ONYX ANNEAU - FALL 2025

Amanda Jensen Wright ’03, Ph.D. Believes in Articulation Agreement Between SMWC and Marian University

By Betsy Simon Digital and Brand Marketing Manager

When Dr. Amanda Jensen Wright ’03, met the more than 200 incoming first-year medical students and master’s degree students at Marian University’s Tom and Julie Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine this fall, she greeted them as she does every new class – each with an acorn and a special message just for them. May you be curious. May you be strong. May you keep promises. “I’ve taken the Saint Mary-of-the Woods College’s (SMWC) acorn and lovingly stolen pieces, and it’s become a neat tradition now at Marian, too,” said Wright, who has been dean of Wood College since 2020. “I stress that they have all the potential to do anything they want, but it means they’ll have to have the right soil, and we will provide all of it that we can.” It’s an offer now extended to her alma mater after SMWC signed an articulation agreement with the Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine last May. Under the agreement, Marian’s Osteopathic Medicine program will reserve a total of 10 interview spots for SMWC students. Five spots are for early decision, meaning qualified students could interview for Marian’s School of Osteopathic Medicine in September of their senior year at SMWC and receive an acceptance decision within one week. The other five spots are for students in the guaranteed interview track. This ensures students an interview in October of their senior year at SMWC with an acceptance decision by November.

The photo above is from a 2003 Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College promotional piece. Jensen, shown in her Le Fer Hall dorm room, graduated from SMWC, as well as the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (Midwestern University). Today, Amanda Jensen Wright ‘03, Ph.D. is the dean of Marian University’s Tom and Julie Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine. SMWC and Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine signed an articulation agreement in 2025.

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