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***Click the video above to see a special message from Celeste.
Honoring Celeste Villanueva's Legacy
The faculty and staff at Samuel Merritt University raised over $25,000 to create this new endowed fund during their employee giving campaign in 2023. Join them is supporting students and honoring Celeste's many years of service.
"[Celeste Villanueva] holds the bar very high and inspires you to do better than you can. She sees potential beyond what people think their means are. She also laid an important foundation to diversify the nurse anesthesia field, and we couldn’t make strides in diversity without her unwavering support for it."
- Joe Janakes, CRNA ’06, Program Director, MSN Nurse Anesthesia
"I had the opportunity to work with Celeste for many years. I have seen her passion and her dedication to her work. She has been an advocate for our student success. Celeste has left her mark on SMU in so many ways. Please join me in contributing and honoring Celeste by donating."
- Veronica Paniagua, Executive Administrative Assistant for the Office of Academic and Student Affairs at SMU
"I cannot think of a better person to honor in this way at SMU. Celeste's impact has been tremendous throughout the University. Of course, at the HSSC she is our beloved founding director, but she has also contributed in so many other ways at the University. She is so passionate, so creative. She is insight and warm. She is an incredible leader who has the students at heart all the time. And she is excellent at everything she does. We are so much better off having had her as part of our campus community for so long. So please join me in donating."
- Rachel True, Director of Operations for the Health Sciences Simulation Center (HSSC) at SMU
Give today to honor Celeste Villanueva’s Legacy.
For 27 years Celeste served as an educator and leader at SMU!
In 1994 Celeste joined SMU, while in clinical practice as a nurse anesthetist at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco.
With decades of teaching students to become outstanding healthcare professionals (primarily in the Bay Area), Celeste's impact echoes through the region and into the future.
$1,500 provides one (1) one-time scholarship in Celeste's name to be use for an SMU student in financial need.
