BSU professor reflects on Kappa Delta, cheerleading
Dawn Craner graduated from USU in 1967 with a degree in speech with a secondary education certification.
As a student, she was active the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day-Saints
Institute program for the She had a membership in Kappa Delta where she enjoyed talking with fellow sisters about her dreams and goals for the future while sitting on the stairs of their sorority house, she said.
She was also a cheerleader and traveled and danced at the various athletic games. She enjoyed being a true Aggie. In addition to that, she served on the Senior Cabinet as Panhellenic president.
Through all this, Craner changed her major. She was majoring in pre-law but realized it didn’t sound fun because of the work she would eventually have to do as a lawyer, she said.
She decided she was going to be a German major but found out after having classes with returned missionaries that the people who got the good grades were those who had lived in the country like the missionaries had, she said. “I then decided to be a speech major,” Craner said. “The reason I chose speech is because at one point in your life, you find out what kinds of abilities you have. I had success in public presentation.”
Through all this, Craner did have a lot of fun in Cache Valley, whether she was up at Beaver Mountain Ski Resort skiing or eating Aggie Ice Cream. Her favorite flavors of ice cream are chocolate almond and fresh strawberry, she said. She enjoyed taking rides up Logan Canyon, going on hikes and having picnics, she said.
She said she also loved playing softball on the Quad and crowding in a booth with friends to have a drink in the Hub.
A sad time in Craner’s life was having to leave USU and decide what to afterwards. She always knew she wanted to go to graduate school somewhere.
“I applied at Purdue University, University of Utah and UCLA but did not get accepted to UCLA,” Craner said. “I knew that I couldn’t afford grad school without some sort of financial help, so when I was awarded an assistantship at Purdue, I took the opportunity.”
Craner said she went through a lot the summer before she headed off to Purdue in 1967. She had been dating a young man for a couple of years and knew she had to go to grad school, she said.
Her boyfriend applied to schools in Indiana to teach but couldn’t get a job at any of the schools.
Two weeks before she was set to go, her fiancé called and asked her when she had to be at Purdue.
They got married four days before she left for Purdue. Her new husband was offered a teaching job at a school he hadn’t even applied at, so they moved to Indiana together, Craner said.
For Craner, Purdue University was quite a bit different than USU. Though it was conservative and rural, the grad program was very cutthroat, she said.
“There was no more of the sweet professors from USU taking care of me and helping me out,” she said.
The LDS church was also not as dominant, but there was a high influx of the Presbyterian and Baptist faith there, she said.
There was also an added bonus to going to a school that had a student population of 27,000 students.
The bonus was that presidential candidates came and spoke at the university, she said. One of the candidates was Robert Kennedy.
The Craners made their trek to Boise State University after Purdue because the athletics department at BSU offered her husband a job.
Her husband is also an alumnus of USU. He is now an assistant athletic professor who has been in charge of sports medicine since 1993.
Craner took time off to start a family, so it took her a couple of years to be a BSU faculty member.
She started off teaching part-time at BSU and eventually started teaching full-time. She is now the director of the basic communication course at BSU.
Head of 25 instructors, she mostly teaches upper division courses and graduate level classes.
Craner attributes most of her success in speech to three USU professors – Rex Robinson, Farrell Black and Christine Valentine, who is currently a professor at Arizona State University. From the three of them, she received a desire to teach at a university level, a desire to strive for excellence, and a confidence in the areas of debate and oral presentation, she said.
Craner has four daughters and three grandchildren, and is expecting a grandchild within the next day or so.
Her spiritual faith and Mormon faith are aspects in life that are very important to her and always have been, she said.
She eventually hopes to be a “fantastic grandma,” she said.
She also hopes to have many moments with her family to tell stories and reminisce, she said.
Craner has accomplished all the goals she set for herself when she began at USU. She wanted to get married and have children and be a success at graduate school.
“Don’t sell yourself short.” she said. “The only people who achieve big, dream big. Enjoy life and keep the spiritual and eternal aspects important.”