A&A Awards

President’s Award for Engagement with Students

John Simpkins, head of musical theatre in the College of Arts and Architecture's School of Theatre, has received the 2024 President’s Award for Engagement with Students. Nominators said Simpkins is dedicated to educating students and is constantly creating ways for them to further interact with the arts.

“Simpkins has been an innovator in creating ways to engage with our students outside the classroom and also traditional settings for the students in the BFA Musical Theatre programs, one of the most highly ranked programs of its kind in the nation.”

Read the President's Award article

Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award

Anna Divinsky, assistant teaching professor of art in the College of Arts and Architecture in the Office of Digital Learning, is the recipient of the 2024 Teaching and Learning with Technology Impact Award.

In 2013, she created Penn State’s inaugural Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), “Introduction to Art,” which benefited 50,000 virtual learners across the globe. Nominators said her approach demonstrated flexible education without barriers is possible. It brought art to a wide age range of audiences from diverse locations. Divinsky also gathered data and testimonials from students to improve the immersive virtual class experience.

“She challenged what it meant to communicate with students.”

Read the TLT Impact article

Faculty Scholar Medals for Outstanding Achievement

Bonnie Collura uses her art to drive empathetic connections among people. She uses traditional and digital approaches to create art that allows people with different backgrounds to intersect. She earned the Faculty Scholar Medal for Arts and Humanities.

Nominators cited Collura’s collaborative project “Together, Tacit” – which includes students and faculty members from engineering, computer science and technology – as a groundbreaking accomplishment.

“Professor Collura is exploring ways to bridge the world of individuals with low vision and blindness with that of sighted individuals to create a shared language for artmaking.”

Read Faculty Scholars announcement

Excellence in Advising Award

Liz Agler, academic adviser in the College of Arts and Architecture, has been selected to receive the 2024 Penn State Excellence in Advising Award. Selection criteria are based on excellence in general advising, academic and career guidance, enthusiasm and assistance in decision making, and goal setting.

“Liz has been an excellent academic adviser...I am so grateful to have her support throughout my Penn State experience and I know that many of my peers share the same sentiment. Her reputation amongst students is excellent.”

Read Advising Award article

Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching

Andreas Oeste, lecturer in oboe, is an active performer and chamber musician who began his musical studies on the clarinet and cello but ultimately switched to oboe. Andreas has performed with orchestras across the United States and is currently principal oboe of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Andreas holds prizes from several prominent international competitions. Most notably he was awarded Third Prize at the International Barbirolli Oboe Competition (2017), received Honorable Mention at International Double Reed Society’s Hugo-Fox Gillet Competition (2017), and was the only American oboist invited to compete in the Muri International Oboe Competition (2016). Andreas graduated with his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan.

Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring

Baljinder Sekhon, associate professor of music composition, joined the School of Music faculty in 2019 and teaches courses in composition and electronic music. Since fall 2019, more than 160 premieres of his students’ compositions have been presented on campus and have also been heard nationally and internationally at more than forty concert events spanning six different countries. Baljinder’s music has received more than 600 performances in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Seoul Arts Center (Korea), and National Recital Hall (Taiwan). Seventeen commercial recordings of his work have been released, including two full albums dedicated to his saxophone and percussion music: Alchemy and Places & Times. He holds a Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music, and previously taught at the University of South Florida.

Staff Award for Outstanding Service

Catherine Adams is the digital support specialist for the Center for Virtual/Material Studies in the Department of Art History. She assists with the center’s research by procuring, maintaining, and organizing the supplies, collections, and equipment used in research. She helps with the research of the graduate students assigned to the center and has helped oversee the work of undergraduate interns in the School of Theatre Fashion Archive. Prior to joining the college in 2007, she worked in the Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library. She has served as the chair of the College of Arts and Architecture Staff Advisory Council and is currently chair of the Visual Resources Association Mid-Atlantic Chapter.

Barbara O. Korner Award for Faculty Outstanding Service

Dan Robinson, professor of theatre, joined the faculty in 1992, teaching scenic design, scenic art, and period styles. Currently he serves the School of Theatre as associate director for academics and director of graduate studies. Prior to Penn State, he was assistant professor of scenic design at Ithaca College, and adjunct professor for the Sargent Conservatory of Theatre at Webster University. As a scenic designer, he has designed Off-Broadway and for more than twenty regional theatres, university theatres, and international festivals. Television work includes design and scenic art for WPSU-TV. He received his M.F.A. from University of Missouri-Kansas City, and his B.F.A. from Webster University. He is a member of USA Local #829 in the Scenic Design and Scenic Artist Divisions.

Staff Morale Award

Rebecca Simpson (she/they) is the visitor experience manager at the Palmer Museum of Art and current chair of the College of Arts and Architecture Staff Advisory Council. She earned two B.A. degrees at Penn State in four years, in art history and public relations, and later an M.A. in museum education at Tufts University. Rebecca has worked in the arts on both coasts, including Boston Ballet, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and San Diego Theatres. Rebecca and her wife traveled the country before buying a little home in State College to settle with their multiple rescue dogs and growing collection of crystals and essential oils.

Rising Star Award

Michael Fleck is a multimedia specialist in the Center for the Performing Arts. His experience includes more than seventeen years in the academic environment and seven years in the corporate environment, and more than twenty years as a freelance designer and photographer. Mike’s love for sharing knowledge is evident in peer mentoring and workshops held for photography and digital media interns in the College of Arts and Architecture, and he always looks forward to engaging with students. His interests include bird photography, motorcycling, home remodeling, and…mowing grass.

Faculty Sustainability Award

Rahman Azari is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, leading the Research and Energy Efficiency (RE2) Lab. Rahman is a national expert representing the United States in the International Energy Agency's 'Energy in Building and Communities' Annex 89 project, which focuses on net-zero carbon buildings. Rahman, who teaches building environmental systems and sustainability building design studios, co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment in December 2023.

Staff Sustainability Award

Joyce Robinson moved to State College in the early 1990s with husband Norman Spivey (School of Music) and worked in a variety of adjunct faculty and part-time positions in the College of Arts and Architecture before landing as a curator, and now assistant director, at the Palmer Museum of Art. In addition to curating many exhibitions, authoring numerous catalogues, and serving on a variety of committees, she has been active in the community as president of the Board of Directors of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, ongoing member of the Schlow Library gallery committee, occasional juror for regional art exhibitions, and volunteer pledge host for WPSU-TV and WPSU-Radio. She received the college’s Staff Award for Outstanding Service in 2009.

Graduate Student Sustainability Award

Negar Dehghan is a second-year M.F.A. candidate in graphic design at Penn State. With an interdisciplinary academic background, her research interest is applying interaction design principles to promote various sustainability-related issues. Her thesis involves developing an application for Type 1 Diabetes management, addressing both physical and mental health aspects to empower young patients and ensure they can live more confidently and have better control over their diabetes. Negar has co-authored several journal articles. She serves on the College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Council as a graduate student representative, committed to promoting a culture of sustainability.

Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Architecture

Dima Abu-Aridah

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Professional Master's Excellence Award, Music

Allison Brault

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Professional Master's Excellence Award, Architecture

Kimberly Cunningham

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Professional Master's Excellence Award, Theatre

Erin Stanek

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Distinguished Master's Thesis Award, Architecture

Chowdury Ali Imam

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Distinguished Master's Thesis Award, Architecture

Arjun Kizhakkemarakkattil Janardhanan

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Design Option

First Place

• Andre Brandao de Castro, College of Arts and Architecture / Theatre, “The Scenic Experience of ‘Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812’”

Second Place

• Michael Ciaramitaro, College of Arts and Architecture / Theatre, “When Stars Collide: Designing Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”

Performance Option

First Place

• Zephyr Wills, College of Arts and Architecture / Performance, viola, “Zoltán Kodály's Serenade for Two Violins and Viola Op. 12,” performed with Allison Smith, violin and Vinicius Vieira, violin

Second Place

• Isabella Scotti, College of Arts and Architecture / Performance, percussion, “‘Derivative’ by Jlin from the Album ‘Perspective’ - Electronic Composition to Acoustic Performance,” performed with Jack Kerness, percussion; Paul Robeson, percussion; and Michael Valente, percussion

Third Place

• Jonida Lazellari, College of Arts and Architecture / Piano Performance, piano, “Emma Lou Diemer- Toccata for Piano (1979)”
• Rui Zhang, College of Arts and Architecture / Piano Performance, piano, “Zhao Zhang’s Numa Ame and its Exploration of Eastern and Western Musical Elements”

Research Poster Option (Social and Behavioral Sciences)

Third Place

• Sana Ahrar, College of Arts and Architecture / Architecture, “Mapping Community Dynamics: Integrating Social and Spatial Perspectives in decoding the functioning of Mixed-income Informal Neighborhoods”

Visual Arts Option

First Place

• Negar Dehghan, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Bake The Night Away: A Yalda Celebration Festival”

Second Place

• Forough Yazdanpanah, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Welcome to my world”

Third Place

• Elizabeth Krick, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Climate Changed: II-IV; and Untitled: I & II”

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award

Second Place

• Negar Dehghan, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Bake the Night Away: A Yalda Celebration Festival”

Third Place

• Forough Yazdanpanah, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Welcome to my world”

View complete list of Graduate Exhibition winners

Performance

Regine Torres is a third-year musical theatre major from Manila, Philippines. She has been performing for Penn State Centre Stage since her first year. Some of her favorite credits are Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Associate Choreographer, Dance Captain, Ensemble), Brigadoon (Jean MacLaren), and Into the Woods (Dance Captain, Lucinda, U/S Cinderella). Most recently, she played the role of Adela in Penn State Centre Stage’s production of Bernarda Alba. Last summer, she performed in the resident ensemble for Music Theatre Wichita’s 2023 season, in the shows Rock of Ages (Ensemble), Red, White, and Broadway (Ensemble), and Beauty and the Beast (Plate, Napkin, U/S Babette). In 2023, Regine was also awarded the June H. Ford Memorial Award for Musical Theatre Dance Performance.

Humanistic

Misael Marin is a third-year landscape architecture student who has always wanted to better the lives of others through any means, whether that be helping friends and family or giving food to the homeless. That desire to better others’ wellbeing fuels his fascination with urban design and urban planning. He is enthusiastic about AI art generation and learning how to integrate AI into the design process of a landscape architect. He is also a musician in his free time, playing drums, piano, and bass guitar. After graduation, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in architecture and community planning after working in the field for a few years in urban design or ecological restoration.

Design

Lauren Greenfield is a third-year theatre design and technology B.F.A. student with an emphasis in costumes. A Pittsburgh native, her work has taken her to costume shops throughout the country each summer. At Penn State, Lauren has worked in the costume shop stitching for every show that comes through the School of Theatre. Her most notable work has been building costumes for the plays Amelia in spring 2023 and Tartuffe this semester. She will continue working in theatrical costume shops after graduation with the goal of eventually becoming a draper in New York City.

Violet Burney is a biracial composer, harpist, and electric bassist from St. Louis, Missouri. She has written several pieces that have been performed at the Penn State composers’ concerts, including her atonal piano piece, “5d8 32d120,” string quartet, “Worker of Six Weeks,” and fixed media piece with custom recording, “Glass Half Crunchy.” Many of her pieces can be found on her YouTube channel, “Violet Feeling Blue,” along with several harp covers she rearranged from other instruments and electronics. She draws influence mostly from video games such as Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Undertale, and Night in the Woods, but also from early 2000s bands and contemporary composers she was exposed to while at Penn State.

Matt Dembiczak is a fourth-year student pursuing concurrent majors in digital art and media design and computer science. Coming from a technical background, he strives to explore the medium of code, using it creatively to reveal, examine, and deconstruct the algorithms that run our digital culture. He worked as a software engineer at HPE in summer 2023 and has an upcoming internship at Khan Academy for summer 2024. He was also a technical collaborator on Textural Threshold, an interactive exhibition on display at Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. Following the completion of his undergraduate thesis in May 2025, he plans to pursue a career in software development, as well as a personal passion in independent game development.

Alexandra Guerra is a second-year Bachelor of Music student with a concentration in vocal performance. In the spring of 2023, the soprano performed the role of Mother Gerald in a fully staged production of Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites with Penn State Opera Theatre. In April 2024, she performed the role of Fiordiligi in the Act I finale from Mozart’s Così fan tutte with Penn State Opera Theatre and the Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra on their Opera Gala concert in Eisenhower Auditorium. Alexandra is a frequent soloist with Penn State’s Essence of Joy choir and has won several recent vocal competitions. Future plans include graduate school and young artist programs before pursuing opera professionally.

Klarissa Hillegass is a fourth-year student in the Digital Art and Media Design program working towards a Bachelor of Design and an art minor in sculpture with planned graduation in May 2025. She specializes in graphic design, 3D modeling, and 3D fabrication. She is the secretary of Digital Media Group and currently holds two on-campus jobs, as a graphic designer for Student Affairs and as an arts engagement assistant at the Center for the Performing Arts. She aims to create work to empower audiences to express how they feel and to promote equity and inclusion.

Megan Marflak is a third-year Schreyer Honors student pursuing a degree in graphic design with a minor in business. Her interest in audience-centric experience design and design storytelling has led her to work on several collaborative projects with real stakeholders and audiences, where she developed impactful design work that resonates with her viewers. She recently accepted a professional UXUI internship with the Universal Orlando Resort team, demonstrating dedication toward her goal of becoming a creative art director in the experience design industry.

Evan Santos has always been inclined to test the boundaries as an aspiring architect, and strives to articulate by hand what is, or might be, seen and felt. Inspired by the norm-breaking products of Louis Kahn and Steven Holl’s storytelling ability, Evan is interested in designing institutional and cultural works ranging from creative arts venues and university campus architecture to museums. Because of his fascination with experiential design, he plans to perform a thorough investigation in his master’s thesis on the patterns and problems within America’s creative arts venues in order to propose a poetic unity among architecture, motion, sound, light, and technology in an immersive environment.

Valley Family Excellence Scholarship Honorable Mentions

• Robert Beihl
• Jasmine Ward

Department of Architecture

Hely Parmar is a fourth-year Bachelor of Architecture student minoring in architectural history. She is grateful for this scholarship, which allows her to focus on the most important aspect of school: learning.

Department of Art History

Hails Reilly will graduate with a B.A. in art history, minor in Italian, and certificate in museum studies in May 2025. Her studies are a direct reflection of her professional and personal passions. Her goal in life is to relate her academic passions to her professional endeavors and create a broader community through a shared passion for the arts.

Department of Graphic Design

Isabella Everett is a New Jersey native studying graphic design and film production. Over the past four semesters, she has achieved the Dean's List, demonstrating her commitment to academic excellence. Her dual major in graphic design and film production has provided her with a unique perspective and a diverse skill set. She is heavily involved in the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) as a public relations captain.

Department of Landscape Architecture

Julia Li is a fourth-year Schreyer Scholar majoring in landscape architecture and minoring in meteorology. By merging her design and technical skills, Julia hopes to create tangible solutions that mitigate the consequences of climate apartheid. She will stay at Penn State to earn an M.S. in landscape architecture, researching how the perception of climate change affects the way people interact with built and natural landscapes.

School of Music

Xander Popko is a third-year student pursuing dual degrees in music studies and advertising/public relations with a minor in arts entrepreneurship. Xander is the School of Music's marketing and production intern. He manages the school's social media, designs promotional materials, and strategizes advertising techniques to attract audiences to performances. As a member of the Penn State Clarinet Studio, Xander performs in the Chamber Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a resident assistant for Business and Society House and a Presidential Leadership Academy Scholar.

School of Theatre

Trinity Lyn Jackson (she/her) is a third-year B.F.A. Acting student from York, Pennsylvania. She has grown so much as a creator, student, leader, and, most importantly, human in the College of Arts and Architecture community. She looks forward to continuing her work with organizations such as the Performing Arts Council, serving as president, and the Student Programming Association, serving as director of internal affairs. In her free time, she enjoys discovering new music, trying out a new recipe, and crocheting.

School of Visual Arts

Greta Miller is in her fifth year pursuing dual degrees in general science (B.S.) and sculpture (B.F.A.). Outside of her roles as president of Sculpture Club and student representative for the SoVA alumni group, Greta is very involved in poetry and sustainable research at Penn State. After graduation next spring, she hopes to attend textile artist residencies before applying to graduate programs either in fine arts or sustainable design.

World Campus

Samantha Leone earned her first bachelor’s degree in business marketing at Le Moyne College in upstate New York. While working full-time she got a glimpse of graphic design and was inspired to make it her career. From there she chose to enroll in Penn State World Campus’s Digital Multimedia Design program. After graduation she hopes to work full-time in graphic design and part-time as a portrait photographer.

Department of Architecture

Mia Fantasia has dedicated her undergraduate studies to obtaining a Bachelor of Architecture degree, complemented by a minor in architectural history and residential construction. During her time at the Stuckeman School, she has served as a research assistant for Professor Mehrdad Hadighi on the Mill Owners’ Association Building project. Mia is a recipient of the Alma Heinz and August Louis Pohland Scholarship, as well as the SchraderGroup Award for Excellence in Architecture. Mia gained professional experience as an architectural intern at HDR in 2022 and KTGY in 2023. Beyond her architectural pursuits, Mia expresses her artistic talents through oil paintings, graphite drawings, and murals. Following graduation, she plans to embark on her professional journey with a firm in the Baltimore, MD area.

Arjun Kizhakkemarakkattil Janardhanan is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Architecture and serves as a graduate assistant at the Hamer Center for Community Design. His research focuses on urban building energy models, energy poverty, and spatial justice, demonstrating a commitment to innovative solutions for societal and environmental challenges. Outside academia, Arjun is a licensed architect from India with architecture design practice experience in India, UAE, and the United States.

