Pictured from left: Adjunct Professor of Dance Amanda Gabaldon, Corinne Hidar (RU-2026), Nicholas Garner (RU-2026), and Meredith Haynie-Jones (RU-2025)
Meredith Haynie-Jones (RU-2025) became the first graduate of Reinhardt’s new MFA program.
By Suzy Alstrin
Reinhardt University proudly celebrates its first year and the first student to graduate from Georgia’s only low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Choreography. Launched in 2024, the online, asynchronous program offers working dance artists the opportunity to advance their education without pausing their careers. The program’s inaugural summer residency was held June 15–24, 2025. It brought students to Reinhardt’s campus for ten intensive days of immersion into dance education, creative exploration, technical refinement, and artistic vision.
This year, participants from the Reinhardt MFA in Creative Writing’s summer residency, also in residency on campus, collaborated with the choreography students to blend poetry and movement for a public performance.
On June 22, Meredith Haynie-Jones received the choreography program’s first diploma. Jones, an aspiring professor and transfer student from Jacksonville University, explained. “I chose to join the Reinhardt community because I felt a stronger alignment with its mission and educational philosophy.” And added, “Being the first person to graduate from the new program is both an honor and a responsibility. It means helping to lay the foundation for those who will come after me. I’m proud to be part of something new and meaningful, and I hope my journey can inspire and support future students in the program.”
Adjunct Professor of Dance Leighann Kowalsky emphasizes the program’s distinctiveness. “Reinhardt is one of only seven institutions in the country offering low-residency MFA programs in dance that we know of,” she stated. “Exclusive to Reinhardt, the teaching rotation includes expert working artists, beyond the regular faculty. This builds connections and ensures the pulse of the dance industry as a whole is easily tapped.”
Nicholas Garner (RU-2026), a theatre dance instructor from Utah, expressed appreciation, “This program offers a lot of courses that allow me to bring my own style to the classes, rather than strictly being a specific discipline, so the flexibility that I was looking for, I found in Reinhardt’s program.”
As the program completes its first year, Reinhardt celebrates not only its pioneering place in Georgia’s dance education landscape, but also the achievements and future success of its inaugural cohort.
More program information and how to apply can be found by clicking HERE.
