Alumni
Art History Alumna Reaps Rewards of Hard Work
By Amy Milgrub Marshall
Katherine Bentz (’03 Ph.D. Art History) hadn’t planned on earning a Ph.D. Always interested in art history, she thought she’d get her master’s degree and find a job in a museum. But then, while attending graduate school at George Washington University, she fell in love— with the research topic that ultimately became her dissertation.
“While writing my master’s thesis, I became fascinated
with the afterlife of antiquity—the reception
and uses of ancient art in later centuries,” explains
Bentz. “I relished the teaching aspect of art
history that I was exposed to as a master’s student,
and I grew to think of it as more rewarding than an
entry-level museum job. So after my master’s degree,
I decided to pursue a Ph.D. and to focus my
research on the reception of antiquity in the Renaissance
and 17th centuries.”
Bentz is now a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University, where she is teaching an undergraduate course on western art and working on developing her dissertation, “Cardinal Cesi and his Garden: Antiquities, Landscape and Social Identity in Early Modern Rome,” into a book. She applied for the postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia because of its libraries and the other resources available in New York City. “The resources here are great for what I study,” she notes.
Postdoctoral fellowships give recent graduates the opportunity to work on getting their research published while gaining teaching experience, thus better preparing them for obtaining a faculty position. “I also get to participate in the life of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia without having the heavy teaching load and administrative responsibilities of a new junior faculty member,” Bentz notes, adding she takes advantage of the opportunity to meet visiting scholars and lecturers at Columbia and other institutions in the city.
Bentz’s course at Columbia has been on the books since the 1940s and is required for all undergraduates.“I seem to recall the late Dr. Mauner [distinguished professor emeritus of art history] making reference to it when talking about his own time at Columbia!” she says. The course is a series of case studies covering specific works of art, artist careers or works of architecture that represent each major period in the history of western art. “It is designed to increase non-majors’ visual literacy and appreciation for art. It’s fun to teach; I get to cover subjects I normally don’t in my own research, and I can use the museums around New York as a classroom. The students usually really enjoy it.”
Bentz says it’s rewarding to expose undergraduates to art history. “I think it’s really important for people to develop an appreciation and understanding of the culture in which they live, and art has played such an important role in the history of western culture,” she explains. “Most of the undergraduates I’ve taught will not go on to be art historians, but their appreciation of art can enrich their lives long after they’ve left college. And many of these people will go on to have important roles in politics, in the economic sector and in other fields that can have a direct impact on the art world.”
Being an art historian requires dedication, persistence and a true love for one’s work. It also frequently requires international travel. Bentz has made several research trips to Italy, funded by grants and awards from both Penn State and national organizations. She was the recipient of a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Travel Fellowship in the History of Art, a Fondazione Lemmermann Research Scholarship in Rome and a grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Walter Read Hovey Memorial Fund in Art History, among other awards.
During her final year of doctoral studies, she was a Junior Fellow in Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, the prestigious research library in Washington, D.C. According to her Penn State advisor, Brian Curran, associate professor of art history, Bentz is an “exceptionally gifted and motivated scholar.” “Through her many accomplishments, she has set new standards for the art history department at Penn State. Her work on Roman sculpture gardens is original and important, and I expect great things from her. She is living testimony to how much can be achieved by a young scholar in our program.”
Bentz says she was fortunate to have both great professors and classmates at Penn State, who facilitated her own work and inspired her research interests. “The department was always really supportive in funding my research trips to Italy and to other libraries in the United States, which made completing my dissertation possible. My advisor and committee members were great mentors, always available and willing to lend advice or a listening ear.”
Bentz’s advice for anyone pursuing graduate work in art history is to learn foreign languages.“Learn them early and learn them well. It will make life so much easier in terms of exams and research,” she explains. She also urges students to take advantage of funding opportunities so they can travel and see the art they’re studying. “Nothing can replace first-hand experience with works of art.” She acknowledges that the road to a Ph.D. can be long, hard and sometimes tedious. “Be patient and don’t get discouraged … In the end, the rewards are worth it.”
Class Notes
Architecture
Frank Dittenhafer (’78 B.S.), vice president of York-based Murphy and Dittenhafer Architects, is serving as a director of the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Institute of Architects, representing the 12-county Central Pennsylvania chapter component.
Steve Stept (’86 B.Arch.), a partner at Swatt Architects, recently announced the publication of Swatt Architects: Livable Modern, a book presenting designs that fuse a modernist sensibility with the challenge of California landscapes.
Sally Fishburn (’87 B.S.) has her own company specializing in wooden window restoration, flat and ornamental plaster preservation, and custom architectural millwork in Vermont. She is an historic preservation specialist and recently demonstrated historic wooden window restoration at the Vermont History Expo. Sally has a civil union with her partner, Susannah Morlock, who also works in the business.
Karen (Sherman) Finlan (’88 B.S.) was recently promoted to company headquarters branch manager of Blazosky Associates, Inc., which provides environmental consulting and engineering services in State College.
