MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS)- Alverno College President Sister Joel Read is known as one of the most iconic women in education.  The unique curriculum she created at Wisconsin’s all female college has been called revolutionary.

“She truly was a force,” says Margaret “Peg” Rauschenberger, who taught under Sister Joel’s leadership.  “She would walk into a room and you would feel it.”

Peg is now a professor at Alverno.  She is an alum, just like Sister Joel.  Peg is the dean Emerita of the School of Nursing and the Director of the undergraduate nursing program.

Sister Joel taught history.

“She was a wonderful storyteller,” Peg says.  “ She was one of the most wonderful and could be one of the most kind caring individuals, while still being awfully intimidating.”

Peg’s relationship with Sister Joel started long before her faculty years.  It began during her time as an Alverno student.

“I would eat. Lunch here in the commons and Sister Joel would eat lunch here everyday and she’d sit with anyone she wanted to and you just said ‘okay,’ Peg recalls.  “She sat down with me one day and see said ‘who are you?’ and I told her my name and from that day forward, she remembered who I was.”

Peg’s story continues.

“I said 'I’m supposed to form an opinion on something I don’t know much about' and she looked at me and said 'if you don’t know something, you have to go find out.”

Sister Joel’s thirst for knowledge and desire to always know more echoed in everything she did.  It’s also what she expected from her students and staff.

“I try to do the same thing with my students, to instill in them that you have to learn, you have to find out,” Peg says.  “I’m not going to just give you the answer.”

Sister Joel eventually asked another question: what do grades mean?

“She was the one who asked the question ‘what should someone who graduates from Alverno College be able to do?” Peg says.  “She went to all the employers she knew and asked them ‘what are the skills you’re looking for in an employee and how can we better prepare students to come into your workplace and be successful.”

During her 35 year tenure as President of Alverno, Sister Joel’s 8 Abilities and assessment-based learning model inspired educators across the globe.  It did away with grades and the pass/fail mentality and focused on comprehension and real-world application.

“I don’t think there’s another school in the world that’s adopted this curriculum in its entirety like Alverno has,” Peg says.

The model integrates eight key skills: effective communication, analytical capability, problem-solving ability, facility in forming value judgements, effective social interaction, understanding of individual/environment relationships, understanding the contemporary world, educated responsiveness to the arts and humanities.

It taught students how to implement them not only in the classroom, but in their chosen professions.

“It gave you skills you could use in any discipline,” Peg says.

Peg was in the first class of students to be taught under this new curriculum.

To this day, she says students even go through mock interviews and are assessed by employers within the community.

“We’re partnering with the experts of the community to help our students get that extra edge that will help them be really successful once they graduate.”

Sister Joel’s passion for women’s rights also made a noticeable mark on Milwaukee.  She is one of the founders of NOW (National Organization of Women.”  She retired as Alverno’s president in 2003.

Sister Joel died in 2017 at 91 years old.

“It was, in many ways, heartbreaking when she died,” Peg says.  “In one package, she was it all.”