2020 Award Recipient!

Karen Lynn Smith retired in 2013 as professor from Washington College in Chestertown, MD. Over 45 years she taught dance and physical education, developed the dance program, designed and implemented the dance minor, and directed the dance company. She has choreographed 90 dances in ballet, modern dance, tap, jazz, ballroom, theatrical, and world dance forms, and four dances in 16th century court dance; designed and constructed more than 250 costumes, directed and choreographed pieces for 42 dance concerts, choreographed three musicals, and two plays for the Washington College Drama Department. Karen choreographed an opera and 29 Renaissance Christmas Dinners in collaboration with the Washington College Music Department. She has presented hundreds of papers and workshops nationally and internationally and has been a keynote speaker and presenter for state, national, and international conferences. She authored the textbook Popular Dance: From Ballroom to Hip Hop and contributed chapters to Teaching Physical Education in Secondary Schools and Dance and Culture. She is a founding member of the National Dance Society and served four years as Student Council chair. Karen earned her bachelor and masters degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is Pilates certified from the Physical Mind Institute in New York. She has received numerous honors and awards from professional organizations, including the National Dance Association Scholar-Artist Award (2014). At the 2013 World Congress on Dance Research in St. Petersburg, Russia, Smith was elected Vice President of the International Dance Council–CID/UNESCO and reelected in 2017 in Athens, Greece, for a second 4-year term.