Women’s History Month: Recognizing the Women Who Built UW-Stevens Point

The Women Who Built UW-Stevens Point

by Shane Olsen, Archives Assistant

March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women and acknowledge their vital contributions to our communities. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on how history is recorded - whose stories are told, whose voices are amplified, and whose labor is too often overlooked. Archival theorist Terry Cook reminds us that the historical record is not neutral; written histories often privilege the experiences of white male property owners at the expense of marginalized groups.[1]

This erasure is evident in the history of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The university’s official published histories have often highlighted male university presidents and chancellors. However, women have always been essential to the functioning of the university, and they have ensured that the campus fulfills its mission to students and the state.

Women at the Heart of UW-Stevens Point’s Founding

When the Stevens Point Normal School opened in 1894, its first course catalog indicated that the school’s president and most of the faculty in the sciences and humanities were men.[2] However, nearly all those responsible for training future teachers were women. Educators like Emma Haney, Frances Quinn, and Mary Bradford played an essential role in shaping the institution’s early years. From the beginning, women were the backbone of teacher education - an influence that continued despite systemic barriers.

Mary Bradford

In 1908, the Board of Regents of the State Normal Schools enacted a rule banning married women from being hired as teachers - a policy that had existed informally for years, as Justus Paul explains in The World is Ours.[3] Early issues of the school’s newspaper, The Pointer, indicate that faculty resignations followed. For example, Bertha Pitman, one of the school’s original instructors, left after marrying Professor Frank Sharp. Students wrote that Pitman’s “kindly sympathy with student life and her interest in the progress of students’ individuality made her a general favorite, so that her departure from Room 24 will indeed be keenly felt.”[4] Whether her departure was due to a move or the school’s restrictive hiring policies, the result was the same: the loss of a talented educator.

Women Behind the Scenes: Administration and Labor Advocacy

As UW-Stevens Point expanded, women remained central to its operations, often in roles that kept the institution running behind the scenes. Carolyn Rolfson Sargis, for whom the university’s Sargis Award is named, exemplifies this legacy. Beginning as a secretary in 1919, she worked at the university for 43 years, eventually becoming the college business manager. She managed budgeting, purchasing, registration, and other critical financial tasks - work that was indispensable to the school’s success. Upon her retirement, she expressed joy at finally being able “to throw the alarm clock out the window” - a testament to her decades of dedication.[5]

Carolyn Rolfson Sargis

But women at UW-Stevens Point didn’t just work within the system - they fought to change it. While popular narratives of the American labor movement often center white male factory workers, women were key figures in campus labor organizing. Sargis was a member of the Wisconsin State Employees Association (WSEA) which became an officially recognized bargaining entity for UW-Stevens Point employees in 1967.[6]

Leading the Fight for Workplace Rights

By the 1970s, women were at the forefront of campus labor activism. Sally Worzella, an account examiner at the University Store, served as secretary and steward of Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU) Local 584. She led a demonstration for wage increases in front of Old Main in 1976 and participated in the WSEU strike in 1977.[7] Worzella also played a key role in contract negotiations, fought for student worker safety, and advocated for greater classified staff representation in university governance.[8] Additionally, she co-chaired Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality (PEOPLE), which encouraged political and civic engagement among state employees.[9]

Emilie Schmidt, who worked in the telephone office and later in registration and records, became the first woman elected president of WSEU Local 584 in 1987.[10] She advocated for classified staff representation in shared governance,[11] fought against outsourcing university jobs to private contractors, and pushed for fair treatment of university staff.[12]

Despite being some of the lowest-paid and least-recognized employees, women like Worzella and Schmidt strengthened the labor movement at UW-Stevens Point and secured better working conditions for generations of university employees.

Recognizing Women’s Contributions - Past and Present

The historical record is clear: Women at UW-Stevens Point have not only been present - they have been essential. From training teachers to managing finances to leading the picket line, their labor has shaped the university in ways that official histories often fail to acknowledge.

This Women’s History Month, we honor their legacy and recognize that the fight for equity in education and labor continues. By learning these stories and advocating for workplace justice, we ensure that the contributions of women - past, present, and future - ar

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[1] Terry Cook, “’We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present, and Future,” Journal of the Society of Archivists, Volume 32, Issue 2, 2011. Pages 173-189.

[2] Announcement of the State Normal School, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, 1894. In UWSP Archives Reference Collection.

[3] Justus Paul, The World Is Ours: The History of UWSP, 1894-1994 (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Foundation Press, 1994), 46.

[4] Local news section, The Pointer, January 1896, Page 13.

[5] “CSC Business Manager Retires,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, November 10, 1962, Page 6. In UWSP Biography Vertical File: Rolfson, Carolyn.

[6] “Association Certified by ‘U’ Employes,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, April 21, 1967, Page 2.

[7] “Clerical Workers Picket at UW-SP,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, July 30, 1976, Page 5.

[8] Union - Management Meeting Minutes, 1974-1983, UWSP Series 4, Box 241, Folder 2, Office of the Chancellor Subject Files.

[9] “Assembly candidates will speak at forum,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, August 25, 1978, Page 1.

[10] “UW-SP employee 1^st woman to lead union,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, February 9, 1987, Page 2.

[11] Union - Management Meeting Minutes, 1984-1989, UWSP Series 4, Box 241, Folder 3, Office of the Chancellor Subject Files.

[12] “Local 584 president re-elected,” Stevens Point Daily Journal, April 30, 1988, Page 15.