Joining the faculty in 1992, Dr. Schmidt teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs. Her areas of expertise include parent-child nursing, nursing research, and nursing education. She is also the director of the Congregational Health Project.

Prior to teaching at Valparaiso University, Dr. Schmidt worked as a pediatric clinical nurse specialist at Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Illinois. She has also been a staff nurse at Wyler Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, working on both medical inpatient units and the pediatric emergency room.

Dr. Schmidt's areas of scholarly interest include children's pain, Orem's nursing theory, ethics, service learning, program assessment, and spirituality. With the Shaw Nursing Faculty Collaboration Grant from Children's Memorial Medical Center in Chicago, Dr. Schmidt studied the effect of guided imagery on children's perceptions of pain and their medication usage. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, MNRS, AWONN, The International Orem Society, International Pain Society, and ANA, as well as a grant reviewer for HRSA and an appraiser for Magnet Recognition. She recently co-edited, with Dean Janet Brown, an undergraduate research textbook Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing: Appraisal and Application of Research. She also co-edited Spiritual Care in Nursing with Dr. Mauk. She has published articles in Journal of Professional Nursing and Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing. Her scholarly work about pain in infants and children and Orem's theory have been presented locally, nationally, and internationally. She also enjoys her volunteer work teaching "Safe Sitter," a nationally recognized babysitting class for children ages 11-13.