Dean's Messages Archive

I trust you had a chance to enjoy time with loved ones over the Thanksgiving holiday. As always, we are grateful for our alumni and friends – the support you provide, the amazing accomplishments you share that reflect on your educational experiences at Penn State, and the numerous ways you continue to connect with current students and the University community at large.

One of the many ways alumni and friends of the college express their connection is through participation in Penn State’s Giving Tuesday effort. This year, the College of Arts and Architecture has thirteen separate campaigns supporting areas throughout the entire college. You can read more about these campaigns here. While Giving Tuesday is officially tomorrow, December 3, the campaigns are open now.

Giving Tuesday is a nationwide event. Our college’s participation in Giving Tuesday reflects both a financial need as well as the Arts and Architecture community’s ongoing desire to engage with our alumni and other supporters, in ways that go beyond monetary contributions.

In the College of Arts and Architecture, we understand that our practices in the visual and performing arts and design are powerful modes to critique realities, create meanings, and explore possible futures. Our work as artists, designers, educators, performers, scholars, staff, and administrators becomes even more vital in times of social and cultural uncertainty. As we continue to create, to question, to support, to inspire, to teach, and to innovate, it is imperative to remind ourselves such actions are at the heart of our professional responsibilities and the College of Arts and Architecture’s current strategic plan goals remain clear:

• Cultivate transformative opportunities and experiences
• Establish a culture of anti-racism and anti-oppression
• Advance innovative practices
• Develop strategic alliances, partnerships, and collaborations

In the coming months, we will embark on the development of our new strategic plan, following the direction of Penn State’s new strategic plan. Stay tuned for information on how you can be involved.

As always, the end of the semester means a flurry of critiques, performances, exhibitions, and other events. If you are local, please check the college calendar as we have some of the highlights of the semester coming up in the next two weeks. These highlights include the School of Music’s MOSAIC concert and the School of Theatre’s second annual town and gown production of “A Christmas Carol.”

Best wishes to you and your families as we close out 2024 and look forward to a fulfilling 2025.

As we were “going to press” with this issue, we learned the sad news that Neil H. Porterfield, dean emeritus of the College of Arts and Architecture, had passed away. A Penn State Landscape Architecture alumnus, he returned to the University in 1985 to lead the Department of Landscape Architecture and became dean of the college in 1993, retiring in 2000. One of his most significant accomplishments was establishing the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (now the Stuckeman School), which has grown in size and prestige since its creation in 1997. We will share details on a memorial service as they become available.