Joan Morgan

After fracturing seven vertebrae slipping on a bathroom rug at the age of ten, Joan Morgan was introduced to dance as a form of physical therapy. Her access to New York City’s artistic scene – since Morgan grew up in Westfield, NJ – allowed her to cultivate this new love for dance. Morgan selected the fine arts major upon joining the Class of 1963, but her main passion became Orchesis. Much like Neville, Morgan’s participation in Orchesis helped her meet prominent artists such as modern dance choreographer José Limón. His master class during Morgan’s junior year led her to enroll in the 1962 summer program at the American Dance Festival, held at Connecticut College in New London. She soon realized that she needed to leave Wilson and audition for Julliard. After two successful years at the school, her studies were interrupted when she became sick with a case of the mumps. Little support and money forced Morgan to leave Julliard, but she found a new outlet for her creative endeavors through an administrative job at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. She continued to feed her passion for dance, however, by taking dance classes and attending performances.

Morgan eventually earned her undergraduate degree in art education in 1974 with the support of Dr. Josephine Harris at Wilson. She also formed the Life Alliance and Psychotherapy Center for codependent women in New York City. The latter half of her career included such positions as the director of records and registration at Mannes College, The New School for Music, and later the institution’s associate university registrar before she retired in 2016 and moved to Redmond, WA, to live closer to her daughter.