Richard Sodeinde is a fifth-year architecture student with a minor in architectural history who will graduate in May 2024. He worked as an architectural intern with LRK in summer 2022 and 2023. In fall 2023, Richard studied abroad at the Pantheon Institute in Rome. After graduation, he plans to pursue employment with a firm in New York City, Philadelphia, or Baltimore.

Department of Art History

Emily Hagen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art History. Emily completed her master’s degree in art history at Penn State in 2018 under the supervision of Professor Robin Thomas. Her research situates Pietro da Cortona’s church dedicated to Saints Luke and Martina within the culture of Barberini patronage and religious reform in seventeenth-century Rome. The recipient of the Susan W. and Thomas A. Schwartz Endowed Fellowship for Dissertation Research in Art History, Emily recently spent eight months in Rome consulting correspondence, manuscripts, and newsletters preserved in the Barberini Family Archives at the Vatican Library. Her contextual analysis of the church of Saints Luke and Martina demonstrates how architecture participated in the reinvention and revitalization of sacred history in the era of Catholic reform.

Megan Neely is a fourth-year art history student with minors in Italian and international and global studies who will graduate in May 2024. In 2022, she interned at the Center for Virtual/Material Studies, where she researched and cataloged the School of Theatre’s 3000-piece Fashion Archive. In spring 2023, she studied abroad at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. During her time at Penn State, she served as the College of Arts and Architecture representative on the University Park Undergraduate Association during the 2021-22 school year and vice president of the College of Arts and Architecture Student Council during the 2023-24 school year. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, dance, and ceramics. After graduation, Megan will pursue graduate studies in art history at Florida State University.

Annalise Palmer is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Art History. In 2020, Annalise received her Bachelor of Arts from Centre College in Danville, KY, where she wrote her undergraduate thesis on analytical models of choreography in the work of Trisha Brown and Yvonne Rainer. Her current research focuses on the rise of experimental dance practices throughout the twentieth century, emphasizing choreographers whose works realized, and often embodied, the conceptual and aesthetic concerns of the art world. Annalise’s background as a dancer influences her research of choreography, combining corporeal practice with critical theory to navigate topics of kinesthetic autonomy, physical limitation, and expressive fallacy. After her graduation in May, Annalise plans to pursue doctoral studies in art history at Penn State.

Department of Graphic Design

Colette Albertson is a third-year graphic design major who will graduate in May 2025. This past February, she had the opportunity to work with Cosmopolitan magazine on a photoshoot in Brooklyn. Colette is involved in designing for organizations such as Camp Alvernia and The Music Academy. She is also the social media assistant chair for Design Association and a team dancer for the KPMD club. She received the Penn State Undergraduate Graphic Design Scholarship and Graphis New Talent Silver Award. After graduation, she plans to work as a graphic designer in the fashion industry.

Megan Dale is a fourth-year graphic design student graduating in May 2024. Megan is focused on creating a more accessible world with design. This year she was a second-place winner in the Gallery@104 juried exhibition for her children's book, “Boon's Big Adventure.” As part of a whole experience, this book was created for children with colorblindness and focuses on bringing kids together to celebrate their differences. This semester, Megan is animating a 3D short film focused on the everyday struggle of invisible disability. After graduation, Megan aims to become an art director, and eventually begin her own design firm.

Negar Dehghan is a second-year M.F.A. candidate in graphic design at Penn State. With an interdisciplinary academic background, her research interest is applying interaction design principles to promote various sustainability-related issues. Her thesis involves developing an application for Type 1 Diabetes management, addressing both physical and mental health aspects to empower young patients and ensure they can live more confidently and have better control over their diabetes. Negar has co-authored several journal articles. She serves on the College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Council as a graduate student representative, committed to promoting a culture of sustainability.

Department of Landscape Architecture

Andrew Kuka is a master's student in landscape architecture, graduating in May 2024. He is an AmeriCorps alum and former student of sociology and community and economic development. After graduation, he plans to join a firm with a healthy workplace culture, and continue experiments in playful mobile app design to support place-sensitive public engagement and civics.

Xuanjun Liu is a fourth-year landscape architecture student who will graduate this year. She has consistently proposed creative design solutions and ideas in various studio projects. With a focus on nature and empathy in design, she strives to cultivate diverse atmospheres, experiences, and warm memories for people through the creation of spatial environments and vegetation. She is also interested in urban design and climate change adaptation and hopes to bring benefits to the environment, society, and people through her designs.

Tegan Lochner is a fourth-year landscape architecture student graduating in May 2024. Tegan has worked on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing as an intern at Living Habitats LLC (Chicago, Illinois) and on the Saratoga National Cemetery Masterplan as an intern at PASHEK + MTR (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). While at Penn State, she studied abroad in Peru, Tanzania, and Germany. Tegan is an active member of Penn State's American Society of Landscape Architects student chapter (treasurer 2021, president 2022) and the undergraduate representative for the A&A Sustainability Council. She also served as the Landscape Architecture Alumni Group undergraduate representative. She works part-time for Campus Recreation and as a Stuckeman School teaching assistant and research assistant. In her free time, Tegan likes to upcycle clothing and cook with her friends.

School of Music

Han Hitchen is a composer who writes for a wide range of genres, including various acoustic settings and electroacoustic works for fixed media and live processing. Han’s music has been presented at several festivals and workshops, including MUSLAB: Complex Planet, New Music Mosaic’s Timbre: Vol 3, and the Penn State New Music Festival and Symposium. His music has been performed throughout the United States, as well as in Ecuador, South Korea, Japan, and Mexico. Han is completing the M.M. in composition, studying with Baljinder Sekhon and Sarah Genevieve Burghart Rice. He also holds a Professional Performance Certificate in music composition and technology from Penn State and a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of South Florida.

Vinicius (Vinny) Vieira is a master’s student in violin performance and graduate teaching assistant for violin and music theory. A performing chamber, solo, and orchestral musician, he is invested in musical collaboration and innovation. His playing is characterized by a rich, passionate, energetic, and aesthetic interpretation. As a member of a youth orchestra in Brazil, he toured to Argentina, the United States (Carnegie Hall), and Paris, France.

Piper Weldon (she/her) is a fourth-year music education major with an emphasis in elementary general music, and primary instrument of voice. While at Penn State, she has received multiple awards for her vocal performance, in addition to being named the Presser Scholar in November 2023. Piper is a proponent of promoting female composers and performing works by underrepresented women in music. She seeks the opportunity to collaborate with instrumentalists and composers, creating new and significant works for performer and audience alike. She has held leadership positions in the Penn State Concert Choir and Empow(h)er Committee, and served as primary chair of a THON organization. Piper will pursue an M.M. in voice in the fall.

School of Theatre

Arushi Grover is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in theatre studies, English, and comparative literature who will graduate in May 2024. She worked as a Literary Fellow at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Waterford, CT) in summer 2023. During her time in the School of Theatre, Arushi has been the dramaturg for six Penn State Centre Stage shows, and she has worked on various projects (readings, festivals, cabarets) with the Theatre Studies program. She is a previous recipient of the Golumbic Scholarship for Humanistic Achievement. After graduation, she plans to pursue further studies in Shakespeare and dramaturgy.

Minju Michelle Lee is a fourth-year musical theatre major who will graduate in May 2024. They are a proud Korean American artist born in Boulder, Colorado. Throughout their time at Penn State, they've been an active student leader and board member for Kesem Central PA, in addition to serving on the School of Theatre's Student Diversity Committee and the Student Advisory Board. After graduation, they plan to pursue their theatrical career in New York City.

Erin Stumm is a third-year M.F.A. costume production candidate. Originally from San Diego California, she completed her B.F.A. in theatre design/technology at Otterbein University in May 2021. She has worked across the country with the Santa Fe Opera, the Goodman Theatre, and the Old Globe. In addition to her work in costume construction, Erin is an avid knitter and has knit for both personal and stage use. Erin is currently working on her thesis project, titled “Knit Fast, Die Warm: An Examination of Historical Knitwear and the Clothing Worn with It,” to be presented on April 16, 2024. After her graduation in May 2024, Erin will join the staff of Goodspeed Musicals as a staff draper.

School of Visual Arts

Adl “K☉” Balogun is a graduating fourth-year student who will receive a B.F.A. in art (drawing and painting) and a B.A. in African studies. He does not remember a time when he was not making art, but he started his college experience as an engineering student. He is now the president of SoVA BIPOC and Penn State Painting. K☉ creates studio work, performance, and public art that embodies an interrogation of notions of value and hierarchy. He enjoys making art that invites communities to come together and have dialogue, which he has done with the collaborative sessions on the third floor of the Visual Arts Building and especially the Mending Walls project.

Alexis Oltmer-Bergmann is a second-year Master of Fine Arts student who will graduate in May 2024. Alexis is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice reconsiders relationships between humans and environment. She is a 2024 College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Graduate Student Fellow. Her thesis exhibition, “in-site: a study of the occurrence of superfund sites,” will be on view at the Zoller Gallery, April 15-19. Alexis’s research into local, state, and federal superfund sites led to an Environmental Protection Agency website update. After graduation, she plans to continue her research-based art practice and collaborate with scientists to amplify topics of our moment in time.

Casey Burton is an artist from the South Side of Chicago. She received her B.F.A. in ceramics from the University of Iowa in 2019. Continuing exploration with clay, Casey was a post-baccalaureate student at the University of Kansas. From 2020 to 2022, Casey was an artist-in-residence at Cobb Mountain Art and Ecology project, where she raged wood kilns with the community and helped with land management. Casey is currently a second-year graduate student at Penn State, graduating this spring.

A&A Faculty and Staff Awards

Barbara O. Korner Award for Faculty Outstanding Service

Naomi Seidman joined the School of Music faculty as the flute professor in 2012. Over the years she has been involved in numerous performances as a soloist and chamber musician on and off campus. She was awarded the College of Arts and Architecture’s Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring in 2015. At the end of April 2023, she will be a featured performer at the Thailand Flute Festival in Bangkok, Thailand.

Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching

Sarah Watts joined the School of Music faculty in 2015 and teaches courses related to elementary general music, world music pedagogy, qualitative research methods, and social and cultural issues in the field of music education. She is active in the Education Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology and is a frequent presenter of practitioner workshops for music educators. Her current research interests address the teaching of empathy through world music encounters.

Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring

Liz Agler joined the academic advising team in the College of Arts and Architecture in 2021 after advising in the Division of Undergraduate Studies for eight years. She is a School of Visual Arts alum, with an undergraduate degree in art education. During her five years of teaching middle school art in Bradford, PA, she earned an M.Ed. in art education. Liz brings this knowledge and teaching experience, along with her genuine interest in the arts, to the students she advises in the School of Visual Arts and Department of Art History.

Staff Award for Outstanding Service

Jamie Heilman

Staff Morale Award

Diana Malcom was an administrative assistant in the Department of Art History for three years, recently moving to the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network to serve as their support coordinator. During her time in the College of Arts and Architecture, she served for two years as chair of the Staff Advisory Council and worked aside other Borland staff to create the Borland Green Team.

Rising Star Award

Chrissy Leidy started her Penn State career in 2011 as the development assistant for WPSU and later moved to Penn State Law. In February of 2021, she joined the Stuckeman School as the architecture program coordinator. She is a State College native and a mom of three.

Sustainability Faculty Award

Huiwon Lim is an assistant professor in the Department of Graphic Design. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, a Master of Arts in Environmental Graphic Design, and a graduate certificate in Human-Computer Interaction from Iowa State University. His research focuses on visualizing data as an extension of graphic design practice and a creative form to enhance community engagement, user experience, human wellness, and sustainability awareness. One of his recent interdisciplinary research projects won the 2020 Next Work Environment Competition organized by Work Design Magazine.

Sustainability Staff Award

Deb Gulick, instructional designer, joined the Office of Digital Learning in 2008. She collaborates closely with faculty, staff, and students, and designs online courses in art history, interior design, music, sustainability, and theatre. She is a founding member of the A&A Sustainability Council, where she serves as the Operations Working Group Leader, and also co-leads the Borland Building Green Team and Green Paws program.

Sustainability Graduate Student Award

Ali Ghazvinian, who recently defended his Ph.D. in architecture, is an instructor and researcher in the area of making. He works at the intersection of architecture, civil engineering, material science, and biology. His research and teaching focus on the interrelationship among the materials, geometries, and techniques, with a hint of computational design and digital fabrication. A Sustainability Faculty Teaching Fellow, he received a 2023 Alumni Association Dissertation Award.

University Graduate Student Awards

Alumni Association Dissertation Award

Ali Ghazvinian, Architecture
Rui Wang, Architecture

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award

Sam Moradzadeh, Architecture

Graduate Student International Research Award

Dima Abu-Aridah, Architecture

Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award

Tasneem Tariq, Architecture

Professional Master’s Excellence Award

Anjali Gopalakrishnan, Architecture

Graduate Exhibition Awards

For a complete listing of Graduate Exhibition winners, please visit this exhibition awards news article.

Design option

First place: Zandra Siple, theatre, “Designing for Marginalized Groups: A Dramaturgical Exploration into the Costume Design for ‘Emilia’”
Second place: Andre Brandao de Castro, theatre, “Designing Resistance and Intolerance — A Scenic Design for the Musical ‘CABARET’”
Second place: Mia Irwin, theatre, “Metamorphoses: Storytelling and Scenic Design as Odes to Change”
Third place: Arjun Kizhakkemarakkattil Janardhanan, architecture, “’Library 25′: City as a generator for the type”

Performance option

First place: Daniel Spearman, performance, trumpet, “Can String Quartets Dance?” performed with Ailish Quiñones, undergraduate student, piano; Anton Fatula, undergraduate student, tenor saxophon; Alexio Ciorra, undergraduate student, bass, Max Dungan, undergraduate student, guitar; and Richard Horning, undergraduate student, drums
Second place: Katherine Brown, performance, viola, “Sea Foam,” performed with Taylor Shea, performance, viola; Samuel Rothermel, music, viola; and Andrea Alvarado Troncoso, performance, viola
Third place: Ruth Stokes, performance, cello, “The Kalmia Piano Quartet,” performed with Bryan Jones, piano performance, piano; Zephyr Wills, performance, viola; and Allison Smith, performance, violin

Research poster option

Arts and Humanities
Third place: Maryam Aman, architecture, “Enhancing Energy Performance of Single-Family Housing through Parametric Modeling”

Engineering
First place: Tasneem Tariq, architecture, “Impact of Vegetated Infrastructure to Mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect in Dhaka, Bangladesh”

Social and Behavioral Sciences
Second Place: Sana Ahrar, architecture, “Assessing Emerging Methods for Post-Pandemic Community-Based Research”

Visual Arts
First place: Casey Burton, art, “I sleep alone”
First place: Parisa Farjamfar, art, “GODS vs. DEMONS Playing Cards”
Second place: Danielle Schwesinger, art, “Disjointed”
Second place: Tannaz Hajimirzaamin, art, “It was war”
Third place: Jordan Wolf, art, “The Importance of Play”
Third place: Michaela Holt, art, “desktop playground”

Special awards

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award
Second place: Zandra Siple, theatre, “Designing for Marginalized Groups: A Dramaturgical Exploration into the Costume Design for ‘Emilia’”
Third place: Madisyn Simington, art, “Deliberation of the Self”
Third place: Parisa Farjamfar, art, “GODS vs. DEMONS Playing Cards”
Third place: Sana Ahrar, architecture, “Assessing Emerging Methods for Post-Pandemic Community-Based Research”

Data Visualization Award
Honorable mention: Tasneem Tariq, architecture, “Impact of Vegetated Infrastructure to Mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect in Dhaka, Bangladesh”

Undergraduate Student Awards

Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship

Design Achievement

Born the son of a mechanical engineer and the grandson of a mechanic, architecture major John Martin quickly formed a fascination with mechanical assemblies and how individual parts come together to form a complete mechanism. He has defined himself as a craftsman/maker who pursues design through hands-on craftsmanship. Deeply influenced by the work of Jean Prouvé, constructeur, he has worked to merge utility, the honest use of materials, and economy of materials to meet the complex demands of a circular material economy.

Humanistic Achievement

Arushi Grover is a third-year Schreyer Scholar majoring in theatre studies, English, and comparative literature. As a dramaturg, playwright, and director, Arushi is passionate about using past stories to understand the present moment. She has worked as dramaturg for numerous productions with Penn State Centre Stage and the School of Theatre. For the past two years, Arushi has been the president of Statespeare, Penn State’s Shakespeare-centered student organization. After graduation, Arushi plans to pursue an M.F.A. in dramaturgy.

Performance Achievement

Chandler Cleric is a clarinet player pursuing his Bachelor of Music in performance. He is involved in many performance ensembles, including the Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. In addition to large ensembles, Chandler enjoys playing chamber music in many different settings. He has played in recordings with the Pittsburgh Creators’ Project Symphonic Winds, and performed with the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra. Chandler is a winner of the 2023 School of Music Scholarship Competition, where he was awarded the Eleanor Beene Award.

Valley Family Scholarship

Michael Cabrera is a Cuban-American composer and percussionist pursuing a Bachelor of Music in music composition. His music centers around storytelling, exploring metaphors in music, experimentation, and mental health. Michael enjoys experimenting with music from every angle, including instrumental and performance techniques, compositional structure and techniques, notation, and more. In 2016, Michael’s string quartet “Polarities” was a winner in the American Composers’ Forum NextNotes competition. He is currently the treasurer of the Living Music organization at Penn State.

Peyton Harris is currently a third-year student majoring in graphic design with minors in photography and entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Design Association and is the class representative for the graphic design class of 2024. Last year he was awarded the Graphic Design Excellence Award. Peyton hopes to bring his two interests of sustainability and design together to innovate the arts and create solutions that better people’s lives.

