As the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education Dean’s Leadership Council, we are a core group of alumni and friends dedicated to helping the vice provost and dean strengthen the growth of the college, transform the student experience, and improve the impact of faculty involvement. We provide support to the Dean’s Fund, strengthening the impact of philanthropy at the college-wide level, and help identify philanthropic opportunities with fellow alumni, corporations, and friends at S&T. Through our guidance, innovation, and financial commitment, we provide strong leadership to the vice provost and dean, as well as the College, and serve as inspiring role models to the university community.
The Dean’s Leadership Council also annually awards the CASE Dean’s Medal.
IST’10, manager of IT Systems at Boeing
St. Louis, Missouri
Carl Schmitz, IST’10, is an information technology manager at Boeing. He is from the St. Louis area and still lives there. He is the deputy executive focal for Boeing’s relationship with Missouri S&T. While at Missouri S&T, he helped establish the university’s chapter of Phi Beta Lambda and was the chapter’s founding president. He served on the Career Opportunities and Employer Relations Advisory Council, the Business and Information Technology Student Advisory Board, was a student ambassador for the Center for Enterprise Resource Planning, and participated in an international ERP Simulation Competition. He is currently co-chair of the Miner Alumni Association’s New Alumni Council and a member of the Miner Alumni Association board of directors and the Order of the Golden Shillelagh. He also volunteers with the Youth & Family Center in downtown St. Louis. He received the Robert V. Wolf Alumni Service Award in 2015, and makes himself frequently present to students.
Hist'85, major general for U.S. Air Force
Scott Air Force Base, Illinois
Maj. Gen. Samuel "Bo" Mahaney is a retired Air Force officer with 36 years of military service. Prior to retirement, he was Chief of Staff, Air Mobility Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. His efforts enabled the AMC commander to provide rapid, global mobility and sustainment for America's armed forces as well as provide humanitarian support at home and around the world. He enabled the 107,000 men and women of AMC to provide airlift, aerial refueling, special air mission, aeromedical evacuation, and mobility support. Maj. Gen. Mahaney was commissioned in July 1985 as a graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He has served as a B-52 electronic warfare officer, KC-10 aircraft commander, C-5 pilot, C-9A evaluator pilot, group and wing commander, and flew the C-17 and KC-135. He was last qualified as a C-40 pilot. He is a command pilot with more than 5,100 flying hours. In addition, he attended Harvard University as National Security Fellow, served on Capitol Hill as Georgetown Legislative Fellow and legislative liaison. He is a licensed attorney who has served on the faculty of Georgetown University Law Center and an adjunct professor. In retirement, Maj. Gen Mahaney is an author of historical fiction, novels, and peer review historical journal articles. His passion is for leadership education, working with teens and young adults to create a vision for their leadership role in the present and the future.
marketing & communications manager at Brewer Science
Rolla, Missouri
Nathan Ayres, MBA'16, is manager of marketing and communications at Brewer Science. Nathan earned bachelor of science degrees in nuclear engineering and engineering management from S&T in 2007. While at S&T, Nathan was a leader in the American Nuclear Society and Christian Campus Fellowship, as well as held a reactor operators license for the S&T nuclear research reactor on campus. Nathan currently serves on the Marketing Advisory Committee with Geared For Phelps and the Marketing Advisory Team for Rolla Technical Institute. He and his wife, Christina, who earned a masters degree in math from S&T, with their two children, Carissa and Noah, enjoy their hobby farm with their dogs, chickens, ducks, and Greta the goose.
CSci’85, COO of Diba Imports
St. Louis, Missouri
Diane Butrus, CSci’85, is chief operating officer of Diba Imports, a footwear distributor. She is from the St. Louis area and lives there now. A founding member of the S&T Academy of Miner Athletics, she played for the Lady Miner softball team as a student. Diane has served on the board of her condominium association for over three years, and was president for two of those years. She led the finance committee of Explore Transplant, a nonprofit organization committed to kidney transplant education. She spends most of her free time bicycling, and participates in multiple charity rides a year. She drives a Tesla Model S and says she is “thrilled to hear Rolla is getting a supercharging station!” Diane lives with her girlfriend, Me’Shel Riedel, and occasionally Me’Shel’s son Alex, who is a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis studying architecture.
