Service Award
Teresa M. Sippel Schmidt, Eng ’87, Grad ’92
Okauchee, Wis.
When asked to define success, Teri Sippel Schmidt cites the Marquette motto, “Be the Difference.” In her fields of medical research and health care delivery, this means “you need to have the right values,” she says, “and keep the patient first, always.” She also believes in supporting fellow researchers with open-source data and encouraging students and the next generation of researchers. “They are the ones who will carry this work forward,” she says, “because this is a long journey.”
Growing up, Teri watched her father’s long journey with leukemia and often attended medical appointments with him. “My father's oncologist would challenge me at the age of 9 or 10 to explain back to him what he had just told my father about his disease,” she recalls. As daunting as those interactions were, they set her on her future path. “I am passionate about my job because I know I am helping physicians care for patients,” she says.
Today, Teri is deeply involved in the Marquette chapter of the Society of Women in Engineering (SWE) and its outreach program. Studies show that the number of girls interested in STEM fields nearly doubles when they have role models, so Marquette’s SWE outreach program sends SWE students to area middle schools. “It has expanded dramatically to include 90 students at the schools with 14 Marquette SWE and other engineering students involved consistently between our 20 site visits throughout the semester,” Teri says.
Receiving this Service Award “is a reminder that the commitment to ‘Be the Difference’ is not a moment,” she says, “but a lifelong calling.”
What advice from your own experiences would you share with fellow Marquette alumni or current students?
Work hard. You do not need to be the smartest person in the room. You just need to be in the room.
I also invite all Marquette alumni to get involved in more service work. Not because they need to, but because it is meaningful, fulfilling and fun.
