“I’m not going to go out with you.” Those were among the first words Tina Taylor ’84 spoke to Gary Schmiedel ’83 when the two met as students at Michigan Tech in 1981. The initial no turned into a yes—and led to four decades of marriage, three children, two successful careers, and a legacy of generosity that will assist a dozen other Michigan Tech students.
Choosing Tech
Tina, the oldest of six children, grew up in Gladwin, Michigan. Neither of her parents had a college education, but they encouraged their children to attend (and her mother would later obtain a nursing degree). Tina originally thought she wanted to be a lawyer, but switched to engineering because she liked chemistry and physics. Despite being accepted to many colleges, she chose Michigan Tech because it was the farthest away from Gladwin and had a focus on engineering. She studied chemical engineering because several people from her hometown area worked at Dow Chemical.
Gary was raised in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he and his family spent their free time snowmobiling and boating. His father was a college-educated engineer who worked for Mercury Marine. Gary showed an early aptitude for science and math, and decided to become an engineer himself, majoring in mechanical engineering.
“I looked at MTU, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and UW-Platteville,” he recalls. “My father had worked with Michigan Tech alumni and was impressed. I liked the distance and the climate. It was just far enough away from home, and I enjoyed being outside in the winter.”
The Tech Experience
Gary and Tina Schmiedel’s life of adventure together began at Michigan Tech. Here they are as students visiting Lake of the Clouds in the Porcupine Mountains.
Gary and Tina had similar experiences during their first years on campus—living three students to a room in Wadsworth Hall and learning to thrive away from home.
Academically, Gary recalls learning a lot from the machine design and thermodynamics courses he took. Away from class, he enjoyed Tech’s waterfront. “Because I grew up on a lake, I would go and sit by the Portage Canal between classes.”
Tina has fond memories of Doc Berry’s chemistry class and the Unit Operations Lab run by Anton Pintar. To find peace and quiet, she would study in the Forest Hill Cemetery between Daniell Heights and the Student Development Complex.
Both Gary and Tina became involved in Greek organizations. Gary pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Tina joined Alpha Sigma Tau. “Tech engineering classes taught me how to solve problems, but my time in the sorority really taught me how to work with people,” says Tina.
Despite her initial rebuff, the Schmiedels began dating in 1981, and have been together ever since.
Building a Life in Oshkosh
Gary interned at Oshkosh Truck as a Michigan Tech student and was offered a job when he graduated in 1983. “I had offers from other big-name companies, but I took the job at Oshkosh because it was fun,” he says.
Tina finished at Tech in 1984 with multiple job offers, including one at Dow Chemical, but she promised Gary that she would attend an interview at Proctor & Gamble in Green Bay, close to Oshkosh. “I did it because it was a free trip and I could see Gary,” she recalls. “I went through the P&G tour, and I absolutely fell in love with the job, the people, and the culture.”
She worked at P&G for 17 years, advancing to operations leader for North American Towel in Green Bay before resigning in 2002 to focus on her family and pursue a Master of Business Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
"The world’s got a lot of problems, and the kind of engineers Tech educates are ready to address those problems."
Gary continually advanced at Oshkosh, holding roles of development engineer, director of advanced products engineering, vice president for advanced products, senior vice president of defense engineering, and executive vice president of technology. The company went public in 1985 and, in 2008, changed its name to Oshkosh Corporation. Gary spent his entire career there. “I didn’t have a lot of diversity working for different companies, but I had a lot of diversity with my work and opportunities to grow with numerous market niches,” he says.
Gary worked on multiple types of vehicles, including tactical wheeled vehicles for the US Armed Forces, fire trucks, rescue vehicles, and ready-mix concrete trucks. “From starting as an intern to ending as an executive VP working for the CEO, it was a pretty cool ride,” he says. “Not many people get to do that without hopping around to different employers.”
Tina completed her MBA in 2003. She planned on staying home to raise the couple’s three children, but one of her classmates, the vice president of marketing at Oshkosh, asked if she’d be interested in working for the company.
“I had all these plans to be a stay-at-home mom, and Oshkosh was Gary’s sandbox. But I answered when they called,” she says. “I gave them a list of things I wanted if I was going to take the job, and they gave it all to me.”
During the 12 years Tina worked at Oshkosh, her engineering background was critical in helping her communicate engineering vernacular to customers. She held roles of director of strategic marketing, director of investor relations, and director of strategic initiatives.
Still Connected to Tech
Four decades after first meeting, the Schmiedels are giving back to the University that propelled their careers and brought them together. They return to the Copper Country regularly to visit campus, help their respective Greek organizations, and enjoy the outdoors. Tina was inducted into the Presidential Council of Alumnae in 2014, and both Gary and Tina have helped recruit Michigan Tech students to Proctor & Gamble and Oshkosh Corporation.
“Michigan Tech has a reputation, and it’s well deserved. Graduates are ready to work from the first day. I knew that from my own experience and saw that in others,” Gary says. “The world’s got a lot of problems, and the kind of engineers Tech educates are ready to address those problems.”
The Schmiedels have also financially supported multiple areas across campus, including the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Unit Operations Lab, and several Enterprise teams. Tina and Gary are also funding four-year, full-tuition scholarships at Michigan Tech for 12 students over the next 15 years. Preference for these scholarships will be given to engineering students from the Oshkosh and Gladwin areas.
“We want to help students from where we grew up,” Tina says. “It’s important to model that philanthropy starts at home.”
Michigan Technological University is an R1 public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, and is home to nearly 7,500 students from more than 60 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
