCIENCES 2012 DeAn’s meDAlist

robert l. Virgil mBA ’60, DBA ’67,honorary Doctor of laws ’09


Washington University has been part of Mark Weil’s sensibility since his earliest years: He grew up on Forsyth Boulevard, across the street from the Danforth Campus, as part of a family whose philanthropy strengthens the university’s art collection and its academic programs today. Now the E. Desmond Lee Professor Emeritus, Dr. Weil first studied art history with noted scholars ranging from George Mylonas (classical archaeology; an excavator of Mycenae) to Frederick Hartt (Italian Renaissance) and Norris K. Smith (architectural history and medieval art).

Recruited to Washington University following the completion of his PhD degree at Columbia University, Dr. Weil is an expert in Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture, and art connoisseurship. He chaired Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences for 10 years and directed the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and the multidisciplinary center that became the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

Dr. Weil’s other contributions to his profession, the university and St. Louis are vast. In addition to publishing scholarly works, he was a leader of interdisciplinary efforts in the humanities on the campus. He helped found the Center for Archaeometry, which drew scholars across departments. He organized a national baroque festival where Nicholas McGegan conducted Handel’s opera Orlando, scholars and students attended symposia and the community enjoyed a major art exhibition. He helped orchestrate a splendid and significant Japanese festival, and much more. In 2011, in celebration of his 50th Class Reunion, Dr. Weil provided the university with $2,525,000 to support Arts & Sciences and programs in the humanities.


mark steinberg weilAB ’61


pAst DistinguisheD Alumni

2011Robert C. Adler AB ’72, DMD ’76Michael R. Cannon AB ’73Deborah A. Freund AB ’73Stephanie L. Riven AB ’69, MS ’71

2010David W. Detjen AB ’70, JD ’73Richard S. Eckaus MA ’48Eugenie S. Kleinerman AB ’71Barbara D. Newmark AB ’60Gary H. Stern AB ’73

2009Joel W. Abramowitz AB ’69Yvette Drury Dubinsky AB ’64, MA ’66, MFA ’90Shelby L. Jordan AB ’74Martin K. Sneider AB ’64Pamela L. tremayne AB ’64

2008Andrew M. Bursky AB ’78, BS ’78, MS ’78Sherman A. James PhD ’73Ira J. Kodner AB ’63, MD ’67Horace Mitchell AB ’68, MAEd ’69, PhD ’74Chezia thompson Cager Strand AB ’73, MA ’75

2007Mel F. Brown AB ’57, JD ’61Alvin Rabushka AB ’62, MA ’66, PhD ’68Ronald M. Rettner AB ’72Pepper Schwartz AB ’67, MA ’69William Jay Smith AB ’39, MA ’41

2006Alan R. Bender AB ’76Barbara Levy Landes AB ’71Sanford C. Loewentheil AB ’76Kate Hilliker Murashige AB ’56Jill Evans Petzall AB ’78, MA ’81

2005John P. Dubinsky AB ’65, MBA ’67Flint W. Fowler AB ’80, MA ’81Henrietta W. Freedman AB ’75Diane DeMell Jacobsen MLA ’95, MA ’00, PhD ’03William B. Pollard III AB ’70

2004Michael Isikoff AB ’74Harry S. Jonas AB ’49, MD ’52, House Staff ’56Constance Kling Levy AB ’52, MAEd ’74Jerome t. Loeb MA ’64Sally K. Silvers AB ’69

2003William E. Cornelius MA ’83Dennis C. Dickerson, Sr. MA ’74, PhD ’78Mark J. Ginsburg AB ’73, House Staff ’81Mark E. Mason AB ’51Susan Ekberg Stiritz MA ’68, PhD ’01

2002Frank S. Buzard AB ’43Leslie F. Loewe AB ’42Marylen Mann AB ’57, MA ’59Melvin Lee Oliver MA ’74, PhD ’77Russell S. Schwartz AB ’77

2001John Michael Clear AB ’71Doris Appel Graber AB ’41, MA ’42Maurice “Dub” Harris AB ’51Marie Prange Oetting AB ’49Harold Ramis AB ’66Barbara Schaps thomas AB ’76

2000ted Drewes AB ’50Carol tucker Foreman AB ’60John L. Gianoulakis AB ’60Winifred Bryan Horner AB ’43Jeffrey H. Mantel AB ’70Elizabeth Gentry Sayad AB ’55, MA ’03

1999Gordon S. Black AB ’64Charles A. Ingene AB ’69Carolyn Werner Losos AB ’54Jacqueline Bickel Schapp BS ’47, MS ’54

1998Judith Spector Aronson AB ’48, PhD ’67Kenneth L. Fox AB ’38Earle H. Harbison, Jr. AB ’48John P. Heinz AB ’58Marvin E. Levin AB ’47, MD ’51

Chair Barbara Schaps thomas AB ’76

Robert C. Adler AB ’72, DMD ’76John H. Biggs PhD ’83Gordon S. Black AB ’64Kate Bloch AB ’83, MA ’83Joanne Bober AB ’74Morris C. Brown AB ’67, JD ’70Barbara Bryant AB ’68John Michael Clear AB ’71Howard E. Cohen AB ’68Georgia Van Cleve Colwell AB ’51Carol Epstein BS ’08, MLA ’08Jon Feltheimer AB ’72Steven Fradkin AB ’84Henrietta W. Freedman AB ’75Andrea J. Grant AB ’71, JD ’74David Grossman MA ’68, PhD ’73Earle H. Harbison, Jr. AB ’48Narmen Fennoy Hunter MA ’73Jay Jacobs AB ’92Diane DeMell Jacobsen MLA ’95, MA ’00, PhD ’03Philip Kepler AB ’87Lawrence P. Klamon AB ’58Wilfred Konneker PhD ’50Andrea Kott AB ’86Kenneth Kousky AB ’76Sanford C. Loewentheil AB ’76Carolyn Werner Losos AB ’54

Kenneth Makovsky AB ’62, JD ’65Mark E. Mason AB ’51Bill Morris MBA ’89Michael Newmark AB ’60, JD ’62Paul Pariser AB ’76William B. Pollard III AB ’70Ronald M. Rettner AB ’72Richard Rosenthal AB ’55thomas K. Ryan MA ’76Michael Salem AB ’82James M. Schwartz AB ’76Russell S. Schwartz AB ’77Bradley Siegel A.B. ’79Scott Simowitz AB ’77Nicholas E. Somers AB ’84Gary Sumers AB ’75Judith E. tytel AB ’68Bob Virgil MBA ’60, DBA ’67Gregg A. Walker AB ’94Joseph F. Wayland AB ’79Mark S. Weil AB ’61Darrell L. Williams MA ’86, PhD ’91Kiki Wilson AB ’74Eugene Zeffren AB ’63

Arts & sciences nAtionAl council

pAst DeAn’s meDAlists

2011Earle H. Harbison, Jr. AB ’482010Dan Storper AB ’732009Edward S. Macias 2008Robert E. thach 2007Harriet K. Switzer 2006John A. Berg

2005John H. Biggs PhD ’83 2004David t. Blasingame AB ’69, MBA ’71 2002James W. Davis 2001Margaret Bush Wilson 2000Richard A. Roloff BS ’51 1999John F. McDonnell 1998William H. Danforth


Documents

Alumni Awards Brochure