From the Deans' Suite - 3/12/26 - Happy 90th Milly Collins!
Earlier this month, at the Cleveland State University alumni gathering in Florida, I had the pleasure of meeting Milly Collins, a proud graduate of CSU Law’s Class of 1981. Milly turned ninety this past Sunday, March 8th.
As we talked, Milly shared a story that is quintessential CSU Law: ambitious, practical, service-minded, and deeply connected. Her story demonstrates what our part-time program (and now online program) has always made possible: an education that meets talented people where they are, and helps them achieve their dreams.
Before law school, Milly was Director of Clinical Nursing at Saint Vincent Charity Hospital. She was already in leadership, already managing people and pressure. To match the work she was doing, she went back to school earning a business degree at John Carroll University at night while working at the hospital during the day.
Her turn toward law came through experience and leadership. She was involved in labor contract talks between the hospital and nursing unions, professional and non-professional. It was her first close look at legal negotiation. It pulled her in.
At CSU Law, Milly found not only a program that fit her life, but faculty who shaped her sense of what the profession could be. She recalled Professor Jane Picker as an extraordinary teacher and role model citing Professor Picker’s work on sex discrimination in the early 1980s as an inspiring example for female law students.
When I asked her what stood out at CSU Law, she was practical and grateful: “the bar preparation was excellent. I was so grateful for everything I learned at CSU.”
After graduation, she practiced at Curran & Associates. And even now, she hasn’t set the law down, serving as the secretary of the Board of Directors for the Association of Retired Attorneys of Sarasota.
At ninety, she is still serving on a board. Still writing minutes. Still tending to the governance of a professional community.
Milly’s advice to today’s law students is as direct as it is timeless: “Stick to the basics. Show up for classes. Learn everything you can. Prepare yourself to pass the bar. You are well poised, she to enjoy a successful career.”
In Milly’s story, I hear the heart of our part-time program and the people it has served for generations: students who bring maturity, responsibility, and perspective; students who do not pause their lives to become lawyers but instead somehow manage to pursue their dreams while working full time and juggling family responsibilities.
Milly Collins reminds us that CSU Law isn’t simply a place you attend. It’s a community that invests in you, equips you, and stays with you. Her journey from clinical nursing to labor leader, to the part-time program, to practice, to continued service captures the best of what legal education can be when it is rooted in access and animated by purpose.
Happy 90th birthday, Milly. Thank you for the example you’ve set, the work you’ve done, and the grace with which you continue to represent CSU Law. Your story is a gift and a reminder of what it looks like to Learn Law. Live Justice.
Warmly,
Brian