Sister Joel Read, Assessment Pioneer, Dies

Sister Joel Read (right), former president of Alverno College, died Thursday at the age of 91. She was named president of Alverno -- a Roman Catholic women's college in Wisconsin -- in 1968, and she served in that position for 35 years. While president, she pioneered a program in which the curriculum was organized around abilities students needed for various degrees, and assessment programs were created for those abilities and the broader impact of the Alverno education. The assessment efforts at Alverno were adopted many years before such practices became common -- and influenced many other colleges.