MALLORY LORING/Arizona Daily Wildcat Nursing students, junior Jessica Park, senior Emily Fitz, and junior Lindsay Poole congregate before a lecture.

A year after three College of Nursing faculty members were killed by a disgruntled student with a gun, the College of Nursing Alumni Council hopes to honor their memory by hosting a 5K memorial walk/run.

And they're asking for members of the UA and Tucson community to show their support by strapping on some tennis shoes and joining them on Oct. 26.

So far, only 250 people have signed up for the event. The council hopes to have 500 to 1,000 participants, said event coordinator Ellice Mellinger.

Registration is open until the day of the event, and all members of the UA and Tucson communities are invited to participate.

The College of Nursing and the UA campus were devastated last year when nursing student Robert Stewart Flores Jr. opened fire in the College of Nursing, killing professors Cheryl M. McGaffic, Barbara S. Monroe and Robin E. Rogers and then himself.

The memorial walk/run will take place two days before the anniversary of the shootings.

George Humphrey, director of public affairs for the Arizona Health Sciences Center, said he hopes the event will allow UA and Tucson community members to come together in remembering the shooting victims.

"We hope the community really comes out," Humphrey said. "It hurt everyone in town."

Ki Moore, chair of faculty for the College of Nursing, said she thinks the walk/run is an appropriate way to remember the victims.

Moore, who plans to run, said she thinks the event would make the three women proud.

"All the faculty that we lost ÷ Barb, Cheryl and Robin ÷ were very focused on health, wellness and exercise," she said. "We want to honor the lifestyle they led."

Sheila Contapay-Tabilin, a nursing senior who is helping plan the walk/run, once took a pediatrics class from Rogers and remembers exchanging friendly hellos in the halls with Monroe.

Contapay-Tabilin said the walk/run is a positive way for people to celebrate the professors' lives without reliving the negative details of the tragedy.

"It's a different way of looking back on the past year," she said. "I think this is a really good idea."

Starting tomorrow, the cost of registration will increase from $25 to $35.

All profits will go to the Nursing Faculty Memorial Scholarship Endowment, which benefits undergraduate nursing students.

The endowment was established in memory of the three shooting victims by donations from family, friends, colleagues and others across the nation.

Mellinger said the council hopes to raise $50,000 for the endowment, and anyone who wants to donate money but does not wish to take part in the walk/run can indicate this on the event registration form.

Registration forms are available at the College of Nursing and University Medical Center or online at nursing.arizona.edu.

The walk/run begins at 9 a.m. on Oct. 26 at the College of Nursing, 1305 N. Martin St.

All participants will receive a free T-shirt.