Joel Read

Sister Joel Read (December 30, 1925 – May 25, 2017) was an American religious sister and the president of Alverno College from 1968 until 2003.

Read graduated from Fordham University and Alverno College.

Janice Anne Read was born on December 30, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois.

She took on the name Joel to honor her parents who were named Joseph and Ellen Read.

She joined the School Sisters of St. Francis in 1942.

She began teaching history at Alverno College in 1955.

In 1968, she was appointed to be the college's sixth president.

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."

In 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Read to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year.

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.

In 2003, Read's work was recognized with an honorary doctorate from Marquette University.

Read was one of the founding members of the National Organization for Women.

In this role, she worked alongside notable feminist such as Pauli Murray and the Catholic feminist academic Elizabeth Farians.

She died on May 25, 2017, at the age of 91.

Read was honored in Congress in 2017.