When Wendy Madsen took a receptionist job at Ryan Companies in 1976, she didn’t know where her career would take her. More than four decades later, she retired from the company as a regional director of management.

Wendy’s connection to Concordia University, St. Paul resulted from her move up the ladder. At the age of 30, she decided to pursue a college education to advance her career at Ryan. Wendy and her late husband, Dion, had two small children in addition to her working full time. So, she took one to two community-college courses a semester for 10 years before enrolling in the adult program at CSP.

Wendy eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and communication and then a master’s degree in the same program.

In fact, that education changed Wendy’s life.

“The end result of receiving both degrees opened so many new doors for me,” she says.

Now she hopes to impact other non-traditional students like her. To do so, Wendy established a scholarship in her adopted daughters’ Korean first names, as well as provided a lead gift to help launch CSP’s Elevating Leaders: Women’s Endowed Scholarship, a collaborative endowment that offers scholarships to female adult undergraduate and graduate students.

“I hope that my giving, along with others, attracts women and men to fulfill their educational goals at CSP and provides the steppingstones to build their careers and a successful future,” Wendy says.

Adds Mark Hill, Vice President for Advancement, “This gift will change countless lives, and we celebrate having Wendy’s legacy forever tied to the generations of tomorrow.”

Support CSP by creating your own legacy through planning your gift and joining forces to lift up future CSP students. Contact Mark Hill at 651-641-8223 or hill@csp.edu.