Alumni

Renaissance Fund Honorees

Couple recognized with scholarship fund endowment for "significant impact" in the Penn State and Centre County communities. 
Robyn Rydzy '95 Com

SoVA, So Good: Joelle Dietrick

What it lacks in big-city buzz, Penn State’s School of Visual Arts more than makes up for with engaged faculty, talented students, a supportive culture, and a track record of producing acclaimed, innovative artists—like Joelle Dietrick ’96 A&A, whose art lives at the intersection of creation and technology and is scheduled for a solo exhibition in Brooklyn next year.
Ryan Jones '95 Com

SoVA, So Good: Barbara Campbell Thomas

What it lacks in big-city buzz, Penn State’s School of Visual Arts more than makes up for with engaged faculty, talented students, a supportive culture, and a track record of producing acclaimed, innovative artists—like Barbara Campbell Thomas ’98 A&A, who is brimming with ideas for integrating facets of quilting in her abstract painting.
Ryan Jones '95 Com

SoVA, So Good: Brian Alfred

What it lacks in big-city buzz, Penn State’s School of Visual Arts more than makes up for with engaged faculty, talented students, a supportive culture, and a track record of producing acclaimed, innovative artists. We asked five SoVA alums to share their work, and the inspiration behind it.
Ryan Jones '95 Com

A Red Carpet Homecoming

A highlight of the fourth annual Centre Film Festival, kicking off next week in State College and Philipsburg, Pa., is the return to Happy Valley of Stan Lathan, who will be honored for a visionary 50-year career as a director, producer, and Hollywood trailblazer.
Savita Iyer

The Role(s) of His Life

Patrick Fabian quietly built a 30-year Hollywood career by being the right guy for all sorts of jobs. As Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul, he finally found the one that let him shine.
Ryan Jones '95 Com

Broad View

Purple Lizard Maps helps locals and visitors plot their next adventure.
Jeff Rice '03 Com

Rockin' on Broadway

Dena Tauriello spent 20 years touring the world in the all-female rock band Antigone Rising. The New Jersey native stays closer to home in her latest gig: playing drums in the Broadway production of Hamilton.
Savita Iyer

Safely Satisfying the Need for Speed

The successful launch this season of NASCAR’s revolutionary Next Gen car marked a great leap forward for the sport—and a huge success for the two Penn Staters charged with ensuring the new car is fun, fast, and safer than ever.
Matt Crossman

The Best of Friends

From dorm assignments to teammates to physical and virtual classrooms, readers share the many ways their college friendships began—and how they've endured well beyond their days at Dear Old State.
Robyn Passante '95 Com

A Practice of Human Kindness

When the AIDS crisis erupted in Utah in the early 1980s, Kristen Ries was the only doctor in the state willing to care for HIV-positive patients. Four decades later, her efforts resonate in the lives she saved, and in the stories of people she cared for when no one else would.
Savita Iyer

No Stone Unturned

Haunted by memories of life under the Taliban regime, World Campus alum Anisa Sadat is doing all she can to get her family out of Kabul and to the U.S.
Savita Iyer

Sisters in Song

Their careers have barely started, but Penn State musical theatre alums Talia and Becca Suskauer are already making their marks with big roles in national Broadway touring companies.
Cristina Rouvalis

Earned Perspective

We brought together four Penn Staters who served in Afghanistan to discuss their military experience, their thoughts on the U.S. withdrawal, and the lessons learned from America’s longest war.
Robyn Passante '95 Com