Alumna Dr. Susan Hagedorn '77 Awarded UMass Amherst Revolutionary Spirit Award

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Alumna Dr. Susan Hagedorn '77 is the recipient of the 2021 UMass Amherst Revolutionary Spirit Award. The award, which recognizes individuals who exemplify the pioneering spirit of UMass Amherst in their pursuit of innovation and progress, was announced on November 4 during this year's Homecoming Weekend. 

Sue came to campus on November 5 with her daughter Hope Reeves and grandson Zane Walker (in photo) for Homecoming festivities and she received the award from Dean Vorderstrasse during the nursing alumni homecoming luncheon.

Dr. Hagedorn has been dedicated to social justice as a nurse educator, nurse practitioner, philanthropist, filmmaker, and activist. She is a longtime supporter of the College of Nursing, most recently via a $2 million gift to create a new program called the Seedworks Equity in Nursing Fund, which will provide scholarships, mentoring and peer-to-peer support for aspiring nursing students from diverse backgrounds.  

After earning a BS in Nursing at UMass Amherst in 1977, Hagedorn completed a master’s degree in maternal-child nursing from Boston College and became a nurse practitioner. She helped found and direct the Teen Health Center at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, the first school-based health center in Massachusetts. She went on to earn a doctorate in nursing from the University of Colorado, where she serves as a professor emerita.  

Dr. Hagedorn has practiced and taught psychiatric, pediatric and public health nursing and provided training for pediatric and women’s health nurse practitioners. Her clinical specialty is adolescent care, in which she has been active in school-based health centers and adolescent residential treatment. She has been widely recognized for her contributions to health care and nursing and is a Fellow of the American Academies of Nursing and Nurse Practitioners.  

After teaching and doing clinical practice, Dr. Hagedorn pursued a new career path and earned a graduate certificate in documentary studies in 2008 and a master’s in media studies in 2010 from The New School in New York City. Since then, she has paired her passion for activism, social justice, healthcare and media and produced more than 20 films focused on nursing and social justice. Her documentaries include Inventing the Nurse Practitioner in America (2016); Island Nurse (2010), a portrait of Block Island’s Mary Donnelly; and Deputized (2012), a film about a murder on Long Island. Her latest film, featured at film festivals this year, is called Devout and Dangerous. The film tells the story of the Berrigan brothers, Daniel and Philip, Catholic priests who were dedicated to non-violent resistance and who rose to prominence as outspoken opponents of the Vietnam War. 

Read more about the Revolutionary Spirit Award.