Mary Fitzgerald Hoyt, Ph.D., a Siena College English professor since 1984, passed away on March 3, 2016.
A dedicated member of the Siena community, Fitzgerald-Hoyt received her bachelor’s degree from Siena in 1977 and served as a faculty member for the past 32 years. She received the Student Senate Lecturer of the Year award and was twice named Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.
“The wellspring of Mary's passion and joy was found in her work with students. The students, yes, as participants in the academic world, but more importantly, as humans, always came first with Mary. Mary inspired me to raise my voice, to read widely and deeply, to write thoughtfully and well, but most of all to be kind. I am a better human being for having had Mary as my teacher and my colleague,” Christiane Farnan '93, Ph.D., associate professor of English.
Fitzgerald-Hoyt’s passion for the individual growth of each student she encountered shone through in her coursework, which often exposed them to writers diverse in culture, ethnicity, race, age, and gender. She taught courses in a broad range of topics, including Irish literature, short stories, crime in literature and Victorian literature. Fitzgerald-Hoyt’s courses often challenged students to discover unfamiliar facets of the literary world, advancing them as scholars and as people.
Matt Schiesel ’15, who enrolled in four courses with Fitzgerald-Hoyt, saw her not only as an professor, but as a mentor and guide through his academic career and beyond.
“Dr. Fitzgerald-Hoyt was more than amazing and more than generous; she was inspirational,” Schiesel said. “She was, without a doubt, one of the reasons I am pursuing a career as a college professor. She epitomized what everyone wants in a professor: the sense of care and concern that a student may need, combined with the motivation and push to go and achieve anything. She was, in simplest terms, an ideal professor.”
A grandchild of immigrants, Fitzgerald-Hoyt was an active scholar in the fields of Irish literature, the international short story, and the Irish Potato Famine. Her scholarly research and publications brought her across the globe; and she infused her experiences abroad into her Siena classroom with poignant lessons that impacted her students in meaningful ways.
“Her classes will remain as some of the most enjoyable I have ever taken, not just because of her positive attitude and humorous smile that brightened up the classroom, but because she managed to infuse the facts, history, and educational material with such passion and interest that it was hard not to fall in love with the books we read,” Schiesel said.
Fitzgerald-Hoyt grew up in Albany and earned her master’s (1979) and doctorate (1985) degrees from the University of Connecticut.
