| Thomas F. George Chancellor, University of Missouri - St. Louis 2008 NCCC Citizen of the Year Dr. George began his community service in 1947 when he became an Eagle Scout in Philadelphia, his city of birth. He has more recently served on the boards of not only the Boy Scouts, but the YMCA, United Way, Civic Progress, RCGA, Missouri Botanical Garden, Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, Christian Hospital, Center for Emerging Technologies, Center of Research Technology and Entrepreneurial Expertise, St. Louis Science Center, Academy of Science, St. Louis Higher Education Consortium, Innovate St. Louis, and Coalition for Information and Technology. He is married to an accomplished string musician who also teaches on the UMSL campus. Their home has many musical instruments, displaying the diversity this prominent couple. And yet, Tom George finds time to play jazz piano professionally, to the delight of many audiences around the St. Louis area. The past two hears, he played during the cocktail hour of NCCC’s Citizen of the Year banquet. But more notable, he performed in the St. Louis Jazz & Heritage Festival , Touhill Performing Arts Center, Sheldon Concert Hall and finale in St. Louis, University of Arkansas, Nanjing University in China, and the City of Szeged in Hungary. He has arranged and performed various programs and revues with cabaret singers and dancers. In a duo with a trumpeter/flugelhornist in 1995, he recorded a CD entitled Chancellor Tom George and Friends Present “Love from St. Louis” produced at the University of Missouri-St. Louis as a fund-raiser for music scholarships. Regarding fund-raising, Dr. George has rounded up many dollars for the University and involved the University in many positive programs in the St. Louis area. As a college student, Chancellor George earned varsity letters in soccer and wrestling. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in chemistry and mathematics from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He earned a Master of Science degree (1968) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in theoretical chemistry (1970) from Yale University, followed by post-doctoral appointments at MIT and the University of California at Berkeley. In 1972 Dr. George joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in New York, where he was promoted to full professor of chemistry by age 29. In 1985 he moved to the State University of New York at Buffalo as dean of natural science and mathematics, a position he held for six years. He then served five years as Provost and Academic Vice President of Washington State University before becoming Chancellor at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point in 1996. All this and he found time to author 15 books as well as become an active researcher in chemistry and physics. He became involved in the relocation of Express Scrips, made space for a rest stop on our Green Trail circuit, and is proud of the University of Missouri, St. Louis involvement in community matters. Chancellor Thomas F. George more than deserves the honor of being named “Citizen of the Year” in 2008. |
