Dynamic Duo: Former professors extend their support for students through scholarship support

By Jeanne Nagle | October 2024

Imagine having the power to change an individual’s life for the better merely by doing a job you love really well. That’s what it must feel like to be an educator.

Now imagine, on top of that, having the ability and drive to shape academic programs par excellence, then ensuring that generations of students benefit from those programs through scholarships and awards. That must be what it’s like for UWSP emeritus professors and spouses Susan Gingrasso and Doug Henderson–who, separately and together, have altered the landscape of their respective fields at the university.

Of the two, Gingrasso was the first to arrive on the UWSP campus, in 1974. She applied for a teaching position based on a referral from the dance department chair at UCLA, her graduate alma mater. In Point, she recognized the opportunity to grow as a teacher and choreographer within, and alongside, a nascent department at a university where theater and dance were valued disciplines.

“[T]he UWSP Theatre Department needed to hire a replacement for the suddenly vacated position in what was then a dance minor, staffed by two faculty,” she recalls. “I had a phone interview, got hired and packed my Datsun with plants and faux Southern California winter clothes for my drive across the country.”

Despite an initial aversion to Wisconsin winters, Gingrasso thrived at UWSP. In 1980, she stepped into the role of dance program head, drafting curriculum that would change the dance program from a minor only to a major within the newly rechristened Department of Theatre and Dance.

“I had and took the opportunity to grow the dance program into a regional, state and nationally recognized dance major,” she says.

As some of her first acts a department head prove, Gingrasso helped strengthen and enhance the fledgling dance major via several associations and initiatives.

In 1982, College of Fine Arts and Communication dean Paul Palumbo tasked Gingrasso with learning more about the process for getting the dance program accredited. She came back from the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) annual meeting in St. Paul fired up and ready to get the ball rolling.

The dance program has held accreditation through NASD since 1984.

Likewise, she took the lead when it came to UWSP’s participation in what is now known as the American College Dance Association. “Submitting faculty and student works to these multistate events, to be adjudicated, provides us with valuable feedback,” she says.

The group itself was a relatively new entity when Gingrasso first submitted a student’s work and her own choreography to the group for festival adjudication in 1983. Members of the Dance Department have been submitting entries to, teaching classes at and hosting ACDA events ever since.

Energized by the festival experience, Gingrasso started building the framework for an adjudicated dance concert at UWSP that was produced, directed and choreographed entirely by students. Afterimages debuted in 1984. In addition to the work undertaken by dance students, theater students are enlisted to design lighting and costumes for the annual performance.

Student participation is a cornerstone of Gingrasso’s approach to dance education. In addition to the student-run Afterimages concert—from which the program gleans each year’s ACDA’s student choreographic entry—she has fashioned a trainer/client mentorship between established dance students and their newer counterparts in the program that has been benefitting both parties for nearly 25 years.

“Our program fosters students to become extraordinary people who pass their dance artistry to the next generation,” she says.

While adapting to Wisconsin’s climate was on California girl Gingrasso’s mind when she first arrived at the university, nippy weather wasn’t a concern for Doug Henderson when he became a UWSP professor in 1976. Quite the opposite, in fact. That item appears to have been on his “must have” list.

“I was looking for a small town in a northern climate where I would have access to a variety of outdoor activities,” he says of his job search.

Obviously, Stevens Point fit the bill. But Henderson was also looking to make something of a career shift after two and a half years working as a psychologist at an Ohio hospital.

 “I was expected to be at my desk and working every day between 8:30 and 5, with a half hour for lunch, even if I was not specifically scheduled to see a patient or attend a staff meeting,” he says of working at the hospital. “I found that I yearned for more freedom in performing my job responsibilities. An academic career seemed to be what I was looking for.”

The psychology department at the university was already established and well-staffed, which meant Henderson would be free to play to his strengths by teaching only classes that best met his qualifications and interests. He also liked the academic culture of the department, and of Point in general.

“UWSP is primarily a teaching university, rather than a research university,” he notes. “I was not interested in a ‘publish or perish’ environment.”

That freedom led Henderson to focus not only on refining curriculum in adolescent development and the burgeoning field of clinical child psychology, but various areas of student enrichment. For instance, upon his arrival at UWSP, he was surprised that the campus did not have a chapter of the national psychology honor society, Psi Chi.

“I had been an undergraduate member and an officer of our chapter,” he says, “and wanted to provide the same opportunity for my students at UWSP.”

Since only Psi Chi members can initiate the formation of new chapters, Henderson teamed up with Professor Sandra Holmes to establish and support the presence of the honor society on the Stevens Point campus.

He and Holmes also joined forces to plan, organize and sponsor the Psychology Department Awards Program, acknowledging academic excellence within the department. Originally based on GPA alone, the awards have since expanded in scope, Henderson says, and now recognize attributes such as leadership and service as well. The department’s student service award has been named in his honor.

For a long while, the amount of each award was relatively small because of a limited departmental endowment. This situation became even more complicated—at least in Henderson’s eyes–when he began dating Gingrasso in the mid-80’s.

“We began to attend each other’s annual spring award banquets,” he recalls, “and I was astounded, and somewhat embarrassed, to see the number and value of the many scholarships awarded to their [dance] students and graduates. Our department had long wanted to increase the amount of our awards at least so that an honored student could invite their parents without the family having their tickets cost more than the amount of the student award!”

A fruitful and personal solution to the endowment issue came about years later—after the couple had married and both Henderson and Gingrasso had retired, in 2001 and 2006, respectively. By leveraging equity in a piece of land and cabin in southeast Portage County, the couple was able to create the Douglas B. Henderson Fund for Psychology Student Excellence, which “had the effect of raising the amount of the Psychology Department scholarships to a meaningful level,” he says.

The initial gift of $52,000 in 2014 was supplemented by an additional $50,000 the following year.

Also in 2014, the couple donated $50,000 to establish the Susan Gingrasso Dance Education Scholarship, which pays to have a junior majoring in dance attend a summer program in New York City, run by the Dance Education Laboratory. In 2015, another $30,000 was added to the scholarship fund in Gingrasso’s name. She says she donates $2,000 each year, and will continue to do so until the endowment principal reaches $100,000.

Gingrasso also gives an annual gift to the School of Performing Arts’ Backstage Fund, earmarked toward National Dance Education Organization membership, student scholarships and conference registration fees. Her contributions also support the National Honor Society for Dance Arts chapter at UWSP.

In addition to monetary gifts, Gingrasso remains active within the UWSP community in a number of ways, including service on the COFAC Advisory Committee, supporting the university’s NHSDA chapter and occasionally teaching master classes using the Language of Dance approach.

Henderson has long taken advantage of community service opportunities, including with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Habitat for Humanity. His background in clinical psychology was put to excellent use during his time on the Portage County Health Resources Committee and the Portage County Humane Society’s board. While volunteering with the latter organization, he created a presentation titled “Stress and the Animal Control Officer” that was so successful, he was invited to share it with other local and county groups, as well as during the statewide Humane Society convention in Madison.

The couple also attends each of their former departments’ awards program as often as they can. Even when they can’t attend these events, though, they carve out time to read aloud thank you notes from award recipients over dinner.

“It is always an enjoyable evening,” Henderson says.