Gen. Colin L. Powell, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, will deliver the keynote address at this year's Founders Day celebration Nov. 7 at America's Center in downtown St. Louis. Sponsored by the Washington University Alumni Association, Founders Day is the annual commemoration of the University's founding in 1853.
The program will include Powell's address and the presentation of the Distinguished Faculty Awards, the Distinguished Alumni Awards and the Board of Trustees' Robert S. Brookings Awards. Cocktails and dinner will precede the program.
Powell's U.S. Army career spans 35 years and includes leadership positions under three presidents. From 1989 to 1993 he served as the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. Under his command the country responded to 28 crises, most notably Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
Powell has received numerous military awards, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Civilian awards include two Presidential Medals of Freedom, President's Citizens Medal, Congressional Gold Medal, Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal.
Since his retirement from military life, Powell has been a major force in two national service initiatives, serving as chair of the President's Summit for America's Future and of America's Promise -- The Alliance for Youth, a campaign launched at the summit to help the nation's young people. Powell also is active in educational and civic organizations, serving as a trustee at Howard University and a director of the United Negro College Fund. Powell also serves on the Board of Governors of The Boys & Girls Clubs of America and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Children's Health Fund.
His best-selling memoir, "My American Journey: An Autobiography," was published in 1995.
Six men and women will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards at the Founders Day celebration. They are Charles A. Buescher Jr. (1959, 1961), Arnold W. Donald (1977), Joyce A. Ladner (1966, 1968), Jane Sauer (1959, 1960), Robert L. Virgil Jr. (1960, 1967) and Robert L. Weston (1967).
The four recipients of the Distinguished Faculty Awards are Michael M. Greenfield, J.D., the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law in the School of Law; Scot G. Hickman, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the School of Medicine; Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts and Sciences and of genetics in the medical school; and Murray L. Weidenbaum, Ph.D., the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of economics in Arts and Sciences.
This year the Robert S. Brookings Award, given by the Trustees to persons "who exemplify the alliance between Washington University and its community," will be granted posthumously to Paul O. Hagemann, M.D., who was professor emeritus of clinical medicine at the medical school at the time of his death; and to Norman Moore, who is a retired hospital architectural consultant.
