The College of Nursing and Health Sciences recently hosted its third annual Scholarship Reception, which honors all CNHS students who have received scholarship dollars this past year. Approximately 30 students attended the event, which was sponsored by ExamSoft.
This year’s reception speakers included: Andres Quevedo, a Barry doctoral nurse practitioner student in his final year and former recipient of the Kathleen Papes Scholarship; and Ellen Sanders Galkin, a lifelong friend of Dr. Kathleen Papes, the former associate dean who passed away in 2008.
Galkin and her husband have generously supported the Kathleen Papes Scholarship through annual contributions from the Richard and Ellen Galkin Foundation. This scholarship program has provided many students with the resources necessary to pursue degrees in nursing. Galkin is a former Barry University adjunct professor who has dedicated her life to nursing, advocating for the nursing profession, as well as the personal, professional and political rights of women.
A graduate of the Mt. Sinai Hospital for Nursing, Galkin transitioned from bedside nursing to collective bargaining and policy development. She served as the manager of the Economic and General Welfare Program at the New York State Nurses Association, was trustee of a multi-employer Taft-Hartley Pension Plan and Benefits Fund, and was actively involved in health care policy development in meetings with the White House, congressional leaders, and business and consumer coalitions. She also presented congressional testimony and testified at the National Institutes of Health.
Galkin’s commitment to nursing included serving on the Board of Directors and the Legislative Committee for District 40 of the Florida Nurses Association, chairing the ANA Committee on Legislation, being elected first vice-president of the American Nurses Association, and serving as trustee and treasurer of the American Nurses Foundation. After retiring, she became a nurse faculty educator at Barry and a Palm Beach County community activist.
More than 150 scholarships were available this year through CNHS’ annual scholarship program. Generous contributors included: Florence Bayuk Private Foundation; the Judith Balcerski Scholarship; the Hearst Foundation; the Richard and Ellen Galkin Foundation; the Nurses Charitable Trust Fund; the Dr. John T. Macdonald – Dr. Harold Norman Nursing Practice Leader Scholarship; the North Dade Medical Foundation; the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation; Baptist Health South Florida; the Albert Shellan Memorial Fund; and more.