Victor Hernandez is a third-year theatre design and technology student with emphases in technical direction and scenic design. Last summer, Victor worked with Barrington Stage Company as a carpenter, constructing scenery for an eight-production season featuring both new and established works. They most recently worked as assistant technical director for the School of Theatre’s production of Into the Woods, and have credits as both a carpenter and scenic artist for multiple productions throughout the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 show seasons.

Julia Li is a third-year landscape architecture student and Schreyer Scholar with a minor in meteorology and atmospheric science. A self-proclaimed “weather weenie,” she studied abroad in Thailand last May, which inspired her to critically evaluate how landscape architects have the unique ability to address climate injustices through thoughtful, empathetic, intentional design. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Julia will stay at Penn State to pursue an M.S. in landscape architecture.

Elijah Pfeiffer is a third-year landscape architecture student. Having the opportunity to study different environments thanks to regular moves during his childhood, he quickly gained a fascination in infrastructure, nature, and the people who utilize both. He has chosen to specialize his degree into the fitting sub-fields of transportation, community design, and systems design.

Rónán Shaw is pursuing a dual bachelor’s degree in fine arts and art history, as well as a certificate in museum studies. Drawing upon his travels to Europe and Latin America, his scholarship considers the way individuals conceptualized their relationship to history through visual arts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has won awards for his proficiency in the Italian language. After graduation, Rónán plans to pursue a Ph.D. in art history with the goal of becoming a curator.

Shane Troxell is a third-year student in the B.F.A. Acting program, currently studying abroad at the Theatre Academy of London. For Penn State Centre Stage, he performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lysander) and Metamorphoses (First Man). Shane also performed in and helped write Penn State’s New Student Orientation show, Results Will Vary. He is certified in teaching Grounded Aerial Bungee Dance and is a Society of American Fight Directors Certified Actor Combatant.

Alumni Society Scholarship Winners

Architecture

Marisa Calbi is a fourth-year Bachelor of Architecture student currently studying abroad at the Pantheon Institute in Rome. Her goal is to become a licensed architect in the New York and New Jersey area.

Art History

Rónán Shaw is pursuing a dual bachelor’s degree in fine arts and art history, as well as a certificate in museum studies. Drawing upon his travels to Europe and Latin America, his scholarship considers the way individuals conceptualized their relationship to history through visual arts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has won awards for his proficiency in the Italian language. After graduation, Rónán plans to pursue a Ph.D. in art history with the goal of becoming a curator.

Graphic Design

Sara Meola is a third-year graphic design major who is also working toward a certificate in information sciences and technology. Her design interests include branding and UX/UI design. Outside school, she has been heavily involved in extracurriculars and clubs, including THON, the Penn State Lyrical Line dance team, and the Design Association.

Landscape Architecture

Tegan Lochner is a third-year landscape architecture major. She admires this profession’s ability to combine art, social justice, and ecology into one cohesive narrative, and finds joy in fusing unusual combinations of knowledge and mixing graphic mediums to create designs rich in nuance and detail.

Music

Alex Almonte, a Dominican and Filipino American baritone singer from Pittsburgh, is a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Music Education degree in the studio of Dr. Norman Spivey.  Through performance and education, Alex hopes to inspire the next generation of artists and musicians.

Theatre

Jacob Malizio is a director, actor, and playwright studying theatre studies and public relations. He belongs to several theatre organizations in the area, including No Refund Theatre, The Blue Brick Theatre, and the Penn State Thespian Society. This summer, he will intern at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in its public relations department.

Visual Arts

Sierra Brandon is a third-year student majoring in digital arts and media design. Prior to attending Penn State, she earned an associate’s degree in graphic design at Bucks County Community College. Sierra is the treasurer of the Digital Media Group, works at Campus Recreation as a graphic designer, and is a multimedia production specialist for the College of Information Sciences and Technology.

Creative Achievement

Architecture

Katie Bair is a fifth-year student in the Bachelor of Architecture program, pursuing a minor in architectural history. She worked as an architectural intern with EwingCole in Philadelphia during summer 2022. In fall 2022, she studied abroad at the Pantheon Institute in Rome, and placed first in the Piranesi Prix de Roma Design Competition. During her time in the Stuckeman School, Katie has also served as a teaching assistant for undergraduate students. After graduation, she plans to utilize her skills in a professional environment as an architectural designer.

Aysan Jafarzadeh is a graduate architecture student with a passion for design beyond the realm of architecture. With experience working in different parts of the world, Aysan brings a diverse perspective to their work. They have a particular interest in exploring the intersections of design, technology, and sustainability, with a focus on enhancing the arts through their designs. In addition to their studies, Aysan has been involved in various design projects ranging from furniture to graphic design, always striving to incorporate artistic elements into their work.

Parachi Masown is an Arts Ambassador and the treasurer for the American Institute of Architecture Students at Penn State. She is currently working on her fifth-year thesis, which focuses on creating an office space that will use neuroarchitecture to help relieve stress. After graduation, Parachi hopes to work at an architecture firm and design spaces that help communities and cultures come together.

Art History

Arielle Fields, third-year Ph.D. candidate in art history, presented the paper, “The Nursery in 19th-Century Britain: Motherhood, Class, and Identity Formation,” at the Southeast College Art Conference in October. She is president of the Graduate Student Association for Visual Culture and the graduate representative to the department. She was awarded a Susan W. and Thomas A. Schwartz Endowed Fellowship and a Dissertation Fellowship in support of her work related to her dissertation, “The Nursery in Victorian Britain and the Empire: Domestic Architecture and the Changing Conceptions of Motherhood and Childhood.”

Kyle Marini is a Ph.D. candidate in art history advised by Dr. Amara Solari. He is writing a dissertation on Inca portraiture that will show how public rituals crafted a royal portrayal of the last Inca emperor in the form of an enormous rope. He has received five Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships to study two Quechuan languages, the administrative language family of the Inca Empire, to incorporate linguistics into his project’s Indigenous-oriented methodology.

Abby Mikalauskas is a triple-major in art history, anthropology, and French & Francophone studies completing her B.A. with a near-perfect GPA of 3.98. She has served as an Arts Ambassador, member of the A&A Student Council, and secretary of the Art History Club. Abby will serve as the student marshal for the Department of French & Francophone Studies at commencement. In the fall, Abby will attend graduate school to continue her study of 18th-century material and visual culture.

Graphic Design

Gabrielle Harris is a third-year graphic design student, minoring in digital media trends and analytics. She is on the Administrative Council of the Student Programming Association, serving as social media chair, and an active member of the Design Association. Gabby has been recognized by the AIGA Flux Student Design Competition as a finalist for her Boos Fest identity in February 2022 and FORM magazine publication in February 2023.

Emma Swayze, fourth-year graphic design major, is a strategic problem solver who enjoys learning how people interact with design daily. She has always been fascinated by people and what motivates them. Naturally, she gravitates toward user experience design, but she also enjoys branding, packaging, and consulting work. After graduation, she hopes to work in New York City as a UX designer.

Born in Iran, Forough Yazdanpanah began her graphic design studies in the capital city of Tehran. In her thesis at the University of Tehran, she used an interdisciplinary approach including semiotics, feminism, and design to address issues affecting Iranian women. After graduation, she gained experience working in creative studios and advertising agencies. She emigrated to the United States in August 2022 to focus her attention on user behavior, interaction design, and design systems at Penn State.

Landscape Architecture

Graduate student Olivia Boon’s research investigates justice-based pathways for researchers, designers, and institutions to collaborate with Indigenous people threatened by climate change-driven sea level rise. She synthesized her design experience and research interests in an upper-level design studio exploring a One Health approach to water quality, health, and well-being with the informal community of Claverito in Iquitos, Peru. After graduation, Olivia looks forward to aiding researchers and designers in developing just coastal adaptations.

Handuo Chen is a Schreyer Honors College student who explores how design could influence people and the greater community to initiate positive changes in social and environmental matters. After graduation, Handuo plans to participate in immersive volunteer experiences to gain an understanding of different cultures’ work styles.

Grace Stewart is a Schreyer Honors College student with an art history minor. Her interests lie in ecology, planting design, and master planning. She has explored these interests by studying abroad and interning at the Penn State Office of Physical Plant and Herbarium. Grace is working on her thesis, “Improving the Underused Corporate Landscapes in the U.S.” After graduation, she plans to become a licensed landscape architect and pursue a master’s degree in ecology or urban planning.

Music

Joshua Benitez is a senior music performance major in flute under the direction of Dr. Naomi Seidman. He performs with the Penn State Wind Ensemble and Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra, and is a part of the Arts and Architecture Student Council. Joshua is a recipient of the Bunton Waller Scholarship Award.

Connor Simpson is a composer based in State College. His work “Panic” was selected through juried review for the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Connor has also participated in a variety of international music festivals, such as soundSCAPE, Longy’s Divergent Studio, and Charlotte New Music Festival. His research includes traditional and modern methods of composition, including serialism, abstract mathematics, and computer-assisted composition.

Violinist Allison Smith studies with James Lyon, serving as his graduate teaching assistant. Allison graduated from Grove City College in 2021, where she was concertmaster of the college orchestras, led the student string quartet, and was a winner of the 2021 Concerto Competition. Allison is principal second violinist in the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra and regularly performs with the Williamsport and Altoona Symphony Orchestras.

Theatre

Nina Gold is a proud member of the B.F.A. Acting Class of 2023 and is currently performing in Emilia as her final show with Penn State Centre Stage. She has been active in the School of Theatre’s Student Diversity Committee for three years and has had the chance to explore multiple facets of production, including writing, directing, and coaching dialects. Post-graduation, she plans to move to Chicago to explore comedy writing and classical text in a contemporary setting.

David Heguy is a fourth-year B.F.A. theatre design and technology major. He received the School of Theatre’s Oliver Smith Award for Best Lighting Design in 2021 and 2022. For the past eight years, David has freelanced for various theater companies all over the New Jersey and New York area. In 2022 David was chosen for the prestigious Fred Foster Mentorship Program run by ETC/Electronic Theatre Controls. He was also the recipient of a 2022 Special Citation in Lighting Design/Live Design & LDIs as part of the Pat MacKay Diversity in Design Scholarship.

Mia Irwin, third-year M.F.A. candidate in scenic design, is a freelance scenic designer from Durango, Colorado. Mia received her B.A. in theatre arts and a minor in art and design from the University of Northern Colorado in May 2020. Penn State credits include the scenic designs for Into the Woods, Metamorphoses, Nostalgia Night, and The Wild Party, among others. Upcoming projects include Double Trouble at Bristol Valley Theatre in June 2023.

Visual Arts

Helen Sun, from Beijing, China, will graduate in May with a B.F.A. in sculpture and minor in photography. Helen’s art usually involves multiple mediums and contains geometric designs and abstract concepts, as well as her own perception of time, space, and psychology. Her works have been shown in a number of exhibitions inside and outside Penn State. She received the Brain Betzler Memorial Award from the Penn State School of Visual Arts for the 2022-23 academic year.

Emily Wright is pursuing a M.F.A. in ceramics. She creates powerful works, combining familiar icons with personal narratives. She won first place in the 2022 Graduate Research Exhibition, as well as Penn State’s summer scholarship to Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Emily leads the Humpday Gallery and the M.F.A. Association to promote community and collaboration among graduate art students.

University-Level Awards

2022 George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching

Heather McCune Bruhn—McCune Bruhn says she struggles with the popular notion that art history is an impractical major and unlikely to lead to a career. The idea that visual literacy isn’t deemed as important amazes her given the number of images the average person sees every day. She said it’s crucial students learn to critically interrogate these pervasive images rather than be passive viewers. It’s common, she says, for students to comment that they see the world differently after taking one of her courses. See story for more details.

2022 Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship

Peter Stempel—The Coastal Studio Penn State (CSPSU) – Portsmouth Rhode Island Resilience Planning project has received the 2022 Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship. The effort is led by Peter Stempel, associate professor of landscape architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture. See story for more details.

Marica Tacconi Named Distinguished Professor

Marica Tacconi, professor of musicology and affiliate faculty member in art history, has been named distinguished professor at Penn State, one of the most prestigious honors for a faculty member at the University. See story for more details.

Penn State Laureate 2022–23

Velvet Brown

Lion’s Paw Medal

Charles Dumas, professor emeritus in the School of Theatre at Penn State, will receive the 2022 Lion’s Paw Medal during the society’s 2022 Convocation Ceremony. The ceremony will take place over Blue-White Weekend, on April 23. See story for more details.

A&A Faculty and Staff Awards

Barbara O. Korner Award

Charlene Gross is an assistant professor of costume design. Her work for theatre, dance, and opera has been seen on and off-Broadway, across the country, and on London’s West End. She has been resident designer for Ohio Light Opera (OLO) since 2005 and was production manager from 2007 to 2017, when she joined the Penn State faculty. Charlene has more than sixty set and costume designs with OLO, including many American premiers and international recording releases. Educational design credits include The Juilliard School, Columbia University, NYU, Baldwin Wallace University, University of Memphis Opera, Eastman Theatre Opera, and The College of Wooster. She is an active participant in faculty governance at Penn State and a champion of interdisciplinary collaboration. Current research areas involve hybrid teaching as a means for EDI, fashion history, textiles, and interactive digital archives, as well as costume design for performance arts. She has presented at numerous professional conferences, such as United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and Costume Society of America. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists—Local 829 and holds an M.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring

Robin Bierly graduated with a B.S. in Advertising and a B.S. in Human Resource Management from Syracuse University. She then went on to earn an M.A. in School Counseling at West Virginia University. After many years working as a middle school counselor in Richmond, Virginia, she and her family moved back to Central Pennsylvania. Robin started out her Penn State career as a FTCAP (New Student Orientation) academic consultant and adviser in 2011, and then worked as an academic adviser in the Bellisario College of Communications. In the fall of 2019, she joined the Stuckeman School in the College of Arts and Architecture and began advising students in architecture, landscape architecture, and graphic design.

Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching

Linda Thornton is a professor of music education and contributes to the musical education of students and teachers through teaching, publications, workshops, clinics, and conducting. At Penn State, she teaches instrumental methods courses and freshman seminar and advises Schreyer Scholars and Ph.D. dissertations. Her “Partners in Music” initiative with Dr. Robert Gardner, a collaboration among the State College Area School District, Our Lady of Victory, and Penn State, was recognized with Penn State’s Community Engagement and Scholarship Award and the College Music Society’s Robby D. Gunstream Education in Music Award. Her research interests include pedagogy for beginning instrumentalists, composition and improvisation for instrumental students, music teacher recruitment and socialization, and reflective practice. Linda serves as the chair of the Society for Music Teacher Education, research coordinator for the eastern division conference of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), North American review editor for Research in Music Education, and a reviewer for the Journal of Teacher Education and Educators. Linda earned her bachelor’s degree in music education at Northwestern University, and graduate degrees at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In between degrees, she taught band in public schools in northern and southern Illinois.

Staff Award for Outstanding Service

Diana Nolten is the student enrollment specialist in the Stuckeman School. She previously served as a staff assistant in the Department of Landscape Architecture, among other staff support positions at Penn State. She is a Penn State graduate and the mother of four daughters. One is a current student in the College of Education, and one will start in the College of Nursing in the fall.

Graduate Student Awards

Alumni Association Dissertation Award

Lauren Stetz,Art Education

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award

Jessica Fegley,Landscape Architecture

Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award

Farzad Hashemi,Architecture

Graduate Exhibition Awards

For a complete listing of Graduate Exhibition winners, please visit the Graduate School’s Exhibition Awards page.

Undergraduate Student Awards

Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship

Design Achievement

With a desire to make a positive impact in art, at 17, Megan Dale created an opportunity for herself to work at a local design firm in her small town. It was there that she was drawn to design. Seeing how her designs at a local level could impact her town, she wanted to pursue design at an academic level. Now a sophomore Graphic Design major at Penn State, she works with some of the best designers in Pennsylvania. As a designer, she creates works that empower and encourage people with great design. She plans to become an art director in hopes of sharing her care for design and people with the world.Humanistic Achievement

Katie McRury is a fourth-year Schreyer Honors College student majoring in Architecture and minoring in Architectural History. She most recently completed a semester abroad as the first Penn State Architecture student to study with Temple University Rome. She is a 2018 and 2019 alumna of Alpha, the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Workshop for Young Writers, and one of her short stories was published in the Triangulation: Dark Skies anthology in 2019. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the recipient of multiple honors from the College of Arts and Architecture, and an Erickson Discovery Grant awardee. She used this grant last year to research place-sustaining architecture, a strategy derived from a combination of Heidegger’s theory of dwelling, neo-vernacular design, and passive technology. When not at her studio desk, Katie can often be found crossing épées with friends at fencing practice, running over to the School of Music for an oboe lesson, or working backstage at a theater that definitely isn’t haunted. After graduating next year, she plans to pursue her master’s degree and professional architectural practice.Performance Achievement

Malcolm MacKenzie is a third-year Acting student in the School of Theatre. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they have performed extensively with several companies in the area, including Prime Stage Theatre, the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, Poor Yorick’s Players, Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks, and the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival. In the fall of 2021, Malcolm played Oberon and Theseus in Penn State Centre Stage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in addition to serving as an assistant fight choreographer for the production under Professor Erik Raymond Johnson. Malcolm is also the playwright, director, and fight director of Bone Play, produced by the Penn State Acting program in March 2022. They are a Certified Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and a member of the Presidential Leadership Academy at Penn State.

