Debbi D. LoCicero '80

Debbi D. LoCicero graduated from the UWM School of Architecture in May 1980, when the US was in the midst of one of the worst recessions it had seen for some time. Unemployment was on the rise, peaking at an average of 7.5% nationwide in July 1980. As a new architectural graduate, jobs were incredibly hard to come by. She took a chance and applied for a summer job with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Nebraska, hoping to get a few months of experience and a salary. This was outside her comfort zone, and away from friends and family, but it was a chance she was willing to take to work in a highly competitive market. Little did she know that that summer job would be her entry into the best career choice she could have made. That opportunity translated into a full-time position and subsequently a rewarding 32-year federal career. She attributes her hiring to the education she received at UWM.

She states, “The day I started working for the Department of Defense changed my life as a person and as an architect. My projects would make a difference in the lives of active duty military, their families, and retirees, and every day I went to work I thought about these users in my buildings.”