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Mary Neville Bielefeld Award

DR. PATRICIA SHANNON JANZ, ARTS '62, GRAD '90, '96
Brookfield, Wis.

Patricia was a school psychologist for 10 years, infusing what she calls “the Marquette difference” — gleaned from her three degrees here — into helping children learn more effectively.

She grew up in Wauwatosa, Wis., and has lived within a 10-mile radius her entire life. Her parents valued highly Jesuit education, so it was only natural that she and her brothers attended Marquette, her first as an undergraduate and then as a master’s and doctoral student in the College of Education’s Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology.

“I learned to be inquisitive, to have respect for self and others,” says Patricia, who worked in the Elmbrook School District. “Peeling back the impediments to a child’s learning was like being an investigator in a complicated case.”

These days, Patricia is a member of the Marquette Women’s Council and sponsors the Patricia C. Janz Scholarship, need- and character-based funds for graduate students enrolled in the Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology. She also recently was on the board of directors of her high school alma mater, Divine Savior Holy Angels.

“I try to live with the Marquette spirit. It permeates everything we do and urges us to strive for excellence in the areas of faith, leadership and service to others,” she says.

On a personal level, Patricia enjoys spending time with her 12 grandchildren and husband Jim, Bus Ad ’62, Law ’64, whom she met after their freshman year in high school. Jim, a Marquette trustee, received the Law School’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award in 2002.

“Even at that young age, I could see he was different, a man with strong and lofty values, a star to hang on to,” she says. “And I did.”

The couple is a member of the President’s Society, and three of their children are alumni.