Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill Award
Sandra Chew Phillips ’68 (BA)
Staff Technical Writer, Qualcomm, Inc.
The three most important influences in Sandy Kiszla Chew Phillips’ life were her parents, Edna and Joe Kiszla; being born into a close and loving Polish American family in Philadelphia, Penn., in 1946, and her years as a student at the University of San Diego.
Her adult life experience was shaped by the beauty, truth, and goodness she encountered at the university and in her teachers, and the blue ribbon education she received as an English major and French minor. When Chew Phillips graduated in 1968, one of her life goals was to give back what the university gave her, and she has been actively involved in volunteering at USD ever since.
Over the past 40 years, she has served on the University of San Diego Alumni Association Board of Directors, as well as other alumni boards for the School of Leadership and Education Sciences and the Alumnae/i of the Sacred. During that time, she has held numerous positions, including the recording secretary, the vice president, the cor unum chair, and the 2009 publicity chair for the Associated Alumnae of the Sacred Heart’s national conference in Los Angeles.
On USD’s Alumni Board, she served as class agent from 1975 to 2003 and helped establish the format for class reunions. She also served as board’s recognition committee chair and the homecoming chair.
On behalf of the Sacred Heart, she was an AASH representative; served as president in 1977–78; and co-chaired a committee to determine the association’s 10-year goals. She also served on the Sacred Heart Advisory Committee to the USD Discovery Campaign; and worked on other special projects when called upon.
The main focus of Chew Phillips’ professional life has been providing excellence in editing and writing technical documents for high-tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Qualcomm. Her love and ministry has been interacting with the people she encounters at work, with volunteer organizations and during her day-to-day experiences. This comes from her belief in the beauty, truth and goodness she sees in every person — something she inherited from Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill whose values permeated her experience at USD.
