The Dr. Margaret P. Hannay Honors Student Fund was established by colleagues, former students and friends of Dr. Hannay to recognize her retirement from Siena College. Dr. Hannay was a faculty member in the English department at Siena College beginning in 1980. During her career at Siena, she served as chair of the core curriculum committee, chair of the committee to establish the Honors Program now known as J. Spencer and Patricia Standish Honors Program, and chair of the English department, as well as serving on a variety of other committees. In 2000, she received the first Raymond Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award. She published more than fifty articles and fifteen books and received three fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities. The fund provides support for the J. Spencer and Patricia Standish Honors Program with a preference towards supporting students working on their thesis.