THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Sister Joel Read

December 30, 1925 – May 25, 2017

“Don’t ever think that something can’t be done. It can. Opportunity is everywhere.”

Alverno College’s longest-serving president and a trailblazer in education reform. Member, School Sisters of St. Francis. President of the American Association for Higher Education. One of the Founders of the National Organization for Women. She shared her boundless wisdom as member of the boards of numerous local, state and national education organizations as well as with two U.S. presidents, who invited her to the White House to discuss educational policy. Presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission for the Celebration of International Women’s Year, 1975. The Sister Joel Read Conference Center and Sister Joel Read Outstanding Educator Award ensure that her name is known to a new generation of Alverno women, a generation whose education still bears Sister Joel’s indelible stamp.

Photo 1. Sister Joel Read, a member of NOW’s first board with Betty Friedan at NOW’s first press conference, in Friedan’s New York City apartment, November 1966. Photo 2. Sister Joel Read, 1975.