Chancellor Kristin Sobolik accepts North County Inc.’s Visionary Leadership Award from NCI President and CEO Rebecca Zoll Friday morning at the 49th annual Leadership Breakfast. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)
Chancellor Kristin Sobolik will close out her tenure leading the University of Missouri–St. Louis at the end of June as she moves into a position as chancellor emerita.
On Friday morning, she was honored for the legacy she’ll leave behind. Regional development organization North County Inc. presented Sobolik with its Visionary Leadership Award at its 49th annual Leadership Breakfast.
The award is meant to honor individuals whose work has been intentionally transformational and whose vision has helped improve connection, collaboration, equity, leadership and growth in the community. An audience of more than 500 business, civic and community leaders was on hand at the Marriott St. Louis Airport Hotel as she received the recognition.
“Chancellor Kristin Sobolik has driven UMSL toward significant growth and transformation throughout her tenure, and her service to the university and her positive outlook on education have made a lasting impact on our North County region,” North County Inc. President and CEO Rebecca Zoll said. “She has also been a great partner and supporter of North County Inc., and we are pleased to celebrate her today and express our gratitude for her commitment to fostering meaningful, large-scale, visionary progress.”
Sobolik has led UMSL through a period of significant change since first arriving at the university as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs in 2017. She helped align UMSL’s curriculum to make it easier for students to earn their degrees while reducing debt, and she helped launch new academic programs, including degrees in cybersecurity, financial technology, child advocacy studies, entrepreneurship, sport management, actuarial science, supply chain analytics and data science and analysis, as well as a certificate program in geographic information systems – all aligned with the needs of the workforce in St. Louis and across Missouri.
In 2020, Sobolik was appointed the eighth permanent chancellor at the university, and she has been intentional about strengthening and deepening UMSL’s impact throughout the St. Louis region, particularly in north St. Louis County. That’s meant collaborating with other leading employers on efforts to increase local hiring and procurement in neighborhoods that have faced disinvestment.
Sobolik has also helped secure historic support from the Missouri Legislature and St. Louis County Council to physically transform UMSL’s 350-acre campus, consolidating its academic core north of Natural Bridge Road, providing renovated learning and gathering spaces to serve the needs of students now and into the future.
More recently, she oversaw the launch of UMSL’s new School of Engineering with $15 million to support renovating lab spaces in UMSL’s Science Complex and an $8 million grant from the James S. McDonnell Foundation to assist with hiring new faculty and providing scholarships to students in the school.
The $110 million Transform UMSL initiative is on track to be completed at the end of this year, at which point the university intends to clear 35 acres of land for a proposed North County Business and Workforce District, intended to include amenities and services like a childcare center, grocery store, restaurants and other mixed-use commercial and residential spaces to benefit both the UMSL campus and surrounding community.
The award honored Sobolik for the vision and leadership she displayed in driving all those initiatives over the past nine years.
“This is recognition for all of the University of Missouri–St. Louis,” Sobolik said. “We have great partnerships all across North County. We’re an anchor institution, and our success is North County Inc.’s success. We’re so pleased to have this group of other economic drivers and positive, community-engaged organizations come together every year and celebrate the success that we all have together.”
