Dr. Sharon Farley is an accomplished nurse educator, administrator, leader, and patient advocate. Dedication to teaching nursing and making life better for her fellow human beings are the hallmarks of her career. She has worked to improve living conditions for people of every gender, race, income, and educational level. As a teacher she was devoted to helping students see the difference they could make in their communities. Well known, respected, and held in high esteem nationally and internationally, she served as Associate Dean and Interim Dean at Auburn University in Montgomery and subsequently as Execute Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Interim University Dean at Indiana University Indianapolis. As Director of a W. K. Kellogg project serving two of Alabama’s poorest counties, Dr. Farley had significant impact on the lives of hundreds of older citizens in underprivileged and underserved communities. Because of her vision, many elderly were able to stay in safe homes and had running water for the first time in their lives. Children were getting much needed tutoring and health care in school based health clinics, and many women were coming off welfare by working as home health aides and nursing assistants. Always quick to give praise to others and downplay her own role, she committed to bring community leaders together and empower them as they built sustainable programs to carry on the work she had begun. The Kellogg Foundation believed Dr. Farley’s work was worthy of high praise and selected to highlight the project for its “profound and lasting impact on people’s lives”. Even in retirement she continues to share her experience and expertise in nursing education. Both personally and professionally Dr. Sharon Farley exemplifies that rare blend of vision, creativity, and commitment that leads to accomplishing good things and she does it all with her own “down home” sense of humor.