Sister Joel Read (December 30, 1925 – May 25, 2017) was an American religious sister and the president of Alverno College from 1968 until 2003.[1]
Academic career
editRead graduated from Fordham University and Alverno College.[2] She began teaching history at Alverno College in 1955. In 1968, she was appointed to be the college's sixth president. In 1985, she was elected to the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other education boards she has served on include the Foundation for Independent Higher Education, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the National Catholic Educational Association. In 2000, she received the Lifetime Leadership Award from the Wisconsin Women in Higher Education Leadership.
Read retired in 2003. Her tenure as president is the longest of any college president in Alverno College's history.[3] In 2003, Read's work was recognized with an honorary doctorate from Marquette University.[4]
National Organization for Women
editRead was one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women.[5] In this role, she worked alongside notable feminist such as Pauli Murray and the Catholic feminist academic Elizabeth Farians. Read was an outspoken feminist who wrote in 1973, "The whole intent of women's studies is infused into every course offered on our campus...a women's college is a feminist institution."[6]
National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year
editIn 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Read to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year.[7]
Personal life
editJanice Anne Read was born on December 30, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois.[8] She took on the name Joel to honor her parents who were named Joseph and Ellen Read.[9] She joined the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1942. She died on May 25, 2017, at the age of 91.[9] Read was honored in Congress in 2017.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Alverno College to rename building in honor of Sister Joel Read". www.alverno.edu. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
- ^ "Sister Joel Read". Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ Herzog, Karen (January 30, 2012). "Alverno's Sister Joel Read receives national honor". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ "Honoring Our Founders and Pioneers | National Organization for Women". now.org. 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
- ^ Friedan, Betty (2006). Life So Far. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-7432-9986-2.
- ^ Turk, Katherine (2023). The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America. p. 53.
- ^ admin (2017-05-26). "Sister Joel Read, who shaped Milwaukee's Alverno College and was among nation's top college innovators, dies at 91". Veteran Feminists of America. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
- ^ "Read, Sister Joel (Janice) 1926 -". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- ^ a b Herzog, Karen (May 26, 2017). "Sister Joel Read, who shaped Milwaukee's Alverno College and was among nation's top college innovators, dies at 91". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ "Extension of Remarks: Congressional Record" (PDF). June 29, 2017.