Biography of Tracy Kijewski-Correa
I was born on June 25, 1975 in East Chicago, IN, to Carol and Vincent Kijewski. Following my parent's divorce, my grandparents, Dorothy and Paul Macak, helped my mother to raise me. Like many in my town, my grandfather worked in the steel mills off of Lake Michigan and my mother worked for Old Republic Insurance in Chicago, while my grandmother stayed at home to raise me. I attended public schools in East Chicago through high school, graduating as Valedictorian and the unlikely Prom Queen of East Chicago Central High School in 1993. During that time I met my future husband Marco one summer day while buying tickets to aa concert. In the fall of 1992, I received an early admit to Notre Dame, and though financially strapped, my family was determined that not only would I become the first to attend college in my family...I would attend Notre Dame. It was the dream of my grandfather who held the school as the pinnacle of Catholic higher education. So I accepted, only to be shocked several months later when my grandfather fell ill. I moved in with my grandparents for a few months before leaving for college to help care for him.
I began my undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame in 1993 in Civil Engineering. Notre Dame was the perfect school for me in terms of size and its mission of Catholic education, being a life long Catholic "subway alum." The proximity was also ideal as it allowed me to travel frequently between South Bend and East Chicago to visit my grandfather who was failing. In 1997, I graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering and a concentration in structures. My graduation was th elast event my grandfather attended before passing away. During my time at Notre Dame, I was fortunate to begin undergraduate research under Dr. Ahsan Kareem, which helped prepare me for my graduate school career. I applied to a number of programs in the midwest, but ultimately decided to continue my research program with Ahsan at Notre Dame. I completed a Masters in Civil Engineering in 2000 and my PhD in 2003, during that time my grandmother was diagonosed with late stage cancer and Notre Dame and my advisor again supported me as I juggled tremendous family tragedy with the demands of graduate education.
I
was then faced with a difficult professional decision--where to begin my career?
Though my decision strayed from convention, I decided to stay at Notre Dame,
where I would be best equipped to continue research programs in Chicago and
impact the lives of students within a small, private school environment founded
on Catholic ideals.
Throughout
the trials of my education, my husband Marco Correa and my family served as
one constant in my life. They are quite important to me and the decision to
stay at Notre Dame now enables Marco and I to maintain our ties with family back home. Marco and I were married
on July 17, 1999 after a long courtship beginning back in my senior year of
high school. It was an amazing moment in my life, and I am proud to say that
I was surrounded by all my friends and family.
Outside
of my work and family, there are two driving forces in my life: music and
sports. I can remember building my collection of music at the age of 7 or
8, beginning with the Police and then moving into the House Music that swept
the inner cities in the 1980's. As I moved into junior high and high school,
this expanded into New Wave, Alternative (as it was formerly known in the
days of Dave Kendall's 120 Minutes) and Industrial/Goth. I frequented concerts in Chicago, which was a
great environment for meeting people and hearing new styles of music.
Today, I continue to be a great fan of all music, but especially that
of the eighties, while embracing many electronic genres, e.g. electro, high
energy techno, EBM, house music, jungle, drum & bass. Of course, I still
enjoy early goth bands like The Cure, Siouxsie, Bauhaus, Dead Can Dance, and
Joy Division, as well as the “shoegazer” alternative rock of The Smiths, Ride
and the Jesus and Mary Chain.
I think my love of sport came from my grandmother, whose avid love of baseball filled my summer evenings since I was a child. My grandfather's love of Notre Dame football, which somewhat contributed to my college choice, and Indiana University Basketball filled our cold fall and winter days with endless conversation. From a very young age, I knew how to score a baseball game and how to spot the option. With great passion, our family supports, cheers, and scrutinizes the every move of our favorite teams. Traditionally, we are a Notre Dame family, in all sports but most certainly in football. Our MLB team is the Chicago White Sox. Don't even mention the Cubs unless you plan to bash them. The rivalries of Chicago are quite intense and our family pulls no punches! We are generally fans of Big Ten sports, though IU basketball has been our family's staple for years, though we are also loyal to ND. (We have to be careful now that I have cousins at both IU and Purde). In the NFL and NBA, of course it is Da Bears and Da Bulls, as we are true Chicagoans at heart. For myself, though I love college football and basketball, MLB is my favorite sport and I live and die with the White Sox.
Well,
I hope you enjoy your tour of the Dark City...
