Longtime Campus and Community Children's Center director McLain honored with plaque

The enduring contribution that Suzanne McLain made to a generation of children and their families during her quarter-century of leadership at the Campus and Community Children’s Center at SUNY Fredonia is now acknowledged on a handsome wall plaque.

“She was a huge advocate for Early Childhood programming throughout the county,” said Judy Metzger, who succeeded McLain as the center’s director. The brass-and-metal plaque hangs outside of Metzger’s office in the new Campus and Community Children’s Center, which opened in 2010.

McLain was the center’s director from 1976 to 1999, when the facility was located in Thompson Hall.

An active member of the Chautauqua County Association for the Education of Young Children, McLain secured national accreditation for the center, which opened in 1974. She was recognized as a “Children’s Champion” by the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children for her advocacy of developmentally appropriate practices and quality affordable and accessible early care and education.

In her leadership position on CCAEYC’s Public Policy Committee, McLain took on the additional role of vocal community activist, especially when it came to the impact of local, state and federal policies on children and families. She worked collaboratively with day care center directors, the Child Care Council, Success By 6 and other groups. Her career in early childhood service spanned 40 years.

McLain and her husband, retired Sociology professor Ray McLain, now reside in Maine.