The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has named Professor Jennifer Kayle as the new Department Executive Officer (DEO) of the Department of Dance, effective July 1, 2025.

Kayle joined the UI dance faculty in 2004 and has been a key leader in the department, serving as co-director and then director of graduate studies. She received the UI Graduate College’s Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award in Spring 2025, and remains committed to ushering dance artists into academia and supporting them on their journey as dance makers, performers, and educators as she assumes the new leadership role.

Kayle said, “It’s so powerful to be engaged in the learning process alongside the students. My favorite ‘mentoring’ is when we are working together to discover a creative possibility or find a way to improve. Our field is so deeply collaborative in almost every way. 

“I’m grateful to take on this leadership role while still teaching in the studio with students because the zoomed-out view of the whole program and the zoomed-in view of day-to-day teaching, learning, and practice—these have to resonate. Also, our faculty do incredible work with our students and I want to keep seeing it up close.”

The University of Iowa houses the only comprehensive college dance department in Iowa, offering BA, BFA, and MFA degrees. In a dedicated, close-knit community, the Department of Dance offers students valuable preparation, nurturing individual talents and helping each student build the knowledge needed to meet the demands of today’s dance field. The department emphasizes the dynamic connection of rigorous technical training and extensive creative practice, giving both graduate and undergraduate students abundant opportunities to choreograph, perform, and collaborate with faculty and renowned guest artists.

A majority of UI dance students pursue double majors, building their dance knowledge alongside other diverse and complementary subjects—a liberal arts approach that contributes to students’ success as professional performers and choreographers. 

“Our alumni have an outstanding track record of building long lasting careers, not only in dance but also a range of related fields,” Kayle said. “We have Iowa grads running their own studios, teaching dance in higher ed, practicing dance therapy and physical therapy, and doing all kinds of satisfying work in the arts and beyond.”

A prolific choreographer, Kayle has presented and performed her works in major dance cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and across borders in Russia, Finland, Mexico, and Dominican Republic. Her works have been curated for professional festivals and annual presenting seasons, for dance companies, and for re-staging at peer academic institutions. 

Kayle holds a BA from Middlebury College in Vermont and MFA from Smith College in Massachusetts. She has conducted artist residencies at Columbia College Chicago, University of Utah, Colorado Mesa University, Ohio University, and Purdue University, and has been on faculty at Bates Young Dancers Intensive. 

In 2023, she received a Book Ends Award from the UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies toward the mentorship and publication of her first book, Always in the Making: A Practical Philosophy of Ensemble Improvisation, which expands on an article she co-authored with UI Associate Professor and Philosophy Department Chair Ali Hasan. The article, “Unplanned Coordination; Ensemble Improvisation as Collective Action,” was published in the Journal of Social Ontology in 2021. Kayle was also awarded an Arts and Humanities Initiative grant in Fall 2024 by the UI Office of the Vice President for Research to support her work exploring how ageing and maturity become visible (and valued) in dance and on screen.

Kayle assumes the DEO role in the Department of Dance as excitement builds over their new physical home, planned to open in Fall 2026. A $12 million renovation is now under way to convert the former University of Iowa Museum of Art building (which will be renamed the UI Dance Building) to the new home for the department, supporting the needs of students and faculty and creating a new space to foster ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration with other performing and visual arts programs.

The renovation will provide dancers with five stunning high-tech studios, plentiful warm-up and gathering spaces, a student lounge and study area, a digital projects lab, a motion-capture studio, and an integrated office suite for faculty and departmental personnel. The Department of Dance will join a robust arts campus situated along the west side of the Iowa River that includes fellow Performing Arts at Iowa units the Department of Theatre Arts, Hancher Auditorium, and the Performing Arts Production Unit, as well as key visual arts buildings.

Kayle is eager to move into the space and into a new era. “Our program has a national reputation for excellence and we plan to build on this legacy while embracing 21st-century demands and innovations,” she said. 

“We have big dreams! Some of these are soon be accomplished with the completion of our new building and we couldn’t be more excited.”

The department has long occupied Halsey Hall, which was built in 1915 and named after Elizabeth Halsey, who pioneered women’s collegiate sports and recreation at Iowa. While the building provides large studios for dancers, it has no central HVAC and lacks an elevator. 

Kayle reflected on that legacy, saying, “Dance at Iowa has a century-long history in Halsey Hall. I am thinking about these next few years with that scope in mind. We are laying a foundation for the next hundred years! With each step, I want Hawkeyes a hundred years from now to look back and say, “Yes, they made the right moves.”