Named Scholarships
All Scholarships and Awards are open to additional contributions at any time through the University of Illinois Foundation.
VANNIE L. SHEIRY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
This endowed scholarship fund, established through the generosity of Ms. Sheiry’s friends and family members, provides an annual award of approximately $800 to a dance major who has demonstrated exceptional performing talent. Priority is given to MFA students.
Ms. Sheiry, born November 24, 1902, was a staff member at the University of Illinois until her retirement in 1966. She enjoyed dance, her most beloved avocataion, as both audience member and participant. She was a faithful patron of UIUC Dance Department concerts for many years and showed delight and enthusiasm for talented young performers.
The Department of Dance extends a special thank you to the individuals whose gifts established the Vannie L. Sheiry Memorial Dance Fund: Ms. Vannie Raps Henderson; Ms. Barbara Horne, Ms. Karen Keener; Ms. Nancey Raps La Framboise;
MOE FAMILY DANCE AWARD (Established in 1996)
This endowed scholarship was established through the generosity of alumna Marilyn Moe Fiedler as a tribute to her father. It provides approximately $700 to a dance major with potential for unique contributions to the profession, which may lie outside the realm of performance in the traditional sense.
Thanks to alumna Marilyn Moe Fiedler (MA, ’72) of Butte, North Dakota, the Department of Dance has an endowed scholarship fund, the Moe Family Dance Award, established by Mrs. Fiedler as a tribute to her father, Donald O. Moe, who supported all of her dance studies and most recently her training for a degree in Counseling which she received in 1994. Mr. Moe died peacefully on January 29, 1995. Marilyn has requested that the scholarship be a awarded to a student “with potential for unique contributions to the profession which may lie outside the realm of performance in the traditional sense.” In a letter stating her wishes for the scholarship, Marilyn stated; “May the scholarship serve to boost the career of a University of Illinois dance student and bring him or her a graceful aid from a grace-filled man, Donald Owen Moe, who always followed through to make our world a truly brighter place for all whose hearts he touched.”
WANDA M. NETTL PRIZE FOR STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHY
This endowed fund was established by Prof. Bruno Nettl in honor of his wife, Wanda, because of her lifelong interest in and support of the art of dance. This annual award of approximately $725 is designated for the best choreography by an undergraduate or graduate student.
Bruno Nettl established this Fund to honor his wife Wanda M. Nettl for her long-term interest and support of dance. Wanda has for many years been an enthusiastic member of the audience of dance performances and a zealous supporter of the Department of Dance. Wanda’s association and relationship to dance include her daughter, Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, a faculty member in the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois; her husband, Bruno Nettl, professor of Music and Anthropology at the University of Illinois; her mother-in-law, Gertrude Hutter-Nettl; and her father-in-law, Paul Nettl.
LISA CARDUCCI MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
The Carducci family gives this scholarship for out of town summer dance study in memory of their daughter, Lisa (BFA ’84). Priority consideration is given to BFA students, although MFA students may apply. This scholarship provides an annual award of approximately $1,500.
Selection criteria:
• Performance ability
• Technical skill
• Originality/creativity
• Initiative/leadership
• Demonstrated responsibility toward commitments to rehearsals, classes, and performances
• Substance of proposal
From Lisa’s Family...
Our daughter Lisa Marie Carducci graduated from the University of Illinois with Bachelor of Fine Arts as a Dance Major in 1984. She died of Hodgkins Disease September 26, 1985 at the age of twenty-four.
In her few short years she achieved more happiness, fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment and emotional maturity than many who live the full three score and ten.
We, her family, believe that she was able to attain these goals in large part because of the opportunities she was afforded at the University of Illinois Department of Dance. The superb teacher and well-planned curriculum there encouraged her to strive for and, we believe, attain her full potential as a dancer and as a person.
It is for these reasons we would like to set up and fund a memorial scholarship in Lisa’s name. We would propose that the scholarship would go to the Dance Major exhibiting the most creativity.
-Donald and Jacquelyn Carducci and family
The memorial fund which Lisa’s parents have established will be used for a large mural to be painted on the KCPA basement wall at the entrance to the dance studio, and for a scholarship for summer dance study to be granted annually to a dance major selected by the Department on the basis of talent.
PAT KNOWLES GRADUATE TRAVEL AWARD
This annual award of $1,000 is designated for an outstanding MFA candidate in the Department of Dance to be used for travel and study that deepens his or her artistic life.
