Friend of the College Award

COREEN DICUS-JOHNSON, COMM '93
Milwaukee

Coreen credits Marquette with helping her discover a truth about herself: She needs a career that engages not just her brain, but her spirit, too. And she’s found just that at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, where she is a ministry leader, as well as president of the system’s central market, which includes three hospitals and a medical group.

“My work at Wheaton allows me to use my talents in law and business to ensure that anyone in the community who needs quality health care services can get access,” she says. “I have said often that my work at Wheaton is a calling because it can be difficult to balance the financial aspects of taking care of the poor and maintain financial viability, but I love every minute of the challenge. My work feeds my pocketbook and my soul.”

She sits on the College of Professional Studies Advisory Council and also has served as a board member for a private school and the American Heart Association. “However, most of my community service work has been focused on ending the cycle of domestic violence,” she says. She has spent 15 years working with the Task Force on Family Violence and Sojourner Family Peace Center to raise awareness and funds.

Her latest mission: the capital campaign for Sojourner Family Peace Center. The new facility “will allow our clients to significantly reduce the number of places that they must go to for services to begin the process of healing and breaking the cycle of violence in their lives,” she says.

Hometown: Las Vegas.
Favorite book: Fish! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul and John Christensen.
Dream dinner guest: Eleanor Roosevelt.
Marquette faculty member who had an impact: “Dr. Claire Badaracco. She was someone who always cared about her students and took a personal interest in me during times when I needed extra support.”
Favorite Marquette memories: “There are so many, but some of my favorite memories were times when my friends and I grabbed a blanket and our books and studied on Tory Hill.”
Career she aspired to in grade school: “A lawyer, because I did not know a female lawyer. My dad’s lawyer friends were all male.”
Most influential person: “My Sunday school teacher, Christine Reynolds, when I was a young woman. She instilled in me that I could go anywhere or do anything if I had a great education.”