This fund was established by the Class of 1999 to honor Claudette Finley, Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of of Physical Therapy at the University of Florida.

Finley has been recognized in her profession throughout her career by receiving numerous teaching honors. Among these include Teacher of the year Awards in 1977-78 and 1982-83 and being one of the recipients of the Teaching Excellence Award in 2001.

She combined her abilities as a scuba diver and a former speech clinician to co-author the booklet Hand Signals for Diving, one of the firs published handbooks on the topic. Finley researched hand communications used by Plains Indians of the Southwest and those used in American Sign Language to write the guide.

Finley retired December 31, 2001 after guiding physical therapy students through the complexities of human anatomy and medical surgical disorders for 35 years. In retirement she has continued to enjoy scuba diving and kayaking as well as volunteer work and continued educatio