Tony Lazarowicz ’08

Assistant Director at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

TONY LAZAROWICZ '08
DEGREE: PSYCHOLOGY, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
campus: Yankton 

Now thriving in a successful career in higher education, Tony Lazarowicz credits MMC with helping him develop into the leader he is today.

Why Mount Marty? 

With a B.A. in psychology/criminal justice/behavioral science, an M.A. in educational psychology and a Ph.D. in higher education administration, Tony Lazarowicz ’08 has dedicated his career to leadership and higher education. But the assistant director at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln didn’t always have the title, degrees or academic know-how that took more than a decade of hard work to earn. In fact, back in 2004, when he was deciding what college to attend for undergrad, he was just a young baseball player looking for a place to study, play ball and, most of all, fit in.

“It was all about the people there that made me initially choose the Mount,” he says.

As part of the Lancer baseball team, Tony found himself among a group of players who soon became friends as well as teammates. Although he says he wasn’t the best player on the team, he still had a team to be accountable to.

“We practiced every day, traveled together for trips, went through the growing pains of a new coach with a very young team to a seasoned coach with a veteran group of players,” he says. “I learned so much about life through my time as a baseball player at Mount Marty. Discipline, time management, accepting defeat but not failure and teamwork were all some of the greatest traits I learned from playing.”

Mount Marty Impact

From coaches to professors, to fellow students and teammates, many people have impacted various aspects of Tony’s life, but he says the most influential person during his time at MMC was Sr. Maribeth Wentzlaff.

“She certainly impacted my spiritual life and helped me grow in my faith but also in my professional life,” he says. “I grew a lot through some of the tough conversations I had with Sr. Maribeth and through the leadership, she provided us as our residential director. She gave me a great framework to use as I work with students today in all of my roles throughout campus.” 

Road to Success

At UNL, Tony serves as a leader, advisor, and advocate for students and the campus community, and he does it all using skills he developed through experiences at MMC.

“Since I work in higher education now, I think everything I did at Mount Marty helped prepare me for this position,” he says. “My experiences in ADMIT Club and working with prospective students, my understanding of all of the aspects of the college system, my endless opportunities to get involved and my overall positive experience have provided me with a passion for education that I share with the students I work with every day.”

And his academic and career success since leaving the Mount, Tony says, have a lot to do with where it all started.

“If you want a place that will challenge you to grow and allow you to spread your wings and get involved in a lot of different things, then don’t pass up Mount Marty,” he says. “The people at Mount Marty are what make that campus thrive, and if you are willing to try something new, you will most certainly have a great experience.”