Remembering Ruth Priddle

Human Resources has reported that Professor Emerita Ruth Priddle died June 8. Priddle began her career at the University in August 1964 as a Lecturer, teaching the historical foundations of dance. She was also responsible for the women's intramural and intercollegiate programs at Waterloo.

Priddle's research areas included dance and gymnastics. She danced professionally for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian National Exhibition's grandstand show.

She was later named Associate Professor in the Dance department, which was part of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, and had received tenure in April 1969. She would later chair the department, first in 1978 and again in 1984, and earned a doctorate in developmental psychology and was the first member of the dance program to obtain a PhD. She founded the Carousel Dance Centre, which used dance to develop the learning of skills and fosters creative expression in children.

The Dance department was phased out in the spring of 1996.

Priddle retired under the Special Early Retirement Program in September 1996 along with her husband, Professor George Priddle, also a Waterloo faculty member. Priddle was predeceased by her husband George, who died in September 1998.