In the early 1950s, Thelma Ray Faulkner was told that a college degree could take
her anywhere she wanted to go, provided she used it. Forty-five year, four continents
and hundreds of souvenirs later, Faulkner proved those words to be true. The 1956
OCW graduate has made her mark in the world of education, earning both her Masters
and Ph.D. in dance and related arts from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas,
in 1965 and 1969, respectively, and has taught on every educational level from Kindergarten
to post graduate. She taught dance at Indiana University in Bloomington, Eastern Michigan
University in Ypsilanti, the University of Oregon in Eugene and Arizona State University
in Tempe. During her career in higher education, she did post doctoral work at the
Laban Art Movement Center at Goldsmith College, part of the University of London.
She was a visiting professor at the University of the Americas in Chalua, Mexico,
a guest teacher/artist at two colleges in Brazil and was a judge at Brazil’s major
international dance composition. She retired from college teaching in 1982, only to
reenter the field of education as an elementary school teacher. For the last six years
of her teaching career, she worked with third-fifth grade Native American students
on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Whiteriver, Ariz., As a Language Arts
Specialist, she taught creative writing to children with reading and writing limitations.
Still not content to retire at the age of 65, Faulkner elected to work part-time at
the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Her
travels have taken her to countries in Europe and South America, the island of Malta,
China, Antarctica, Egypt, and around the world.