Waterford Today

Walsh College issued the following announcement on Jan. 15.

Though her first steps on U.S. soil were through six feet of Michigan snow, Ayesha Mehdi (BBA ’04) has nothing but warm memories of her early years as a young immigrant from Pakistan. One special reason was the academic lifeline she had through Walsh, a place that Mehdi says gave her hope when it was most needed. “I knew that after Walsh everything would be fine,” says the Las Vegas-based Mehdi, now an accomplished health care attorney and partner at Spencer Fane. “That I could achieve my dreams, even if they weren’t clear at the time.” Mehdi’s journey from her hometown of Lahore, Pakistan, began one week after her marriage. Her husband, who is from Pakistan, was in his oncology residency in Michigan, which meant the couple had very limited funds for fulfilling Mehdi’s dream of a college degree.

“I knew I had to finish my undergrad,” says Mehdi, who had completed two years of college in Pakistan, “but U.S. colleges were expensive — more than $600 a credit hour.” A neighbor and close friend suggested she check out Walsh. “My adviser did everything she could to help me work through a residency issue and start school on time,” she says. “I will never forget that.” Beyond the compassion Mehdi found in her professors and the administration, there were the students who became friends, many of whom were also immigrants. “We were all struggling young immigrants in the U.S. with our families in other parts of the world, so we were each other’s families,” she says. “There was this diversity that I really liked,” she adds, noting that her country is more homogenous in terms of race, ethnicity and religion. “They were all ambitious people, immigrants from different countries or executives in different careers.”

After earning her bachelor of business administration (BBA) and graduating with a newborn daughter in 2005, Mehdi went on to earn both her J.D. and MHSA degrees from the University of Kansas law and medical schools, respectively. She was recently appointed by the American Bar Association to chair its Health Law Section’s Fraud and Compliance interest group and vice chair its Diversity and Inclusion group. Her drive to be successful, she says, is rooted in her upbringing. “I was the oldest of four children; my parents felt like it was their responsibility to get me married as soon as possible,” she says. “My husband is a wonderful and supportive man, but I knew I wanted to be independent and for our marriage to be an equal partnership where we could share both financial and family responsibilities.”

Calling Walsh an important stepping-stone to other educational pursuits, Mehdi says that though KU’s medical and law schools didn’t necessarily know how to interpret her Pakistani college credits, her Walsh degree, with honors, was invaluable. “It’s the door that opened me up to higher education, to any field I wanted to get into,” she says. “And Walsh College gave that to me. I knew I would have a future.”

Mehdi — who owned her own law office before joining the 400-plus attorneys at Spencer Fane in 2020 — still uses the skills learned as an undergraduate in her health care and corporate business law work. “I don’t shy away from the business of law; I have deep experience in marketing, accounting, return on investment and how to keep your business afloat,” says Mehdi, who was inspired by a Walsh business law professor to join the field. “These were the things I learned at Walsh.” Now, 18 years on, Mehdi — who is a mom to three children — is a respected attorney on her own terms. “My Walsh years were foundational for me in achieving my dream of financial independence on my own two feet,” she says. “From the very first day, my fear left me. I knew with hard work and the support of Walsh College my future would be secure.”

Original source can be found here.