Suzanne Wasiolek, T'76, MHA'78, LLM'93

Dean of Students, Duke University

"The one thing no one can ever take away from you is a great education."

Suzanne Wasiolek has made a lasting impact on thousands of lives in her 27 years of counseling and mentoring students. Affectionately known as "Dean Sue," Duke's dean of students and assistant vice president for student affairs was able to attend the university herself thanks to a financial aid package of loans, grants and work.

"I realized from a young age that if I was going to attend college I'd have to find a way to pay for it," says Wasiolek, daughter of a Charlotte, N.C. textile mill worker and a check processor. "So the financial support Duke offered was crucial." And so was the education: It was as a resident assistant at Duke that she discovered her passion for interacting with students—what has become her life's work.