Lanny Sommese Named Penn State Distinguished Professor
May 9, 2008
Lanny Sommese, head of Penn State’s graphic design program, has been named a Distinguished Professor, which recognizes exceptional teaching, research, creativity and service to the University community.
Sommese, a member of the Penn State faculty since 1970, is an internationally known graphic designer who has exhibited extensively and has his posters included in collections around the world. He has had one-man shows in venues such as the Plakat Museum in Emmerich, Germany, the University of Illinois and the University Colorado, and his work has been featured in the prestigious Warsaw, Lahti and Colorado poster biennials, among other exhibitions. His work is on display in the Library of Congress National Poster Collection; Museum fur Deutsche Geschichte, Berlin; Wilanow Poster Museum, Warsaw; Musee d’Histoire Contemporaine, Paris; Central Institute of Fine Art, Beijing; Moravaska Galerie, Brno, Czech Republic; Kanazaw University, Japan; and Museum of Applied Art, Helsinki. Sommese’s posters were awarded gold medals in the International Biennial of the Poster of Mexico in 1994 and Triennial of Stage Poster Sofia in 1995.
Feature articles about Sommese have appeared in publications such as Graphis, Idea, Communication Arts and others, while his work was the subject of a book, Lanny Sommese: World Master, published in China. In addition, his work has been reproduced in hundreds of periodicals, including Graphis, Graphic Design, Studio, International Design, Idea, Print, Graphis Annual and others.
Sommese, who holds a B.F.A. in painting and Bachelor of Design degree from the University of Florida and M.F.A. in graphic design from the University of Illinois, is a member of the prestigious Alliance Graphique Internationale, a fellow of Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities and an honorary member of the University and College Designers Association.
He and his wife, Kristin, have their own firm, Sommese Design, which specializes in corporate, print, packaging and poster design. Sommese has designed the posters for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts for more than 30 years. At Penn State, he has guided his students in the design of posters for various campus events, including the University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration.
Contact: Amy Milgrub Marshall, alm157@psu.edu or 814.863.2104