Beth Russell Retiring from Webster After 34 Years of Service

The Webster community is cordially invited to join the Office of Academic Affairs in wishing Beth Russell, Associate Vice President of Graduate Studies, a happy retirement after being part of Webster for 34 years.

Beth has worked in many different roles at Webster, having started in the Graduate School as a program assistant. From there, she became the director of Graduate Admissions for the Graduate School.

As Webster developed new units, Beth continued to progress into new leadership roles. She continued her role as Director of Graduate Admissions in the Office of Admissions, then joined Enrollment Services, followed by the Directorship of the newly created Graduate and Evening Student Admissions Office.

In her next role, Beth was tapped to be the Director of the Downtown campus where she and her team facilitated the campus move into the Old Post Office. She returned to the main campus as the AVP of Extended Campus Administration and later advanced to Assistant Provost of Graduate Studies in the Office of Academic Affairs.

Beth's success and focus on students is linked to her history of first joining Webster as a student herself, earning her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance (Summa cum Laude) and Master of Arts in Marketing with distinction. Beth also holds her PhD from Saint Louis University in Higher Education Administration. Beth joined a strong family history of graduating from Webster and established the Mueller-Russell Scholarship to ensure future generations of students can enjoy the Webster experience too!

Beth also has a long history of promoting Webster through her membership in the Rotary Club of St. Louis, where she served as President from 2017-2018. The Rotary Club has been partnering with Webster for almost 40 years on the 8th Grade Awards, providing promissory scholarships to middle school students from St. Louis Public Schools to come to Webster. The Young Citizens Award was added 7 years ago, offering the same scholarship promise to juniors and seniors.

Sign a Digital Card, Send Farewell Video Message

Community members are asked to sign a digital card and/or to upload a video message to Beth by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 3. Please be sure to sign your name and to not overlap any other message or signature.

Farewell video messages are being collected via OneDrive in Office365 and will require a Webster Connections log-in. These videos can be simple – it’s okay to record the message on your cell phone. Please keep the videos short, but feel free to tell a story. All video messages must be uploaded to this folder.

Please contact Kyle McCool at kylemccool50@webster.edu or Rhonda Lingard at rhondalingard@webster.edu or if you have any questions.