Paula L. Wagoner, PhD – 2003 Distinguished Alum

The importance of a college education has never eluded Dr. Paula Wagoner, but sometimes, life intrudes. After high school she decided to take some time off and see the country, little did she realize that it would take some twenty years to begin her college career. Entering Sheridan College in 1988, with her son, they were the first mother/son team ever to graduate from Sheridan College. She eventually graduated with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Indiana University in 1997.

As a tenured professor at Juniata College, Paula has come full circle. She sums it up – “It was at Sheridan College that I began, as a middle-aged woman, lacking self-confidence, my journey toward a fulfilling profession that has been all I had dreamed of and more.”

Her time at Sheridan College was spent learning about the real value of an education. College provides tools necessary for individuals to access and analyze information the we must be able to grapple with in a rational way. “Sheridan College provided me with the opportunity to decide what I wanted to do and how to go about working towards that end.”