UA News

University of Arizona alumna Stevie Eller has funded an endowed faculty chair in the School of Dance, in part to make sure that the head of the program, Jory Hancock, stays put.

The endowment was announced by President Robert N. Shelton on Thursday during a President’s Club luncheon in Phoenix.

Hancock, who has been at the program's helm since 1990, will hold the Stevie Eller Chair for the Director of Dance.

“Jory has been absolutely fabulous in leading one of the most elite dance programs in the country,” said Eller, who was a member of the UA dance club, Orchesis, as a student in the 1950s. “Jory is a highly sought after educator and choreographer, and I felt compelled to do my part to keep him at the UA where he belongs.”

The endowment is a permanent funding source that provides added stability in supporting programmatic needs and future recruitment of faculty. It's the school's first endowed chair.

“Quality people are at the heart of our award-winning instruction and art performances. This endowed chair recognizes the outstanding contributions Jory has made to the dance program and the UA,” Maurice Sevigny, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said of the college’s third endowed faculty chair and the University’s 69th.

Hancock trained as an apprentice to American Ballet Theatre in New York. His dancing career includes stints at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet. His many appearances include international performances in Canada, Mexico, China, Ecuador, Scotland and Taiwan. His choreography has been performed nationally and internationally .

Hancock received his master’s degree at Indiana University and served on its faculty before joining the UA in 1987.

Stevie and her husband, Karl Eller, are longtime supporters of the UA. In 2004, the couple made a significant gift to the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, which recently was named one of Arizona’s 18 Greatest Architectural Achievements by the American Institute of Architects. The 300-seat theater includes more than 26,800 square feet of teaching and performance space.

Both graduated from the UA in 1952: Stevie with a degree in education and Karl with a degree in business administration. She received an honorary doctorate from the UA in 1999 and is a past recipient of the University’s Centennial Award and Distinguished Citizen Award.

Stevie Eller’s lifelong commitment to the arts includes serving on the boards of the Phoenix Art Museum League, the Herberger Theater, the Phoenix Motion Picture Office and the Arizona Museum of Science and Technology. She also is a member of the board of trustees for the Kennedy Center for the Arts and a  board member emerita of the UA Foundation.