Outreach
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Family Day
Family Day, first offered in June 2001, typically includes self-guided tours of select exhibitions and related
activities, such as simple printmaking projects in conjunction with special works on paper exhibitions,
and paintbrush-portrait making in conjunction with the special exhibition Tools as Art. Average
attendance at the three-hour program is 150, but has reached as high as 250.
Workshops
The free art production workshops are offered in conjunction with special exhibitions and also to highlight
the permanent collection. The half-day classes offer age-appropriate opportunities to learn major ideas
presented in exhibitions and to explore similar themes in a variety of media. In past workshops, participants
have constructed actual paper bridges after studying portraits of various bridges, and painted minute
landscapes after comparing traditional landscapes in the collection with small, contemporary landscapes
in the exhibition Intimate Purlieus.
Graduate and undergraduate students majoring in visual arts and art education often serve as instructors or volunteers for the workshops. Local professional artists have also taught workshops, including Cynthia Nixon (’74 M.Ed. Art Ed.), who conducted a three-part self-portrait workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Through the Looking Glass: Women and Self-Representation in Contemporary Art in fall 2003, and Ruth Kempner, who taught a painting workshop during the exhibition A Community of Artists: The Collection of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in summer 2003.
Community Day
Community Day is held during Penn State’s annual Parents and Families Weekend each fall. The event gives
the museum the opportunity to welcome new students and families to Penn State and introduce them to the museum’s
collections and exhibitions. In addition to tours of the galleries, the museum offers special activities (this
year, custom t-shirt making), live music and free food—no small feat, considering that the four-hour
event typically draws more than 1200 guests!
Architecture Students Aid in “Local Renaissance”
Last spring, architecture students in assistant professor Steven Shaffer’s first-year studio contributed to a community effort to revive local culture and the economy by designing and building a mobile “town square” and teahouse intended to encourage greater interaction among Centre Region residents. The town square, dubbed “T-Henge,” made its first appearance at the Central Parklet Community Festival in downtown State College in April. The festival was part of events organized by Our Local Renaissance (OLR), a new grassroots community volunteer group that has been working since November 2003 to identify ways to improve the quality of life for Centre Region residents. Over the summer, T-Henge returned to Central Parklet and was also set up twice in the village of Lemont.
T-Henge consists of modular T-shaped flat frames that are eight feet high. The Ts incorporate awnings, seating, tables for tea service and storage for tea, cups and pots. Because of the modular design, there is flexibility regarding configuration and number of units used each time the town square/teahouse is set up.
According to Kevin Gombotz, OLR liaison to Shaffer’s class, T-Henge was a mutually beneficial undertaking.“Often the [Penn State] student body feels distanced from the residential community of the Centre Region. This project [was] an opportunity for students to participate in their civic community in the most sustainable of ways: publicly sharing their talents in a manner that has observable benefits to our common well-being.”
University Park Ensemble Raises Students’ Awareness of Health and Academic Issues
Over
the past 14 years, the School of Theatre’s University Park Ensemble has educated thousands of Penn State
students about issues such as eating disorders, sexual assault, alcohol awareness and academic integrity through
interactive, improvisational and scripted theatre performances. Performing for groups ranging in size from
20 to more than 400, the undergraduate theatre students in the ensemble hone their acting skills while increasing
their peers’ awareness of topics significant to their health and welfare. Performance evaluations prove
the presentations make an impression:“This event was a powerful program that gave me a different perspective
on what my friends are [going] and have been through,” wrote one student in an evaluation of “Body
Loathing/Body Love,” which addresses eating disorders.
The most recent addition to the University Park Ensemble’s repertoire is “The Academic Dishonesty Project,” the result of a unique collaboration involving the ensemble, the Eberly College of Science and the Schreyer Honors College. It is a staged-reading performance in which three students are accused of cheating on a lab report and must present their case to a college-level academic integrity committee. After witnessing each student’s testimony and the committee’s deliberations, the audience is asked to decide on sanctions. “The Academic Dishonesty Project” was written by Scott Fredd, who graduated from the Schreyer Honors College in 2002 with a B.A. in political science, minor in natural science and honors in biology. He completed the play as his senior honors project, working with Sharon Shriver, an instructor in the Eberly College of Science, and Barry Kur, professor of theatre and artistic director of the University Park Ensemble. “The Academic Dishonesty Project” is now performed for all First Year Seminars in the Eberly College.
The University Park Ensemble, which typically performs more than 25 times per year for orientation and residence hall programs, classes and other events, is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs in consultation with University Health Services, Residence Life and the Division of Undergraduate Studies. For more information, visit www.theatre.psu.edu/programs/upensemble.html.
Jones Retires with Emeritus Status
Daniel Jones, professor of landscape architecture, has retired from Penn State with emeritus status after 32 years of service. In recognition of his distinguished teaching, research and professional work, the Landscape Architecture Class of 1980 recently made a $100,000 gift to establish a faculty research studio in the new Stuckeman Family Building in honor of Jones and colleague Mark Battaglia, who retired in 2000 (see article on page 7). Jones and Battaglia worked together on many Pennsylvania Scenic River studies and were partners in a State College landscape architecture practice.
Jones has played an important role in protecting and preserving Pennsylvania’s rivers through his work with the Scenic Rivers Division of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. He served as technical advisor to the Scenic Rivers Division from 1982 to 1996. He often involved his students in his evaluations of Pennsylvania’s waterways, giving them the opportunity to work with professionals on large-scale projects.
Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Ohio State and a master of landscape architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. While on the faculty at Penn State, he served as a visiting critic in the landscape architecture departments of the University of Pennsylvania (1985) and the University of Toronto (1982–85). From 1989 to 1994, he was coordinator of Penn State’s graduate program in landscape architecture.
Jones’ research has been published in numerous articles, book chapters and reports to sponsors, and he has presented at workshops and conferences throughout the United States. He has served on more than 20 thesis committees and has been honored regionally and nationally for his own work and his supervision of his students’ work. Jones has been an active volunteer in the State College community, serving on the board of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts and the Borough of State College’s Art in Public Places Committee.
