This month’s Hero Award recipients are (from left) Julie Dunn-Morton, Myron Burr and Linda Stein. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

University of Missouri–St. Louis Chancellor Kristin Sobolik and her cabinet continue to recognize the exemplary efforts of staff and faculty members from across campus by bestowing the UMSL Hero Award on up to three individuals each month.

This month’s honorees are Julie Dunn-Morton, the Mercantile Library’s endowed curator of Fine Art Collections; Myron Burr, the program manager for strategic initiatives; and Linda Stein, a student services coordinator in the College of Optometry.

Julie Dunn-Morton

Twenty-two years ago, a dream job opened for Dunn-Morton in her native St. Louis.

At the time, she was finishing her doctoral dissertation at the University of Delaware – her subject was Harriet Hosmer, a renowned sculptor whose life’s work was influenced by her time in St. Louis – when she learned of an open art curator position at the St. Louis Mercantile Library on UMSL’s campus.

“My advisor had technically already retired, and I was one of his two remaining students so he was wanting us to just wrap it up so he could move on with his retirement,” Dunn-Morton said with a laugh. “So when I emailed him, I said, ‘Professor (E. Wayne) Craven, please don’t explode but I’ve applied for this job, and I’d really like you to give me a reference because it’s perfect for me. He emailed back and said, ‘Well, I can’t be mad, because it is perfect for you. But don’t stop writing your dissertation.’”

Turns out, Dunn-Morton was pretty much the dream candidate for the position, too.

Chris Dames, who at the time was a reference librarian and has been the dean of libraries for UMSL since 2008, was on the hiring committee that interviewed Dunn-Morton. Safe to say, he hasn’t regretted the group’s decision to bring her aboard for even a minute.

“We rely on Julie for her knowledge of the art of St. Louis – she is the first person in at least a century who has made a comprehensive study of all St. Louis artists that achieved recognition, and there were hundreds of them,” Dames said. “This knowledge has made a big contribution in the Mercantile’s collection development and gallery organization overall and is one of Julie’s most significant assets, along with the leadership and administrative skills we rely on every day.

“We needed someone exactly like Julie to realize John Hoover’s master plan of reestablishing the Mercantile’s art collection and associated educational program, as significant now as when the Library was in its infancy, when great artists endowed the institution with legacy works from their brushes and sculpting chisels.”

As the Mercantile Library’s endowed curator of Fine Art Collections, Dunn-Morton helps train the docents that handle tours of the collection. She’s responsible for the galleries and exhibits that rotate in and out, such as the “Pencils on the Frontier” gallery that highlighted some of the very early – like 1840s and ’50s – pencil drawings and oil sketches at the Mercantile Library that were done by artists traveling through the west. While preparing that exhibit, she found a very small brochure talking about an exhibit one of the artists and his students had at a local art dealer

“I never knew we had that, and it’s such an amazing document of his life and career just in this unassuming little pamphlet,” she said. “I continue to find great things all the time.”

She’s doing a catalogue raisonné project of the works of Frederick Oakes Sylvester that will be part of a newly renovated gallery opening this fall, after extensive renovations. She’s involved in other areas of campus, too. As the coordinator for university exhibits and collections, she handles selecting and installing the artwork in offices and hallways across campus.

Another major undertaking in 2024 was moving the 45-foot steel Mark di Suvero sculpture, Beppe, from UMSL’s Fine Arts building to Chicago. The sculpture was originally on loan to UMSL from Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills.

“I was so impressed with Julie’s leadership of a major project to have the Mark di Suvero sculpture disassembled and transported to a new site at the Chicago Parks Department for future display,” UMSL Provost Steven J. Berberich said. “She worked with individuals from the artist and Laumeier, the prior holder of the art, to complete a successful transfer.”

She was happy to help facilitate the project.

“We all have opportunities every now and then to just step up and try to make things run smoothly for the campus,” Dunn-Morton said. “It was a big project with a lot of people involved at multiple institutions, so there was a bit of paperwork and logistical maneuvering there.”

As much as the big projects, renovations and galleries make a large impact on campus, one of Dunn-Morton’s favorite parts of her job are the little things that happen every day in the Mercantile Library. She’s missed those during renovations.

“Students can sit right next to a sculpture from 1880 and study,” she said. “The idea of highlighters and pencils and things being so close to the artwork was a little disconcerting to me early on, but I was gratified seeing them study in the middle of so much history.

“The library’s mission is to support people’s research and build their knowledge, and certainly the Mercantile does that with its resources, with our research services. The university’s mission is to transform lives, to support students and to help build that St. Louis workforce, and I think we certainly do that with our assistance for research, with our exhibitions, by just building and maintaining this collection of Missouri history and Missouri culture. The way that the students are able to be around this artwork, to learn about it, almost by osmosis, just from familiarity.”

