Hastings College is raising $50,000 to name a Nursing Skills Lab in honor of the nationally recognized leader in peer education.
Director of Campus Health Services from 1978 to 2007, Judy Sandin ’63 Changed the way Hastings College serves its students. Moving from a strictly reactive healthcare model to proactive health education through peer educators, she empowers students to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.

Hastings College hopes to honor Sandeen’s legacy of promoting hands-on health education by naming the Nursing Skills Lab at the Bryan College of Health Sciences Nursing Education Center in Mary Lanning Healthcare’s new medical office building. The goal is to raise $50,000 by March 15th.
“Through her innovative peer education program at Hastings College, Judy has created an environment on campus where all students have ample opportunity to learn how to live healthy, productive lives,” said Dr Rich Lloyd, executive dean of Hastings College and dean of the Bryan College of Health Sciences. “It is fitting that tomorrow’s nurses, including many who will be taking classes at Hastings, will be learning practical nursing skills in a laboratory named after Judy.”
The Judy Sandeen Nursing Skills Lab will include four beds and allow students to become proficient in bedside nursing techniques such as taking blood pressure, placing IVs and checking heart rates. The laboratory is part of the nursing classrooms, laboratories and offices and occupies 17,000 square feet on the third floor of the new medical office building.
To learn more about the campaign and to make a gift to the Judy Sandeen Nursing Skills Lab, visit hastings.edu/judysandeen.
About Judy Sanding
As Director of Campus Health Services for nearly 30 years, Judy (Raymond) Sandin Changed the way Hastings College serves its students. Moving from a strictly reactive healthcare model to proactive health education through peer educators, she empowers students to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.
Sandeen graduated from Hastings College in 1963 and she earned a Diploma in Nursing from the Mary Lanning School of Nursing. In 1978, she returned to Hastings College as a campus nurse. By 1984, she started the college’s first peer education group, the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC). She later brought a chapter on Raising Alcohol Awareness for College Students (BACCHUS) on campus, in part in response to changes in the legal drinking age. She founded the Peer HIV Education Organization (PHIVE-O) in 1991, the Coalition in 1992, and College Acquaintance Rape Education (CARE) in 1993 to promote awareness and dialogue for all on campus.
In addition to preparing Hastings students for healthy lives, the peer education model provides a rich exchange experience for students interested in healthcare careers, and as these groups earn national recognition, Students are offered the opportunity to meet peers and future colleagues from around the world.
A licensed RN, Sandeen has held leadership positions with the Central College Health Association and is a member of the Nebraska and American Nurses Associations. She, like the students she leads, has won numerous national and regional awards for her leadership in collegiate health education.
Off campus, she has served on the boards of many organizations. In retirement, she remains involved with the League of Women Voters, the League of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the Nebraska Peace League, and the Adams County Senior Services Center. In addition, she is a member of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, serving as deacon and chair of the Judiciary Committee.
Sandin is married jack sandinalso a 1963 Hastings College graduate, and mother of two grown children: Eric Saint Paul, Minnesota and amy hastings. The Sandins have two grandchildren.
Hastings College is a four-year residential college focused on the academic and extracurricular achievement of its students. Hastings’ student-centered approach includes providing all required textbooks and iPads, while a chunked semester timetable allows professors and students to focus on fewer courses at a time. Discover more at hastings.edu.