Pamela S. Lokken has been appointed vice chancellor for government and community relations, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced.
Lokken has served as director of government and community relations since 1993.
“Pam Lokken is a leader in the country in strengthening relations between higher education and the federal government, and it is wonderful to have her in an expanded leadership role here at Washington University,” Wrighton said. “We face many issues at the local, state and federal levels, and Pam will be a key contributor to the growing impact of our university at all levels.
“I value very much the opportunity to work with her in these areas and know that she will serve well as a University officer.”
Lokken, a Wisconsin native, came to WUSTL in 1991 after several years at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
She first served as assistant director, a position she held for two years as Bob Blackburn — then the director of government and community relations — mentored her in both the job and the University.
Lokken’s job includes overseeing federal relations, state relations, local governmental relations, community relations and conversations with individual neighbors.
She leads the University’s federal advocacy efforts, working closely with the Missouri congressional delegation, research agencies in Washington, D.C., and with a variety of national associations, including the Association of American Universities, which includes the top 62 research-intensive universities in North America, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the American Council on Education.
She also is in regular contact with the NIH, the National Science Foundation, the departments of Defense and Energy, and NASA.
Prior to coming to WUSTL, Lokken was a Presidential Management Fellow at the NIH and subsequently a program analyst for the National Center for Human Genome Research at NIH.
She earned master’s degrees in public policy and in political science in 1987, both from the University of Michigan. She earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies in 1979 from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.