Generations of faculty and staff have paid tribute to a foremother of the College’s nursing program.
The Canton College Foundation championed an effort to rededicate a Wicks Hall lab space for
Professor Emerita and college-wide Hall of Fame member Virginia M. McAllister, who is credited
with creating the nursing program. The project was spearheaded by Nursing Professor Emerita and
patron Linda L. Fay, who passed away two weeks before the naming ceremony in November 2024.
“With this naming we honor Virginia McAllister’s pioneering efforts, but also remember Linda, a beloved
member of the Canton family,” said Dean for the School of Science, Health and Criminal Justice, Michele Snyder. “They both stand as significant figures in the evolution of our nursing curricula.”
McAllister’s career spanned more than four decades in the nursing profession. She began working at SUNY Canton in 1966 when she helped establish, develop, and direct the College’s nursing program. In honor of her service, her friends and colleagues banded together to create the Virginia McAllister Award for Excellence in Nursing award in 1979, which is given annually to a senior nursing student who has demonstrated academic and clinical excellence.
Virginia McAllister interviewed me in 1973. I had Ms. Joan Fregoe in clinic, and she was just lovely and a great teacher. She gave me confidence, and I will never forget her, she made me feel as though I was really smart, which was so helpful. I would like her to know that. I can still envision her there with her nurse’s cap on the ward.. I also had Linda Fay as a teacher, who was also great and very humble, I remember as she was so knowledgeable!
I remember fondly my days at Canton ATC and riding the freezing bus to hospitals in Governeur and Ogdensberg.
From Canton , I went to SUNY Albany and obtained my BSN in 1978.
I then became a critical care nurse at GW, and then went to Georgetown at night for premed and graduated from George Washington Medical School in 1994. I have been a Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at GW since 1998. I am currently an Obesity Specialist in the DC area.
I shall always think fondly of Canton as getting my start in the world.