Employment and education:

Debi wears many hats in the SIU School of Medicine Office of Residency Affairs, where she has been employed at SIU for 16 years. Additionally, Debi teaches adjunct at LLCC. She graduated with honors and received her Associate in Applied Science, electronic data processing from LLCC. She graduated summa cum laude from Greenville College with her bachelor's degree in organizational leadership.

How has Lincoln Land Community College impacted your life?

I grew up with LLCC!  I was a young girl when a man came to our house and talked with my dad about supporting a new community college being built a few miles from our house. When LLCC opened, my dad signed up for classes at “Plywood U,” and I vividly remember him studying and writing papers. My mother worked full time in the business office at LLCC for many years. After graduating from high school, I started taking classes at LLCC and also started working part time in registration. I have seen the landscape of the campus change and grow over the years.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

My greatest accomplishment, after raising two wonderful children, has been finding my voice as a patient advocate. After multiple devastating experiences with the health care system, I’ve been working to try to improve communication between patients and medical professionals on what I call the “front end” of the health care system. I’ve done a number of presentations to physicians, faculty and staff at the medical school and hospitals.

A piece that I wrote about my husband’s experiences has been published by Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine and a video presentation that I did was featured on the RxFilm website. My great hope is that these efforts are improving things for patients and families.

I have also been selected as employee of the month, then the 2015 employee of the year at SIU and honored as the adjunct faculty of the  year at LLCC in 2009.

Was there a professor, advisor, staff member or fellow student who made an impression on you or helped you when you were here at LLCC?

Every person I have encountered at LLCC had a great impact on me. I had many great professors over the years, and since my teenage years, I have worked with many amazing people at LLCC. And as an adjunct member, I’ve also encountered and worked with many fantastic students.

What did you like about LLCC or what is your favorite LLCC memory?

My graduation at LLCC was a great occasion, from the Honors Breakfast to the actual ceremony. There seemed to be thousands of us walking in graduation that event, but each of us was honored individually for all of our accomplishments. That’s one thing that I really like about LLCC – everyone is an individual and not just a tiny part of an enormous student body.