Social media handles for all moderators and panelists may be found at webster.edu/deiconference2024 .
an emphasis in video production, from Lindenwood University.
public history and exhibits teams. As president and CEO, Sowell will oversee one of the biggest transformations in MHS history with three new core galleries planned for the decade ahead and with plans to share more of the MHS collection than has ever been shared before. Prior to MHS, Sowell was an academic and a journalist. He was assistant professor of journalism at the University of Missouri- Columbia’s School of Journalism and has served as an adjunct professor at Fontbonne University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Saint Louis University (SLU). He continues to teach at SLU. He started his career as a journalist, working as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and as an editor at the Columbia Missourian. He regularly speaks about the power of public history, how to connect people to their shared past, and how St. Louisans can use their past to help build a better future for the region. He appears every week on KMOV’s CBS Sunday Morning in the popular “STL History Minute” segments. Sowell earned his doctorate in American Studies from SLU and earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Southern Methodist University.
Faith Sandler (she/her/hers) Executive Director The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis Faith Sandler is executive director of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis, a position she has held since 1989. From 2009–15,
she served as founding co-chair of St. Louis Graduates where she continued for five more years as chair of advocacy. Prior, Sandler was staff lead on a committee appointed by the federal court under the metropolitan desegregation plan to evaluate programs in Saint Louis Public Schools. She taught nonprofit ethics and accountability at Washington University in St. Louis and has been guest lecturer at several regional higher education institutions. Sandler has served on boards and committees regionally and nationally. She currently volunteers to provide harm reduction support for opioid users in St. Louis City’s west end neighborhood. Sandler earned a master’s degree in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Redlands.
Jody Sowell, PhD (he/him/his) President & CEO Missouri Historical Society
Annie Stevens, PhD (he/him/his) Adjunct Professor Webster University
Jody Sowell, PhD, serves as the seventh president in the 156-year history of the Missouri Historical Society (MHS). Though new
Annie Stevens has taught classes in religious studies and global citizenship at Webster University since 2005. A lifelong student and educator, her research interests focus on the history of women religious in context of race and world cultures. She served as an editor for Joan Campbell’s “Loretto: An Early American Congregation in the Antebellum South” (2015) and has presented her research at conferences of the American Catholic Historical Association and the Conference on the History of Women Religious. She is the author of a forthcoming cover article for American Catholic Studies journal on the bicentennial of the death of Reverend Charles Nerinckx, Belgian priest founder of the Sisters of Loretto. Since 2022, she has served as lead researcher and writer for the Loretto Roots Enslavement Project, studying individuals and families enslaved by the Sisters of Loretto prior to the Civil War and tracing their descendants
to the position, appointed in July 2022, he is hardly new to MHS or to St. Louis. He has worked at MHS for 16 years and has lived in St. Louis for 19 years. Sowell has served in several roles in his time at MHS. As oral historian, he conducted interviews with test pilots, air hostesses and NASA’s first aerospace nurse for an exhibit about St. Louis’ aviation history. As a public historian, he became one of the primary spokespeople for the institution, leading tours, giving presentations and recording “Here’s History” segments for KDHX radio. As director of exhibitions and research, Sowell and his team opened eight of the 10 most visited exhibits in MHS’ history, including the exhibit that commemorated St. Louis’ 250 th birthday. As managing director of public history, he led the education, programing, publications, communications, evaluation,
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