Beloved Faculty Member Nominated for Lifetime Achievement Award

June 03, 2025

 WHITEWATER, Wis. — The College of Arts and Communication and the Department of Theatre/Dance is proud to celebrate Barbara Grubel, recently retired faculty member and treasured mentor, on her nomination for the 2025 Wisconsin Dance Council Lifetime Achievement Award. This prestigious recognition honors Grubel’s decades-long commitment to dance education, performance, and creative leadership across Wisconsin and beyond.

The Wisconsin Dance Council’s Awards Committee selected Grubel following a thorough nomination process, citing her “remarkable display of creativity, education, research, and entrepreneurship” and the glowing testimonials from her peers and students. Her influence has reached far beyond the studio, shaping the cultural landscape of dance throughout the state.

Grubel will be honored at the Wisconsin Dance Council’s Statewide Conference and Award Ceremony on October 11, 2025, at the Fine Arts Institute at East High School in Green Bay. The event will feature video tributes to each of the six awardees, including a brief interview with Grubel celebrating her legacy.

The college and department congratulate Grubel on this deeply deserved honor. Her dedication, artistry, and generosity have left a lasting imprint on the community, and they are thrilled to see her work recognized on such a distinguished stage.

Professor Barbara Grubel, originally from Land O’ Lakes, WI, served 22 years as faculty at UW-Whitewater. She taught every required course in the Dance Minor, served as the Dance Program Coordinator, Artistic Director of DanceScapes, was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for creating the “All-Abilities” Dance course and her work has represented UW-Whitewater at the American College Dance Association Regional Conference multiple times. She has an extensive professional career dancing, choreographing and teaching on four continents. During her 18 years in NYC she danced in the companies of Ralph Lemon, Douglas Dunn, Dan Wagoner, Bill Young and David Dorfman. She has taught nationally and internationally at many prestigious institutions and festivals including the American Dance Festival, Virginia Commonwealth University, UW-Milwaukee Professional Graduate Program and the Rockefeller Institutional Linkages Program in Japan, Korea and Chile. She holds a BFA from UW-Milwaukee and an MFA from Arizona State University.

UW-Whitewater Photos/Craig Schreiner