Andrew Phillips (’88 B.Arch.) and his firm, dommertphillips, recently completed “The River House,” a vacation/retirement home in Galena, Md. His firm has also undertaken an interpretive planning project titled “Delaware Riverfront Greenway.”
Lynn Gaffney (’91 B.Arch.) co-founded the Small Firm Coalition (SFC) in summer 2004. She and colleagues meet to share, compare and support one another’s firms in business and design discourse. The SFC’s intention is to become an active organization within the public realm. Lynn has also been participating as a guest critic for architecture schools in the New York City area.
Kelly Deitman (’95 B.Arch.) became a partner at Thorp Associates, P.C.
Patrick James Hyland Jr. (’97 B.Arch.) taught design studios at Penn State in 2001–02. He graduated from Yale with amaster of architecture degree in May 2004, where he studied with Frank Gehry, Peter Eiseman, Will Bruder, Fred Koetter, Turner Brooks and Robert A.M. Stern. Patrick was named the Yale School of Architecture Meeks Scholar for 2003–04.
Christopher Marcinkoski (’00 B.Arch.) won the 2004 Urban Design Traveling Fellowship from the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) Foundation. He received a $7,500 fellowship to complete his self-determined travel itinerary “to study airport terminals, their explosive growth and their effects on the traditional urban formations and municipalities they were initially deployed to serve.”
Integrative Arts
David Parmelee (’93 B.A.) recently accepted a program manager position with Carter and Burgess, Inc., a nationally recognized architecture, engineering and related services firm located in Washington, D.C. David will be responsible for all technical and financial performance of the Washington, D.C. office’s asset management advisory services consulting efforts.
Heather Wahl Kowalski (’97 B.A.) took the position of registrar at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh last summer after six years as assistant registrar at the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Joel Ward (’98 B.A.), Web developer and technical manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, has co-written a book with two colleagues titled Building Web Sites with Microsoft Content Management Server.
Joe Corr (’03 B.A.) was accepted into the Interactive Design master of fine arts program at the Savannah College of Art and Design with an artistic honors fellowship.
Landscape Architecture
Thomas F. Zarfoss (’65 B.S.) was recently selected for membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects Council of Fellows. Among other accomplishments, Zarfoss directed his firm, Behnke Associates, Inc., in developing Cleveland’s Lakefront State Park Master Plan, one of the first in the nation to encourage public/private partnerships.
Richard Arentz (’86 B.S.) was the Trillium House 2004 Merit Award Winner in the Residential Design Category.
Music
Julie Anne Lechner Florin (’87 B.S. Music Ed.) was musical director and pianist for the North Carolina State University production of Cabaret. Fellow Penn Stater Mark Gloden (’78 B.S. Music Ed.) joined her as a clarinetist in the Kit Kat Klub Orchestra. She and Gloden worked together again on NCSU’s production of Sondheim’s Follies in August 2004. Florin was also the musical director for Raleigh Little Theatre’s Jacque Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. In addition, she was in the 2004 edition of Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who of American Women.
Nick Petrella (’90 B.S. Music Ed.) will be the featured percussion clinician at the American Band College, June 29–30, 2005. The American Band College is housed on the campus of Southern Oregon University in Ashland. More than 200 band directors from throughout the United States are enrolled in this three-year master’s program. Petrella is the president of the Penn State School of Music alumni group.
Stacey (Poorman) Roach (’01 B.M.) earned a master of music degree in bassoon performance at Florida State University. She has performed with the Tallahassee Symphony, the Southeastern Chamber Orchestra and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra. Stacey currently resides with her husband in Salisbury, Md.
Theatre
Charles Lagola (’82 B.A.) is currently the production designer on NBC’s ER.
William Scott Phoenix (’83 B.A., ’86 B.S. Secondary Ed.) and his son, William Jared-James Phoenix, appeared in a public service announcement for the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library’s “Family Storytime” program, which airs every year to promote the annual fundraiser.
Kelly Collins Lintz (’91 B.A.) recently co-starred in The Seavers Return, a made-for-television reunion movie starring the entire cast of Growing Pains, which aired October 16, 2004, on ABC. Kelly also co-starred in Kermit’s Swamp Years, the newest Muppet movie. She has appeared in more than 30 regional and national commercials over the last ten years.
Tom Bruno (’93 M.F.A.) is the head of the theatre program at Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis. He recently played Quince in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream opposite Kurtwood Smith (That 70’s Show), directed by John de Lancie.
Emily Lloyd (’95 B.A.) currently works as the education and outreach manager for the historic Alex Theater in Glendale, Calif. She will be married to television writer Michael Bornhorst in July 2005.
Visual Arts
Ned Wert (’64 M.Ed.) was recognized and honored by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association in October 2004 as past president of PAEA, along with other Penn State art education affiliates Ed Mattil (’53 D.Ed.), Thom Ritenbaugh (’62 B.A.) and Al Anderson (Associate Professor Emeritus of Art Education). Wert was curator for an international invitational art quilt exhibition at the University Museum at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which included 45 invited artists and toured Germany in spring 2005. He staged a major exhibition of large canvases at the Lynden Gallery, Elizabethtown, Pa., in April 2005. He maintains an active studio as a contemporary abstract expressionist painter in Brush Valley, Pa.