Valley Family Scholarship

Katie Bair, from State College, Pennsylvania, is a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Architecture program, pursuing minors in both Architectural History and Graphic Design. Through her studies, she has discovered her passion for graphic representation and spatial design. She studied abroad in Todi, Italy, the summer after her freshman year, and looks forward to returning for the semester next fall. Katie was one of four top winners of the annual Hajjar Competition hosted by the Department of Architecture. She also received an honorable mention for the 2021 Corbelletti Drawing Competition at the start of the academic year. Recently, her team’s project, “Mush • Room,” a self-sustainable and regenerative modular tiny house, was shortlisted for Bee Breeders Annual International MICROHOME 2021 Competition. Outside of her courses, Katie is a brother of the Alpha Rho Chi professional fraternity for students in architecture and the allied arts, serving as fundraising co-chair. As an architect, Katie hopes to explore and design creative solutions to complex projects that improve everyday life, the community, and the world.

Rachel Flicker is from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and has been playing piano since the age of 3. She is currently a junior studying Piano Performance in the studio of Dr. Timothy Shafer. On the Dean’s List every semester, Rachel has been very active across the School of Music, primarily as an accompanist. She also accompanies students in the Student Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (SNATS). She has premiered many solo and collaborative pieces written by Penn State Composition majors, and recently served as harpsichordist for the School of Music’s production of the opera, Dido and Aeneas. She has received Jury Honors every semester she was eligible, a distinction awarded for excellence in final performance exams. She has also been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Schlegel Memorial Scholarship, Marie B. Ashburn Piano Scholarship, and the Jane Cowell Sheaffer Endowment. Rachel will be attending the Collaborative Piano Institute at Louisiana State University this summer. She also plans to co-teach a course in fall 2022 titled “The Art of Collaboration.” Outside of the School of Music, Rachel is very active in her on-campus ministry and church. She will be auditioning for a master’s degree program in collaborative piano in spring 2023.

Anne Lai is a third-year Schreyer Scholar pursuing a professional degree in Landscape Architecture. She finds inspiration in the human dimensions of tactical urbanism to inform the politics of city building. This approach to placemaking is the focus of her undergraduate thesis work. In addition, her dedication to intersectional environmentalism fosters her engagement with systems thinking and ethical reasoning. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, Anne intends to gain practical experience in the field before applying to graduate school to expand her research and education with a degree in urban planning and public administration. Anne’s roots in the vibrant city of Toronto spark her fascination with the complex dynamics of urban studies. In addition to bringing an enthusiastic approach to the discipline, her background as a piano performance musician helps inform her creative process as a designer.

Connor Simpson is a composer pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree with Dr. Baljinder Sekhon and Dr. Steven Rice. His work “Panic” was selected through juried review for the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Connor has also been selected for festivals including Longy’s Divergent Studio, Charlotte New Music Festival, and the Cortana New Music Festival. He has written in a variety of genres and styles in acoustic and electronic composition. His works include “ill” for quadraphonic playback, “Exile” for voice and reed quintet, and “May the Lord Protect My Wealth” for string quartet.

Kyle Shearer, of Cleveland, Ohio, is a Theatre Design and Technology major focusing on lighting design and a Schreyer Scholar. His work as both a designer and electrician has been seen in theaters, amusement parks, and arenas across the Midwest. Last fall, Kyle worked with Three Rivers Entertainment to provide lighting inside the players’ tunnel at Beaver Stadium for the Penn State Football team. Most recently, he served as a lighting programmer for two headline bands at THON 2022, in addition to designing the School of Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He is working on several projects at the Bryce Jordan Center as a production intern. Outside of the classroom, Kyle serves as a production coordinator and lighting designer for the Movin’ On Music Festival. He also co-chairs the committee for educational and alumni outreach for Penn State’s student chapter of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.

Alyssa Entia Stanford is a third-year student pursuing her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre, originally from Bowie, Maryland. At Penn State, she has been involved in the Student Minority Advisory and Recruitment Team (S.M.A.R.T.), MLK Day of Service, Diversify Our Narrative, School of Theatre Student Diversity Committee, and Broadway of Tomorrow. She has also performed in numerous productions for Penn State Centre Stage. During her sophomore year, she was accepted to the Schreyer Honors College, and she has been on the Dean’s List every semester. Upon graduation, she plans to move to Chicago to pursue her goals in performing arts, while continuing her work with Broadway of Tomorrow.

David Wasson is a third-year student pursuing a professional degree in Landscape Architecture with minors in Climatology and Geography. At Penn State he has developed a focus on changes to land use and land cover and how they affect local and regional climate systems, and he is considering graduate studies in geography or environmental and natural resource policy at Colorado University-Boulder. David has worked at a 340,000-acre (138,000-hectare) land parcel, Philmont Scout Ranch, in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico, where he has risen from a trail conservationist to a ranger to a ranger trainer for the 2022 season. He serves as president of Penn State’s chapter of the National Speleological Society and is a member of the Cave Research Foundation, Mid-Atlantic Karst Conservancy, and Southeastern Cave Conservation, Inc., where he frequently assists with the study of caves and karst. He also volunteers his time with researchers of caves and karst at Penn State, Western Kentucky University, and the University of Akron. After his formal studies, he is interested in working for the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, or Bureau of Land Management concerning land-use management and policy.

Alumni Society Scholarship Winners

Art History

Abby Mikalauskas is a third-year student from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, majoring in Art History, Anthropology, and French. She is also minoring in Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Global & International Studies. At Penn State, she is involved in THON and various organizations within the College of Arts and Architecture, including Student Council, Art History Club, and Arts Ambassadors. After her undergraduate studies, Abby plans to get her Ph.D. in Art History, focusing on contact period Indigenous art of North America and the subsequent relationship between the Indigenous and various European influences, namely the French.Graphic Design

Taylor Kuszyk is a third-year Graphic Design student. She has maintained a 3.88 GPA while also being involved in numerous activities, including VALLEY Magazine, Movin’ On, and Concert Choir. Her designs have won numerous awards from the AIGA FLUX 2020 Student Design Competition, UCDA Design Competition, and Graphis New Talent 2022.Landscape Architecture

From the vibrant city of Toronto, Anne Lai is a Schreyer Honors Scholar majoring in Landscape Architecture. She immerses herself in work, out of love for the creative process and dedication to contemporary trends involving systems thinking and ethical reasoning. She finds inspiration in the human dimensions of tactical urbanism and their political implications on the future of city building. In her free time, Anne enjoys music, national parks, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and her dog, Bucky.Music

Mary Darin is a third-year vocalist from Killingworth, Connecticut, majoring in Music Education with an emphasis in elementary general music and a minor in Special Education. Within the School of Music, Mary has been a member of Essence of Joy since her first year and has also performed with Oriana Singers. Outside of the School of Music, Mary served as a THON committee member for two years, a Communications Captain for THON 2022, and Family Relations Chair for her dance team, Lyrical Line Dance Company. Mary is excited to student-teach in spring 2023.Visual Arts

Delphine Aibel is a junior double-majoring in Art (Drawing and Painting concentration) and Advertising/Public Relations. She works at the HUB-Robeson Galleries and is a social media/graphic design intern for the School of Visual Arts. Delphine loves traditional drawing, going thrifting, exploring new places, and trying new foods. She says her best piece of advice is to “bloom where you’re planted and always be open to trying new things!”World Campus

Alicia Rowley is a second-semester junior in the Digital Multimedia Design (DMD) major at Penn State World Campus. She lives in Harrisburg and is set to graduate in spring 2023. Alicia has a passion for 2-D illustration, digital drawing, and painting, as well as an interest in UX design and research. She has taken on a few leadership positions during her time at Penn State, including serving the DMD Club as vice president and president, volunteering as a student mentor, and serving on the Student Advisory Board. She also volunteers with charity organizations in her home area. Alicia hopes to work for a non-profit as a UX designer advocating for accessibility in mobile apps and websites.

Architecture
Cristina Mock

Theatre
Madaline King

Creative Achievement

Architecture

Brad Feitl is a student in the Master of Architecture program who is graduating in May. He came to Penn State after receiving a B.S. in Architecture from Kent State University. He previously worked as an architectural intern with AE Works in Pittsburgh during the summer of 2020. He earned second place in the 2020 Corbelletti Design Charrette and was shortlisted as a finalist in the International MICROHOME 2021 architecture competition for his project “Mush • Room.” During his time in the Stuckeman School, Brad has served as a teaching assistant for undergraduate students and assisted in the design of the exhibition Sentinel Lands: The Geospace of Mine Fires in early 2022. Brad will be working as an architectural designer in Pittsburgh upon graduation.

Xi Jin is a fifth-year Architecture student with minors in Environment & Human Geography and Architectural History, graduating in May. Throughout her time at Penn State, her works have been recognized in multiple design competitions, including the National Concrete Masonry Association competition, Corbelletti Design Charrette, and Hajjar design competition. In addition to her studio work, she serves as a tutor in PSUBeehive, tutoring in digital design tools and visual expression. She has also participated in multidisciplinary research and design projects led by Architecture faculty and was a part of the design team for the exhibition Sentinel Lands: The Geospace of Mine Fires. As a designer, she is interested in exploring how architecture can be a part of human interaction and experience, accommodating different needs.

Natalie Walter is a fifth-year Architecture student enrolled in the Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate degree program. She will graduate with a Bachelor of Architecture degree and a minor in Geography in May 2022, and a Master of Science in Architecture in May 2023. She is a member of ForMat Lab and the Design Computing Research Cluster in the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing. Her research involves bio-fabrication and architectural acoustics, and she is currently investigating the implementations of mycelium-based composites in architectural acoustic systems.

Art History

A Ph.D. candidate specializing in the history of early modern Italian fortifications, Kenta Tokushige was a Junior Fellow at the Medici Archive Project in Florence and held a Schwartz Fellowship from the Department of Art History. While in Florence, Kenta transformed into an archive hound, finding fascinating pieces of evidence on espionage and military architecture, for example. He also used his familiarity with archives to guide others, participating in an archival research workshop in the department and introducing an alumna of our program to the workings of the Archivio di Stato in Florence. Kenta will present some of the research undertaken this year at upcoming conferences and symposia. He presented a paper as part of the Sawyer Seminar, participated in a Committee for Early Modern Studies (CEMS) roundtable, and will deliver a paper at the Renaissance Society of America conference in Dublin.

Olga Zaikina-Kondur is an outstanding doctoral student in the Department of Art History who successfully defended her dissertation this spring. Her dissertation on Moscow Conceptualist, Andrei Monastyrski, benefitted from multiple interviews with the artist, from direct participation in several of his performance art works, and from a massive amount of previously unpublished archival material, much of which she translated into English for the first time. In 2018, as part of her dissertation research, Olga curated “Recovering the Black Box” for the Borland Project Space, an installation of Monastyrski’s ephemeral and interactive sculptures that she reconstructed (with the artist’s permission and guidance) as a means of better understanding the objects and viewer engagement with them. She has presented portions of her research at symposia at the University of Toronto, Princeton, and, more recently, the National Gallery/Center for the Advanced Study of Visual Art, where she presented her research on art installation and performance in Soviet apartments during the 1970s.

Ronan Shaw is a second-year undergraduate student majoring in Art History and Art who has distinguished himself through his excellent academic performance, his pursuit of independent research, and his service to the College of Arts and Architecture and the Department of Art History. Ronan undertook an internship in the Center for Virtual and Material Studies in the fall of 2021, which was devoted to conducting research on several ornate, iron architectural fragments that had been donated to the Department of Art History decades ago by a former faculty member. Ronan’s research resulted in a definitive identification of the building from which the fragments came, and he designed and mounted an exhibition of the fragments with explanatory text on the second floor of the Borland Building. As a student leader and treasurer of the Art History Club, Ronan helped to create a sense of community among students during the pandemic. Ronan also participated in and helped to facilitate the college’s first-ever Town Hall devoted to equity, access, inclusion, and diversity.

Graphic Design

Scotti Everhart is a fourth-year Graphic Design major from Tyrone, Pennsylvania. During her time at Penn State, Scotti has developed a passion for design photography, advertising, and image-making. She has received several awards, including a Platinum in the Graphis New Talent 2021 competition for her poster, “Something Blue,” and a Student Engagement Network award for her work with Penn State’s Design for Life initiative. Scotti interned with Los Angeles-based entertainment advertising agency, MOCEAN, and will join the team full-time after graduation as a junior art director.

Shatakshi Mehra is a second-year graduate student in Graphic Design. She grew up in New Delhi, India, and later received her B.F.A. in Applied Arts from Amity University in India in 2018. Her work primarily focuses on using design to create awareness and propel social action. As part of her graduate education, she is designing educational tools to teach children about gender equality. Her primary purpose is to facilitate empathy and create awareness about the established gender roles.

During her time at Penn State, undergraduate Jane Yun has worked as an Arts Ambassador, representing the Graphic Design program within the College of Arts and Architecture. The experience has helped her develop her skills in leadership, art direction, and communications. As an Arts Ambassador, she has also given tours to prospective and accepted students, and revamped the Ambassadors’ Instagram channel to give it a unique voice.

Landscape Architecture

Bailee Bair began her academic career studying biology but quickly realized it did not fulfill her desire for hands-on learning where she could connect with others through art and nature. Since her shift to a Landscape Architecture major and Natural Sciences minor, she has put her desire to be hands-on into action. She holds teaching assistant and research assistant positions and just returned from a semester at the Akademie für Internationale Bildung in Bonn, Germany. Bailee was awarded the Leader in Environmental Design award in 2020 and hopes to continue to pursue environmental design after graduation in May.

Lara Garcia is a designer who recently completed her Master of Landscape Architecture degree requirements and the Geodesign certificate program. Previously she earned a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Brasília (Brazil), during which the Brazilian government sponsored a year of her studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She has worked as a teaching assistant for several landscape architecture studios at Penn State and interned twice at Esri, collaborating with the State and Local Government Services consulting team. Her M.L.A. research focused on underserved communities and spatial solutions to foster social and environmental equity. She is currently practicing as a landscape designer at Mahan Rykiel Associates in Baltimore.

Emily Miller is a fourth-year student who will graduate with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a minor in Sociology in May 2022. Emily grew up in St. Marys, a small industrial town with an aging population in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains. Upon graduation, she will initiate her career as a landscape architect, where she plans to focus on urban design with a goal to use her research and lived experience with accessibility and mobility for aging populations in the landscape.

Music

Emily McPherson, a student in the Master of Music program, is a composer whose work includes a wide variety of instrumentation across different styles, including solo, large and small chamber ensembles, large ensembles, and electronics via fixed media and live electronics. Her work is primarily influenced by external media such as the visual arts, environment, poetry/written text, and a connection to physical space and time. Emily’s works have been performed throughout the United States and internationally in Xi’an, China. Her music has been honored and awarded at festivals, events, and publications, such as Yarn/Wire Institute, Electronic Music Midwest, The Experiment Conversations CD, NASA Region 5 Conference, Research on Contemporary Composition Conference, and Alba Composition Program, among others. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University.

Leah Mullen is a composer, vocalist, and Schreyer Honors Scholar pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition, minor in German, and Diversity Studies certificate. She has experience writing for a variety of instrumentations, including electronics. Her compositions currently address a range of sociopolitical topics. Leah’s works have been performed across the United States and Europe, and she has attended a variety of new music festivals. She is current president and former vice president of Living Music, a new music club at Penn State.

Alex Wu is a senior from Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, majoring in Political Science and Cello Performance. He has represented Penn State at the Annarosa Taddei International Music Competition in Rome, Italy, and was the first Penn State student selected for the New York String Orchestra Seminar. In addition, he is a recipient of the Sue Haug School of Music Director’s Endowed Award and the Atherton Memorial Music Award, and is a winner of the Penn State Philharmonic concerto competition. Through his Political Science major, Alex is a Schreyer Scholar and Paterno Fellow, and is writing his thesis on affirmative action policy responsiveness in public state universities. He attended the 2020 Southern Political Science Association conference as a panelist and is a recipient of the Rein Trustee Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. Outside of class, Alex serves as the president of the Arts and Architecture Student Council and is a member of the Lambda Phi Epsilon International Fraternity Inc. In the fall, he will pursue graduate studies in cello performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Visual Arts

Sierra Brandon is a second-year student majoring in Digital Arts and Media Design. She previously studied at Bucks County Community College, earning her associate’s degree in graphic design. When she’s not creating art and attending classes, Sierra organizes events as part of her internship at Art Adventures and works at the Zoller Gallery as a gallery attendant. She also participates in meetings with the SoVA BIPOC student group, the Digital Media Group, and the Animation Club. Sierra aspires to have a career in the design industry where she can collaborate with a team and create large-scale projects. In the future, she also hopes to be an active advocate for mental health help and suicide prevention.

Mengqi Xu is a visual artist, educator, and M.F.A. candidate in Sculpture who combines sculpture, painting, video, and social practice art. As an Asian artist who lives and works between the United States and China, she uses food as a metaphor for contemporary social issues, such as eating disorders, sustainability, under-represented fusion food culture, and her unique cross-cultural identity. As an educator, she inspires students to use art as a language, a crude but powerful tool for expressing themselves. Mengqi received her B.F.A degree in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Yeonhye Park received her B.F.A. in Studio Art from Dongguk University in South Korea and M.F.A. in Mural Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, and is now pursuing graduate studies at Penn State. Her artwork has been shown in multiple exhibitions in South Korea, China, and the United States.

Theatre

Beatriz Chung is a Peruvian scenic designer and illustrator who received her bachelor’s degree in sculpture from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. She has more than fourteen years of experience working with different theatre companies in Peru and Chile as a set designer, puppet designer, and prop maker. She is currently working towards her M.F.A. in Scenic Design at Penn State, where in 2021 she designed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Sam Osheroff at the Pavilion Theatre. She recently worked on the production of Brigadoon, directed by Jen Delac at the Playhouse Theatre.

