Sharon Seager, a long-time faculty member at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, died on August 12 at Morrison Woods Health Campus in Muncie. She was 83 years old.
A native of Amarillo, Texas, Dr. Seager earned a bachelor’s degree in social sciences in 1960 at Trinity University in San Antonio. She went on to earn a Ph.D. at what is now Rice University in Houston, Texas, on a National Defense Graduate Fellowship.
Dr. Seager taught for a brief period at what is now Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau before joining the faculty at Ball State University in 1966. Her research focused on nineteenth-century American history and American women’s history.
At Ball State, Dr. Seager was instrumental in starting the women’s studies program (now Women’s and Gender Studies). She was one of the scholars who designed the interdisciplinary “Women’s Study” course, which she taught for several years.
Dr. Seager retired in 2004 after teaching at Ball State for 38 years.
I had Dr Hannum as a sophomore and junior at BSU in the late 60s. I loved her classes in Southern history. Her course on the Antebellum south was really great..I still think of the books we read and great class.