Across the College

Dance Vehicle-01
Design, Build and Dance
A group of Penn State Architecture students in the “Secret Life of Public Spaces Studio” spent the year building machines in collaboration with renowned Los Angeles-based Diavolo Dance Theater, which features dancers, gymnasts, and actors who create performances on moving struct...
read more view all
Roots of Life, performing arts ensemble founded/directed by Kikora Franklin
Dance Prof's Teaching Award
Kikora Franklin, assistant professor of theatre and dance, was one of six recipients of Penn State's George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was honored at the University's Faculty/Staff Awards Luncheon on April 19. The following article, about the performing ar...
read more view all

Exhibitions and Performances

Bruce Spruance
Me, Myself and the Mirror
Palmer Museum of Art is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition Hogarth Restored. This exhibition will be on view at the Palmer Museum of Art from February 7 through May 13, 2012. William Hogarth was best known during his lifetime, as he is today, for his satirical eng...
read more view all
10th Anniversary of Penn State Downtown Theatre Centre
Penn State Centre Stage
Penn State Centre Stage, in its twenty-seventh year of professional theatre, will feature two of its best-selling shows this summer to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center. The summer season begins with the return of Beehive, June 6–23. Centr...
read more view all

Research and Creative Activity

Native dress, Papua New Guinea. © Photo provided by Conservation International
Biodiversity, Diverse Language
Biodiversity hot spots -- the world's biologically richest and most threatened locations on Earth -- and high biodiversity wilderness areas -- biologically rich but less threatened -- are some of the most linguistically diverse regions on our planet, according to a team of conse...
read more view all
Robert Holland leads BIM studio students.
BIM Studio Gains Attention
Penn State Stuckeman School Professor Madis Pihlak and Yale Architecture Professor Peggy Deamer have published "Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the Impact on Design Quality" in the Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology. Co-authors include Robert Holland and Ute...
read more view all
Marcellus Shale drilling
Marcellus Workshops
The surest test of a good scientific theory or principle is to put it into practice. The discipline of landscape architecture, where the research of Landscape Architecture faculty members Tim Murtha and Brian Orland intersects, draws broadly from principles in the natural and so...
read more view all

Student Spotlight

Kiss Me Kate production captured digitally by Alyssa Meadows
Digital Archivist A. Meadows
The word “archiving” often evokes images of a life or event recorded on paper, stuffed into a box to languish on a dusty shelf in a subterranean level of a library, unvisited and forgotten. The new age of digital archiving shatters those images and brings to life vibrant photos...
read more view all
Samantha Josaphat
Resilient: Samantha Josaphat
Samantha Josaphat, a fifth-year architecture student from Georgia, will graduate Penn State with more than $100,000 in student loans. Without the luxury of a safety net—her mom was taking out her own loans to pay for nursing school— Josaphat took on a second minor: Navigating St...
read more view all
Natalia Pilato
Pilato and Community-Based Art
Not all art education students want to teach in a traditional classroom, and not all art students want to work in a studio. One challenging yet rewarding career option is community-based art, which brings together artists, educators, designers, engineers, government officials an...
read more view all

Faculty and Staff Spotlight

Chris Staley
Chris Staley: 12-13 Laureate
Christopher P. Staley, distinguished professor of art in the College of Arts and Architecture, has been named Penn State laureate for 2012-13, succeeding Linda Patterson Miller, professor of English at Penn State Abington. During his upcoming laureate year, Staley--the fifth Uni...
read more view all
Kikora Franklin (center)
Dance Prof's Teaching Award
Kikora Franklin, assistant professor of theatre and dance, was one of six recipients of Penn State's George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was honored at the University's Faculty/Staff Awards Luncheon on April 19. The following article, about the performing ar...
read more view all
Grace Hampton
Lecture Series Honors Hampton
The Committee on Multiethnic Concerns (COMC), an affiliate organization of the National Art Education Association, has established an annual lecture series titled the "Grace Hampton Lecture Series." Named for Grace Hampton, professor of art, art education and integrative arts, a...
read more view all
Sean Burkholder's design proposal for AIDS Memorial Park
AIDS Memorial Park Competition
Sean Burkholder, assistant professor of landscape architecture, Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, along with New York architect Kyle May, received honorable mention in the AIDS Memorial Park design competition held earlier this year. For the full story...
read more view all
Brian Orland
Orland's Honors
Penn State Landscape Architecture faculty member Brian Orland was recently honored at both the national and University levels for his teaching, research and contributions to landscape architecture education.  At its annual meeting this spring, the Council of Educators in Landsca...
read more view all
Christopher Guzman
Piano Prof Wins Int'l Prize
Pianist Christopher Guzman, assistant professor of music, recently won the Grand Prize and four special prizes in the 10th Concours International de Piano d'Orléans, one of the most exciting and prestigious music competitions in Europe. The competition, held every two years in O...
read more view all

Alumni Spotlight

Eric and Nancy Goshow
Eric and Nancy Goshow
Nancy and Eric Goshow’s list of desirable qualities in an architect sounds a bit like a dating profile: honest, open to new things, well-rounded, and well-spoken, to name a few. That’s because the technical skills are a given. In today’s competitive work arena, you have to have...
read more view all
Disney Fantasy
Making Magic on the High Seas
Kevin Paulsen (’10 B.A. Theatre–Stage Management) shares his experiences working on Disney Cruise Lines’ newest ship, the Disney Fantasy. Some may call it a cliché, but working for Disney is full of “magical” moments. The confidentiality agreement limits so much that I would lov...
read more view all
Scott Edmiston
Scott Edmiston
It was the summer of 1978. High school student Scott Edmiston (’83 B.F.A. Theatre) was visiting Penn State and decided to see the University’s production of Candide. By the time he exited the Playhouse Theatre, he had decided on his college AND his career. “That was the seminal...
read more view all
Suzan Frecon
Suzan Frecon
For Suzan Frecon (’63 B.F.A. Painting), being an artist is much more than a profession or career. “For me, painting is a field of knowledge that evolves by spending much time and infinite practice on it,” said the artist, who grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania. According to Freco...
read more view all
See video
Catherine Jolivette
When embarking on a career in art history, the possible focus areas are endless. Catherine Jolivette (’03 Ph.D. Art History), a native of Great Britain, chose to return to her roots. Today she focuses her research and teaching on British art after 1945 as an associate professor...
read more view all
Julia Czerniak
Julia Czerniak
The Rust Belt brings to mind images of hulking, dilapidated factories where large-scale manufacturing once flourished. In the mind of Syracuse University architecture professor Julia Czerniak (’84 B.S. L.Arch.), however, the scene is green—in the form of vibrant urban landscapes...
read more view all
See video
Erin Headley
For almost 300 years, the lirone was not heard. A multi-stringed, cello-like instrument invented by Atalante Migliorotti in 1505, the lirone’s eerie, otherworldly sound was popular for more than 200 years, but then the instrument fell silent. In 1980, while conducting research a...
read more view all
Scott Patt
Scott Patt
Scott Patt (’93 B.A. Graphic Design) enrolled at Penn State thinking he might become an orthopedic surgeon. A few years later, he found himself halfway around the globe, contemplating the study of Russian icon painting. Soon after returning home—thanks to a tip from Graphic Desi...
read more view all