Alison Morooney is a third-year M.F.A. candidate in Directing for Musical Theatre. During her graduate studies, she has directed Seawall by Simon Stephens, as well as her thesis production, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party. Other credits include, at College Light Opera Company: Gentleman’s Guide…, Pippin, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Bells Are Ringing. Alison received her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from Penn State in 2012. Favorite performance credits include: American Idiot National Tour, Nice Work If You Can Get It National Tour, Beehive at The Rev, and Ever After at PaperMill Playhouse.

Melody Munitz is a Schreyer Scholar earning her B.F.A. in Musical Theatre and her B.A. in Psychology. She will serve as student marshal for both the School of Theatre and the Psychology program at commencement in May 2022. While at Penn State, Melody performed in eight Centre Stage productions, including Brigadoon (Fiona) and A Chorus Line (Maggie). She also sang the alma mater in Penn State’s “We Are Here” national commercial, which aired on TV throughout 2020 and amassed more than one million views online. As a songwriter, Melody performed in the Movin On’ Spotlight series and the “Lights Up” concert on the HUB Lawn, in addition to having her music featured in the Palmer Museum of Art Virtual Gallery and on the Spotify playlist, “The Sound of Pennsylvania State University.” As a playwright and director, Melody premiered four original plays at Penn State, including Lonely Together, which served as the basis for concurrent cognitive psychology research that she conducted through the Penn State Empathy and Moral Psychology Lab. Melody also served as the director of Penn State Arts for Health and as a student representative on numerous arts committees throughout her four years.

Barbara O. Korner Award

Steven Rubin is a professor of art and assistant director of the School of Visual Arts, where he teaches photography. His photographic work addresses a variety of critical issues, including health disparities, rural poverty, refugee migration, immigrant detention, and the social and environmental impacts of energy development. He has photographed for national and international media publications and human rights organizations, and has exhibited across the United States and internationally. His book, Shale Play – Poems and Photographs from the Fracking Fields, with documentary poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf, was selected by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book as Pennsylvania’s title for the 2021 Route1Reads Initiative, in a partnership with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and its state affiliates.

Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring

Margaret Higgins’ career at Penn State started in Undergraduate Admissions in 2013. In 2017 she became an academic advisor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health, and a year later joined the College of Arts and Architecture. She advises for fourteen undergraduate majors and five minors in the School of Music and School of Theatre and represents the College of Arts and Architecture on the New Student Orientation advising committee. The most rewarding aspects of her position are getting to know our students as unique individuals and helping them find creative solutions to academic challenges as well as life challenges. Her educational background is in music, and she has many years of performing experience in community theatre.

Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching

Robin Gibson is an artist working in multiple print media and works on paper. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an M.F.A. in Printmaking and holds a B.F.A. in Printmaking and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire-Durham. Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, Robin held faculty appointments at California State University-Long Beach and Montgomery College in Rockville, Md. Robin’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions, including the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania; Northville Art House, Michigan; Cannon Gallery, Oregon; and Washington Printmakers Gallery, Maryland. Recent group exhibitions include: Biennial: Printmaking Reimagined, Massachusetts; All About Paper, Montana; and Printmaking Now, Rhode Island, among others. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Achenbach Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Brooklyn Museum, New York; and the New York Public Library, among other public and corporate collections.Recent projects and residencies include Big Ink at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk,Conn., andPickwick Independent Press, Portland, Maine, as well as several two-week residencies at Zea Mays Printmaking, Florence, Mass. An upcoming solo exhibition of her work is scheduled in 2022 at the BlackRock Center for the Arts, Germantown, Md.

Staff Award for Outstanding Service

Jamie Behers began employment with Penn State nearly fifteen years ago, and for the last five years, she has worked for the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture as the business operations manager. As the assistant to the director of the Stuckeman School, Jamie oversees operations of the school’s business service units, including the development and implementation of strategic goals in the administration office, marketing and communications office, wood and metal shop, facilities, IT, and the Digital Fabrication Lab. She supervises eleven staff members across all units within the Stuckeman School and is responsible for risk management and compliance with University policies and procedures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has been responsible for implementing the return to work/school safety plan, including safety protocols for student studios, and developing procedures for virtual facility use.

Graduate Student Awards

Alumni Association Dissertation Award

Karly Etz is a Ph.D. candidate in Art History studying the inclusion of tattooing within contemporary art spaces. Her research examines the ways in which this understudied medium evokes marginalized histories, as well as its ability to produce timely commentaries on a variety of contentious issues ranging from decolonization to the future of human remains collections. She has presented her research at the College Art Association annual meeting, and an essay based on her dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in the forthcoming, peer-reviewed book, Traveling Bodies. In 2020 she was the recipient of Penn State’s Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award, as well as a College of Arts and Architecture Creative Achievement Award. Last summer, her work was supported through a Humanities Institute Graduate Student Summer Residency.

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award

Celeste Belknapis a second-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts in Musicology. In 2020, Celeste’s paper on Soviet composer Nina Makarova was selected for a musicology conference in Vipiteno, Italy, and for the spring 2021 edition of the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. In 2019, she was awarded the Schreyer Honors College Paul Axt Prize, and the School of Music’s Brewster Memorial Scholarship. She also received an Erickson Discovery Grant in 2018, which she used to conduct archival research in Moscow, Russia. After graduation, she will pursue a Ph.D. in musicology at Princeton University.

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award

Tazrin Islam’s research interest pivots around climate change mitigation strategies using design as a tool. She comes from Bangladesh, a tropical riverine country in the deltaic plains of South Asia that is highly affected by climate change and remains most vulnerable to rising sea levels. Therefore, green and sustainable design has been an instinctive choice for her research focus. Tazrin’s master’s thesis deals with performance analysis of green living walls. Sustainable implementation of these nature-based design strategies requires quantitative analysis to support current intuitive design practice.

Thomas and June Beaver Fund Award

Naveen Muthumanickam is a Ph.D. candidate in Architecture who specializes in using advanced machine learning-based optimization technologies to design better, more efficient buildings. He was a part of the Penn State team at the finals of the NASA 3D-Printed Mars Habitat Challenge, where he worked on the Building Information Modeling-based optimization and digital twin simulation for robotic concrete 3D-printing. Naveen is originally from Chennai, India, and earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Anna University along with a master’s degree in Architectural Science and Building Technology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has a wide spectrum of industrial experience in the architectural engineering construction field, ranging from being an intern at prestigious architectural practices like Studio Daniel Libeskind, to working as a researcher for world-leading construction technology companies such as Autodesk.

Graduate Exhibition Awards

Design Option, 3rd Place
Konrad Wachsmann’s Shift from Product to Process: Prefiguring Automated Industrialized Building in Architecture Through Developments in ‘Universal’ Building Machines

Elizabeth Andrzejewski is a designer and maker trained in architecture. She is currently in her second year of her Ph.D. at Penn State. She received her M.S. in Architecture from Penn State in 2018, after receiving a Bachelor of Architecture from Marywood University in 2016. Currently Lizz is researching remotely at her home shop space near Scranton, Pa. She teaches architecture at Marywood University and works part-time in R&D at Boyce Products, an architectural fabrication firm, in Damascus, Pa. Lizz studies the work of Konrad Wachsmann, prefabrication, and architectural metal fabrication. She has an interest in blacksmithing and sheet metal forming.

Design Option, 1st Place: Theatre
Take a Walk in My Shoes

Jennifer Delac is a second-year M.F.A. Directing student under the mentorship of director Susan H. Schulman. Jen holds a B.A. in Theatre from Fordham University, Lincoln Center campus, and has been working in New York City for the past decade. Penn State credits include: The Last Five Years (Director/Choreographer), Songs for a New World (Director), and Spamalot (Associate Director/Choreographer). Jen has taught dance at STEPS on Broadway and worked as a choreographer for the development of new dance-driven work through New York Theatre Barn’s choreography lab. She is also the co-host of the podcast “What I Don’t Know Yet: Research in Performance.”

Design Option, 3rd Place: Theatre
Jekyll and Hyde: Designing the Spectacular and the Intimate for The MUNY Stage

Ryan Douglass is currently a third-year graduate student studying Scenic Design. He received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Music and Theatre from The Florida State University. Previously he was a high school theatre teacher in Orlando, Fla., for seven years, and a performer at Walt Disney World for eight years. He has a passion for musical theatre and themed entertainment. He strives to find ways to introduce new and burgeoning technology into his design and the theatre world at large.

Visual Arts Option, 1st Place
DISCRIMINATION AND HUMANITY

Olorunfemi Kinrin attended the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) in 2004. Since graduating, he has practiced painting and drawing. Femi’s works are majorly inspired by themes of humanity and discrimination; he believes people should not treat other people harshly, or deny them certain privileges on grounds of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. He has repeatedly employed the human skull as a subject matter and a motif in his paintings, because the skull as a symbol represents humanity for him. Recently Femi’s attention has shifted to expressive portrait painting. He believes painted portraits have the potential of capturing certain moods, characteristics, and expressions that the camera can’t possibly capture.

Performance Option, 1st Place: Piano Performance
Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso

Chinese pianist Junwen Liang has performed in major cities in China, Canada, and the United States. He has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, as well as public broadcast concerto performances on WSKG Radio in New York as a featured artist with Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra. Junwen has been invited to participate in the Philadelphia Young Pianists’ Academy, Orford Musique, Art of the Piano at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Aspen Music Festival. He also won major prizes in competitions such as Nouvelles Etoiles International Music Competition (France), Juliusz Zarębski International Music Competition (Poland), Chopin International Piano Competition at Hartford, and New York International Piano Competition. Junwen holds degrees from Ithaca College and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Penn State, where he serves as graduate assistant in piano and studies with Dr. Christopher Guzman.

Performance Option, 2nd Place: Pedagogy and Performance
“Mescíku na nebi hlubokém” from Antonín Dvorák’s Ruslaka

Ciara Emily Newman is a soprano and an Alaska native. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ciara has continued to perform, exploring the many ways opera can live outside of the theater. Most recently, she performed a live radio broadcast of Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief with Penn State Opera Theatre. Ciara was seen in the concert premiere of Griffin Candey’s The House of Bernarda Alba as Magdalena in January of 2020. She also performed in the Midwest premiere of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied as Older Alyce Thompson. Previous roles include Papagena in Opera Fairbanks’ production of The Magic Flute, Madame Lidoine in Baldwin Wallace University’s production of Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Elizetta in Cimerosa’s Il Matrimonio Segretto. She studies voice with Dr. Rachel Copeland and had the pleasure of completing her undergraduate studies under the tutelage of nationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby.

Arts and Humanities, 1st Place: Architecture
Designing ‘Safe’ Schools: Identifying Areas of Research in School Safety & Security

Michael S. Nowak is a registered architect, Certified Passive House Consultant, NCIDQ Certified Interior Designer, and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Certified Practitioner currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Architecture at Penn State. He is a member of the American Society of Industrial Security, where he serves on the Security Architecture and Engineering Council and School Security and Safety Council. He practiced architecture for 25 years prior to his Ph.D. work at Penn State, with experience in K-12 and higher education design. Michael’s research centers on the role of architectural design in mitigating violence in learning spaces. This ranges from examining physical security to the nuances of interior spaces that affect the psychological comfort and wellbeing of occupants.  His research includes how design might affect acts of civil and uncivil behavior, as well as how the built environment influences academic performance.

Design Option, 2nd Place
Les Mis: The Video Game

Alyssa Ridder is a third-year Master of Fine Arts student in Costume Design. She earned a Bachelor of Art in Theatre Design and Technology at George Fox University in 2015, where she later served as a costume shop manager, costume designer, and adjunct faculty member. During this time Alyssa also worked as a freelance costume designer in Portland, Oregon. While at Penn State, Alyssa has designed the costumes for A Little Night Music, directed by Phillip Fazio; Seawall, directed by Alison Morooney; and The Last Five Years, directed by Jennifer Delac. Alyssa has published work in The Theatre Times, Prompt, and the peer-reviewed journal Performing Ethos. She has also presented scholarship at the Mid-America Theatre Conference. In addition to her studies, Alyssa has been a graduate assistant for the School of Theatre’s costume shop, co-instructed courses in intro and advanced costume design, and served as a costume mentor for The Lucky Boy, directed by John Simpkins. In spring 2021, Alyssa was awarded a Community Arts Project Grant by the Studio of Sustainability and Social Action to produce a short documentary on sustainable garment production. After graduation, Alyssa plans to continue her work in costume design and technology for both the theatre and on the digital stage.

Undergraduate Student Awards

Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship

Design Achievement

Jonathan Langberg, from Milford, Pa., is a third-year B.F.A. Theatre Design and Technology student in the Schreyer Honors College with a dual emphasis in Lighting and Sound Design. He also is pursuing minors in Information Sciences and Technology, and Music Technology. Since coming to Penn State, Jonathan has worked professionally at Eisenhower Auditorium, The State Theatre, and the Bryce Jordan Center on a wide mix of shows ranging from rock and roll tours to local community theater shows. With the Penn State School of Theatre, he has served in a variety of positions on eight mainstage productions, with plans for another four by the end of the fall 2021 semester. This summer he will be working as the master electrician for the Bristol Valley Theater in Naples, N.Y.Humanistic Achievement

Lauren Rickert, a native of Lancaster, Calif., is currently a third-year student in the Schreyer Honors College and Paterno Fellows Program. She is double-majoring in Art History and Communication Arts and Sciences and intends to graduate in December 2021. She has repeatedly sought out opportunities to conduct independent research and study abroad, all while serving as a mentor-in-training through Penn State’s Learning Edge Academic Program (LEAP). Lauren was awarded an Erickson Discovery Grant for summer 2020. Her research was also supported over the summer by a Remote Experience Innovation Grant, which placed her in a cohort of students also attempting to pursue a variety of summer experiences during the pandemic. Her project, which mapped out Isabella d’Este’s spheres of influence, biography, and known works of artistic patronage through the Google Earth platform, was completed in August 2020. A subset of that material, d’Este’s majolica ceramic services, is currently the focus of an independent research internship hosted through the Visual Resource Centre. Her final project will take the form of a research paper and an accompanying website hosted on the VRC site, which will link to her earlier Google Earth project. Lauren was the recipient of the Department of Art History Townley Memorial Scholarship for study abroad, which she plans to use in the fall of 2021 in Florence, Italy.Performance Achievement

Parker Konkle is from Williamsport, Pa., and has been playing piano since the age of 7. He is currently a junior studying Piano Performance in the studio of Dr. Christopher Guzman. Parker has been highly active in the Penn State music scene as accompanist of the Penn State Glee Club and keyboardist for Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and Baroque Ensemble, as well as collaborating with many vocalists and instrumentalists. He regularly accompanies vocalists in the annual Sing Out! competition and Voice Forum, a weekly vocal coaching session held by the voice department. As a competitor, Parker has been the recipient of first prize in the 2019 Steinway and Sons Junior Piano Competition, honorable mention in the 2020 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Pennsylvania State Competition, and finalist in the 2017 Williamsport Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition. As a freshman at the Penn State School of Music, he achieved Undergraduate Jury Recognition for two consecutive semesters and Jury Honors in the fall of 2020. He has also won significant prizes in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 annual Penn State School of Music scholarship competitions, including the William and Lois J. Kesterson Leight Award and the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award. Parker is active in the greater Penn State community, serving as a resident assistant in the Arts and Architecture Special Living Option and as a mentor for first-year students in the College of Arts and Architecture Buddy System. He will be auditioning for a master’s degree in piano performance in the spring of 2022.

Valley Family Scholarship

Luke Early is a third-year student in the Stuckeman School pursuing a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree. Having spent his formative years in Lancaster, Pa., and Queens, N.Y., Luke developed a deep appreciation for America’s complex and beautiful landscapes at an early age. Since coming to Penn State from Temple University’s music education program, he has cultivated his passion for people and landscapes by immersing himself in the Department of Landscape Architecture. He is a mentor to two underclassmen through the Landscape Architecture Student Society and speaks with prospective students about the profession of landscape architecture during scheduled tours. He is also a new member of the Alpha Rho Chi professional fraternity for students in architecture and the allied arts. Luke has worked as a research assistant in the Hamer Center for Community Design, a Penn State research center for socially and environmentally conscious approaches to community design issues. His work within the department focuses on cultural relationships with landscape, sustainable planting design, and regional land use policy. After graduation, he would like to work at a firm that specializes in ecological restoration and landscape preservation. Following several years of professional practice, Luke plans to pursue a graduate degree in urban and regional planning.

Anissa Erkert is a fourth-year student in the School of Visual Arts and the Schreyer Honors College studying sculpture (B.F.A.) with a minor in Art History. Her work spans several media, including performance art, sculpture, fiber arts, collage, drawing, and painting. Anissa has been featured in several Penn State shows in the Zoller Gallery, including the spring 2020 and fall 2020 Undergraduate Juried Exhibitions, the spring 2021 Undergraduate Exhibition, and the fall 2019 Foundations Show. Some of her collages are currently on display in the HUB for the Center for Arts and Crafts Student and Instructor Exhibition. She is also a collaborator on a piece centered on climate change in the upcoming C/O Commonwealth Show at the HUB-Robeson Gallery. Anissa is an instructor at the Penn State Center for Arts and Crafts, as well as an event staffer and stage manager at Penn State’s Schwab Auditorium.