Selection criteria:
• A strong record of achievement as a choreographer and/or performer while in graduate studies at U of I.
• Substance of application and significance of proposed project as determined by the dance faculty.
In 1966, Patricia Knowles was awarded the first M.A. degree in Dance from Florida State University. She joined the Dance faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign in 1973 after teaching at the University of Georgia, where she implemented a dance major program, and at Eastern Michigan University. At UIUC, she served as department head, graduate program director, and producing director for department concerts from 1977 until her retirement in 2001, dividing her time between administration, teaching, choreography/performance, and service. Chief among her administrative accomplishments at UIUC were the design and implementation of the M.F.A. degree program in 1981, extensive revision of the B.F.A. curriculum, and expansion of the general education dance program. She established a floating artist-in-residence position, developed the department’s performance component into a significant cultural resource for the university community, planned and acquired two dance facilities, and initiated international ties with dance programs in Taiwan and Australia.
Her service to the profession includes leadership in the American College Dance Festival Association, the Council of Dance Administrators, and the National Association of Schools of Dance, where she served as President, 1998-2000 and Chair of the Commission on Accreditation, 1994-1997. She has been a program reviewer/consultant for NASD since 1984 and continues to serve in that capacity. Professor Knowles was the recipient of the 2005 Alma Hawkins Award for Excellence in Dance Education, awarded by the Council of Dance Administrators. She resides in Urbana, IL.
MARY ELIZABETH HAMSTROM AWARD
This award is made possible by a donation from Mary Elizabeth Hamstrom. The award amount is approximately $500. This is for graduate travel to research or attend workshops or festivals.
Selection criteria:
• Substance and presentation of proposal
• Quality of one page abstract of creative research
• Grade point average
• Significance and consistency of candidate's contribution to the department community, especially the graduate community
• Relationship of proposed summer study with candidate's over-all goals and mission.
Professor Mary-Elizabeth Hamstrom grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an AB in Mathematics. She went on to the University of Texas in Austin where she earned a PhD in Pure Mathematics. She taught at Goucher College for nine years with a year off at the Institute for Advanced Study. She came to the mathematics department at UIUC in 1961 and retired as Professor Emerita in 1999. Her sister and Professor Wadleigh share grand children. This pleasant family connection contributed to her interest in Dance.
BEVERLY BLOSSOM AND CAREY ERICKSON ALUMNI DANCE AWARD
Richard Erickson established this endowment in memory of his brother Carey and in honor of Carey's mentor Beverly Blossom. The award will enable Alumni to return to the campus to teach, perform, choreograph, and otherwise enhance Dance at Illinois.
2008 Recipient - Paul Singh
2009 Recipient - Nicholas Wagner
Carey Erickson (1950-1990)
After earning his BA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1972 where he was mentored by Beverly Blossom and a master’s degree in dance from California Institute for the Arts, Carey Erickson went on to train in New York City with Hanya Holm, Viola Farber, and Maggie Black. He choreographed and danced in New York before he was left paralyzed by a diving accident in 1983 in which he suffered a broken neck. During his incapacitation he choreographed for the Manhattan Performance Ensemble’s “Spinal Series,” making dances for a group of wheelchair-bound performance artists. After four months of rehabilitation he fully recovered and was able to continue dance and performance art. Carey Erickson died in 1990.
Beverly Blossom - Professor Emeritus
Beverly Blossom (Choreographer and Dancer) was a principal dancer with the Alwin Nikolais Dance Theatre for ten years from l953 to l963. She then produced concerts of her own choreography in New York in the l960’s, participating in the development of the film stage theatre of actor/poet Roberts Blossom, to whom she was married from l966 to l970. She has in recent years produced concerts of her own choreography as part of the "downtown dance" scene. She has choreographed and performed more than l00 works and has received numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, and private foundations.
A Professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana from l967 to l990, in recent years Beverly Blossom has renewed her career as a performer, presenting her solo works at the l988 Jacob’s Pillow, Massachusetts “Splash” Festival, and at the Joyce Theatre l989 showcase “Womanworks”. In l993, Ms. Blossom was awarded a New York Dance and Performance Award (a “Bessie”) for sustained achievement. She holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Roosevelt University, Chicago, and a master’s degree in dance from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Currently a Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois, since her retirement, Beverly Blossom has been choreographing for her own company (Blossom & Co.Inc.), performing and teaching. She currently lives and works in Chicago, in the South Loop.
