Texas Woman's Magazine - Fall 2022

ASHLEY
DAME ’12 AND
NATHAN DAME ’11
Award-winning
choir directors
> KELLI
CONNELL ’03
Photographer
and Guggenheim
honoree
EYE ON THE PRIZE
Guggenheim
awarded to alumna
WHEN ASHLEY DELANEY
visited TWU to check out its
music education programs,
she fell in love with the
graduate curriculum — and
eventually a student pianist
she met that day. There, in
the office of Professor and
Music Education Coordinator
Vicki Baker, she first met
Nathan Dame ’11.
“He was sitting on
her piano bench as they
wrapped up his individual
instrument training,”
Ashley recalls.
She decided to enroll,
because the flexible course
options allowed her to
balance her day job with her
graduate preparation. “It’s
an attractive program for
MUSIC EDUCATION
A DUET THAT WORKS
Ashley ’12 and Nathan Dame ’11 found
love and award-winning careers at TWU
practicing educators,” she
says. But the best part was
the hands-on training with
real music teachers.
After Ashley graduated
in 2012, she and Nathan
stayed in touch, even as he
pursued a Ph.D. in Kansas.
“We love music, so we
mailed each other CD
mixes,” Nathan said.
Today the two are not
only married, but also
fellow choir directors at
Wylie East High School in
Wylie, Texas.
Under the Dames’ watch,
the school’s choir program
has tripled in size to 320
students, and both directors
have won multiple awards.
Ashley won the 2021 Texas
Choral Directors Association
Innovative Programming
Award, and Nathan was
named one of Yamaha’s
Top 40 Under 40 Music
Educators in the United
States in 2022.
Both credit TWU with
their success. “TWU’s
program was so practical.
You could easily take what
you learned and apply it
in the classroom the next
day and witness a positive
impact on the kids,”
Nathan said.
“TWU wasn’t just the
place that we met,”
says Ashley. “It was the
place that trained us to
be the music educators
we are today.”
FOR THE last eight years, artist
Kelli Connell ’03 has retraced the
life of Charis Wilson, best known
as a model and the former wife of
famed modernist photographer
Edward Weston. Connell explores
the artist-sitter relationship by
photographing her own partner
in the same locations where
Weston depicted his then-wife.
This year, Connell won
a prestigious Guggenheim
Fellowship for her project
“Pictures for Charis.” She plans
to produce a book and three
museum exhibitions of her
work in 2024.
“Having work recognized by
the Guggenheim Foundation is
a tremendous honor,” Connell
said. “I will use the 2022
fellowship year to continue
making work for the project
‘Pictures for Charis.’ I feel a
wealth of gratitude for this
opportunity, and for everyone
who has supported the project
along the way.”
Connell credits TWU,
especially Susan kae Grant,
Cornaro Professor of Visual
Arts Emerita, with shaping
her career.
“Working with Susan was
such a gift,” said Connell,
now a professor and graduate
program director of the
Photography department at
Columbia College Chicago.
“Susan organized her classes by
creating a sense of community
where everyone had an equal
voice, and she really influenced
how I teach my courses today.”
“TWU is a place that
encourages students to work
diligently on their fine art
practices and to become
confident in who they are as
artists,” Connell said.
TEXAS WOMAN’S 21