About the Authors of In Her Shoes: A Compilation of Inspiring Stories from the First Decade of the Worcester Women’s Oral History Project

Maureen Ryan Doyle has worked as a freelance writer for many years and is also the owner of a small property management company in Central Massachusetts. She was the winner of Good Housekeeping Magazine’s New Traditionalist writing competition. Maureen earned her BA degree in history from Assumption College where she was a member of the first under-graduate class of women. She received the Outstanding Alumnus/Alumna Award from Assumption in 2013. She has pursued graduate study at Emerson College in Boston and Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. She and her husband, Francis X. Doyle, reside in Holden, MA. Their family includes their daughter, Maryssa, and son and daughter-in-law Colin and Dani Doyle. 

Charlene L. Martin, EdD has thirty-five years of experience in higher education. She is the former dean of Continuing Education at Assumption College and the founding director of the Worcester Institute for Senior Education known as WISE. She earned her BA and MA from Assumption College and a doctorate in educational policy, research, and administration with a specialty in higher education from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. She was an adjunct professor teaching higher education on the doctor-al level and her research and publications focus on educational opportunities for older adults in retirement. She and her husband, Jim Martin, live in Shrewsbury, MA. 

Both Maureen and Charlene have served on the Steering Committee of the Worcester Women’s History Project and have co-chaired the Worcester Women’s Oral History Project since 2008. They also co-authored Voices of Worcester Women: 160 Years after the First Woman’s Rights Convention published in 2011.