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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ilana Morgan
Ilana Morgan, a graduate student in the doctoral program, College of Arts and Sciences,
TWU, to be honored with Virginia Chandler Dykes Scholarship
Dallas, TX – January 21, 2010 – Ilana Morgan, a Denton resident and doctoral student in
TWU’s College of Arts and Sciences, will receive one of four prestigious scholarships given by
Texas W oman’s University at the Eighth Annual Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award
Luncheon, presented by Bank of Texas and Texas Woman’s University, Feb. 25, at noon, at
The Belo Mansion and Pavilion .
Morgan’s scholarship is sponsored by Sis Carr, honorary chair of the luncheon.
Ilana Morgan is a student in the Ph.D. program, with a 4.0 G.P.A., and a teaching Graduate
Assistant in the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. She is also a member of the 2008 Doctoral Cohort. Morgan came to TWU as an experienced teacher with a broad range of teaching and artistic abilities. A successful seven-year professional career as a teaching artist in the Santa Barbara, California, public schools fueled her interest and dedication to teaching, leading her to pursue research in the area of pedagogical theory. After she enrolled in the program, she began taking Women’s Studies courses and is now working toward a
Women’s Studies Certificate along with her dance degrees, with an estimated completion in both by 2013.
“Texas Woman’s University has given me an exciting opportunity to merge dance, feminist theory, performance studies, pedagogy, and online teaching practices with an overriding commitment to issues of social justice,” said Morgan. “I am extremely interested in dance and dance education as social justice. One day I hope to head a dance department while continuing my choreographic work and teaching at the university level.”

Morgan designed and implemented TWU’s Institutional Effectiveness assessments of the Core
Curriculu m Women’s Studies/Multicultural courses and co-authored the IE Report for the Office of Undergraduate Studies. In addition to teaching “Dance, Gender and Culture,” Ilana designed two new 100 percent online courses. She is currently teaching “Introduction to Dance as an Art
Form,” a course that is required for all new undergraduate dance majors, freshmen, and transfer students.
“Ilana is most deserving of the Virginia Chandler Dykes Scholarship and a fine representative of the College of Arts and Sciences,
” said Penelope Hanstein, Ph.D., Director, School of Arts and
Professor and Chair, Department of Dance. “She is a dynamic teacher, and her strong background as a producing artist informs her pedagogical mission and practices. In her classes one can see s tudents being fully engaged in ‘performing’ from the beginning to the end of class.
As a teacher of online courses, she creates a lively world of movement and discourse engaging students to think critically and creatively about dance as an art form and as a social/cultural phenomenon. Her academic work far exceeds the expectations of the faculty.”
Morgan is committed to service in the community and the dance profession. She is a classroom volunteer at Woodrow Wilson Elementary as well as at the Community School, both in Denton.
She offers movement classes, tutoring, and assists with field trips and community celebration events. She is an active member of two TWU national professional organizations: the
Congress on Research in Dance and the National Dance Education Organization, where she served as a researcher on a project funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education and her own collaborative dance company that worked in collaboration with the community of Santa Barbara.
A native of Webster Groves, Missouri, M organ received her bachelor’s at Ohio University. She also has her master’s in Dance Pedagogy & Performance from TWU. She and her husband,
Nicholas Morgan, live in Denton with their two children, ages 4 and 6.
“I am honored to represent TWU’s College of Arts & Sciences as the Virginia Chandler Dykes
Scholarship recipient,” added Morgan. “TWU has guided and nurtured me in the most profound and intellectual way. I feel very lucky to be at this university.”
For more information on the TWU’s Eighth Annual Virginia Chandler Dykes Leadership Award
Luncheon and to purchase tickets, contact Karen Martin, Director of Development, Texas
Woman’s University, 940-898-3865 or KMartin9@mail.twu.edu
.

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Texas Woman’s University occupies a notable position in higher education as the nation’s largest university primarily for women. Its campuses in Denton, Dallas and Houston are joined by an e-learning campus offering innovative online degree programs in business, education and general studies. Seven consecutive years of growth have produced a record enrollment of
13,358. TWU serves the citizens of Texas in many important ways, including: graduating more new nurses and health care professionals than any other university in Texas; easing the teacher shortage by placing highly qualified professionals in the classroom; offering a liberal arts-based curriculum that prepares students for success in a global society; conducting research that impacts the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity, osteoporosis, stroke and diabetes.
For more information, visit www.twu.edu
< http://www.twu.edu/ > or call (940) TWU-2000.