Jackie Battenfield’s (’71 B.S. Art Ed.) exhibition titled Hothouse, a show of paintings and works on paper, opened in November 2004 at DMContemporary in Mill Neck, Long Island.
Chet Davis (’73 B.S. Art Ed.) held a one-man art exhibition of 24 figurative paintings at the Haas Gallery at Bloomsburg University in April 2005. Chet also had a show at Lock Haven University’s Sloan Art Center in the spring of 2004 and was part of an American-Dutch invitational group show in Rotterdam in 2002. His recent work can be seen at http:// chetdavis.artspan.com.
David Burton (’73 Ph.D. Art Ed.) was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the National Art Education Association in 2005. He recently assumed the post of director of the NAEA Higher Education Division.
Florence Putterman (’73 M.F.A.) had two exhibitions thispast winter, one at the Walton Art Center called Explorations in Several Media, and one at the Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art Gallery titled Florence Putterman: New Work.
Stanton G. Sears (’76 M.F.A.), along with Andrea Myklebust, recently created a work for the city of St. Louis Park, Minn., titled “The Allegory of Excelsior.” Another work recently unveiled, “Net/Shoe/Glove/Ball/Ball/Ball,” stands on the campus of Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, Minn.
Deborah Hamburger (’77 B.S. Art Ed.) has been teaching art in Allentown, Pa., for 27 years. She has been at Dieruff High School for the past four years and has been the department head for art and music for the past two years. She makes paper, displays her work at The Artisan’s Touch Gallery and recently had a piece accepted to the Botanical Show at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, Pa. Hamburger is also the
current president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Bead Society. Her son now attends Penn State and is majoring in engineering and material sciences.
Mary Stokrocki (’81 Ed.D. Art Ed.) won the 2005 National Art Education Association Lowenfeld Award, which honors an individual who has made significant contributions to art education. During spring 2005, she has been a guest professor at the University of Barcelona and Granada, teaching and conducting research on visual culture. Stokrocki is an NAEA Distinguished Fellow.
David E. Harmon (’82 M.F.A. Painting) was the 2004 visiting artist-in-residence at the Woodstock artist guild in Woodstock, N.Y. Also in 2004, he had a solo exhibition at Northern Indiana Artists Association in Hammond, Ind. In 2003, Harmon was the visiting artist-in-residence at the Jentel Foundation, in Banner, Wyo. He also had a solo exhibition at South Suburban College in Illinois in 2003.
Debra Pae Robey (’87 B.A.) was married in April 2004. An assistant art director at CNN in Atlanta, she illustrated the children’s book, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Nittany Lion.
Lisa Witte Tanguay (’92 B.A.) received her master’s in education from Temple University in 1995 and was employed as an art teacher from 1995 to 2001 in Pennsylvania and Maine. In 2001, Tanguay moved into educational administration (first as an athletic administrator, then assistant principal), having completed certification courses at the University of Southern Maine. She completed her first marathon this past October, the Washington, D.C. Marine Corps Marathon.
Jill Simonsen (’93 B.A.) recently had two exhibitions of her paintings, one in New York City in February 2005 at the Metal Stone Gallery and one in Los Angeles in April 2005. Additionally, a CD she illustrated, designed and art-directed for the band Jealous Sound was accepted in the 2003 Print Regional Design Annual (November 2004).
Mike Fratangelo’s (’01 B.S. Art Ed.) show titled Iraq, Paintings of War opened in November 2004 in the Bella-Arte Gallery in Shadyside, Pa.
Sharon Kaplan (’01 B.S. Art Ed.) received her master’s degree in art education with an emphasis on museum education from the University of Texas at Austin in May 2004. She received a Fulbright scholarship to Italy for the 2004–05 academic year, where she is studying children’s education in museums in Bologna, Florence, Turin and Bergamo.
Mitch Kern (’02 M.F.A.), an assistant professor of art at Louisiana Tech University, completed a three-week residency at the Hungarian Multicultural Center this past summer, and now 24 portraits from that venture are on a cross-country U.S. tour. The center sponsored Kern as one of 45 international artists participating in residencies in Balatonfured, Hungary; more than 500 people applied.
Performing Arts
Kenneth C. Titus (’63 B.S. Science, Blue Band, Glee Club, Concert Blue Band) is a member emeritus of Wolf Trap Performing Artists. He recently performed at the White House and in American Theatre Cavalcade at Wolf Trap Park in Vienna, Va. He has appeared in more than 200 musical theatre productions and most recently performed in Florida.
Fred Haupt (’67 B.S. Business, Phi Mu Alpha) has arranged music for the Philly Pops and arranged the Philadelphia Eagles fight song, which was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Haupt also provided music for former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge’s first inauguration ball and has provided music for many of the recent opening night parties for the Philadelphia Orchestra. This is his 33rd year in the music business.
