Arts & Sciences recognized the achievements of five alumni during the 14th Annual Arts & Sciences Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony, held March 24 at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis.
Gary S. Wihl, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, and the Arts & Sciences National Council, led by Chair Barbara Schaps Thomas (AB ’76), hosted the awards dinner.
National Council members who are previous Distinguished Alumni Award recipients and a former dean’s medalist introduced this year’s awardees. During the ceremony, the five honorees shared personal stories about the impact of their educational experiences on their lives and accomplishments.
Four alumni received the Distinguished Alumni Award, which recognizes 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.
Wihl presented the Dean’s Medal to Earle H. Harbison Jr., LLD (AB ’48), chairman of Harbison Corp., a family financial holding company that invests in manufacturing.
The Dean’s Medal is awarded to a person who has made an exceptional contribution to the advancement of the ideals of an Arts & Sciences education.
Distinguished Alumni
Robert C. Adler, DMD (AB ’72, DMD ’76), introduced by Sanford C. Loewentheil (AB ’76), 2006 Distinguished Alumnus
Adler
As an undergraduate student in anthropology, Adler learned to apply rigorous critical thinking by doing research on cell membrane changes during severe blood loss (hypovolemia).
Following Adler’s graduation from the School of Dental Medicine, he became an adjunct faculty member there. He conducted research and practiced dentistry in St. Louis until the University of California, Los Angeles, recruited him in 1983 to be co-investigator on a grant investigating the neuroscience of pain.
Adler, who also earned a master’s degree in computer science, founded Pain Management Associates, one of the first multidisciplinary pain-management practices in Southern California. He continued his practice until he retired in 2006.
Adler then launched a voluntary, independent effort to build a pillar for peace in the Middle East.
A past health-care plan design consultant, among multiple other interests, Adler has worked effectively with Palestine’s Ministry of Health to implement state-of-the-art health care based on the latest technology and Israel’s efficient health system.
Adler and his wife, Alexis Deutsch Adler, also strongly support children, youth and families through many organizations, including Phoenix House, Every Child and International Medical Corps, and provide extensive service to Washington University.
Michael R. Cannon, JD (AB ’73), introduced by Schaps Thomas, 2001 Distinguished Alumna
Cannon
As Washington University’s executive vice chancellor and general counsel, Cannon is immersed in a variety of challenges and opportunities that confront great research universities and academic medical centers.
As chief legal officer to the Board of Trustees, his work encompasses all facets of the law regulating education, health care, research, technology transfer and employment.
A Phi Beta Kappa student his junior and senior years, Cannon majored in economics.
When he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, Cannon elected to read for two years in a broad political arena: international affairs and strategic studies.
He earned a law degree at Yale and became a federal prosecutor of high-visibility government corruption cases before turning to private practice to specialize in insurance-coverage disputes. He became a partner at two prestigious law firms.
When Cannon joined the Washington University administration in 1993, he created a course at the School of Law in insurance law, which he continues teaching.
He is also developing an undergraduate political science course in Arts & Sciences about American legal institutions and processes.
Founding chair of the university’s committee on postgraduate fellowships and scholarships, Cannon mentors students competing for these prestigious major awards.
Deborah A. Freund, PhD (AB ’73), introduced by Edward S. Macias, PhD, provost, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, 2009 Dean’s Medalist
A classics major during her three college years, Freund, president of Claremont Graduate University in California, mastered Greek and Latin.
Freund went on to the University of Michigan for a master’s in applied economics, a doctorate in economics and a master’s of public health in medical care administration.
The career that followed encompasses path-setting health-care and health-economics research, pharmacoeconomics (a field she founded) and distinguished academic leadership.
While an undergraduate, she heard that then-Professor of Medicine Gerald Perkoff, MD, was developing what amounted to the nation’s first university-based HMO and she asked to observe. Instead, Perkoff put her to work.
She learned computer programming and witnessed the initiative’s planning and implementation — whereupon Walter Ballinger, MD, surgery chief and department head, requested her help with what became the Study of Surgical Services in the United States.
Since then, Freund’s internationally recognized, strongly clinical research has produced reams of significant findings in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health insurance and economics and Medicaid.
The recipient of numerous awards, Freund has held academic executive positions at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and at Indiana, Rochester and Syracuse universities.
She became the first woman president of Claremont Graduate University in fall 2010.
Stephanie L. Riven (AB ’69, MS ’71), introduced by Henrietta W. Freedman (AB ’75), 2005 Distinguished Alumna
Riven developed a treasure for St. Louis and the country: COCA (Center of Creative Arts). During her 23 years as executive director (1987-2010), she created a nationally recognized multidisciplinary community arts center serving 50,000 people a year.
COCA provides 500 offerings in dance, theatre, vocal music and visual art at its primary location in University City and in 45 schools throughout St. Louis City and County.
The high quality of COCA’s programs has been recognized with many awards and inclusion in a book, titled Qualities of Quality, by Harvard researchers.
COCA’s pre-professional dance program has catapulted students into prestigious dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Ballet Hispanico. COCA’s Urban Arts Programs have received substantial support from many national foundations, including the Ford Foundation.
Riven, who was also a founder of Central Reform Congregation, received the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts & Education Council.
Riven earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree from the Central Institute for the Deaf. Today, she is a visiting practitioner at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. She is also a consultant with the New York-based firm David Bury & Associates, working with nonprofit organizations throughout the country.
Dean’s Medalist
Earle H. Harbison Jr., LLD (AB ’48)
Harbison
Harbison has excelled in a series of memorable endeavors, including serving as a deputy director of a major component of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Cuban Missile Crisis and leading Monsanto Co. as president and chief operating officer during its shift to agricultural biotechnology.
As an undergraduate, he studied political science. His many campus activities ranged from co-chairing the Student Senate to membership in major honorary societies.
In 1949, he entered the School of Law, but was recruited to the newly formed CIA and completed his LLD at George Washington University. He later attended the Harvard Business School.
When Harbison left the agency in 1967, prior to his 26-year career at Monsanto, he received the prestigious William A. Jump Award for distinguished service to the U.S. government.
Harbison is former chairman of Fisher Controls, G.D. Searle and NutraSweet companies, a director of a number of commercial companies including Merrill Lynch, and a distinguished civic leader in St. Louis.
At Washington University, he is an emeritus trustee and past chair of the Arts & Sciences National Council. He and his wife, the former Suzanne Groves Siegel (BSBA ’49), have long supported both the university and Arts & Sciences.