Alex and Sheila Ewing Endowed Scholarship

Alex C. Ewing assumed the position of Chancellor of UNCSA in July 1990. Ewing had been associated with UNCSA since 1985, when he became Chair of the Board of Visitors. In 1988 he established the Lucia Chase Endowed Fellowship for Dance at the School, in memory of his mother, a co-founder and principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. A man of diverse talents, Ewing almost singlehandedly revitalized the Joffrey Ballet during his tenure as General Director in the 1960s. As Chancellor, Ewing oversaw the success of the School’s $25 million campaign for endowment and scholarships. He also orchestrated a combination of local, state and national support to secure the establishment of UNCSA’s fifth arts school, the School of Filmmaking, in 1993. Ewing took a special interest in UNCSA’s campus plan, successfully lobbying for the rerouting of Waughtown Street (a major city thoroughfare that divided the campus) and establishing a new main entrance to the campus, at 1533 South Main St. Other capital projects he spearheaded included a new Sculpture Studio, a new Fitness Center, and the start of the Student Commons renovation. Alex C. Ewing is the author of BRAVURA!: Lucia Chase and the American Ballet Theatre. During Alex Ewing’s tenure as chancellor from 1990 to 2000, Alex and Sheila Cobb Ewing resided in a campus-owned home in the Washington Park neighborhood, where Sheila Ewing was hostess for many gatherings of students, faculty and staff. Upon Alex Ewing’s retirement, they moved to Old Salem and continued to support and be actively involved with the School of the Arts. Sheila Ewing was a published poet, a former book reviewer for the Winston-Salem Journal, and a former contributing writer for Winston-Salem Magazine. While studying for a bachelor’s degree in English at Vassar College, she was editor in chief of the Vassar Review. In 1972, she won first prize in the American Academy of Poets contest. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in English from Columbia University and spent several years working in the development office of Poets and Writers Inc. in New York City. While living in New York, she also was a researcher for JDR III Fund, assistant to the director of exhibitions of the Museum of Modem Art, and a manuscript reader for Golden Press. She was president of the board of trustees of Millbrook Library in Millbrook, N.Y., for three years. A lifelong interest in health care led her to earn a Master of Arts in health advocacy from Sarah Lawrence College in 1991, the same year she began volunteering for Cancer Services Inc. in Winston-Salem. She was a patient representative intern at Forsyth Memorial Hospital and at St. Luke’s Hospital in Newburgh, N.Y. She also served as an intern investigator for the New York State Department of Health, in the Office of Professional Medical Conduct. In addition, she served on the Board of Trustees of Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Conn., and wrote for Hospice of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.