Psych Sci'76, Retired, Missouri S&T and Owner of Eclectic Ventures, LLC.
Rolla, Missouri
Lindsay Bagnall, PsychSci’76 is retired from Missouri S&T, having begun her career there in 1985 as a computer programmer. She later became the assistant director of alumni relations, then in 2002 became the first female and first alum executive vice president of the MSM-UMR Alumni Association (now the Miner Alumni Association). In 2007 she shifted gears and became senior secretary in Distance and Continuing Education at S&T, retiring in 2011. From 1985 to 2018 she was co-owner of Kent Jewelry, founded by her husband Kent Bagnall CE’76, and they currently own Eclectic Ventures LLC. Kent and Lindsay are members of the Order of the Golden Shillelagh and are both Honorary Knights of St. Patrick. Some of her memberships and activities are Coterie of Missouri S&T, CORE (Champions of Rolla Education), Arts Rolla!, Friends of the Rolla Public Library, Phelps County Historical Society, Club TEAC, Phi Mu Fraternity, Chapter HR of P.E.O. and the Richard III Society. She currently volunteers for Ozark Actors Theatre and the Rolla Recycling Center as well as the Route 66 Association of Missouri where she serves as treasurer. Lindsay and Kent have two daughters by birth (Hannah Bagnall and Lydia Hardin) and another 14 young women they consider daughters either through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program, Ozark Actors Theatre, or other connections.
Chem’13, PhD Chem’17, Director of Health Innovation & Policy
Rolla, Missouri
Casey Burton (Chem’13, PhD Chem’17), is the Director of Health Innovation & Policy at Phelps Health and an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Missouri S&T. His research aims at the development and application of advanced analytical techniques for healthcare diagnostics, including early cancer detection and traumatic brain injury. He currently leads the research and governmental affairs programs at Phelps Health. He servs on a number of research and non-profit boards to strengthen the state’s research enterprise and ability to improve the health and wellness of Missourians. He was recognized as a Missouri S&T Distinguished Young Alumni in 2020. He and his wife, Hannah, have one son, Henry.
ME’67, retired from Consolidated Edison Company of New York
Mike Evans, ME67, has good memories of his Rolla days when he was editor of the Rollamo and active in several student organizations. Upon graduation he worked for AT&T, then completed four years in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine program. Evans then joined Combustion Engineering and Kansas City Power and Light Co., where he was senior vice president and COO. From there he joined Consolidated Edison of New York for nine years and was president and COO. Evans then served as president and CEO of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in Atlanta before retiring in 2004. Evans is a member of S&T’s Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers and received an Award of Professional Distinction in 2004. He and his wife, Linda, established the Mike and Linda Evans Dean’s Endowed Scholarship Fund in 2019 to support Missouri students with financial needs in CASE or with dual majors in CASE and the College of Engineering and Computing.
Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of biological sciences
Rolla, Missouri
Dave Westenberg, Ph.D., is Curators Distinguished Teaching Professor of Biological Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Westenberg has been an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Goettingen and Marburg, Germany and a U.S. Department of Agriculture postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College. He co-directed the Missouri S&T Science Education and Quantitative Literacy professional development program for K-12 teachers, and has taught teacher workshops for the BioBuilder Foundation and HHMI Biointeractive. Westenberg has received numerous awards for teaching and advising, including the Class of ’42 Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award, the Missouri S&T Alumni Association Outstanding Advisor Award, the 2017 Science Educator Award from the Academy of Sciences, St. Louis, the American Society for Microbiology Carski Award for undergraduate education, and the UM System President’s Award for Community Engagement.
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