BME’s Tammy Siemers receives 2025 Community Spirit Award

Community has always been a cornerstone of Tammy Siemers’ life.

Kindness and generosity are traits that she inherited from her family members, who often shared what little they had with those around them, and eventually selflessness became second nature to her.

“I have always had a passion for volunteering; that’s how I was raised,” said Siemers, associate director of graduate programs in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. “I was told that it was really important to help others in need, and so I’ve always enjoyed doing that — making people smile and making sure they know that others care about them.”

In recognition of her longtime volunteer efforts, the Management and Professional Staff Advisory Committee and Campus Support Staff Advisory Committee have selected Siemers as the 2025 winner of the Community Spirit Award, presented annually to a Purdue staff member who sets a high standard for service, encourages a sustained commitment to civic participation and inspires others to make service a central part of their lives. Siemers is the 14th Purdue employee to receive the award since its inception in 2011.

When she’s not at work, Siemers often stays busy lending her time and compassion to local organizations like Food Finders Food Bank — where she can be found stocking shelves, sorting produce or running a register — or at annual community events like Lafayette Urban Ministry’s Jubilee Christmas, where she helps parents select toys and gifts for their children. 

Though she’s always carved out time for community causes, her passion for volunteering was amplified by the service-learning program offered at her sons’ elementary school, which became the ideal outlet for Siemers to instill in her children the same principles that she learned as a child.

Side by side, they’d accumulate service hours at Food Finders, with Siemers working to ensure her sons understood the impact of each shift and how the effects went beyond fulfilling a school requirement.

“I did not have to do that with them, but I just found it was a great way to bond with my kids and to teach them about certain things,” Siemers said. “Growing up, my family wasn’t the wealthiest, so I know how important these services can be to families. And I try to make sure that my kids understand that as well.”

That mindset has also spilled over into her professional life, empowering her to create opportunities for students enrolled in the BME Professional Master’s Program to embrace the value of community outside campus bounds.

Each semester, Siemers organizes service-learning and team-building activities like walking dogs at Natalie’s Second Chance shelter, raising funds for and participating in Greater Lafayette’s annual Hunger Hike and packing sack lunches for Lafayette Urban Ministry’s winter warming stations.

“This is just my way of making sure they have a chance to build their own community while also giving back to the community that they’re living in,” Siemers said.

Whether she’s volunteering by herself, with her family or alongside Purdue students, Siemers focuses on meeting people where they’re at, wherever that may be. And if she can influence others to open themselves to that perspective then her work has been worthwhile.

“We all have our own lens and know what our stories are, but our stories aren’t the same as everybody else’s,” Siemers said. “And so I think understanding and appreciating that people’s lives may or may not look the same way as ours is important.”