The College of Arts and Architecture is one of very few colleges in the United States that brings together under one administrative umbrella programs in the visual arts, performing arts, and design arts, including architecture and landscape architecture. Our faculty members frequently engage in interdisciplinary collaborations that enrich their teaching and ultimately expose our students to the diverse opportunities available in the arts and design disciplines. With consistently strong contributions to their fields by faculty, students, and alumni, many of our programs are considered among the nation's top tier, either by rankings or reputation.
In addition to its seven academic units, the College of Arts and Architecture includes the Center for the Performing Arts, Palmer Museum of Art, and Pennsylvania Centre Stage, which offer graduate assistantships, performance opportunities, and other job opportunities that greatly enhance students' education and their appreciation for the arts. Those units provide many chances for collaboration and outreach that benefit the college and University as a whole.
FACULTY SUPERLATIVES
Our faculty members earn recognition for their teaching abilities while continuing to make major contributions to their fields as practicing artists or scholars.
Two architecture faculty members recently won national teaching awards: Jodi La Coe received the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture/American Institute of Architecture Students New Faculty Teaching Award and Peter Aeschbacher (joint appointment with landscape architecture) won the American Institute for Architects Education Honor Award.
Landscape architecture faculty member C. Timothy Baird was appointed the Richard W. Trott Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ohio State University's Knowlton School of Architecture for the 2008 winter quarter.
Christopher Kiver, director of the Glee Club and Chamber Singers, won two 2006 Grammy Awards, for best classical album and best choral performance. Sue Haug, director of the School of Music, is associate chair of the National Association of Schools of Music Commission on Accreditation. Associate professor Rob Nairn was recently elected president-elect of the International Society of Bassists, which has approximately 4,000 members in more than forty countries.
Theatre faculty member and alumnus Steve Broadnax wrote Word Up, an examination of the hip hop generation, which was premiered by the School of Theatre in April 2008. Theatre faculty members are also involved in two Penn State festivals for new works: the New Musical Theatre Festival (Raymond Sage, artistic director) and the Cultural Conversations new play festival (Susan Russell, artistic director). Cultural Conversations is the only festival of its kind in the country, focusing on themes of local and global diversity.
Faculty in art education and music education contribute frequently to important academic journals and books as both writers and editors. Stephanie Springgay, assistant professor of art education and women's studies, co-edited the book Curriculum and the Cultural Body, published by Peter Lang in 2007. In 2007 Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and affiliate professor of women's studies, co-authored Engaging Visual Culture. Ann Clements, assistant professor of music education, was recently invited to serve as an editor for the third edition of the text Multicultural Perspective in Music Education.
Visual arts faculty members exhibit their work in galleries and exhibitions around the world. Recent highlights include associate professor John Bowman's solo exhibition at the Winston Wachter Gallery in New York City; distinguished professor Robert Yarber's solo exhibition at the Kyungpook National University in Daegu, Korea; and associate professor Robin Gibson's exhibition at the Hollar Society Gallery in Prague.
Art history faculty members' research also takes them to international locales. Evan Pugh Professor of Art History Anthony Cutler was recently elected senior research associate of the Khalili Research Centre for the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East at the University of Oxford, England, for spring 2009. Associate professor Elizabeth Walters is director of the Temple-Town Hierakonpolis Project, an archaeological project in Egypt that has received national media attention (Katarin Parizek, instructor of integrative arts, also serves on the project team). Associate professor Brian Curran's book, The Egyptian Renaissance: The Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy, was published in April 2007 and is notable for tackling an immense range of fields in a manner appealing and readable to a wide audience.
STUDENT SUPERLATIVES
Integrative arts student and women's volleyball player Melissa Walbridge won a 2008 NCAA scholarship in recognition of her work in photography.
Landscape architecture student Ryan Emerson won a prestigious 2008 Morris K. Udall Scholarship, which recognizes students in fields with an environmental/cultural focus. He and Penn State landscape architecture alumni Matt McMahon and Jesse Hunting are the only landscape architecture students to ever receive this national award.
Landscape architecture student Mary Nunn is one of only seven recipients of a 2008 Hart-Howerton Scholarship, a national award that recognizes students in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning. This year she is the only undergraduate recipient.
Musical theatre students have represented Penn State through performances around the world, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong.
The School of Theatre's performance opportunities prepare theatre students well for their professional careers-as of March 2008, eleven theatre alumni were acting on Broadway, with others filling the positions of stage manager, production manager, scenic or costume designer, and various backstage crew.
The School of Music's Symphonic Wind Ensemble was the first American band to be invited to perform the opening concert of the Flicorno D'Oro, an international band competition and festival in Italy. The Philharmonic Orchestra was chosen to participate in the Sixth International Season of University Orchestras in Zaragoza, Spain, making it only the second American orchestra to be invited. Other School of Music ensembles have taken tours to countries ranging from England to the Czech Republic to South Africa.
Faculty and students in architecture and landscape architecture (both programs were ranked in the top ten in the 2008 Design Intelligence rankings) played an integral role in the design and construction of Penn State's entry in the 2007 Solar Decathlon, which took place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The University's team earned fourth place in the international competition to build a completely solar-powered home.
FACILITIES
The School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture is housed in the Stuckeman Family Building, Penn State's first building to earn a Gold Rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. Distinguished not only at Penn State, the Stuckeman Family Building was one of the first structures on any college campus to earn a LEED Gold Rating.
In summer 2008, the college's administrative offices, Department of Art History, and Department of Integrative Arts will be moving into a completely renovated Borland Building, notable as the former location of the Penn State Creamery.
