Maureen Wadiak ’80 reflects on the value of a private education and giving back to the Seton Hall community.
A few years ago, Maureen Wadiak ’80 retired from a rewarding career in social work that included case management, program development, administration and teaching. Having spent decades in a profession devoted to helping others, Wadiak is grateful for the support she, herself, received on her journey.
Reflecting on the ways Seton Hall contributed to her sense of fulfillment, she credits the faculty members and internship supervisors who taught and mentored her. “You really felt like they knew you and paid attention to you,” says Wadiak, a commuter student who graduated with a degree in social work. “They were committed to providing quality education and experiences.”
To this day, Wadiak remembers phoning Joseph Palenski, her former Research Methods professor, to ask him for help understanding a concept — after she had already graduated.
Not only was Palenski happy to talk her through it, he acknowledged that her question helped him to consider the topic differently.
For Wadiak, the exchange illuminated her positive feelings about the Seton Hall faculty. “I thought, ‘My goodness — that level of commitment, and that way he valued my point of view.’ These things resonated for me, then, and throughout my life,” she says.
This appreciation for Seton Hall’s dedication to its students motivated Wadiak and her husband, David, to establish an endowed scholarship at the University. “We feel very grateful that we were able to go to private schools,” she says, noting how they both benefited from smaller class sizes and meaningful student-faculty interactions. David attended Stevens Institute of Technology and was an engineer at Lockheed Martin for over 30 years. “Dave and I feel very, very strongly about wanting to give back so that other young people have that opportunity.”
One influential opportunity Wadiak benefited from at Seton Hall was a six-week oncology social work internship at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, where she interacted regularly with the clinical staff, including the chief oncologist.
“At the time, I was very hesitant about opening my mouth in that professional setting — a room full of doctors,” she says. “But Dr. Cohen [the chief oncologist] would say, ‘Maureen, we want to hear from you. What do you think?’ My internship supervisor, Mimi, an oncology social worker, also encouraged me to speak up. They gave me confidence. They empowered me to have a voice.”
Wadiak went on to graduate school at Columbia University, and then she and David moved to California. She continued to help others, working at Palo Alto Information Services and United Way of Santa Clara County before joining Community Services Agency (CSA) in Mountain View as the director of programs in 1997. She remained with CSA for 20 years, expanding its Food and Nutrition Center to incorporate a dignified grocery store model, and implementing bilingual nutrition education classes, healthcare partnerships, as well as a successful Challenge Diabetes program.
In 2017, she retired from CSA as the associate director and was honored by the agency as a Hometown Hero.
While that accolade reflects her at-the-time locale, she says she’ll always be a “Jersey girl” at heart – and, thanks to the Wadiaks’ scholarship endowment, Seton Hall students will benefit from their heartfelt generosity well into the future.
Lori (Varga) Riley, M.A. ’06, is a freelance writer living in New Jersey.
