Susan Flader, professor of history at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Donald Phares, professor of economics and public policy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, are co-recipients of the University of Missouri System's 1997 Thomas Jefferson Award.
The annual award, which is funded through a grant from the Robert Earll McConnell Foundation, carries a $5,000 stipend and goes to a faculty member who "through personal influence and performance of duty in teaching, writing and scholarship, character and influence, devotion and loyalty to the University best exemplifies the principles and ideals of Thomas Jefferson."
|
|
A committee of faculty members from each of the UM System's four campuses recommends the winner. Usually, the award is given to only one UM faculty member annually; this year, the committee decided to award it to two.
Flader earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1963 and her master's degree (1965) and doctorate (1971) from Stanford University. She has taught at MU since 1973.
Flader teaches courses in U.S. Western and environmental history. She has written or edited six books, among them Thinking Like a Mountain: Aldo Leopold; The Evolution of an Ecological Attitude Towards Deer, Wolves, and Forests; The Great Lakes Forest: An Environmental and Social History; The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays by Aldo Leopold; and Exploring Missouri's Legacy: State Parks and Historic Sites. She is president of the American Society for Environmental History and serves on many other professional and environmental boards and committees.
Phares earned his bachelor's degree in economics from Northeastern University in 1965. He earned his master's degree (1967) and doctorate (1970) from Syracuse University. Phares joined the UMSL faculty in 1969.
|
Phares served as chair of the economics department from 1982 to 1984 and director of UMSL's Center for Metropolitan Studies from 1984 to 1989. He was interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1986-87. He was special assistant to the chancellor for budgeting, planning and institutional research from 1987 to 1989, and vice chancellor for budgeting, planning and institutional research from 1989 to 1991.
The themes in Phares's teaching and research include urban economic issues, public finance, urban political economy and public policy analysis. In 1987-88, he was administrator of the St. Louis City-County Board of Freeholders. In that position, he directed the research staff for a constitutionally based governmental reorganization of St. Louis City and County. He is the author or co-author of five books and many articles.
| Next | Previous |
|---|
| Return to the Story Index |