DOCTOR'S $5M GIFT IS 2ND LARGEST EVER FROM AN INDIVIDUAL & 1ST TO ENDOW A PROGRAM

Chaminade University announced today that Dr. Edison Miyawaki, who is a member of its board of regents, has pledged a gift of $5 million to be designated for the naming of its new nursing program to be called the Sallie Y. Miyawaki School of Nursing in honor of his late wife. It is the second largest gift the university has ever received from an individual and the first gift to be received which endows a program at the university. Chaminade is preparing to introduce its new Bachelor’s of Science degree in nursing next fall 2010, pending approval by the Hawaii State Board of Nursing, as the latest offering in its expanding Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics led by its dean, Dr. Helen Turner. “We are extremely grateful for Dr. Miyawaki’s commitment to our proposed nursing program and moved by this gift in memory of his late wife,” said Chaminade president Bro. Bernard Ploeger, SM, Ph.D. “The Sallie Y. Miyawaki School of Nursing will offer our students a challenging curriculum centered on aging, community care and public health, and newly completed facilities, including state of the art nursing skills laboratories, a sophisticated simulation suite equipped with high-fidelity, life-like human patient simulators, as well as specialized faculty who impart the science and practice of nursing. ”The late Mrs. Sallie Yashiki Miyawaki completed her nursing education and graduated with her registered nurse (R.N.) degree from the Queen’s Hospital School of Nursing. She worked as a nurse at various mainland hospitals and achieved supervisory positions at institutions such as the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. When Mrs. Miyawaki returned to Hawaii, she earned a certification as a nursing home administrator (N.H.A.). She was a fellow of the American College of Nursing Home Administrators and a member of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. A beloved wife of 51 years, Mrs. Miyawaki was a dedicated mother and grandmother, who loved her family deeply. A woman who shunned recognition, she preferred that all her efforts, both in business and in philanthropy, be viewed as the work of the Miyawaki family as a whole. Mrs. Miyawaki passed away on October 16, 2007. The gift is a tribute to her as an expression of our love and in her memory, said Dr. Miyawaki.“The mission of the Chaminade School of Nursing will be to provide a an exceptional, values based curriculum, grounded in the needs of the community here in Hawaii, producing skilled and caring individuals whose professional lives are devoted to promoting health, decreasing health-related disparities in our society and enhancing quality of life for their patients,” said Dr. Stephanie Genz, Associate Dean of Nursing at Chaminade. “We are very thankful and honored to receive this loving tribute by Dr. Miyawaki for his late wife, who was a nurse of great compassion and excellence.”

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Date Published: 11/25/2009 12:00 AM