Marshall Joun is a junior B.F.A. Acting major. Originally from Arlington, Mass., Marshall has been in numerous professional theatre productions in the Greater Boston area from a young age, including the IRNE and Elliot Norton Award-winning production of In the Heights at Wheelock Family Theatre. This year, Marshall has been workshopping their original play, The Reunion, directed by Steven H. Broadnax III. Following the model of a “29-Hour Reading” workshop, Marshall has been collaborating with both faculty and peers to bring their play about queer identity, gender fluidity, and young love to life. Marshall recently starred as Romeo in Penn State’s radio production of Romeo and Juliet. When not acting or taking classes, Marshall works part-time at Diversity at Workplace, a consulting firm for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the workplace based in Cambridge, Mass. Their acting credits include, at Penn State: Romeo and Juliet, Spamalot (Penn State Centre Stage), Violet (Penn State Off-Centre); Regional: A Chorus Line (Reagle Music Theatre), In the Heights, Akeelah and the Bee, A Year with Frog and Toad (Wheelock Family Theatre). Film: The Silenced (2021), Egg Tart (2018).

Tori Millsap is a junior at Penn State majoring in Graphic Design and minoring in French. Through the Graphic Design program, she has discovered her passion for experimentation with typography, photography, and physical craft. Tori pushes concepts by expanding her perspectives through critique and during her design process. She believes her design approach should focus on social impact and how to communicate thought-provoking solutions. Engaging with the community is a key part of her life; she actively advocates for her fellow students as a Graphic Design class representative, and continues to help the community as a resident assistant. Tori was selected to design for the Design for Life initiative, a compilation of work from Stuckeman School students. At home, she volunteers at the Delaware Art Museum and has worked as a designer for local political campaigns. After graduation, Tori will continue exploring sustainability in the industry and how integral design is to advocating for social awareness.

Leah Mullen is a composer, vocalist, and Schreyer Honors Scholar pursuing a B.M. in Music Composition, a minor in German, and a Diversity Studies Certificate at Penn State, where she studies with Dr. Baljinder Sekhon and Dr. Steven Rice. Leah has experience writing for a variety of instrumentations, including electronics. Some of Leah’s current compositional interests include pitch systems, sounds and conceptualizations of nature, women’s rights in music, and timbre-based composition. Leah has had her works performed in several states, such as Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New York. Last summer, Leah attended and interned at the 2020 Charlotte New Music Festival. Also in 2020, Leah was selected as a finalist for International Composition Competition – Electronic & Electroacoustic Vol. 1 – Sound Silence Thought. Leah is currently working on a collaboration with the Penn State Dance studios and with Chelsea Opera in New York City, where she has been commissioned to write a new work for voice and piano. She is the sitting vice president of Living Music, a new music club at Penn State, and has been a panel member for the Penn State Young Composers Contest since 2019. She is also a member of the Empow(h)er concert committee and Arts for Health committee at Penn State

Ding Wang began his academic career studying mathematics in China. Shortly into his studies, he realized mathematics did not satisfy his passion for creativity, art, or connecting people to nature. Ding discovered the field of landscape architecture through a friend. He found that he could apply his creativity and passion to an area where he can make a meaningful contribution to the environment. Considering the complexity of the field, Ding transferred to Penn State to formally study landscape architecture. At Penn State, he learns how landscape architecture is a dynamic process that connects people, culture, and nature. He appreciates how successful landscape designs can be an influential art, changing people’s lives and making for a better world.

Jonathan Wong, from Garnet Valley, Pa., is a fourth-year Schreyer Honors College student concurrently studying architecture and mathematics. A LEED Green Associate, his designs have been recognized through various competitions, including the AIAS InStudio: Portfolio Competition, the NCMA Student Competition, and the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. Outside of his courses, Jonathan works as the marketing and graphic design coordinator for Penn State Housing’s student-led sustainability program, EcoReps. As a part of Penn State’s Solar Decathlon team, he has had the opportunity to step into leadership roles on campus, present before industry professionals about sustainable design, and design three net-zero energy-ready homes. Outside of Penn State, Jonathan volunteers with Mastery Hour to offer free, one-on-one math tutoring to K-12 students. As he sees it, mathematics should no longer be merely an analytical tool to quantify architecture, but instead should further our knowledge about the field and push it into new frontiers.

Alumni Society Scholarship Winners

Architecture

Jonathan Wong, from Garnet Valley, Pa., is a fourth-year Schreyer Honors College student concurrently studying architecture and mathematics. A LEED Green Associate, his designs have been recognized through various competitions, including the AIAS InStudio: Portfolio Competition, the NCMA Student Competition, and the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. Outside of his courses, Jonathan works as the marketing and graphic design coordinator for Penn State Housing’s student-led sustainability program, EcoReps. As a part of Penn State’s Solar Decathlon team, he has had the opportunity to step into leadership roles on campus, present before industry professionals about sustainable design, and design three net-zero energy-ready homes. Outside of Penn State, Jonathan volunteers with Mastery Hour to offer free, one-on-one math tutoring to K-12 students. As he sees it, mathematics should no longer be merely an analytical tool to quantify architecture, but instead should further our knowledge about the field and push it into new frontiers.Art History

Sydney Bollinger is a junior majoring in Art History and Social Studies Education. She has a passion for teaching history through art and plans to go into museum education or teaching at the high school or collegiate level. During her time at Penn State, Sydney has worked with the Nittany Lions Read program, which places students at different educational sites within the Centre Region. She has worked with students of all ages virtually and in local elementary schools, and at the Centre County Library. Sidney also just completed her pre-student teaching, during which she created and taught different lessons that incorporated art history into the curriculum. She is excited to continue creating art historical lessons when she student teaches in Pittsburgh next spring.Landscape Architecture

Minh Anh (Mak) Kieu is a Landscape Architecture major planning to graduate in December 2021. Mak became interested in landscape architecture because it allows her to combine her pursuit of environmental and social justice with her love for art and nature. Her perception of the world was shaped greatly by growing up in Vietnam, as she saw injustice firsthand in her home country. As she continued traveling the world, she came to understand that the issues of climate change and late-end capitalism were not limited to Vietnam, but shared with the rest of the world. Mak currently lives in San Diego. Outside of school, she spends most of her time immersed in nature, including a recent trip to Sequoia National Park.Music

Meghan Nardella is a third-year voice student in the studio of Dr. Norman Spivey, pursuing a major in Music Education and a minor in Theatre. As a vocalist, she earned Jury Recognition in the fall of 2019, and was a semi-finalist for classical and musical theatre in local and regional NATS competitions. She also was the 2021-22 recipient of the Nina and Raymond Brown Music Scholarship in Voice. Meghan is involved in various organizations at Penn State, including Concert Choir (secretary), NAfME Collegiate, ACDA Student Chapter, SNATS, and the College of Arts and Architecture Buddy System, and she has served in various music directing positions with the Penn State Thespian Society and School of Theatre. Meghan interns for the College of Arts and Architecture, where she helps manage social media for the School of Music and Voice area. This spring, she is co-producing the School of Music Empow(h)er concert, which is dedicated to uplifting the music of women composers.Theatre

Frederick D. Miller, from Mechanicsburg, Pa., is a third-year student pursuing Bachelor of Arts degrees in Theatre Studies and Comparative Literature. He is a dramaturg whose work focuses primarily on the American theatre of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Frederick received the 2020 Golumbic Scholarship for Humanistic Achievement and is the 2021 Penn State nominee for the Beinecke Scholarship. He is the instructor of THEA 497-008 – American Musical Theatre History: From 9/11 to COVID-19, a new course made possible through Penn State’s Students Teaching Students program. In addition, he is a project associate on #HereToo Project, a theatrical play and podcast dedicated to amplifying voices of youth activists. After Penn State, Frederick hopes to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.Visual Arts

Jessica Snyder is a junior double-majoring in Digital Arts & Media Design and Film Production. She plans to use the experience and skills gained within her majors to pursue a career in motion graphics and animation. Since her freshman year, Jessica has been involved in many extracurriculars across campus. She volunteers as the studio manager for the Digital Arts & Media Design Program, and as a tour guide for Lion Scouts and the Arts Ambassadors, sharing her love for Penn State with prospective students and their families. She is also an active member of Alpha Rho Chi, the professional fraternity for architecture and the allied arts, in addition to being the THON chair for her tap dance organization. Most recently, Jessica co-founded the Animation Club at Penn State, and is planning on directing the first annual Happy Valley Animation Festival at the end of April.

Creative Achievement

Architecture

Benjamin Nahum is a fifth-year architecture student in the Bachelor of Architecture program, graduating in May. As an aspiring architect and Certified Passive House Designer (CPHC), he has always been interested in how buildings can work for us and has been drawn to high-performance design and building science principles. He believes buildings should keep us comfortable, healthy, and safe while simultaneously responding to local conditions and minimizing environmental impact. Benjamin hopes that in the future, he can push these principles towards an innovative aesthetic that the public can embrace, ushering in a new architecture where our buildings give back to us.

Manushi Patel is an aspiring architect who will graduate with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in May. In September 2019, she was a member of the winning team at the Piranesi Prix De Rome group design competition and was awarded a graduate scholarship. Manushi served as an architecture intern at KSD Architects in 2020 and 2019, where she gained valuable experience in various design sectors while working with architects and interior designers. In addition, she has worked on a wide variety of projects and has participated in numerous design competitions at Penn State, including the Hajjar Competition to design a home, Corbelletti Competition, and National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) Competition to design a museum. She traveled to Rome in fall 2019 as part of a study abroad program, which helped her gain a deeper understanding of architecture and its history.

Rana Zareiis a Master of Architecture graduate student who came to Penn State after receiving a bachelor’s degree from the School of Architecture at Art University in Isfahan, Iran, where she focused on implementing human-centric ideas as an infrastructure that allows people to freely experience the sense of spaces. Rana has worked at architecture firms in Iran and while at Penn State was an intern with Gensler in summer 2019 and NAC Architecture in summer 2020. Moving forward, she hopes to start a professional career in a leading company that focuses on improving people’s way of living, which would enable her to accomplish her personal goals and be a part of shaping the future of design.

Art History

Claire Heidenreich distinguished herself this year as the instructor of two courses: ARTH 105 – Pictures and Power in the fall, and ARTH 130 – Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the spring. She has demonstrated achievement through her research and her essay, “Chiffonniers in the Periphery: Émile Bernard’s Ragpickers of Clichy and Nineteenth-Century Artificial Cranial Modification,” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide in the fall of 2019. Claire held a summer residency at Penn State’s Humanities Institute in 2020 and this year was selected to present “Mystery, Lourdes, and La Salette: Maurice Denis’ Catholic Mystery and Miraculous Apparitions” at the Barnes Foundation Graduate Student Symposium on the History of Art. She is also presenting a paper on Denis and medieval revivalism at the Nineteenth-Century Studies Association Conference this spring.

Hyoungee Kong’s scholarly accomplishments include her authorship of published catalogue entries with online materials for two exhibitions, “Whistler in Watercolor” at the Freer Gallery in Washington and “Félix Buhot: Printmaker of Nineteenth-Century France” at the Palmer Museum of Art. Hyoungee was awarded a short-term research fellowship by the Huntington Library, as well as the Big Ten Academic Alliance Smithsonian Fellowship. She presented her research at the College Art Association Annual Conference in 2020 and will present at the Nineteenth-Century French Studies Association Conference in 2021, as well as several other invited and juried conference presentations. Hyoungee was the instructor for Penn State’s ARTH 100 – Introduction to Art History in summer 2020, and currently teaches the evening section of the course.

Lauren Rickert is a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Honors College student who is double-majoring in Art History and Communications. She has repeatedly sought out opportunities to conduct independent research and study abroad, all while serving as a mentor-in-training through Penn State’s Learning Edge Academic Program (LEAP). Lauren was awarded an Erickson Discovery Grant for summer 2020. Her research was also supported over the summer by a Remote Experience Innovation Grant, which placed her in a cohort of students also attempting to pursue a variety of summer experiences during the pandemic. Her project, which mapped out Isabella d’Este’s spheres of influence, biography, and known works of artistic patronage through the Google Earth platform, was completed in August 2020. A subset of that material, d’Este’s majolica ceramic services, is currently the focus of an independent research internship hosted through the Visual Resource Centre. Her final project will take the form of a research paper and an accompanying website hosted on the VRC site, which will link to her earlier Google Earth project. Lauren was the recipient of the Department of Art History Townley Memorial Scholarship for study abroad, which she plans to use in the fall of 2021 in Florence, Italy.

Graphic Design

Blake Thresher is a second-year Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design student from Tulsa, Okla., who earned a bachelor’s degree at Oklahoma State University in 2019. Blake has won several awards, including a 2021 “Best in Category” Flux Award for the poster “A Marvelous Order” and is a recipient of Penn State’s Professional Master’s Excellence Award. His work is primarily concentrated in motion graphics and data visualization. His interests include climate change, sustainability, art activism, and the history of racism in America. His thesis is a motion graphic focusing on the history of Sundown Towns. Blake is working under the direction of Phil Choo.

Cassie Luzenski is a senior majoring in Graphic Design. During her time at Penn State, she discovered a passion for design photography, visual identity, and brand campaigns. She strives to create work that stretches the boundaries of design and pushes her out of her comfort zone. She aims to strike up conversations about social issues and overall design with purpose. She believes that the core of a great project begins with thorough research and strong conceptualization. Last semester, while working with PepsiCo for a student internship, Cassie collaborated with a team of three students to create a brand campaign for LIFE WTR that was selected to be installed on campus. The campaign, “Clarity Within Chaos,” relates the artwork on the bottle to experiences during the pandemic. This semester, the Student Engagement Network awarded her a grant to expand on an independent-study project where she worked with two other students to create a theoretical sexual health brand called Ludus. Cassie recently received a Platinum Award in the Graphis New Talent Competition for her Glossier social campaign.

Samantha Chung is a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Design in Graphic Design with minors in Arts Entrepreneurship and Photography. Samantha has an eye for detail, loves working with both technology and people, and is excited by the thought of communicating visual messages to a large audience. She is currently the creative director and graphic designer for a student-run multicultural media site called The Underground. She has also worked with creative teams and assisted other designers in a variety of projects. Her most recent project involved creating a new brand identity for the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society, which is a movement that advocates for rare and endangered plants. She received three general winner awards in the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ Flux Blue Ridge 2020 design competition, with one awarded under the category “identity” and two under UX/UI. She was also awarded honorable mention for the University and College Designers Association’s Vote 2020: Student Poster Design Initiative. After graduating, Samantha plans to work with a company that shares her admiration of makeup and fashion.

Landscape Architecture

Grace McNeills is a creative, driven, and environmentally minded fourth-year Landscape Architecture student. Within her class cohort and college, she is a student leader in the Arts Ambassadors and Landscape Architecture Leaders, working with other students and faculty to represent the Stuckeman School. She is passionate about ecology and climate change and is working toward a minor in Environmental Inquiry, focusing on ecology and biodiversity. With the courses she is taking in the minor, and her past professional experiences, she is curating a strong background in ecology related to design. In her future career, Grace hopes to create effective and aesthetically beautiful design to improve quality of life.

Yiru Zhang is a third-year graduate student originally from Shanghai, China, who is set to graduate in May with a Master of Landscape Architecture degree. Her master’s capstone project redesigns a play system spatially to support active, engaged, meaningful, and socially interactive play for children in underserved urban neighborhoods. Co-presenting with her advisor, Ken Tamminga, the duo will give an oral presentation at the 17th Computational Urban Planning and Urban Management International Conference held virtually in Helsinki, Finland, in June. She was a finalist in the 2021 Urban Land Institute’s Hines Student Competition, which addresses housing affordability, equity, transportation, and resilience that reflects Kansas City’s vision for a thriving mixed-use, mixed-income area.

Yiwei (Leo) Wang is a fifth-year student pursuing two undergraduate degrees in the Landscape Architecture and Art B.F.A. degree programs. He has been inspired by both fields and put his art background and skills into landscape designing. As a multimedia artist, fashion model, and aspiring landscape architect, he is the proud recipient of several merit awards and has been showcased in two solo exhibitions. To highlight his work and personality, he has been featured in several publications, including Valley Magazine, The Daily Collegian, Kalliope Magazine, and Internationals of Penn State.

Music

Bri Wiegand is a senior studying film-video development and music technology with a focus in sound design and music composition in film. In the School of Music, she is a recording studio engineer, percussionist, and president of the Percussion Club. She is an active member in the Percussion Ensemble, Mallet Ensemble, Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonic Band, and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Under director Dennis Glocke, she performed in Carnegie Hall for Penn State’s President’s Concert last year. Currently she collaborates with musicians and composers to create, perform, and broadcast new pieces and projects safely under COVID-19 precautions. In film, Bri is a director, editor, and sound specialist. In 2019, she interned for the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival in France. She has also been invited to multiple film festivals and collaborates with other students at Penn State and around the country. For her senior project, she is combining all her skills to create a live performance of film score arrangements with dance and visual media that she has created. Bri is a member of Tapestry Dance Company, where she choreographs and performs for campus events including Homecoming and THON. She also works as a dance instructor at MindBodyArt School of Dance, teaching tap, jazz, and ballet for competitive and recreational students of all ages.

Cody Gemmell is a fifth-year senior from St. Clair, Pa., set to graduate in May with bachelor’s degrees in Music, Music Education, and Mathematics. In his studies, he took a special interest in keyboard percussion, especially marimba. Cody began playing guitar at age 11 and soon followed with percussion lessons. In the School of Music, Cody was an active member in Symphonic Band, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble, and Mallet Ensemble. In February 2020, he traveled with the Symphonic Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dennis Glocke to perform at Carnegie Hall. Currently, Cody is student-teaching elementary general and instrumental music. He enjoys working with elementary students because he is passionate about teaching young musicians and starting them on their musical journeys. His senior project focused on arranging music for percussion ensembles. His most recent project is arranging Mussorgsky’s “Pictures” at an exhibition for a marimba quintet. Outside of academics, Cody is very involved in THON and represented his organization as a dancer in 2019. After graduation, he plans to teach elementary music and eventually pursue a master’s degree in percussion performance.

