Rose L. Strasser Dance Award
Emerita professor Rose L. Strasser, founder of the Department of Dance at SUNY Brockport, established this scholarship in her name to recognize high achievement by an entering or continuing student in the dance department.
Ms. Strasser first came into contact with the world of dance as a Campfire Girl when she was selected to present flowers to celebrated ballerina Anna Pavlova during an appearance in Buffalo. She became further acquainted at the University of Michigan when she was introduced to Orchesis, an innovative dance movement that supports connections between the mind and body. She earned her bachelor of science degree from Michigan in 1929 and her master’s degree in 1932. She began teaching physical education at the elementary and high school level in Rochester and Ann Arbor, MI, and Buffalo, NY.
During several summers, she attended workshops at the Bennington College School of Dance with Martha Graham and other leaders of the modern dance movement, becoming part of an extensive, cross-country network of dance.
She then taught at the University at Buffalo and Keuka College before joining the SUNY Brockport faculty in 1946 to teach all the dance courses in the dual major of health and physical education. Classes included folk and square dance, tap, ballroom, modern dance, and dance fundamentals. The courses were so popular that only physical education students could enroll. General education students interested in dance formed clubs to participate.
In the 1969s, when SUNY changed the structure of its 11 teachers’ colleges, the schools became liberal arts colleges. As Brockport reorganized its programs, then President Albert Brown proposed a Division of Fine Arts that would include the Departments of Art, Music, Theatre, and Dance. The faculty and SUNY approved the proposal for a baccalaureate dance major and minor in 1967, giving Brockport the first approved dance major in SUNY. The department proposed a master’s degree in dance in 1970.
Ms. Strasser retired in 1970 leaving a flourishing department with courses based in theory and practice. She also established Brockport as the dance center of western New York, bringing a series of renowned artists to campus to perform. Because she worked collegially with her peers, she was able to create outstanding dance facilities within the confines of Hartwell Hall. She was cheerful, energetic, loyal, talented, and always a good friend, according to President Brown. She passed away in 1998.
Qualified applicants for the Rose L. Strasser Dance Award are either incoming freshman students who have demonstrated exceptional ability in dance or a returning second-year students who demonstrated outstanding ability during their first year. Applicants also must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement or potential artistic and creative ability in dance and promise as a performer or a choreographer.