Past Awards
Vicki L. Sauter, Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, has compiled a remarkable record of service to ORSA, TIMS, INFORMS and IFORS. Her involvement with the societies began as an officer of the student chapter of ORSA at Northwestern University where she received her B.S. and M.S. degrees, and in 1980 her PhD degree. Since that time she has held administrative and editorial positions for the societies, chaired many committees and served on many others.
Professor Sauter was instrumental in the activities leading to the merger of ORSA and TIMS and in the formation of INFORMS. She was the first INFORMS Vice President for Subdivisions. In that position, she directed the merger of ORSA sections and TIMS chapters into their current forms and established fora to accommodate other ways of associating members. She created and implemented the procedures for providing representation of the subdivisions on the Board, and managed the creation of the first two societies within INFORMS. Professor Sauter served as chair of the Committee for Policy and Procedures for the Merged Organization, and as chair of the OR/MS Board Policy and Procedures Manual Committee, she single handedly wrote the original Policy and Procedures Manual for INFORMS. After her term as INFORMS Vice-President for Subdivisions, Professor Sauter was elected Treasurer of INFORMS; she was also chairperson of both the Finance and Investment Committees. In addition, she chaired the INFORMS Marketing Strategy Committee and continues to serve as Associate Editor of INFORMS Online.
Before the merger Professor Sauter played active rolls in both ORSA and TIMS. For TIMS she was chairperson of the St. Louis Gateway Chapter and Vice-Chairperson and then Chairperson of the College on Public Programs and Processes. She was Editor of Public Programs and Processes Communications. For ORSA, Professor Sauter served as secretary and as co-secretary of the OR/MS Board. During that time she managed the five referendums that led to the merger of ORSA and TIMS. She was also chair of the ORSA Student Affairs Committee and of the Committee on Student Membership. At that time she founded our student newsletter OR/MS Tomorrow, and was an active participant in the creation of the Doctoral Colloquium.
Professor Sauter was the general chairperson of the 1987 ORSA/TIMS National Meeting in St. Louis. Her other activities for ORSA and TIMS include Board Liaison for Prizes and Awards, and the position of Chairman of the Job Placement System Development Committee. She is currently Chair of the IFORS Educational Resources Initiative and Associate Editor of the IFORS Encyclopedia on Operations Research.
From her student days to the present, Professor Sauter’s dedication to INFORMS, to ORSA and to TIMS has been truly exceptional. For her outstanding contributions, the Institute of Operations Research and the Management Sciences awards the George E. Kimball Medal to Professor Vicki L. Sauter.
Awards presented by Robert Abrams, Committee Chair, and Thomas M. Cook, President October 20, 2003.