Three-time Penn State graduate Teri Spence was a voracious reader as a child. Growing up in extreme poverty in Southwest Missouri, she made her way through the entire set of Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias — not because anyone told her to, but because she was hungry for a world she couldn’t yet reach.
She always wanted to go to college. She just couldn’t see how.
Her drive eventually led her to Penn State World Campus, where she completed three degrees — earning an associate in 2010, a bachelor’s in 2012, and a master’s in 2015 — all online while working full-time at Penn State and raising a family. Each degree opened something the previous one couldn’t.
Today, she serves as Penn State’s Director of Academic Compliance — a role that would have been unreachable from where she started.
Read more about Spence’s story in the Q&A below.
You grew up in Southwest Missouri in difficult circumstances but with a real love of learning. What was that like, and when did you first start to believe that college might actually be possible for you?
I came from a childhood of extreme poverty and always wanted to pursue higher education but never saw how it could be possible. As a child, I read the entire set of Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias — I was a voracious reader and still am, and have always had a love of learning.
College always felt like something meant for other people — people with money, stability, and support. So when I finally did find a way forward, it felt almost unreal. It was this mix of relief, pride, and a deep sense of “maybe I really can do this.” It was as if a door I’d been staring at my entire childhood finally cracked open.
What drew you to Penn State World Campus, and what made it the right fit for your life at the time?
Flexibility was very important to me. I appreciated that I could continue my responsibilities of being a wife, mother, and full-time employee while I pursued my education. World Campus allowed me to work around my regular life duties, and after I saw that I could accomplish an associate degree, it gave me the confidence I needed to keep going.
You went through some incredibly hard circumstances — including your husband’s three battles with leukemia and two bone marrow transplants. How did you keep moving forward?
Those periods of my life were incredibly difficult. There were moments when everything felt overwhelming — managing work, being a caregiver, being a parent, and trying to keep up with my course work. It often felt like I was balancing my future and my fears at the exact same time.
What kept me going was a combination of hope, determination, and the belief that continuing my education was one thing I could control when so much else felt uncertain.
My studies gave me structure and an escape during chaos and reminded me that I was still building something for our family, even in the darkest moments. My husband and my children were huge motivators, too — I wanted to show them resilience, and I wanted to build a more secure future for all of us.
Even on the hardest days, that purpose pushed me forward.
As director of academic compliance at Penn State, how does what you learned through your World Campus degrees show up in the work you do every day?
My World Campus degrees — especially my master’s in human resources and employment relations — shape my work every day. In my role, I constantly draw on what I learned about policy, regulations, equitable practices, and collaborating with others. The program taught me how to think critically, how to understand the intent behind rules, and how to apply them in ways that support both the institution and the individuals it serves.
When I finished my master’s degree, I was offered a director-level position at Penn State that I wouldn’t have been considered for had I not had an advanced degree. Since then, I’ve been re-positioned to a director of academic compliance role, Penn State’s first such position. My experience was critical to the role, but my educational accomplishments were certainly heavily considered, as well.
What does it mean to you to have changed your family’s story?
Changing my family’s story means everything to me. I grew up in circumstances where education felt out of reach, and I carried that sense of limitation for a long time. Earning my degrees didn’t just open doors for my own career — it reshaped what my children see as possible for themselves. They watched me study late at night, on weekends, and at the hospital during my husband’s stays, balance work and caregiving, and push through incredibly difficult moments without giving up.
Seeing them aim higher because of the path I carved is one of the proudest feelings of my life. It feels like our family’s trajectory shifted from one defined by scarcity and struggle to one defined by opportunity, resilience, and belief in our own potential.
Knowing that my children started their adult lives with possibilities I never had — that’s the true impact of this journey.
This Q&A is part of “40k alumni: 40 stories celebrating 40,000 graduates,” a series marking the milestone of more than 40,000 Penn Staters earning their degrees online through Penn State World Campus.