51ֿ

Giving to 51ֿ

Support Barry Wouldn’t Be Barry Without You

Our Barry is made up of a collection of individual journeys, relationships, academic experiences. One of those paths belongs to you: Your mentors, your favorite study spots, your lifelong friendships, your moments of growth, your triumphs, and your challenges.

Your gifts honor your Barry experience—the faculty that mentored you, the friends you still call today, that feeling you get when you see pictures of campus each fall. Your gifts also honor and impact the experiences of current and future students.

Barry—and its future—belongs to all of us. Every success of the college. Every faculty member who is supported in their teaching and their creative approach to the classroom. Every graduate who walks the stage ready to make a difference in their profession, their community, their world.

Everything we do, we do together. Generations of donors have built Barry, making it stronger each year.

The truth is, Barry just wouldn’t be Barry without you.

View Impact Reports

“The generosity of our supporters not only changes the lives of our students by putting a transformative education within reach, but it helps build leaders who will go on to transform the world with their passion for social justice and serving others.” — Barry President Mike Allen

Giving to Barry The Barry Fund

The Barry Fund touches every aspect of a student’s life at Barry. It helps students in financial need. It helps faculty build new academic programs to respond to the world around us. It allows student clubs and organizations to meet their missions. It allows faculty, staff, and students to come together to develop new programs—like tutoring services and career support. And it also supports the day-to-day operations of the university, from keeping the lights and WiFi on in classrooms and residence halls to addressing surprise repairs like burst pipes from storm damage.

Here are some of the ways the University used money from the Barry Fund in the past year:

  • Scholarships: All Barry undergraduates receive some form of aid. Increased support eases students’ financial burdens and frees them to focus on their studies.
  • Student Experience: Barry provides a robust array of extracurricular activities including clubs, professional conferences, and community engagement opportunities.
  • Faculty support: A strong and engaged faculty is critical to fulfilling our mission. Additional funds enable faculty to pursue new research, acquire innovative technologies, and learn the latest teaching methods, all of which help students lead full intellectual lives.
Learn More

“I see myself in students at Barry U. I choose to give because I, too, was a college student with big dreams and aspirations. Receiving scholarships enabled me to graduate with honors and pursue a successful career in business. Giving back helps pay it forward.” —Aletha Player

Our Barry Is Their Barry Scholarships

All students have unlimited potential, but many have limited financial means. In fact, 100 percent of incoming full-time freshmen receive some type of financial assistance from the University, including grants and scholarships, and many students are the first in their family to attend college.

We believe every student with the ambition and audacity to dream, deserves to see that dream realized.  Gifts from alumni and friends ensure that students not only are able to attend Barry, but also thrive here and build their own Barry experience, without the crushing burden of excessive debt.

“I am honored to have been the recipient of the Heather J. Milne Rohan Nursing Endowed Scholarship. I am beyond grateful and appreciative of this award.This award is huge because I will not have to sacrifice paying for school or buying groceries, paying my mortgage, or helping my extended family. I will be a nurse educator/scientist and I hope that my research makes improvements for nurses and the patients for whom we care.” —Natasha Wilson

Gifts That Keep On Giving Endowed Gifts

Behind each endowed gift is a personal story, whether it be gratitude for a Barry education, to honor a loved one or a favorite professor, or to create a program that will make the world a better place.

These gifts are able to do so much good because they exist in perpetuity. The gift is invested, but the principal remains untouched and a percentage of the interest income is spent each year. In this way, they enable Barry to better plan for the future, adding stability as economic changes occur.

The majority of Barry’s current endowed funds support scholarships that both honor the donor’s experience and afford similar opportunities to the next generation.

Here are a  few of the endowments that are at work today—and the Barry experiences they honor.

  • Steinberg Family Podiatric Medicine Endowed Scholarship supports a 3rd year student in the School of Medicine and created by the family of Dr. Lloyd Steinberg who was a 2nd generation podiatrist and whose sons John and Paul followed in his footsteps, receiving their podiatric medicine degrees in 1995 and 1993 respectively from the 51ֿ School of Podiatric Medicine.
  • Judith A. Balcerski Endowed Nursing Scholarship was established in honor of Dr. Judith Balcerski who was part of the Barry community for 35 years both as a student and director of the nursing program. Dr. Balcerski asked that to be honored with a scholarship because she remembers the sacrifices students made like checking their textbooks out of the library and living without much furniture in order to attend school and improve life for their families.
  • The Cesar Odio Memorial Endowed Scholarship honors Barry’s winningest basketball coach. Odio was his county’s leading scorer in high school and the captain of a victorious national championship team at Florida Southern College. “He liked having an impact on young people,” says his wife, Mary Kay Odio. “He devoted his life to Barry.” Donations came from friends, alumni, and even coaches Odio competed against. Emily Odio-Sutton, Cesar’s daughter, says, “Our hope is that the scholarship will continue my dad’s legacy and the student-athletes will have a positive impact at Barry and beyond.”

“I give to 51ֿ because it represents the future of my profession. I am proud of 51ֿ for its continued work and growth to become the best education resource possible for the students that choose to attend.” —John Steinberg

Creating Your Barry Legacy Estate Gifts

When you include 51ֿ in your estate plan, your legacy lives on in the students who will benefit from your generosity. And knowing that these students have received a Barry education and core principles that helped define your life, means you can continue to inspire positive change in the local and global community well into the future.