Visual Arts

Anna Graef will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art with a concentration in ceramics this spring. Anna is interested in function, utility, absurdity, practicality, efficiency, and humor as she attempts to subvert expectations of function and inspire childlike wonder through her work. Anna has been featured in three Penn State School of Visual Arts undergraduate juried exhibitions, and received several merit scholarships, an Erickson Discovery Grant to pursue glaze research, and scholarships to attend workshops at Peters Valley School of Craft and Anderson Ranch. This year, Anna is one of five undergraduates nationwide to be selected to participate in the esteemed Red Lodge Advanced Student Project Network Residency Program, and she was nominated to apply for the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship. In addition to her commitment to excellence in personal endeavors, Anna is invested in building her studio community. She has been instrumental in expanding the capacity of Penn State’s Ceramics Club to host numerous visiting artists, via dedication in grant writing and program organization. Anna also took initiative in production and overall execution of clay c0ven’s Bowled Over project to help fight food insecurity.

Amara Eke is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art degree with a concentration in drawing and painting, accompanied by Art History and Gender Studies minors. Her work uses vibrant colors in mixed media to illustrate themes dealing with Black womanhood, queerness, spirituality, conspiracy, time, space, and everything in between. Amara intertwines themes of art history with her own experiences to represent a wealth of diversity, while paying homage to the artists and history that came before her. She is president of Opulence, Penn State’s Drag Ambassadors. Amara completed a residency at Overland Artworks, received a merit award in the 2020 SoVA undergraduate juried show, received the Margaret Schoenfelder Memorial Scholarship, and recently created an installation in the HUB Galleries that celebrates LGBTQ+ pride. Amara is committed to pushing art past its limits, encapsulating her own experience by making a bright, vibrant space with her large-scale works to bring a moment of joy to any viewer.

Kaichen Wang is a second-year graduate student completing a Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in photography. Kai’s upcoming graduate exhibition will be large-scale digital prints of images gathered within the past three semesters. His work has been noted as distant and curious, introducing a sense of wandering and alienation. Kai has served as teaching assistant and now instructor for Photo 202, while being instrumental in maintenance of facilities for the photography area. He travels and works constantly while never excluding experimentation in image-making and photographic presentation.

Theatre

Crystal Dahm is graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Design and Technology with emphases in Technical Direction and Lighting Design, along with a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied French. Crystal was the recipient of the President’s Freshman Award and the Petracca French Department Travel Award. During her time at the School of Theatre, she has worked on several productions, including The Last Five Years, Spamalot, Marry Me a Little, Angels in America, Cabaret of Many Colors, and Seawall. This year she designed a new hydraulic lifting system for one of the School of Theatre’s automated cable lifts. During her third year at Penn State, she studied abroad in France for a semester to expand her knowledge of the language and French theatre. When not at Penn State, Crystal worked at Millbrook Playhouse as an assistant technical director. For the upcoming summer, she has accepted a job at the Santa Fe Opera working with stage operations.

Jalen Martin is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting whose accomplishments include creation of the original play The Black Boy Who Thought He Had It All, which he subsequently adapted and developed into a film of the same name. The film was screened as one of the primary events in the Penn State Centre Stage Virtual season in fall 2020. Jalen voiced the characters of Langston Hughes, Floyd J. Calvin, and Young Man in the radio drama Harlem Queen. Onstage, Jalen played Marquis in Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies; Jackie Thibodeaux and Dance Captain in Caroline, or Change; and was a soloist and understudy for Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird, among other projects. Jalen was instrumental in restructuring and reassembling the School of Theatre Student Diversity group and initiating conversations with current and former students to address topics of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the school, university, and entertainment industry. Away from Penn State, Jalen’s film, The Black Boy Who Thought He Had It All, was incorporated into the equity, diversity, and inclusion trainings for teachers in the Cherry Creek School District in Aurora, Colo.

Alyssa Ridder is a third-year Master of Fine Arts student in Costume Design. She earned a Bachelor of Art in Theatre Design and Technology at George Fox University in 2015, where she later served as a costume shop manager, costume designer, and adjunct faculty member. During this time Alyssa also worked as a freelance costume designer in Portland, Oregon. While at Penn State, Alyssa has designed the costumes for A Little Night Music, directed by Phillip Fazio; Seawall, directed by Alison Morooney; and The Last Five Years, directed by Jennifer Delac. Alyssa has published work in The Theatre Times, Prompt, and the peer-reviewed journal Performing Ethos. She has also presented scholarship at the Mid-America Theatre Conference. In addition to her studies, Alyssa has been a graduate assistant for the School of Theatre’s costume shop, co-instructed courses in intro and advanced costume design, and served as a costume mentor for The Lucky Boy, directed by John Simpkins. In spring 2021, Alyssa was awarded a Community Arts Project Grant by the Studio of Sustainability and Social Action to produce a short documentary on sustainable garment production. After graduation, Alyssa plans to continue her work in costume design and technology for both the theatre and on the digital stage.

University-Level Awards

President’s Award for Engagement with Students

Shannon Goff, Associate Professor of Art

Shannon Goff, associate professor in the College of Arts and Architecture, has received the 2020 President’s Award for Engagement with Students. The award is given to a faculty member who goes beyond his or her responsibilities to engage and encourage students in learning. The honorees have made themselves available to interact with students outside class, link students to opportunities and help them build their confidence as learners and potential contributors to society.

Colleagues say Goff has been instrumental in recruiting students to the School of Visual Arts and is a tireless supporter for students because she’s able to connect them to prestigious centers and institutions in the art world. She’s strengthened the program by further stressing experiences with visiting artists, exhibitions and public engagements. FULL STORY »

Faculty Scholar Medal in the Arts and Humanities

Marica Tacconi, Professor of Musicology

Marica Tacconi is a pre-eminent scholar on the music of 15th-, 16th- and 17th-century Italy, especially Florence and Venice. Her work shines light on the political and cultural history of the Italian Renaissance and early Baroque. Nominators said the way Tacconi combines the arts and humanities into her research is truly remarkable and qualifies her uniquely for the honor.

Last fall, Tacconi presented at Penn State the lecture-recital “Musical Gems from Three Newly Uncovered Venetian Manuscripts,” which was based on material she uncovered while on sabbatical in Venice, Italy, in Fall 2018. While there, she studied three music manuscripts preserving works that, in some cases, had not been heard in nearly 400 years. Tacconi transcribed several of the compositions into modern notation and brought the music back to the concert stage, performed by internationally acclaimed soprano Liesl Odenweller and harpsichordist Marija Jovanovic, both based in Venice. Additionally, she has collaborated with Grammy Award-winning early music ensemble Apollo’s Fire (The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra), exposing audiences to less familiar styles of music. FULL STORY »

Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award

Debora Verniz, Architecture Ph.D. Student

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award

Stella Murray, Architecture Master’s Student

Thomas and June Beaver Fund Award

Negar Ashrafi, Architecture Ph.D. Student

Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award

Yang Deng, Art Education Ph.D. Student
Karly Etz, Art History Ph.D. Student
Eric Mainzer, Architecture Ph.D. Student

Professional Master’s Excellence Award

Zsuzsanna Nagy, Art. M.F.A. Student
Lance Rautzhan, Art Education M.P.S. Student

FACULTY + STAFF AWARDS

Award for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring

Lisa Bontrager, Distinguished Professor of Music in Horn

Lisa Bontrager is known as an encouraging and caring presence among her students, guiding them in academics, in music, and in their personal lives. Fondly referred to by some former students as their “school mom,” she has a genuine concern for their wellbeing both inside and outside the classroom. An accomplished professional musician and longtime faculty member, she has the knowledge and experience to advise her students during their time at Penn State and beyond—and does so with a special touch that leads many of them to keep in touch with her long after graduation. According to one former student, whose sentiments echoed many others, “As an advisor, educator, and mentor, Professor Bontrager is of the highest kind and quality. She embodies the qualities that this award seeks to promote.”

Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching

Daniel Armstrong, Professor of Music in Percussion

Dan Armstrong, a School of Music faculty member for more than 30 years, has taught and mentored hundreds of students who have gone on to a wide range of successful careers in academia and the professional music industry. His faculty colleagues praise his dedication to his students, his creative pedagogy, and his leadership. Recognized by his former students for his superb mentorship and ability to tailor his teaching to each individual’s strengths, he prepares students to excel in their careers, calling on his own extensive experience as a professional musician and educator. One former student summed up Professor Armstrong’s lasting influence: “Through his dedication and hard work, he instills in his students an endless drive for excellence. His students learn a habit of self-determination and independence that can come only from consistently high expectations from one’s mentor.”

Barbara O. Korner Faculty Award for Outstanding Service

David Goldberg, Associate Clinical Professor in Landscape Architecture/Stuckeman School Technology Operations Manager

According to his nominators, David Goldberg is devoted not just to “doing” service, but to making a difference that helps people in everything he does. His service efforts fall into three main areas: 1) Technology optimized for everyone; 2) Landscape architecture student scholarships and awards; and 3) Extracurricular professional leadership in the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). In his role as the Stuckeman School’s technology operations manager, he is committed to providing faculty and students with optimal technology resources that allow them to advance and excel. In the awards arena, Professor Goldberg has long provided leadership on the departmental awards committee, innovating and streamlining the process for selecting student winners. His leadership at the department level is actually an extension of his leadership in ASLA. He has been involved in the Pennsylvania/Delaware chapter since 2007 and currently serves as co-chair of the Central Pennsylvania Section, and in that role facilitates networking among students, faculty, and professionals. One supporting letter sums up Professor Goldberg’s qualifications: “In these types of recommendation letters, it is customary to refer to one or two incidents that are worthy of praise, but for David there are too many occasions to even begin. He is the person faculty and students depend upon, respect, and know that he is there for us when we need help.”

Staff Award for Outstanding Service

Diane Kerstetter, Office of Academic Affairs and Outreach

Diane Kerstetter’s colleagues praise her for being a detail-oriented and self-motivated team player who is always happy to go the extra mile. She is recognized particularly for her efforts related to recruitment events, from placing directional signs around campus at 7 a.m. to prepping and delivering supplies to each academic unit to helping visitors. Her attention to detail shows in her meticulous record-keeping and budget oversight. Known as the utmost professional who treats everyone with respect and kindness, her positive energy and welcoming attitude are a true asset to the Office of Academic Affairs and Outreach.

Student Awards

Reuben and Gladys Golumbic Scholarship

Humanistic Achievement

Frederick Miller is a second-year student in the School of Theatre pursuing a B.A. in theatre studies with a minor in world literature. He has worked extensively with Penn State Centre Stage, as a production dramaturg and assistant director on productions such as Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches; A Little Night Music; To Kill a Mockingbird; and Caroline, or Change. For his work on A Little Night Music, Frederick was the recipient of the 2020 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region II Award for Outstanding Dramaturgy and was a semi-finalist for the national competition. He is a teaching assistant for THEA 112 (Intro to Musical Theatre) and serves on the School of Theatre’s Student Advisory Board as the student representative for the Theatre Studies program. Frederick frequently collaborates with No Refund Theatre and, most recently, directed their production of Doubt: A Parable. He wrote the book and lyrics for Outcasts, a new musical receiving a developmental reading in New York City this fall.

Design Achievement

Oscar Wegbreit is a fourth-year landscape architecture student scheduled to graduate in December 2020. At Penn State, he is highly active in the Department of Landscape Architecture through his involvement with the Landscape Architecture Student Society and giving departmental tours to prospective students. Throughout his life, he practiced art in a variety of different mediums in numerous art classes. This background is demonstrated in his artistic approach to design, which he credits with his success in the program. Majoring in landscape architecture was an easy decision for him as it combined his interests in art, design, and sustainability, and his love for the outdoors. Last summer, he interned at a high-end residential landscape architecture firm where his skills were utilized through design visualization and rendering designs for clients. After graduation, his goal is to work at a firm that focuses on public spaces and shares a common design mission to his own. Ultimately, he hopes to open his own firm that focuses on community design projects.

Performance Achievement

Annie Liu is a junior in the Schreyer Honors College pursuing a bachelor of musical arts in bassoon performance and a bachelor of science in general science. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Annie grew up in State College, studying bassoon with Professor Daryl Durran since 2013. She is a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the premier ensembles of the School of Music, and the Pentavalent Wind Quintet. Through a school-wide audition, Annie was selected to perform a solo with percussionist Gage Kroljic in the 2018 Mosaic concert, which showcases the school’s outstanding soloists and ensembles. She was a finalist in the Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition, receiving an honorable mention in January 2020. Every semester of study, Annie has earned Jury Honors, a distinction awarded for excellence in final performance exams. She received the inaugural Sue Haug School of Music Leadership Award in 2019. In the 2020 School of Music Scholarship Competition, she was again a winner of the Haug Leadership Award and she also won the Presser Scholarship and a College of Arts and Architecture Creative Achievement Award. This semester Annie has worked as lab manager of the Pitch Exploration Lab, a music cognition research lab. Beyond her music activities, Annie serves as the engagement director of Science Lion Pride and volunteers at Discovery Space of Central PA. She interned with the German Academic Exchange Service RISE Germany program doing biology research at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Annie intends to pursue a master’s degree in bassoon performance.

Valley Family Scholarship

Madison Borsos is a third-year student in the landscape architecture program. She is involved within the department as a member of Landscape Architecture Leaders and the Landscape Architecture Student Society, and within the College of Arts and Architecture as the president of Students for Environmentally Enlightened Design. She especially enjoys this position because it allows her to engage in conversations about climate change and sustainability with her peers. Her involvement with these three groups offers her the chance to connect with her classmates, students from related disciplines, and prospective students. Studying landscape architecture has opened her eyes to the breadth of possibilities for her future and she eagerly shares this knowledge with others, including a recent presentation she gave at her high school, in hopes of encouraging people of many backgrounds to contribute to the larger discussion. From a young age, her family fostered within her a curiosity about the outdoors through gardening, hiking, camping, and backpacking. Although she came to Penn State to study architecture, she transferred to the landscape architecture program because the environmental goals of the profession resonated with her. Madison’s work is inspired by her connection with nature. She hopes that, as a professional, she can create spaces for those who have not had access to restored natural areas in order to share enjoyment of nature with others.

Jasmine Forsberg is a junior B.F.A. musical theatre major. Originally from Orlando, Florida, she grew up performing on many professional Central Florida stages, including the Orlando Repertory Theatre (the REP), the Winter Park Playhouse, and the Garden Theatre. Jasmine made her professional theatre debut at the REP when she was 10 years old as Roo in The House at Pooh Corner. This past year, she made her Off-Broadway debut in Broadway Bounty Hunter, written by Tony Award-nominee Joe Iconis. She recently recorded the Original Cast Album for Broadway Bounty Hunter, which will be released on several music streaming platforms in mid-2020. Jasmine also originated the role of Brenda “Rat” Ratowski in Two River Theater’s world premiere production of Love in Hate Nation. Favorite Penn State Centre Stage credits include Almastasa in The Lucky Boy and Norma in Hands on a Hardbody. When she is not onstage, Jasmine is writing her own music. In 2018, Jasmine helped write Penn State’s New Student Orientation musical, Results Will Vary, and will be joining the cast this summer for a third installment of the production.

John Kaufman’s interest in lighting design was sparked at the age of 8 when he attended his first concert, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra during their 2008 tour. His focus was immediately drawn to the various production elements of the show. A native of Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, he was the technical director for his high school theatre, while simultaneously serving as the lighting designer for a local community theatre. At Penn State, some of John’s most recent works include the School of Theatre’s She Kills Monsters and THON 2020. His upcoming projects include designing several shows for the School of Theatre, and he plans to continue working on outside projects. Additionally, John works professionally at Illuminated Integration, The State Theatre, and the Bryce Jordan Center.

Danielle Vickers is a fourth-year architecture major and Schreyer Honors student minoring in global and international studies. She recently returned from studying in Rome and has also completed study abroad programs in Japan and South Korea. Although a native of Pittsburgh, she has always dreamed of living and working in another country (most likely Italy). She has always been passionate about learning other languages, cultures, religions, and worldviews because they teach her so much about different values and lifestyles that she often tries to incorporate into her work as a designer. Danielle serves as a mentor for freshman architecture students and has co-hosted the Student of Color welcome event series held during the fall semester. Prior to studying in Italy, she was the treasurer of the Penn State chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students, for which she also planned workshops and social events. She says she loves being able to create a supportive community for minorities within the design majors so that everyone has a space where they feel like they belong.

Alumni Society Scholarship

Architecture

Emily Troutman is a fourth-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in architecture. During her time at Penn State, she has received multiple design and academic achievement awards including being selected as the winner of the Hajjar competition and placing second in the Corbelletti competition. Emily was also the winner of the essay competition for the Richard L. Grube Memorial Scholarship, which awarded her a trip to London to study adaptively reused buildings. In 2019, Emily worked as an intern with Norr Philadelphia, which led to her accepting a job offer from a firm that specializes in adaptive reuse. In addition to her architecture education, Emily has a passion for writing and is currently editing an original 25-chapter novel that she hopes to have published in 2020. Looking forward, Emily plans to follow in her mother’s footsteps and form her own small business as a licensed architect.

