The Feb. 23 issue of Ladue News featuring UMSL Chancellor Tom George and his wife Barbara Harbach hits the stands today. With a circulation of 45,000, copies are widely available across St. Louis. (Photo by Marisol Ramirez)

The tale of the University of Missouri–St. Louis and the couple at its helm make up the cover story of this week’s Ladue News.

The Feb. 23 issue shows Chancellor Tom George playing the piano alongside his wife Barbara Harbach, a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Music and director of The School of Fine and Performing Arts.

But, as the story notes, the chancellor has been a face of many things beyond a magazine cover.

“Tom is the face of UMSL, and UMSL is one of the most important faces in St. Louis,” Thompson Coburn Chairman and alumnus Tom Minogue told Ladue News. “He is a real renaissance man – a chemistry whiz, an accomplished musician and an intellectual who runs a university.”

In the article, George shares some of the nitty gritty of what “running a university” really means – from state funding cuts to balancing budgets to more pleasant responsibilities, such as honoring campus diversity and working to better the region.

Much of that results in a stronger, smarter St. Louis, where more than 72 percent of UMSL graduates choose to live and work.

Ladue News has a circulation of 45,000 with copies available on stands across St. Louis, so you can pick up your own and learn how much George has helped the university become a rock for the region.