Sister Joel Read was President of Alverno College for 35 years (1968 - 2003).

Sr Joel-President.pdf

The first Lay Board of Trustees was inaugurated at Alverno College in 1968. That first

Lay Board was responsible for appointing Sister Joel Read acting president in May 1968,

then appointing her president in November that same year after the retirement of her

predecessor, Sister Augustine Scheele

. 

The launch of Alverno's Ability-based Curriculum in 1973 (learn more...) and the

inauguration of Weekend College in 1977 are two of Sister Joel's

many accomplishments.

There was a feature-length article about Sister Joel in the Spring 2003 issue of Alverno Magazine

when she retired: joel read retirement alvmag sp2003a.pdf

The Dictionary of Wisconsin History, found on the Wisconsin Historical Society web site, includes an entry for Sister Joel Read

that was written by Alverno student, Nicole Vielleux.

The Rotunda in the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center (TLTC) was named in her honor. 

Here is an excerpt from the Archives exhibit, What's in a Name? The Names and Places of Alverno College:

Sr Joel Read Rotunda.pdf

Here is a link to the original exhibit, What's in a Name? The Names and Places of Alverno College

          To hear Sister Joel discuss education, check out this link to a snippet from WUWM's radio

program, Lake Effect.  This clip originally aired on May 15th, 2007.  Lake Effect