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Faculty Senate Honors Two at Kickoff Dinner

09/27/2023

For the first time since the fall of 2019, the Faculty Senate gathered in person for a sit down meal as part of the annual kickoff dinner event.

The kickoff event was held on September 19, 2023, at the School of Law.  Current members of the Senate, President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., Provost Mike Lewis, Ph.D.,  Board of Trustee President Joe Conran and other members of senior faculty and administrative leadership attended.  

Kathleen (Kathy) Kienstra, left, associate professor, Clinical Health Sciences was selected as the John A. Slosar Shared Governance Award recipient. Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, was named this year's Norman White winner. Photo submitted.

Kathleen (Kathy) Kienstra, left, associate professor, Clinical Health Sciences was selected as the John A. Slosar Shared Governance Award recipient. Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, was named this year's Norman White winner. Photo submitted.

The kickoff event followed Senate orientation and the first meeting of the year by the Faculty Senate. Also at the event, the winners of the Norman White and the John Slosar awards were recognized. Both winners this year were from Doisy College.

The faculty committee chose Whitney Linsenmeyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of Nutrition and Dietetics as this year's Norman White winner. Kathleen (Kathy) Kienstra, program director of Radiation Therapy, associate professor, Clinical Health Sciences was selected as the John A. Slosar Shared Governance Award recipient. 

The Dr. Norman A. White Award for Engaged Scholarship and Service is an expression of the SLU community’s deep gratitude for the life and work of Dr. Norm White. White embodied Saint Louis University’s commitment to collaborative academic-community partnerships that seek to “alleviate ignorance, poverty, injustice and hunger; extend compassionate care to the ill and needy; and maintain and improve the quality of life for all persons,” through engagement, dialogue, reflection and action.

White came to SLU in 2004 as an Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice. A scholaractivist, he dedicated himself to helping vulnerable children and youth in the St. Louis region flourish in the face of poverty, violence and oppression. He was a principal architect of SLU’s Overground Railroad to Literacy Project and Shut it Down: Closing the School to Prison Pipeline, projects whose aims are to promote racial equity, to promote access to high-quality education as a fundamental public good, and to dismantle systemic racism.

The award presentation began with comments by Nina McDonnell, a former student and colleague of Whites and then comments by Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D., about the award recipient. 

Linsenmeyer was chosen for her pioneering work with transgender health and nutrition, sex- and gender-informed approaches to nutrition research and her clinical education on transgender health.  Linsenmeyer is the national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  

Her grant funded work includes being the Primary Investigator of "Just in Time Research Funding Program" which discusses food insecurity among transgender adults and an Evaluation of YMCA-based Initiative to Support Physical Activity Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth in St. Louis. 

The John A. Slosar Shared Governance Award honors John Slosar’s leadership and stalwart commitment to the principles and practice of shared governance. Slosar, a member of the Saint Louis University faculty from 1971-2004 (and more recently faculty emeritus and co-director of the Doerr Center for Social Justice Education and Research in the School of Social Work), chaired the Faculty Senate Planning Committee and was instrumental in the senate's creation.

Slosar served as the senate's first president from 1979-1980 and again from 1999-2001; and over the years served as a senator and member of various senate committees. He played important roles in governance in the School of Social Work, in the university at large, and at a national level. He served as AAUP SLU Chapter President five times in addition to other AAUP roles regionally and nationally.

The award is intended to honor and recognize a faculty member who has provided outstanding contributions to the advancement of shared governance at Saint Louis University.  The award presentation began with comments from Stacey Harris about the award recipient. 

Kienstra has served in many faculty governance arenas over the years.  Currently she serves as co-chair of the Faculty Senate Governance Committee. Under her leadership, several adjustments have been made to the Faculty Manual which have created more transparencies in process and documentation.