Alicia Anne Brown-Matthes, professor emerita of dance, passed away peacefully on May 8, 2026, in Iowa City at the age of 83.

Brown-Matthes was a 1976 graduate of the University of Iowa Department of Dance, earning her MA degree during the very first year dance degrees were conferred by the UI. She served as member of the dance faculty at the University of Iowa from 1978 to 2000, and chaired the University of Iowa Department of Dance from 1990 to 1996. She created the university’s annual Dance Gala and directed it from 1977 to 2000, inspiring students with her choreography, artistic mastery, and strength. She also served the National Endowment for the Arts as a site visit consultant. 

Her former students described her as courageous, brilliant, wise, and tender but fierce in the best possible way.

“In the studio, Alicia understood that beauty does not arrive without devotion,” reads her obituary. “It came with the tiniest tilt of the head. The smallest, most considered gestures toward grace, pursued not as a fleeting goal but as a way of living. She saw all of it, and she never stopped asking her students to see it too.” 

Fellow Dance Professor Emerita Charlotte Adams was hired as an assistant professor of dance in 1998 and recalled that, even during her job interview, she could plainly see Brown-Matthes demonstrated “passionate commitment to dance and the vision she held for the future of the department.”

“Her generous spirit made me feel immediately welcomed and included upon my arrival to Iowa City,” Adams said. “She trusted my opinions and artistic choices in ways that empowered my creative development and teaching, for which I’m forever grateful. Alicia modeled female leadership that I admired. She encouraged her students and those around her to pursue excellence with joy.”

Professor Jennifer Kayle, who currently chairs the Department of Dance, also recalls Brown-Matthes’ exuberance.

“I first met Alicia at a Dance Gala dress rehearsal in the original Hancher. She had just come running down the aisle, arms in the air, cheering for a dance she admired, and for the students and faculty performing in it.”

The Fall 2026 Dance Gala event, to be performed in Hancher Auditorium November 13 and 14, will be dedicated in memory of Alicia Brown-Matthes.

Kayle continued, “Our whole program owes a debt to Alicia for establishing Dance Gala. Thanks to Alicia’s vision, this annual event is key to our identity, both internally and externally. Through the years, it has remained a much-anticipated gathering with our broader community, a showcase for the department’s outstanding artistry, and recurring proof of the power of dance. 

“I don’t know of any other university that has anything like it—not even close.”

In accordance with Brown-Matthes’ wishes, no memorial service is planned. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to The Nature Conservancy, Best Friend’s Animal Society (5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab UT 84741-5000, Attn: Donor Relations/JS), or a charity of the donor’s choice. Please indicate "Gift in memory of Alicia Brown-Matthes."

Messages, condolences, memories, and photos may also be shared on the tribute wall of her obituary.

Photo gallery below provided by University of Iowa Special Collections and Archives.