Here are some ways you can impact the next generation:

“I am extremely thankful to be a recipient of the Sister Arlene Scott Center for Advanced Learning Memorial Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship is extremely important to my family. In order for me to attain a four-year college education, we have had to make certain sacrifices. This aid is making my dream of graduating that much closer.” —Stephon Owusu

A Part of The Team: The Barry U Buc Club

Our Barry is made up of exceptional student-athletes. Together, we have won 22 national championships, and more than 440 of student-athletes have been Scholar All-Americans. For the last seven years, Barry has received the NCAA President’s Award for Academic Excellence for a graduation rate of 90 percent or better.

Each year, more than 200 student-athletes give their all in 13 sports. Through contributions to the Buc Club, members fund scholarships, facility enhancements and individual team needs, as well as operational needs for the Intercollegiate Athletics Department.

When you join the Barry U Buc Club, you become part of our winning team.

Here are a few of the opportunities donors have funded through the U Buc Club in the last year:

  • Health and Sports Center Lobby Trophy Cases/Renovations
  • Athletics Strength and Conditioning equipment
  • Athletic Training equipment and room upgrades
  • Women’s Basketball – Locker Room Renovations & Team Building retreat
  • Tennis Scoreboard
  • Men’s Basketball – Practice Shooting Machine & International Preseason Training Trip (2018
  • Softball student-athlete custom team gloves
  • Golf – Practice Facility Enhancement at Miami Shores Country Club
  • Men’s Soccer – Nutrition Fueling Station (Post Practice Snacks)
  • Baseball – Pitching Analysis Camera/Software

The Biggest Day of the Year Give Miami Day

Give Miami Day is one the nation’s biggest 24-hour online giving events. For us at Barry, it is the chance for our alumni, friends, parents, faculty and staff to come together and make a difference for Barry, our students and the communities we serve. Our Barry is strengthened every Fall by this Day of Giving.

Give Miami Day was on November 21, 2024. We raised $181,343 from 315 generous donors! We thank you for your help on this special day!

Help us honor our Barry and its important place in the Miami community. #WeAreBarryU

Why I Give

“I chose to give to 51ֿ to pay it forward and invest in the future generations in the same ways professors and administrators invested in me. I am forever grateful for the opportunity and I am a living example that all it takes is an opportunity and belief.” —Avon King


“It’s a humbling thought that you can make a difference in someone’s life like that. It all starts with education. If you can provide that opportunity, chances are they will earn more in the future and give back to others themselves.” — Matt Allen ’87, Barry Trustee and Opportunity Scholarship donor


“To give a future to young people that they might never have the opportunity  … That is what I will leave behind.” — Luigi Salvaneschi, scholarship donor


“I come from a very modest background and was fortunate enough to be offered a full [baseball] scholarship to attend 51ֿ. With everything Barry gave me, I try to give back at any opportunity I can. A major impact for the success of the sports programs is the peace of mind a lot of these student-athletes have [knowing] that their financial responsibilities are taken care of to a certain degree, and they can really focus on being good student-athletes.” — Ira Gonzales ’01 and ’05, 2018 Distinguished Alumnus


“Once Barry gets into your DNA, it doesn’t leave you. I’d like Barry students in the future to be talking about philanthropy and giving back to the university.” — Greg Greene ’88


Donation Payment Options

Your support for 51ֿ is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Your generosity is helping us transform lives through higher education.

Smilka Melgoza
Vice President for Advancement
Phone: 786-200-1564
Email: smelgoza@barry.edu

  • Make checks payable to 51ֿ
    Attn: Smilka Melgoza, Vice President for Advancement
    51ֿ
    11300 NE 2nd Ave
    Adrian Hall 208
    Miami Shores, FL 33161

  • EIN #: 59-0624364
    Bank Name: BankUnited
    Account Name: 51ֿ Inc.
    Account Address: 11300 NE 2nd Ave., Miami Shores, FL 33161
    ABA/Routing # (for domestic wires): 267090594
    SWIFT # (for international wires): BUFBUS3M
    Account #: 9855609303
    Payment Reference: University Advancement/ Attn: Smilka Melgoza

  • The following account has been set up to receive donations through stock transfers:

    Wells Fargo account number 1357-9634 51ֿ Special Account
    Broker DTC Participant Code - 0141

    Fredric C. Gesten
    Vice President – Investments / Financial Advisor
    Wells Fargo Advisors
    19950 West Country Club Drive, Suite 700
    Aventura, FL 33180-2318
    305-933-6350 (direct)
    305-933-6490 (fax)
    fredric.c.gesten@wellsfargoadvisors.com
    fredric.c.gesten@wfadvisors.com

    Barry Main Contact – Marnie Peruyera, Senior Accountant, 305-899-4724

  • There are many ways foundations and corporations can be involved. For more information contact J.J. Myers at 305-981-5249 and jmyers@barry.edu.
  • Thank you for supporting 51ֿ. Did you know that many companies offer a matching gift program to encourage philanthropy among their employees? Some companies will even match to spouses and retirees.

    You may be able to double the impact of your gift with a matching gift from your company.

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