Stephen Moehrle, Michael Nichols and Lee Slocum were among 21 faculty members from across the University of Missouri System’s four universities to be named Curators’ Distinguished Professors this week. (Moehrle photo by August Jennewein; Nichols and Slocum photos by Derik Holtmann)
Faculty members Stephen Moehrle, Michael Nichols and Lee Slocum have each established themselves as leaders, not only in their departments on campus at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, but across the country in their respective fields.
Moehrle, a professor of accounting in the Ed G. Smith College of Business, has been lauded both in Missouri and nationally for his contributions to accounting education. Nichols, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, has won attention for his research into Alzheimer’s disease and recently served as the president of the American Society for Neurochemistry. Slocum, a professor of criminology and criminal justice in the College of Arts and Sciences, meanwhile, has worked with practitioners in St. Louis and across the country to better understand topics such as police-citizen relationships and attitudes about community safety.
The University of Missouri Board of Curators voted to appoint all three to serve as Curators’ Distinguished Professors, the highest faculty rank in the UM System. They were among 21 faculty members from the system’s four universities newly named to the position.
“Recognizing our faculty with this distinction is the highest honor the board grants,” said Todd Graves, chair of the UM Board of Curators. “These designations acknowledge faculty members for their significant contributions to their fields and their outstanding scholarship. It’s a privilege to honor them for their hard work and dedication to the mission of the University of Missouri System and their respective universities.”
The designation is given to faculty who have demonstrated exemplary research or teaching in their subject areas.
“UM System faculty are world-class, and we are pleased to recognize these 21 exceptional scholars for their commitment to teaching, research and meaningful engagement,” University of Missouri President Mun Choi said. “Their accomplishments drive our innovations and make a difference in the lives of students and all we serve in Missouri and beyond.”
Stephen Moehrle, professor of accounting
Moehrle might have the distinction of being the first UMSL alum to be named a Curators’ Distinguished Professor at the university, having earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from UMSL in 1985.
He knew even then he wanted to eventually pursue an academic career and spent seven years in private industry – two with Ernst & Young and five with Citicorp Mortgage, Inc. – and became a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Global Management Accountant before pursuing his PhD at Indiana University. He held adjunct faculty positions at the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Southern California before a faculty position opened up at UMSL in 1999.
“It was returning home,” said Moehrle, who also had the opportunity to work in the same department as his wife, Jennifer Reynolds-Moehrle, who retired earlier this year and is now a professor emerita in the Department of Accounting.
Moehrle’s research has been focused primarily on the role of accounting information in markets and firms as well as regulation of the CPA profession. He has published articles in top journals such as The Accounting Review, Accounting Horizons, Issues in Accounting Education, and the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, and he is the co-author of the monograph “The CPA Profession: Opportunities, Responsibilities, and Services,” published in 2006 by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.
He has been just as dedicated to his students, whom he describes as “extraordinarily bright and humble.”
Moehrle has won praise from those students for his teaching and has received the UMSL Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Missouri Society of CPAs’ Outstanding Educator Award and the AICPA’s Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education.
Moehrle was especially humbled by his latest honor, being named a Curators’ Distinguished Professor.
“It is a recognition of what I came here to do,” Moehrle said. “That is to transform lives the way UMSL helped to transform my life.”
Michael Nichols, professor of chemistry and biochemistry
Nichols, who holds a PhD from Purdue University, had family connections to the St. Louis area that made a job opportunity at UMSL particularly appealing in 2004 as he was completing his postdoctoral fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. He came to the university with a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish as a researcher.
“When I got here, I wanted to have a long-term, cohesive, collegial lab that had lots of alumni that went on to do great things and stayed in contact with me, and I think we’ve done that,” Nichols said. “I’m really proud of that.”
Nichols has mentored 45 undergraduates during his 21 years at UMSL along with 15 doctoral students, 21 master’s students, five research technicians and six high school students, including one this past summer as part of the Collaborative Laboratory Internships and Mentorship Blueprint, or CLIMB.
His lab has had a keen focus on exploring the chemical imbalances in the human brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease with particular attention paid to inflammation that occurs as part of the neurodegenerative disorder. Nichols has been the principal investigator on a series of research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation totaling more than $1.8 million, and he has published his research findings in journals such as Neuroscience, Nature Medicine and the Journal of Neurochemistry.
Last year, he was selected as UMSL’s Faculty Innovator of the Year and also received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creativity.
Nichols made it clear he did not see the promotion to Curators’ Distinguished Professor as a culminating moment in his career.
“It actually makes me even more motivated and excited about doing even more in the future,” he said. “There is an expectation to keep pushing even harder and really do what you can to represent the University of Missouri–St. Louis and the UM System.”
Lee Slocum, professor of criminology and criminal justice
Slocum thinks back through the many colleagues who’ve held the title of Curators’ Distinguished Professor during her tenure in UMSL’s renowned Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She never expected to see her name added to a list that includes the late Bob Bursik and Richard Rosenfeld as well as retired professors Richard Wright and Janet Lauritsen.
“I’ve had an opportunity to work with all of those people over the years,” said Slocum, who came to UMSL in 2007 after earning her PhD at the University of Maryland. “While I’m not anywhere near their league of academics, it’s still nice to be recognized and honored in that way and to continue that legacy in our department.”
She has plenty of accomplishments in her own right, including receiving the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creativity in 2023. She has published research in leading journals such as Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy and the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and her work has been funded by the National Institute of Justice, the MacArthur Foundation and Arnold Ventures, among others.
Slocum has conducted and presented research throughout the country and as far away as North Macedonia and is currently working on a project examining the role of public safety communications personnel in call processing, diversion and criminal legal system gatekeeping. But she has found St. Louis to be particularly fertile ground in which to work.
“I do really like working in St. Louis,” she said. “Particularly if you’re studying crime and the criminal justice system, there’s a lot of work to be done here and many organizations and agencies who are eager to partner with academics who can support some of the work that they’re doing to improve the region.”
Slocum also has worked collaboratively with many of her colleagues and former students. She and chair Christopher Sullivan are currently contributing expertise in research and data collection to the Save Lives Now! initiative to reduce violent street crime across the St. Louis region. She looks forward to continuing to foster those connections in her new role.
Moehrle, Nichols and Slocum have joined a growing list of celebrated UMSL faculty who have earned their status as Curators’ Distinguished Professors.
