Sherry Wagner-Henry, the director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business, passed away unexpectedly late last month in Madison, due to complications from surgery. She was 53 years old.
A native of Tiiskilwa, Illinois, Wagner-Henry held a bachelor’s degree in music business from Illinois State University. She began graduate school at Columbia College in Chicago but returned to Illinois State University to earn an MBA in arts, business, and entrepreneurship.
Right out of graduate school, she was hired as the managing director of University Theatre in the theatre arts and dance department at the University of Minnesota. Eighteen years later, she was appointed director of graduate studies for the master of liberal studies program in the College of Continuing Education at the University of Minnesota. She joined the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012.
Recently, Wagner-Henry was awarded the 2020 Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts, which recognizes achievements of University of Wisconsin faculty and staff engaged in outreach and public service in the creative arts.