Julie Damron-Dittmer Scholarship

The Julie Damron-Dittmer Scholarship was established in 2006 by Joyce Dryden Damron and provides an award to a returning undergraduate student in theatre. It was named for her youngest child, Julie, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Film from KU in 1988. Joyce was born in 1937 in Topeka, and grew up in Topeka, Tonganoxie, Emporia and Lawrence. She remembers living in Lawrence when she was in the first and second grade and attending activities “on the hill” with her family. Joyce earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education, both from Washburn University and says she would have been unable to attend college without the help of scholarships. Joyce was a preschool, kindergarten and first grade teacher for more than 40 years, and her favorite experiences were when she taught Air Force officers’ children on a military base. As a teacher living in Lawrence, she has fond memories of taking her kindergarten students to the KU Natural History Museum and attending many basketball games in Allen Fieldhouse with her family.