Teaching Beyond the Classroom: Kerry McNiven’s Legacy of Giving

Kerry McNiven (right) pictured with Michelle Helmin, Executive Director of the MCC Foundation at a recent campus celebration.

For many students, choosing a career path can feel overwhelming. For Kerry McNiven, the answer emerged from a simple realization: there had to be another way to combine her love of math and science with a meaningful career in healthcare.

"As a high school student, everyone assumed I should become a physician," she recalls. "But I wanted a career that would also allow me to have a family and a life outside of work."

Exploring alternatives led her to respiratory therapy — a profession that proved to be the perfect fit. What began as a career choice became a lifelong calling, first as a respiratory therapist and later as a professor, where she spent 33 years preparing generations of respiratory care professionals at Manchester Community College, now CT State Manchester.

It was at MCC that Kerry discovered what she believes to be the college's greatest strength: its sense of community. Over the course of three decades, she came to see her students as an extension of her own family, celebrating their successes and encouraging them through challenges both inside and outside the classroom.

Throughout her career, Kerry witnessed the sacrifices students made to earn an education. Many balanced coursework with jobs, family responsibilities, and financial hardship, determined to build a better future for themselves.

"I saw how education changed people's lives, taking them from struggling to earning a steady, good paycheck and ultimately changing their socioeconomic status."

Those experiences inspired Kerry to begin giving while she was still teaching so she could make a meaningful difference in the lives of the students she knew so well. She made annual gifts whenever she could and eventually set her sights on something more lasting.

Rather than waiting to establish a scholarship through her estate, Kerry chose to create an endowed scholarship during her lifetime. In retirement, she has funded the scholarship through her work as a consultant — teaching review seminars for the respiratory therapy board/licensing exams — and dedicated these earnings to future students. Every seminar she teaches is an investment in the next generation of respiratory therapists.

"I didn't want to wait," she says. "I wanted to see the difference the scholarship could make while I was here to witness it."

For Kerry, philanthropy is simply an extension of teaching. The compassion and generosity that define healthcare professionals naturally shaped her approach to giving, and supporting students became another way to care for others. The Kerry J. McNiven Respiratory Therapy Scholarship allows her to encourage aspiring respiratory therapists long after they leave her classroom, reminding them that someone believes in their potential.

*Based on an interview conducted by Silas Segar ’25 for the MCC Foundation, July 2026.