Service Award

Karen George Niego, H Sci ’03, Grad ’05
Lake Bluff, Ill.

Karen Niego co-founded Therapy Volunteers International (TVI) to provide critical pediatric therapies to children in Central and South America. Through TVI, children without access receive cost-free speech, occupational, physical and behavioral therapy, transforming lives one step at a time. Karen and her team are living out Marquette’s values of excellence, faith, service and leadership by serving under-resourced communities in Central and South America.

For Karen, the opportunity to partner with local organizations in Central and South America to create meaningful change is extremely valuable and fulfilling. Through TVI, Karen and her team have built strong and collaborative partnerships connecting clinicians, universities, government ministries and children in need to maximize each child’s development potential.

Karen has spent over 15 years as a speech-language pathologist in private practice, building a thriving network of clinics in greater Chicago that provide pediatric speech, occupational, physical and behavioral therapy. Driven by a strong desire to help children in need, she founded Therapy Volunteers to bring essential therapy services to children outside the U.S. who otherwise would not have access. In Belize alone, Therapy Volunteers now serves hundreds of children, collaborates with the Belizean Ministry of Education and facilitates volunteer experiences involving dozens of top U.S. clinical graduate programs.

Karen wanted to create sustainable change and positively impact the lives of children on an international scale. She credits Marquette with teaching her the importance of hard work, service and the strength of community, traits she passes on to her colleagues.

Fun Facts:

Name a Marquette faculty or staff member who had an impact on you, and how.

Wendy Krueger was my clinical supervisor during graduate school and had a positive impact on me. During my diagnostic placement, I was evaluating clients with speech and language concerns. At that time, the class was organized so you would work with a partner. There was an odd number of classmates in our class, so I did all the diagnostic testing without a partner. Mrs. Krueger walked me through this challenging experience. That is something I will always remember. At the time it was stressful, but it helped me start my career with more confidence.

What is one of your favorite Marquette memories?

Without a doubt, my favorite Marquette memory was the 2003 basketball season as Marquette advanced in the tournament. When Marquette advanced to each round, my friends and I scraped together all the money we could find (with the help of our parents) and made the trip to each city, with the final trip to New Orleans for the Final Four. It is a month I’ll always think of fondly. And I still have a T-shirt that Dwyane Wade autographed at the celebration party in Minneapolis.