William F. Galvin,MSEd, RRT, CPFT, AE-C, FAARC William F. Galvin is Assistant Professor in the Frances M. Maguire School of Nursing and Health Professions, Program Director for the Respiratory Care Program, and a member of the teaching and administrative faculty for the Teacher Improvement Project System (TIPS) Program at Gwynedd Mercy University (GMU). He has been a respiratory therapist for more than 45 years and has been on faculty at GMU since December 1981; he first served as Director of Clinical Education for two years before becoming Director of the Respiratory Care Program in 1983. In addition to his teaching and administrative role at TIPS, he teaches in the bachelor of health science degree program. Bill earned his bachelor's degree in political science from La Salle College and his master's degree in education (with a concentration in health) from St. Joseph's University.
He is a registered and certified respiratory therapist, certified pulmonary function technologist, and certified asthma educator. He has provided numerous article reviews, abstracts, and contributing chapters for publishing companies such as Springhouse Corporation, Delmar/Cengage Learning, F. A. Davis, C. V. Mosby, Williams and Wilkins, W. B. Saunders/Elsevier, and Jones & Bartlett Learning.
He has presented at the local, state, and national levels on topics such as communication skills, wellness, health promotion, disease prevention, patient education, interviewing and assessment skills, programmatic and regional accreditation, outcome assessment, recruitment and retention, testtaking strategies and techniques, and a variety of student survival topics and concepts related to the art of teaching and learning. He has served as a guest presenter for the American Association for Respiratory Care's (AARC's) Educator Academy, the AARC Asthma Educator Certification Course, the AARC COPD Educator Course, the Adult Critical Care Course, and the AARC Registry Prep Course. Bill has served on countless professional and college-level boards and committees and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In 1996, the AARC bestowed the honor of life membership on him; in 2005, he was inducted into the AARC Fellowship Program and was the recipient of the Education Section Practitioner of the Year Award. In 2008, he was awarded national honorary life membership in the Lambda Beta National Honor Society for Respiratory Care. In 2012, he provided the H. Fred Helmholz Distinguished Education Lecture on the topic of Excellence in Respiratory Care Education: Creating an Exemplary RC Program. In 2015, he received the Jimmy Young Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the AARC, recognizing individuals who have made lasting and sustained contributions to the profession of respiratory care.
In 2016, Bill received the Inaugural Pennsylvania Society for Respiratory Care Lifetime Achievement Award; in the following year, he received the A. Gerald Shapiro Award from the New Jersey Society for Respiratory Care for outstanding leadership and contributions to respiratory care. At the 2019 commencement exercises at Gwynedd Mercy University, he received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. The Lindback Award is the most prestigious award given to full-time facultymembers who over the years have demonstrated the highest achievements in teaching. Bill is an active member of his parish, has coached Little League baseball and high school basketball, and is an avid sports enthusiast. He professes his greatest joy and passion to be in the classroom, teaching and learning from his students, and he thoroughly enjoysspending time with his eight grandchildren, Rory, Everett, Maeve, Seamus, Clare, Keiran, Alice, and Quinn.