: Spring 2024 commencement speaker Gail Anderson laughing with A&A Dean B. Stephen Carpenter II.

A&A Dean

Office of the Michael J. and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Dean in the College of Arts and Architecture

On this Page
Welcome
Office Overview
Contact the Dean
Leadership Perspectives Video
Notes from the Dean
A&A Dean's Circle
Movers Shakers...

The College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State

Welcome to A&A

Our diverse community of faculty, staff, students, and administrators is dedicated to the success of our programs and the college as a whole.

As dean, I am committed to supporting the myriad ways creativity and innovation manifest in visual, performing, design, and scholarly pursuits. Our college creates knowledge and reinvents existing modes of meaning-making across a wide range of disciplines.

My vision for the college rests on three key priorities: supporting student success, cultivating a culture of critical creativity, and increasing our influence and visibility. We strive to be an epicenter of artistic and design innovation, research, creative activity, and cultural production.

In the College of Arts and Architecture, we create and reinvent artistic, research, design, and performance possibilities. Simply put, #WeCreate.

I invite you to explore our departments, schools, programs, and initiatives. Join us in our mission to push the boundaries of creativity and scholarship.

Script writing that reads B Stephen Carpenter

B Stephen Carpenter II
Michael J. and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Dean in the College of Arts and Architecture
The Pennsylvania State University

Overview of the Office of the Dean

The Office of the Dean provides leadership for the college and all its operations through the administration of financial services, facilities, and human resources.

A primary goal of the office is to provide support to students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends in order to advance the college’s teaching, research and creative activity, and service missions. The office oversees the implementation of college and university policies and procedures, and takes step towards supporting the college’s efforts in reaching its strategic planning goals.

A&A 2026–2030 Strategic Plan

Contact Dean Carpenter

So as a kid growing up with my brothers, we realized that anything we wanted, anything we could imagine, we could probably make. We'd use old copper pipes or molding for baseboards — any items that my dad was saving for home repairs that would allow us to make those visions or those ideas a reality. My parents really encouraged us to think, to ask critical questions, and then to make other possibilities out of what was given to us.

My undergraduate ceramics professor showed me that you could take clay and sawdust and create vessels that would render water with waterborne disease potable. Seeing what is available and making something different out of it, it can quite literally change the direction of people's lives. Here at Penn State, our faculty are encouraging students to look into the world, to recognize structures and systems and practices and question them in positive ways — through their work as designers, architects, historians, teachers, musicians, actors, writers — and transfer that knowledge out into other realms. Regardless of the medium, if they can imagine a solution, if they can imagine a response to a social issue, they can realize it.

Clay just became a natural material for me to use.If you don't like what you have, you can kind of mold it back together and form a new object. If we give ourselves a set of parameters, we're already confined. But if we allow ourselves to even question the initial notion of those parameters, other possibilities open up. That is what we do in our college. We see the world as it is and imagine it in other ways — and then use our disciplinary practices to make those other ways a reality.

I'm Steve Carpenter, and I empower people to question answers and assumptions in order to make possibilities possible.

Notes from the Dean

Archived Dean's Messages

April 01, 2026

Last week, I enjoyed an in-person chat with School of Music alumna and orchestral conductor Fernanda Lastra as part of our “Movers Shakers Designers Makers” (MSDM) interview series. Fernanda was in town to guest-conduct a Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra concert. It was lovely to meet her in person before she returns to campus in May to serve as our commencement speaker.

Our MSDM interviews with alumni, which started during the pandemic in July 2020, cover topics ranging from the impact of their work to their favorite Creamery ice cream flavor. Fernanda – who frequently guest-conducts youth orchestras and family concerts – spoke animatedly about how much she loves seeing children enjoying her concerts. A conductor is in a unique position to witness that joy, and it was wonderful to hear how Fernanda values that experience (the full interview will be posted on our MSDM YouTube channel).

One of the experiences I value most as dean is celebrating the accomplishments of our students, faculty, and staff members. Each April, we hold our college awards ceremony where we honor both College-level and University-level award recipients. The public is invited to the event on Friday, April 24, at 4 p.m. in the Recital Hall. It will also be live streamed.

My role at this event is relatively minimal – I invite winners to the stage, or watch as other college administrators and leaders invite winners to the stage. Like Fernanda, I am in a unique position to witness – up close – the pride, excitement, and joy of our award winners as they receive their awards. It could be the first time a student receives an award. It could be a staff member receiving an award for the “above and beyond” duties they perform to advance our mission and goals. It could be a faculty member earning recognition for their years of mentoring and putting students first.

I feel the pride, excitement, and joy of the award recipients right along with them. It is one of the many times I ask myself, rhetorically, “how great is it to be dean of the College of Arts and Architecture?”

Like every spring semester, we have a packed calendar in the coming weeks. If you find yourself on campus, I hope you will make time to support our students at a performance, catch a lecture, or visit an exhibition in one of our student galleries or the Palmer Museum of Art. Thank you, as always, for your support.

B Stephen Carpenter II
Michael J. and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Dean in the College of Arts and Architecture
The Pennsylvania State University

Visionary Leaders Creating Success

A&A Dean’s Circle

Mission: To provide the dean with critical feedback and visionary perspective on the current state and future success of the College of Arts and Architecture.

Dean’s Circle Members

Mary Lou Belli

Television director, author, alumna

Emmet Cohen

Pianist, composer

Kim Cosier

Art education scholar, activist, retired professor

John Hoke III

Architect, designer, chief innovation officer, alumnus

Brian Kappel

Graphic designer, entrepreneur, alumnus

Terry Kidd

Higher education administrator, technology scholar

Michael McIntyre

Chief executive officer, creative marketing leader, alumnus

Nicole Robinson

Higher education administrator, music education and diversity scholar

Mark Shulman

Live event producer, alumnus

Jerilea Zempel

Artist, activist, retired university artist-in-residence

two capital letter "A"s connected by an ampersand

Conversations with Notable A&A Alumni

Movers Shakers Designers Makers

In the “Movers Shakers Designers Makers” video series, Dean Carpenter takes the opportunity to talk with A&A alumni about professions, practice and Penn State. From gorillas and activism to pedagogy and Peachy Paterno, the topics are timely and free-ranging – laugh, learn and enjoy.

Watch the Movers Shakers Designers Makers Playlist on YouTube