West Bend, Wi – Mae Stepanski, daughter of Timothy Stepanski and Elizabeth Stepanski of West Bend, Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in May 2025. The college is one of only 34 accredited veterinary schools in the United States.
Dr. Stepanski and her fellow graduates in the Class of 2025 were educated under an innovative veterinary curriculum pioneered at Illinois. The Illinois curriculum focuses on integrating the clinical skills and basic sciences relevant to veterinary practice throughout the four-year doctoral degree program.
Students in the Illinois program, unlike those in other veterinary curricula, spend 15 weeks during the first two years of study embedded in veterinary practice areas and practicing clinical skills in an extensive learning center equipped with models and simulations.
Dr. Stepanski graduated from West Bend East High School in West Bend, Wisconsin, in 2015. She obtained her undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a minor in biology in 2019.
At a recent college awards celebration, Dr. Stepanski was awarded the Dr. Norman and Helen Levine Scholarship, an award designated for academic merit and financial need. She also received the Merck Veterinary Manual Award, for fourth-year students with a grade point average of 3.50 or greater.
Dr. Stepanski will be attending a small animal rotating internship in Ohio with plans to pursue a residency in small animal surgery.
You said this is what you wanted to be when you were 5 years old and never changed course…even when it took you 3 tries to get accepted into Med School. We are very proud of you!!! Love, Mom & Dad.