BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

Over the past quarter-century, professor Maureen Tippen has taken more than 250 University of Michigan-Flint nursing students on service-learning journeys to Africa, Asia and Latin America.
From providing clinical trainings in orphanages and educating nurses and lay people about CPR in Cambodia to developing a partnership with a safe house to serve women escaping life in the sex trade and giving instructions on how to prevent Zika virus in the Dominican Republic, the Clarkston resident has built international partnerships in Peru, India, Kenya, Laos and elsewhere, always supporting the community’s needs.
Tippen, clinical associate professor emerita of nursing, is this year’s recipient of the U-M Presidential Award for Distinguished Service in International Education.
“I was honored and shocked to learn first I had been nominated, and secondly, that I was chosen to receive the award,” Tippen said. “The nomination is submitted by colleagues, so just knowing that my colleagues nominated was an honor in itself. Being recognized for international work means so much.
“You just kind of plug along at something for so long it really becomes part of your life, so being recognized for the passion of the work is humbling.”
Tippen, who retired in May, started teaching at UM-Flint in 1994, back when the nursing program was new. After volunteering for a medical mission trip to the Dominican Continued from Page 1
Republic the following year, she brought to life the campus’ first academic international service-learning course.
“While I was working on that first medical mission and was new to teaching, I thought, ‘Why can’t students be part of this?’” she said. “I proposed the idea and with lots of preparation, innovation and risk taking, the International Service Learning in the Dominican Republic was born.”
Later on, she volunteered in Cambodia, made connections and brought the country into the UM-Flint service-learning trips, taking students there every other year since then. The same happened in the other countries she served.
“Service has always been important to me and started in my youth working via school programs at Pontiac Catholic High School and Girl Scouts,” explained Tippen. “In college, I was involved in volunteer activities at Northern Michigan University’s college campus and that carried over into my work life and career.
“Service work becomes a lifestyle. Research supports that if children are introduced early in life, it becomes a part of life. I believe that is probably what happened to me. It is rather addicting, quite honestly. Exposing yourself to different types of people and cultures broadens your views on the world and understanding different perspectives.”
Also known as “an avid pediatric fan,” Tippen said working with children has always been her passion.
“The laughter and play of children is the same everywhere,” she said. “My clinical experience and education is working with children, so the opportunity to service children globally has enriched my life forever. Even in the worst of poverty, children are resilient and adventuresome. We can learn from children if we just talk less and listen more.”
What does Tippen get out of her work? Or is it fair to say that seeing others benefit is the true reward?
“Tough question – it has just become part of me,” she said. “The current pandemic has me concerned I will not get back soon enough. Partnerships that are established look forward to our annual visits and prepare for us. I keep in contact regularly with them and learn how they are struggling with the pandemic in different ways. When we as Americans want to complain about wearing a mask, situations in other countries are much worse off without the resources we have.
“The true reward is seeing the appreciation for even small acts of kindness and also seeing people make small changes with the knowledge you provide for them; empowering others is rewarding. Even though we cannot solve many things, people know we care enough about them to provide services they need.
“Paying this forward has happened as I see these movements towards change.”
Tippen has lived in Clarkston for 26 years, and has been a member of the Clarkston Wolfpack Runners for all 26, too.
She said this has been a team effort, that her family has always been supportive of her work both locally and aborad and has regularly assisted her in collecting supplies and packing.
“My children’s friends over the years would know when they came to our house I had a job for them,” laughed Tippen.
“When I sit in my rocking chair in my elder years, these memories are what I hope will make a difference in my life.”