UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Arts and Architecture awarded eight Arts and Architecture Alumni Society Scholarships to students representing every academic unit, plus World Campus.
The awards were established by the Alumni Society in 1998. In the years since, college alumni and friends have generously donated to grow the endowment, increasing both the number and size of the awards.
This year the Alumni Society Board presented the scholarships in honor of Joyce Hoffman, longtime director of alumni relations, who recently retired and was a consistent champion of the awards.
The recipients are:
Architecture: Marisa Calbi
Calbi is a fourth-year bachelor of architecture student currently studying abroad at the Pantheon Institute in Rome. Her goal, she said, is to become a licensed architect in the New York and New Jersey area.
Art History: Rónán Shaw
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 19th and 20th centuries. He has won awards for his proficiency in the Italian language. After graduation, Shaw said he plans to pursue a doctorate in art history with the goal of becoming a curator.
Graphic Design: Sara Meola
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
Lochner is a third-year landscape architecture major. She said 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
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 Professor Norman Spivey. Through performance and education, Almonte said he hopes to inspire the next generation of artists and musicians.
Theater: Jacob Malizio
Malizio is a director, actor and playwright studying theater studies and public relations. He belongs to several theater 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
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. Brandon 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.
World Campus: Monica Wilson