Myron Burr

Reputations mean a lot to Burr.

Reputations, as he sees them, are reflections of a person’s – or a group’s – effort put into creating community and having a positive attitude focused on helping others.

“It’s about how you show up,” he said. “Are you showing up upset? Are you showing up mad? Or are you showing up willing to learn, willing to listen, willing to get to know the other person and say, ‘Hey, this is your goal. This is my goal. But overarching, we have this goal of a championship. How can we use your talents and my talents together to reach our overarching goal?’”

UMSL’s reputation in the community was one of many reasons Burr, who is the university’s program manager for strategic initiatives, was excited about joining the university in the spring of 2022. And once he started, he realized UMSL’s reputation was undersold.

“UMSL’s name rings loud in the community, and that goes above and beyond, especially with what I do,” Burr said. “I am going out into the community, so it helps when you go out into the community and people already know that you’re doing a great job, and people are wanting to work with you because your reputation precedes you.”

He pauses for a moment and smiles.

“And I don’t mean my reputation, I mean the university’s reputation.”

He sees his role as, essentially, a community manager.

“We say that we’re an anchor institution for our community,” Burr said. “How are we maximizing on that statement? How are we truly going out and doing that day in and day out? I want to make sure that I’m in contact with the right people across campus, the right people across our UMSL community, local and abroad, just having those important conversations.”

One of Burr’s many roles involves organizing and executing events such as the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance held last month at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. It’s the same team-oriented thought process for Burr, whether he’s working with organizations on or off campus. “We have this beautiful venue. You have this event. Let’s bring it all together to create something wonderful.”

Another reputation that mattered to Burr was that of UMSL’s Master of Public Policy Administration.

“When I told people I was thinking about joining UMSL’s MPPA program, everyone outside of campus who I interacted with, their eyes got big,” Burr said, “They lit up and said, ‘That is a great program. UMSL does it right. They’re really invested in teaching about public policy administration. People who graduate from that program know what they’re doing. They know how to run local government, nonprofits. They know how to do research. You should absolutely 1,000% join that program; not only will you get a quality education, but you’ll have a practical, hands-on experience.’”

Burr, who is half-way through his program, has found that stellar reputation was true, too.

His work in the MPPA program and his overall efforts around campus have been noticed.

“I cannot think of an employee who models UMSL’s mission more than Myron Burr,” wrote Title IX coordinator Jessica Swederske when she nominated Burr for the Hero Award. “Myron truly has a passion for UMSL and transforming the lives of anyone he comes in contact with. Myron goes above and beyond and will never hesitate to assist his co-workers and the campus as a whole.”

Burr is quick to deflect credit.

“I know that I’m getting this award for the work that I do on campus, but I truly am a reflection of the wonderful people around me,” Burr said. “I’m a department of one, essentially, so the work that I do would not come to fruition without wonderful partnerships across campus. I just want to say thank you to everyone on campus for allowing me to be able to do great work.”

Linda Stein

For 23 years, Stein has been able to pinpoint her favorite part of her job in the College of Optometry.

“I get to see the students from that first day they interview, to orientation, and then I get to see the progression all the way to when they walk across stage at graduation,” Stein said. “It’s really exciting to see that change, to see them maybe be a little bit intimidated, but then watch their skills increase and see them become more confident.”

Stein, a student services coordinator, has not missed a single graduation ceremony since she started at UMSL.

“Watching them walk across the stage, you can see the doctor in them,” she said. “It never gets old. That’s my favorite part of my job.”

As much as anyone in the department, Stein sees the full student journey.

“Ms. Stein is engaged in the entire life cycle of our college’s stakeholders, from student applications to alumni,” Dean Keshia Elder said. “She is one of the first touchpoints that prospective students have with the College of Optometry and serves as the initial point of contact for questions during the admissions cycle.”

Because she is there from the very beginning of the process – she registers every student in the college – Stein has learned not only how to answer the initial questions students have – application qualifications, financial aid, etc. – but also to anticipate the questions that will arise – how to find tutors, when midterms or finals are, etc.

“Some of them are very nervous, so you just help make them feel more at ease,” she said. “Like, ‘Here’s what to expect. Here’s what’s going to happen.’ After admissions, which they’re pretty excited about, then they get to meet their classmates, and then orientation, and then school starts, and it gets all very real. I’ve been here long enough to know where students might struggle, so I try and help them through that.

“But most importantly, the faculty is always available for the students. We have tutors if they’re struggling. Classmates here are collaborative more than competitive, so classmates will help each other.”

Stein might deflect praise or attention for her work, but her colleagues know her influence.

“She is always in the background working,” Elder said. “She underestimates the positive impact she has on our students and on our college. Her fingerprints are part of everything we do.”