Marsden Fisher, SIU Carbondale’s 2025 Student Lincoln Laureate and an aspiring veterinarian, rewards her dog, Echo, a German shepherd mix, to train her on proprioception, or the body’s ability to sense its own position and movements in space. This technique teaches the dog to engage the hind legs separately, which improves core strength and balance. Erin Perry¸ an SIU animal science professor and Fisher’s mentor, looks on. (Photos by Russell Bailey)
October 14, 2025
SIU’s 2025 Lincoln Laureate seeks to help people by helping animals
CARBONDALE, Ill. — If you try to keep pace with Marsden Fisher, bring good boots and an even better planner. In the past year alone, the Southern Illinois University Carbondale senior has co-captained an Army ROTC Ranger Challenge team, revived a sustainability organization that now stewards a campus butterfly garden, and maintained a 4.0 GPA in a demanding zoology major with a pre-veterinary specialization. Add to that her contributions to SIU’s canine sciences research program.
This blend of intellect, initiative and service has earned Fisher recognition as a 2025 Student Lincoln Laureate — the Lincoln Academy of Illinois’ highest honor for undergraduate leadership, civic engagement and overall excellence. Former University Honors Program Director Jyotsna Kapur, who chaired the faculty selection committee representing each of SIU’s academic colleges, said Fisher “exemplifies the values of ‘Learn. Lead. Serve.’” — the honors program’s core mission — with an impact that reaches well beyond campus.
For those achievements, Fisher will be in Springfield on Saturday, Oct. 18, to receive the Lincoln Medal and certificate of merit alongside fellow Student Laureates.
Finding purpose in service
Raised in Yorkville, Ill., Fisher came to SIU with a straightforward goal: become a veterinarian. A six-week study abroad program at Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservancy in Zimbabwe refined that focus. Helping animals is meaningful, she said; helping the people who depend on them is transformative. The experience aligned her ambitions to serve as a U.S. Army veterinarian — supporting working-dog units, humanitarian missions and public health efforts where animal and human well-being intersect.
That synthesis — science, service, leadership — now threads through everything she does. Beyond her zoology coursework, Fisher stacks minors in animal science, chemistry and leadership in military science. She tutors peers and has served as a resident assistant. In the outdoors, she rose from volunteer coordinator to vice president of the SIU Backpacking Club, crediting its trips with grounding her and sharpening her interpersonal skills. “The Backpacking Club has brought me lifelong friends I’ll cherish,” she said.
Sustainability and science in action
Sustainability work forms another cornerstone of Fisher’s SIU experience. After the pandemic quieted SENSE — Students Embracing Nature, Sustainability and Environmentalism — she helped reactivate it. Under her leadership, SENSE established a student-run butterfly garden, launched a sustainable vegetable plot and partnered with the Sustainability Council on campus projects. The work earned Fisher SIU’s Environmental Ambassador recognition and cemented advice she now gives underclassmen: Take the initiative. “You are your best advocate.”
In the lab, that mindset translates to curiosity backed by persistence. After hearing Erin Perry guest-lecture, Fisher introduced herself, asked to help — and kept following up. Perry, an animal science professor whose research focuses on working-dog health and performance, brought Fisher into the canine sciences research program, studying how nutrition shapes canine cognition and well-being.
“Dogs and humans have an incredible bond, and so the work we do in our lab at our Canine Science Lab seeks to find ways to better support their health and management through nutritional interventions,” Perry said.
Fisher assisted on a study of diet and memory in aged dogs. The results were promising: Senior dogs showed greater accuracy in memory tasks when they received the test diet compared to the control diet.
Perry said Fisher’s drive has a ripple effect in the lab.
“Navigating college is difficult,” she said. “Marsden pursues knowledge relentlessly. She seeks opportunities to discover new ideas, learn new skills and to be exposed to different perspectives.”
The cognition project, Perry added, was “an ambitious undertaking,” and Fisher’s efforts “provided a road map for other undergraduate students who want to learn more about different pathways but don't really know how to take that step. This is living and leading in a way that makes a difference for those around her,” the very spirit of the Lincoln Laureate distinction.
Perry credits SIU's animal science program with creating the environment where students like Fisher can thrive. “Our faculty focus on creating a culture of opportunity as well as excellence," she said. At this Research 1 university, undergraduates engage with world-class research and gain hands-on experience that can't be replicated elsewhere.
“Students can go anywhere to get an education,” Perry said. “They come to SIU for experience.”
Leadership forged in ROTC
ROTC has been a proving ground built on endurance, judgment and trust. Within a year of joining the Saluki Strike Battalion, Fisher was named command sergeant major and helped lead SIU's Ranger Challenge team. She earned the Harry McKinley Neuhauser Memorial Award her junior year and tested herself with the Northern Warfare Team’s grueling 13-mile, 35-pound ruck march — a cold weather survival challenge evaluating cadets on casualty evacuation, fire-starting, knot-tying and rifle marksmanship.
“It was physically demanding, and I loved every second,” she said, but in her role as captain, it was also a test of leadership — for example, assigning teammates to events that showcase their strengths.
Lieutenant Colonel Garrett W. Slack, professor of military science and commander of the SIU battalion, saw that leadership in action. In his recommendation for the Student Laureate honor, he wrote that Fisher “has unlimited potential for civic leadership and represents Illinois, SIU and Army ROTC at the highest level.”
Looking ahead with Lincoln’s example
The Lincoln Laureate’s criteria — courage, empathy, honesty, integrity — map neatly onto Fisher's own compass. In her personal statement, she writes that Abraham Lincoln’s “moral vision of an egalitarian society” will guide her leadership, and that true service means measurable good for others, not titles.
She tries to live that daily: “Don't wait for opportunities — go make them,” she tells younger students. “Prioritize, organize and don’t procrastinate.” Even her schedule reflects that philosophy, with breaks built in as a rhythm that sustains excellence.
Fisher’s post-college plans are already in motion. She has applied to several veterinary programs and requested an ROTC education delay to complete a D.V.M. before commissioning. Whether she is supporting military working dogs, bolstering food security abroad or advancing canine cognition research, her aim remains the same: helping animals as a path to helping people.
As her research adviser, Perry summed up in her recommendation: “Abraham Lincoln has been quoted as saying, ‘In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.’ Marsden Fisher is an excellent example of this truth. She embraces every opportunity to learn, lead and live in a way that makes a difference for those around her.”