Sally & Dean Teresinski

Sally Teresinski knew in first grade she would become a teacher. She attended a country school and finished high school with no post-secondary education guidance available to her. On the advice of her school’s superintendent, Sally majored in library science and English, graduating from the Wisconsin State College Oshkosh in 1959. She taught English at Coleman High School and then Oshkosh High School, before taking a year off to earn her master’s degree in library science from UW-Madison. After graduate school, she joined UW Oshkosh as the curriculum librarian, working there for 13 years. Sally retired in 1994 as a librarian for Winneconne High School.

Dean Teresinski graduated from high school at a time when high school graduates weren’t encouraged to go on to higher education. He took a short course in hydromatic mechanics in Detroit and worked at a local garage. In 1951, he joined the Navy. During his service time, he received the National Defense Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal. When he left the service, he spent a year at St. Norbert College and later worked at the Northern Paper Mill in Green Bay. In 1964, he earned his BS in chemistry from Wisconsin State College Oshkosh. He worked as a chemist and plant manager for Paragon Products and retired from IGI Wax in 1996. Dean passed away in 2011.

Sally established the Sally (Selner) & Dean Teresinski Scholarship in 2015. She and Dean are committed to helping students who want to gain an education that will make them good and contributing citizens to our society. They wanted to support future teachers and give back to UW Oshkosh for the valuable educations they both received.