President Lisa Marsh Ryerson is pleased to announce that Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, renowned for her work in the field of women's rights history, will give the commencement address at Wells College on Saturday, May 24. The ceremony begins at 10:00 a.m. outside Macmillan Hall.
Sally Roesch Wagner, the executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation in Fayetteville, New York, is a nationally recognized lecturer, author and performance interpreter of women's rights history. One of the first women to receive a doctorate in the United States for work in women's studies (UC Santa Cruz), and a founder of one of the country's first college women's studies programs, (CSU Sacramento), Dr. Wagner is a pioneering feminist and social justice advocate in her own right.
Wagner appeared as a "talking head" in the Ken Burns PBS documentary, "Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony" for which she wrote the accompanying faculty guide for PBS. She was also an historian in the PBS special, "One Woman, One Vote" and has been interviewed several times on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and "Democracy Now."
The theme of her work has been telling the untold stories. Her monograph, She Who Holds the Sky: Matilda Joslyn Gage, reveals a suffragist written out of history because of her stand against the religious right 100 years ago, while Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Influence on Early American Feminists documents the influence of Iroquois women on early women's rights activists.
Named the Jeanette K. Watson Women's Studies Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities at Syracuse University in 1997, Wagner has been a research affiliate of the Women's Resources and Research Center at the University of California, Davis and a consultant to the National Women's History Project.
Wagner's essays have appeared in: Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1800-1925; Indian Roots of American Democracy; Iroquois Women: an Anthology; and Handbook of American Women's History. Published articles include: National Women's Studies Association Journal, On the Issues, Northeast Indian Quarterly, Indian Country Today, Hartford Courant, Women's History Network News, National NOW Times and the Sacramento Bee. Recent books include: She Who Holds the Sky: Matilda Joslyn Gage (Sky Carrier Press, 2003); Woman, Church and State. Introduction to reprint of Matilda Joslyn Gage's 1893 classic. (Humanity Books, 2002); and Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists (Native Voices, 2001).
Wagner is currently the executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation. Gage, a 19th century suffragist, abolitionist, and supported of Native American sovereignty, worked side by side with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, yet is the lesser known of the three. The trio wrote The History of Woman Suffrage together in Gage's Fayetteville home, where Wagner now resides. Wagner is in the process of restoring the old home and creating extensive programming on the subjects of anti-slavery, women's rights, Haudenosaunee relations, and more.
For more information about Sally Roesch Wagner and Wells College's commencement activities, please visit the college's website at www.wells.edu or contact director of communications Gwen Webber-McLeod at 315/364-3260 or by email at [email protected]. Additional information about the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation may be found at http://www.nyhistory.com/gagepage/index.htm
Wells College was established in 1868 by Henry Wells, founder of the Wells Fargo and American Express companies. Wells had a vision of creating an institution to advance women through liberal arts education. Today, Wells College continues this tradition by offering quality academic programs to women from across the United States and several foreign countries. The college is located in the village of Aurora on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake.
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