A founding member of WAND and President Emerita of the National WAND Board, Sayre has been a long time political and social activist. She is a college professor of literature and an author of several plays and articles about women's issues and peace issues.

She edited the anthology Her War Story: 20th Century Women Write About War, published in 1999 by Southern Illinois University Press. She represents WAND as an NGO at the United Nations.