Team Member Janet Morford Bio

Janet Morford is the faculty sponsor for this and other Uni High oral history projects.  As part of her teaching assignment in social studies at Uni, she gets to spend several months each year working on a new project with her current crop of subfreshmen (7th/8th graders). She also has the pleasure of working year-round with two or more teams of high school interns, who are responsible for turning the younger students' interviews on a topic into a radio documentary.

As the "Military Personnel" project has taken shape, Janet has been fascinated to discover the many ways in which the armed forces -- as institutions -- have inspired, mirrored or lagged behind broader shifts in American society.  Such parallels are evident in the processes of racial desegregation (in and outside of the military), the opening of greater opportunities for women (in and outside of the military), the recognition of the civil rights of people who are openly gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer (in and outside of the military), just to mention a few.

As a civilian who has had little personal exposure to the realities of military service, Janet has been grateful to hear so many different stories of the sacrifices and service rendered by men and women across the generations since the 1940s.  She is thankful to the countless Americans who have served our country in many different ways, and in particular, to the sixteen individuals who not only served or made other sacrifices on behalf of the nation, but also agreed to share their stories with us for this project.