ELLEN HANSEN MEMORIAL PRIZE
The Ellen Hansen Memorial Prize is awarded annually to a UCD woman student whose original creative project best demonstrates the bravery and independence of women. The $1,000 Prize is named for the student who was killed in 1981 while hiking in the Santa Cruz mountains. Ellen Hansen's courageous resistance allowed her hiking companion to escape and survive the attack. Her attacker was later identified as the "Trailside Killer."

Ellen's father, Robert J. Hansen, a UC Davis professor of Veterinary Medicine, established the annual award in 1986 as a tribute to his daughter, and to encourage the creative pursuits of other women students. Ellen was a UCD student and a talented artist, musician and poet.



CONGRATULATIONS HILARY BRYAN, 2009 WINNER

Support our troops! Just what does that mean, exactly? Last year I had the tremendous privilege to work with two intrepid young women who are both exquisite and powerful dancers as well as US Army combat veterans, one in Bosnia and the other in Iraq. During the nine months that we worked together we created two choreographies, /killkillkill/ and /Citizen Soldier/, exploring our complex relationships to the current war in Iraq and our internalized experience of violence in general. During this same period of time Tania, the Iraq War veteran, received her medical discharge with honor from the Army, and Christine, the Bosnia veteran, received papers for a second tour of duty, this time as a member of the Coast Guard to which she had just completed transfer. During this same period of time my own father was stationed in Iraq and I was dealing with my own inner conflicts as both activist protesting the war and doting daughter supporting my father’s cause to mobilize military medical personnel to serve an agenda of peace. What does it mean to support a person, but differ in opinion about actions being taken? How are we all as citizens of this country supporting a war that we may actively (or passively) protest? About /killkillkill/ the Houstonian wrote: “[Bryan] is exploring the inner source of war. Even in wars we don’t buy into, we don’t necessarily buy out of them either.” Pivotal for /killkillkill/ were our discussions of training to kill -- training for aggression. These women’s descriptions of their experiences were woven into the soundscore for the piece, with sound engineering by Iraq veteran Tania Peterson. My respect for these young women and their bravery is enormous. The second phase of our collaboration explored the incredible personal achievement they each experienced as independent individuals during both military training and combat experience. /Citizen Soldier/ explores this unique experience living a dual life, in which their identity as soldier is always a part of who they have be
come as citizens.

Also congratulations to our honorable mention Crystal Haueter!