Art History

Lauren Rickert is a Schreyer Honors College and Paterno Fellows Program student who has pursued two undergraduate degrees (B.A. in Art History and B.A. in Communication Arts and Sciences) and is on track to graduate one year early and with distinction. While at Penn State, Lauren was active with the Pennsylvania Literacy Corps as a tutor and was a member of the Schreyer for Women Club. She was also an active member of CHAARG, a women’s fitness club, and was a research assistant within the Department of Communications Arts and Sciences. After graduating, Lauren intends to spend one year participating in an internship, traveling, or working for the Teach for America program. With the year of real-world experience, she intends to continue her education by attending graduate school to pursue a higher degree in art history or enrolling in law school.

Graphic Design

Samantha Smith is a graphic design student who is on track to graduate in the spring of 2021 with distinction. Originally from Avondale, Pennsylvania, Samantha has leaned on her strong work ethic and faith to excel in and out of the classroom. While also working a part-time job, she has been a leader in the on-campus student ministry (Cru), where she has mentored youths, led weekly bible studies, and planned and executed the organization’s weekly large group meetings. After graduation, Samantha intends on entering the graphic design professional workforce.

Landscape Architecture

John Montefour is a fourth-year landscape architecture student on track to graduate in the fall of 2020. Within his department, he has been an LA Leader, Arts Ambassador, Landscape Architecture Student Society (LASS) member, upperclassmen mentor, and Professional Mentorship Program participant. John served as director of The Digital Beehive, where he was tasked with tutoring and assisting students with various computer programs and other design-related tasks. In addition, he was a Harris Township Tree Commission student assistant, landscape architecture intern at Thomas J. McLane & Associates, and a Penn State Architecture/Landscape Architecture Summer Camp counselor and teaching assistant. In addition to his studies, John was one of the founders of Overtime Performance Nutrition, a business that provides fresh “meal prep” meals.

Music

Grace Everett is a music education student who is on track to graduate in the spring of 2021 with distinction. Grace came to Penn State with an orchestral emphasis in violin, but expanded her education by participating in several organizations, including the Bravo! Violin Performance Club, Jazz Educators Network, American String Teachers Association, Vocal Dimensions, and Penn State NAfME Collegiate Chapter. In addition to her education, Grace was a marching band teaching assistant for the Hollidaysburg schools and a string teaching assistant at Altoona Youth Orchestra, Altoona Summer String Camp, and Interlochen.

Theatre

Jasmine Forsberg is a B.F.A. in musical theatre student and is on track to graduate with distinction in spring of 2021. During her time at Penn State, Jasmine has performed in several productions. Most recently, she played Almastasa, an immigrant who fled a war-torn country to find a better life for her child, in The Lucky Boy. In 2018, Jasmine joined a group of her School of Theatre classmates to write and perform Results Will Vary, a musical for New Student Orientation (NSO). In addition to her coursework, Jasmine served as co-cultural director of the Penn State Filipino Association, where she planned, wrote, directed, and hosted “Barrio Fiesta,” the organization’s annual cultural showcase. She was also on the Penn State Musical Theatre Student Committee and volunteered with Penn State Nittany Greyhounds, where she helped with upkeep of a local greyhound shelter.

Visual Arts

Marina Gurevich is a Penn State World Campus student majoring in digital multimedia design on track to graduate in summer 2021 with distinction. Marina is an adult-learner and a mother of four who, after returning to school as a psychology major, enrolled in a sculpting class that unexpectedly steered her education and led to her discovering a passion for digital design. Since then Mariana has immersed herself in visual communication and design, which led to her volunteering as a beta-tester of newly released online courses. Her role as a tester has helped her to better understand UX/UI design and digital content creation, which she hopes will lead to a career as an illustrator and a UX designer.

Creative Achievement Award

Architecture

Grant Davis, of State College, graduated from Penn State in 2019 with a bachelor of architecture. He returned to complete his master of science in architecture in the 2019-20 academic year. His research chronicles the impact of maritime travels on the architectural writings and works of Le Corbusier, and the impact of maritime history on the metaphorical role of ships in modern architecture. His research interests include 20^th-century theories of modernism, functionalism, and mid-century American design, as well as urban design and redevelopment, housing, historical preservation, maritime history and design, and architectural semiotics. Grant has served as a teaching assistant for first-year architecture students (2019-20) and given tours and helped with visit days for prospective students. He was a 2019 Stewardson Design Competition finalist in the Stuckeman School, and received the 2018 Steele Fund Architecture Scholarship and 2017 Arthur v. K. Anderson Jr. Award for Study Abroad. Grant has participated in architectural internships at Kohn Pedersen Fox, Schradergroup Architecture, and Fernsler-Hutchinson Architecture, and looks forward to entering the profession and gaining his architect’s license following graduation. He is interested in potentially returning to academia to continue his research and teaching after practicing professionally.

Ray Hanley will earn his master of architecture degree in May, the final chapter in his academic career. He already holds an associate’s degree in architecture and construction technology from Harrisburg Area Community College and a B.S. in architecture and environmental design from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Growing up, Ray was always fascinated by the deep, profound impact that the design of spaces has on our lives. For him, architecture is responding to the cultural needs and identity of a place, both using what is working and strengthens the community, as well as innovative methods to create new meaning that correlates to a cultural context. He says design is a powerful tool, but successful design has the ability to change people’s lives and the environment on which it sits for the better.

Thomas Leonard, of St. Louis, Missouri, will graduate with his B.Arch. in May. He has a strong interest in architecture at the urban scale, as well as the psychological implications of the built environment. He was a finalist in the 2020 John Stewardson Memorial Fellowship in Architecture. He has been involved with the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), where he served as president of the Penn State chapter in 2017-18. At the national level, he has served on the AIAS Elections Committee and represented the AIAS on the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accreditation visits at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles, California, and Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. Thomas’s thesis focuses on the architectural implications of building in the Mississippi River alluvial plain, and the possible ways architecture can take advantage of the dynamic landscape. This summer he will enter professional practice at LSM Studio in Washington, D.C.

Art History

Karly Etz has distinguished herself academically as well as through teaching and service. Karly presented “Mapping the Body: Tattooed Cartographies in Twenty-First Century Art” at the College Art Association conference in February, and a related article has been accepted for inclusion in the forthcoming, peer-reviewed book, Traveling Bodies. Her research and writing will be supported in the coming months by a Humanities Institute Summer Residence Fellowship. A 2020 recipient of Penn State’s Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award in recognition of her excellence as a TA, Karly has also served as the instructor of record for two courses. She was a fundamental part of the College of Arts and Architecture’s redesign of the online version of “Introduction to International Arts” for the World Campus platform, and she delivered a presentation on this experience at the Digitally Engaged Learning conference held at York University in the fall of 2018. Karly’s dedication to service is likewise noteworthy. She has served as graduate coordinator for the Department of Art History’s Colloquia Series (2018-19) and as the elected graduate representative for the Department of Art History.

Jinny McGill, an outstanding graduate student, had a paper accepted for presentation at the Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference in Boston in March 2020, “Bugs and Bodhisattvas: Science Museums in Early 20^th-Century Japan.” She received a prestigious travel fellowship from the Society of Architectural Historians to participate in their Field Seminar to Japan, which took place December 6-18, 2019. Jinny is also a recipient of a Penn State Department of Art History Dissertation Fellowship, and she presented a paper (based on a chapter of her dissertation), titled “An Ethos of Liminality: Shibakawa Mataemon’s Eight Scenic Views of Kōtōen,” at the 2019 Graduate Student Symposium. In 2018, Jinny received a grant from the Japan Foundation to participate in their “Japanese-Language Program for Specialists in Cultural and Academic Fields.” In her first year as a Ph.D. student, she presented a paper (based on her M.A. thesis), titled “Agents and Emissaries: Josiah Conder, Iwasaki Hisaya, and Japanese Modernism,” at the Graduate Student Symposium on the History of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, April 8-9, 2016.

Senior art history major Sadie Middleton has set a high bar as the first student representative on the Undergraduate Program Committee this year. Sadie has also been instrumental in restarting our undergraduate art history organization by meeting individually with fellow art history majors and by using a variety of social networking platforms to help majors connect with each other. She helped organize a fall ice cream social where art history students could meet faculty members in an informal setting, and she recruited new officers for the revamped and reenergized Undergraduate Art History Association. Sadie also lent her considerable energy and excellent organizational skills to THON, serving as a committee chair. A dedicated student who has contributed positively to the Penn State community, Sadie is featured in College of Arts and Architecture recruitment materials. Next year, she will begin graduate study in counseling.

Graphic Design

Anjana Padmakumar graduated from Loughborough University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree (Hons) in 3D Design: New Practice. Originally from India, she studied and worked in Singapore and London, with experience in the advertising industry. Her experience in multicultural environments has affirmed her belief that design is a language used to create objects that reflect the value and purposes of any society. Given the ever-increasing problem of global waste in our lives, she believes that only truly innovative products can light the path to an inclusive future.Spanning different mediums and different forms of expression through making, her current practice lies at the flux of data and design. With her master’s education, she uses her work as a medium to talk about current world issues. Her recent project attempts to visualize data with a humanistic and emotional quality—such that it moves people from a personal standpoint, encouraging viewers to study data that would otherwise have been ignored. She focuses on topics like climate change, immigration, and children’s education with the understanding that interdisciplinary intersection creates depth and clarity for visual communication of complex information.

Taylor Mazzarella will graduate from Penn State with a bachelor of design in graphic design. During her three years at the University she has been the merchandise chair of her THON organization, the vice president of Design Association, and a loyal Penn State football fan. After spending time studying abroad in Italy, she has expanded her cultural understanding of design and learned new techniques to broaden her ideation practices. Her biggest accomplishment at Penn State was her acceptance into her exclusive program of 18 students and her success within it—without having any previous design experience.

Christie Warren is a third-year graphic design student specifically interested in user experience and user interface design. Her love for UI/UX design is inspired by the immense impact technology can make on nearly any area of people’s lives, especially when design is used to make this technology intuitive and enjoyable to use. Christie was the sole designer on the first place teams in the Nittany AI Challenge in both 2018 and 2019. In the 2018 Nittany AI Challenge, Christie’s team designed and developed LionPlanner, a web application that generates four-year academic plans for college students to eliminate the manual and tedious work of course planning. In the 2019 Nittany AI Challenge, Christie’s team created Revu, a web application that generates multiple-choice quizzes from readings to help teachers increase students’ out-of-class participation. LionPlanner was awarded $30,000, and Revu $18,000. Christie has continued her work on LionPlanner for three semesters as an intern in the Nittany AI Alliance, where she also works with other intern teams to design interfaces for their projects. She has also held internships at Pfizer in 2018 and West Arete in 2019, and will be a user experience design intern at the software development company Appian this summer. Christie has been invited to speak about her work and experiences at multiple events, including President Barron’s tailgate, the annual Penn State Outreach Appreciation Dinner, and the February 2020 Board of Trustees meeting.

Landscape Architecture

Chen Chen is a fourth-year undergraduate student in landscape architecture. The social and academic experience grounds her as an advocate of environment equality. She actively engages in cross-cultural studies while learning multiple languages, including English, Chinese, Japanese, and German. Her practices in conservation, sustainability, and community design initiate her reflections on the paradox of human scale design in modernization, for which she wishes to pursue further education in landscape architecture after graduating in summer 2020. She plans to pursue a career in academia.

Hannah Gomez is a fifth-year landscape architecture student graduating this May. During her time at Penn State, Hannah has held internships at Bradley Site Design in Washington, D.C., and the campus planning department at Penn State, and has taught art camps and classes for young children, students, and faculty at the Center for Arts and Crafts. Hannah has taken studio courses in Barcelona, Spain, and Bonn, Germany, and this past summer she spent a month studying Aboriginal art and culture in Australia and New Zealand. In 2018, Hannah received a travel award for her work, which allowed her to travel to Utah to visit Bear Ears National Monument. Last spring, Hannah was awarded a Student Merit Award by the Pennsylvania Delaware ASLA Chapter. Hannah is currently working on her Schreyer honors thesis, a design and research project in collaboration with the Office of the Physical Plant exploring the possibility of reintroducing forested ecosystems into pockets of University Park, potentially increasing the habitat quality and ecological value of the Penn State flagship campus.

Shengwei Tan is a third-year master of landscape architecture student. The world of creating sustainable city environments and experiential landscape inspired him to pursue the major of landscape architecture. His master’s degree capstone project is particularly focused on the vision of urban micromobility, from current streetscapes to the city of the future. Shengwei had three years of urban planning study experience at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture in China before coming to the United States to study landscape architecture.

Music

Emmanuel Houndo is a senior undergraduate student double-majoring in general music and health policy & administration. Throughout his time at Penn State, he has engaged in many ensembles; has performed solo at events like THON; and has taken on opportunities in the healthcare field that include research and internships. These opportunities have allowed him to explore the different ways in which music and healthcare can intersect. Going forward, he hopes to continue using his passion for music to connect with a wide range of people, from classical concertgoers to hospital patients. He intends to use music as a bridge and gateway to new connections, new ideas, and better understanding of the world.

Annie Liu is a junior in the Schreyer Honors College pursuing a bachelor of musical arts in bassoon performance and a bachelor of science in general science. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Annie grew up in State College, studying bassoon with Professor Daryl Durran since 2013. She is a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the premier ensembles of the School of Music, and the Pentavalent Wind Quintet. Through a school-wide audition, Annie was selected to perform a solo with percussionist Gage Kroljic in the 2018 Mosaic concert, which showcases the school’s outstanding soloists and ensembles. She was a finalist in the Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition, receiving an honorable mention in January 2020. Every semester of study, Annie has earned Jury Honors, a distinction awarded for excellence in final performance exams. She received the inaugural Sue Haug School of Music Leadership Award in 2019. In the 2020 School of Music Scholarship Competition, she was again a winner of the Haug Leadership Award and she also won the Presser Scholarship and a College of Arts and Architecture Creative Achievement Award. This semester Annie has worked as lab manager of the Pitch Exploration Lab, a music cognition research lab. Beyond her music activities, Annie serves as the engagement director of Science Lion Pride and volunteers at Discovery Space of Central PA. She interned with the German Academic Exchange Service RISE Germany program doing biology research at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Annie intends to pursue a master’s degree in bassoon performance.

Theatre

Sophia Tepermeister is graduating with a B.F.A. in theatre design and technology with an emphasis in scenic design, and a minor in anthropology. She is the recipient of the Evan Pugh Scholar Award, the President Sparks Award, and the President’s Freshman Award. She is also the recipient of the 2019 Oliver Smith Award for Excellence in Design and Production. During her senior year, she trained in the School of Theatre’s graduate design studio. Sophia has served as the set designer for two Penn State Centre Stage productions: Men on Boats and Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. She was recently accepted to the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s (USITT) Emerging Creatives Showcase. Her work will be showcased at the 2020 USITT Conference in Houston. Sophia has worked as a scenic artist at various production companies in the Boston area, as well as the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio. She has also worked as a resident assistant in East Halls for the last two years.

Tania Barrenechea is a third-year M.F.A. candidate in scenic design. She received her B.Arch. in architecture and urban planning from Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in 2015. Before coming to Penn State to pursue an M.F.A. in scenic design, Tania worked as an architect for five years in the studio Vicca Verde in Lima, Peru, starting as a trainee and working her way up to project manager. While at Penn State, Tania has designed the sets for the Penn State Centre Stage productions of A Little Night Music, directed by Phillip Fazio, and To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Susan Schulman. Other Penn State scenic design credits include Polaroid Stories and A Year with Frog and Toad. In addition to her scenic design work, Tania has been a graduate assistant for the School of Theatre’s prop shop and paint shop, and a TA teaching undergraduate classes in design and technology. After graduation, Tania plans to pursue an academic career while continuing to expand her portfolio as a professional scenic designer.

Phillip Fazio is a third-year M.F.A. candidate in directing. Penn State directing credits include: A Little Night Music, which was his thesis project; Caroline, or Change; Marry Me a Little; and Peter and the Starcatcher. New York City directing credits: The Book That I’m Going to Write, by Judy Garland (Jerry Orbach Theater); Gay Camp (HERE Arts Center); and Company (St. Bart’s Players). Regional directing credits: Parade, Ragtime, Follies, Grey Gardens, August: Osage County, Sunday in the Park with George, Proof, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, and City of Angels. Assistant director credits: Pippin (co-production with Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre) and West Side Story (Signature Theatre). Associate member of SDC and alumnus of Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab. www.phillipfazio.com

Visual Arts

Min Gu is a Ph.D. candidate in art education. As an artist, educator, and researcher, she works with artists who have disabilities. Her research problematizes conceptions that consider disability as a personal, biological deficit. For her dissertation research, Min’s ethnographic study of the Creative Growth Art Center (California), serving artists with developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities, offers a unique perspective on disability and art through her use of contemporary theories and innovative research methodologies. This work calls attention to the ways in which artists with disabilities engage with and conceive of artmaking that might otherwise either go unnoticed or be dismissed as “disabled” art.

Kaitlyn Innerst is a senior pursuing a B.A. in integrative arts with minors in photography and psychology. She has had work in several exhibitions over the past year, including the Creative Resolutions exhibition at the Palmer Museum of Art, where she displayed “End the Stigma.” Additionally, she became published for a piece, “The French Dancer,” in the art magazines Folio and Kaleidoscope. She is driven to create work that makes a difference in the world and her ultimate goal is to pursue her M.F.A. to further hone her photography skills.

Cairus Larsen is an M.F.A. candidate in the sculpture program whose work, research, and teaching explore familiar materials and objects from domestic spaces as transformed through a lens of cultural critique. Cairus’ works reflect upon living as a differently abled individual making sense of the world via making, particularly when struggling with words. Cairus utilizes a broad range of techniques, including metal casting, sewing and needlework, and digital fabrication. Her work subtly tweaks found objects ranging from the iconic to the mundane in ways that make us question what exactly we are seeing. Cairus has recently been nominated for an International Sculpture Center Award and has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions.