UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The College of Arts and Architecture will honor its 2024 Alumni Award recipients on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 5 p.m. at the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 146 S. Allen Street, State College. The ceremony, open to the public, will be followed by a reception in the Woskob Family Gallery. Attendees should register in advance by Sept. 10.
The Arts and Architecture Alumni Awards were established more than 30 years ago with the purpose of recognizing the career achievements of Penn State alumni in the arts and design disciplines.
This year’s recipients are Carla Bonacci (class of 1982, bachelor of architecture, and class of 1981, bachelor of science in architecture), who leads planning, design and construction of public and private projects at the World Trade Center; Mindy Cooper (class of 2003, bachelor of landscape architecture), principal at Austin-based firm dwg.; Brian Harms (class of 1999, master of fine arts in theater), art director and production designer; Daniel Haxall (class of 2000, master of architecture, and class of 2009, doctorate in art history), professor of art history at Kutztown University; Kimberly Schenck (class of 1979, bachelor of fine arts in art), longtime head of paper conservation at the National Gallery of Art; Kính T. Vũ (class of 2005, master of music), assistant professor of music in music education at Boston University; and Thomas Wilder (class of 2008, bachelor of design in graphic design), global principal at Wolff Olins.
Read more on the winners below.
Carla Bonacci has been the “owner’s architect” spanning four decades at the World Trade Center (WTC), leading architectural, engineering, and construction teams for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, through modernization of the original WTC complex after the 1993 terrorist bombing and redevelopment and rebuilding of the WTC Campus after 9/11. Her body of work includes planning, design and construction of public space and urban infrastructure projects and supervision of commercial office towers and cultural buildings. Bonacci is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects, AIA’s highest member honor. She is vice president of the Stuckeman School’s Architecture Alumni Group, and in 2022 she launched “Vertices,” an e-magazine highlighting alumni’s careers. Bonacci resides in Westfield, New Jersey, where she raised two children with her husband, Robert McNamara (Penn State class of 1982, bachelor of architecture).
Mindy Cooper is a principal at dwg., an Austin-based practice with a focus on urban architectural landscapes. She currently leads a team at dwg. that is focused on collaborations with P3 and academic clients. Recently completed projects include Rainey Trailhead Park at the Ann and Roy Butler Trail and Music Lane, both in Austin. Projects currently in design include Allegheny Landing Park (Pittsburgh) and the University of Texas Undergraduate School of Business (Austin, Texas). Cooper's projects have garnered numerous Texas ASLA Honor and Merit Awards, and have been recognized by AIA Austin, ULI Austin, and Austin Green Awards. She has served as chair of the AIA-Austin Urban Design Committee and as a planning committee member of the AIA-Austin Leadership Collective program. She is a licensed Landscape Architect in the states of Texas, Nebraska, North Carolina, New York and Pennsylvania.
Brian Harms has worked in the entertainment industry since 1992 and as an art director and production designer in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. Notable projects include films such as "Life of the Party and Purgatory Playhouse"; television shows such as "Las Vegas" and "Grey’s Anatomy"; televised events such as "MTV Rock the Vote"; and live action video game scenes. Theatrical experience includes scenic design for the University of Montana, Montana Rep, Fort Peck Summer Theatre, Missoula Children’s Theatre, Cortland Repertory Theatre, and Penn State, and assistant scenic design for Center Theatre Group of LA, Guthrie Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Penn State Centre Stage, and one Broadway production, "After the Fall," for Roundabout Theatre Company. Harms earned a bachelor of fine arts in theatre design/tech at the University of Montana. He is a member of the Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800.
Daniel Haxall is a professor of art history at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. He previously taught at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and Penn State. Haxall publishes on diverse topics in contemporary art, including abstract expressionism and intersection of art and sport. He has authored many essays, book chapters and exhibition catalogs while presenting his research nationally and internationally. He recently curated "Figures and Projections: Selected Work from the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art" (2021) at Kutztown University. He edited "Picturing the Beautiful Game: A History of Soccer in Visual Culture and Art" (Bloomsbury, 2018), and his latest work is an essay on Carrie Mae Weems and Kehinde Wiley that will appear in the "Routledge Companion to African Diaspora Art History" (2025). He holds a bachelor of arts in art and art history from Villanova University. Haxall lives with his wife and son in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania.
Kimberly Schenck focused on drawing at Penn State and later earned her master of science in conservation at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Art Conservation program, where she studied paper and photograph conservation with internships at the National Archives and the National Museum of American History. Upon graduating she was hired as assistant paper conservator at the Baltimore Museum of Art, eventually rising to director of conservation (1988–2006). She left Baltimore to accept the position of head of paper conservation at the National Gallery of Art, overseeing the preservation of the graphics collection since 2006. Having recently retired from the National Gallery, Schenck is currently collaborating on the use of scanning macro x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to investigate the pigments in Joris Hoefnagel’s "Ignis." She will continue researching Mary Cassatt’s early soft-ground etchings and Japanese papermaking as well as gardening and textile arts.
Kính T. Vũ is an assistant professor of music in music education at Boston University. In 2020, Vũ and his colleague, André de Quadros, published the first-ever volume about forced human displacement and its relationship to music teaching and learning: "My Body Was Left on the Street: Music Education and Displacement" (Brill-Sense). Part of Vũ’s scholarly-creative production includes a 2023 documentary, "Song of Earthroot" (4th District Productions), which received the New York International Film Award for first-time directors of a feature film. Vũ has published book chapters about care, intercultural sensitivity, LGBTQ issues, and adoption, as well as research articles focused on engaged pedagogy, global music education, and displacement. Current research includes a book project about transracial-transnational adoption and music education. Vũ holds degrees from Westminster College in Pennsylvania, and the University of Minnesota.
Thomas Wilder, as global principal at Wolff Olins, oversees creative work globally across the firm’s four offices in New York, London, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Wilder previously served as executive creative director of the fast-casual restaurant sweetgreen. Prior to sweetgreen, he was partner and creative director of the global brand and design consultancy COLLINS, which AdAge named Design Agency of the Year for three consecutive years. At COLLINS, he worked with clients including ESPN, Twitch, Dropbox, sweetgreen, Ogilvy & Mather, Coca-Cola and Amazon, among others. His work has been internationally recognized by numerous design organizations and publications including The Art Directors Club, D&AD, The One Show and Clios. In 2022, Fast Company named his work for sweetgreen as the best rebrand of the year. Wilder lives with his wife, Meghan, and their two daughters in southern California.