UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Arts and Architecture will honor its 2026 Alumni Award recipients at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1, at the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, located at 146 S. Allen Street in State College. The ceremony will be followed by a reception in the Woskob Family Gallery.
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. In 2025, the college added the GOLD (graduate of the last decade) Award to recognize outstanding achievements and contributions of alumni who have graduated from the college within the last 10 years.
This year’s recipients are: Caitlin Daley, 2010 bachelor of architecture in architecture; Kimberly Henrikson, 1998 bachelor of arts in art history; Christopher Rizzo, 2010 bachelor of design in graphic design; Renee Anderko, 2010 bachelor of arts in integrative arts; Jingpeng Gu, 2003 master of landscape architecture in landscape architecture; Albert Frantz, 1998 bachelor of music in music; Robert Schneider, 2009 master of fine arts in theatre; Hayon Park, 2016 master of science in science, 2019 doctorate in at education (posthumously); and Mafer Guglielmina, 2020 master of music (GOLD Award).
Architecture
Caitlin Daley, who graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of architecture degree, is president of BKP Architects in Philadelphia. She joined the firm in 2010, was named principal in 2020, and became president and majority owner in 2024.
Daley deeply values the collaborative nature of architecture and welcomes coordination and cooperation with all members of a project team, from clients and users to engineers, consultants, and contractors. Concept-oriented and skilled at resolving complex challenges, Daley works closely with clients to ensure design solutions achieve their goals and vision. Daley holds National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) certification and is a registered architect in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. She has authored several industry articles, presented at the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) Regional Conference, and served as a juror for industry awards. Daley is a past volunteer with the ACE Mentor Program and the Community Design Collaborative. In 2022, she earned recognition on the Engineering News-Record (ENR) MidAtlantic Top Young Professionals list.
Outside of her professional responsibilities, Daley has had longtime involvement with the Philadelphia Falcons Soccer Club, as the organization’s president in 2018, as a board member, and as tournament co-chair in 2019. She’s currently both a team captain and player.
Art History
Kimberly Henrikson, who graduated in 1998 with a bachelor of arts degree in art history, is the executive director of the Center for Contemporary Printmaking (CCP), where she is celebrating her 10th year leading the 31-year-old nonprofit arts organization in Norwalk, Connecticut. With more than 25 years of experience spanning the nonprofit, museum, and fine art printmaking communities, she has built a career at the intersection of arts leadership, technology, and cultural engagement.
Before joining CCP, Henrikson founded Yvonne Brandt Art Advisory and previously managed a team at Artstor, the nonprofit digital image library serving higher education institutions and museums worldwide. Her professional background also includes leadership and management roles with organizations such as Yahoo, HotJobs.com, a New York fashion design house, and a Manhattan art gallery.
An active advocate for the arts, Henrikson serves on the board of directors of the Print Club of New York, chairs the national advisory council for the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State, and is a member of the advisory board of the Norwalk Art Space. She completed graduate coursework in art history at Hunter College.
Graphic Design
Chris Rizzo, who graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of design in graphic design, began his career at Actual Size Creative in Pittsburgh. In New York City, he first worked in hospitality branding at Avroko and Brand Bureau, learning the value of holistic design thinking. At studios including Aruliden, Established NYC, Doyle Partners, JKR, Safari Sundays, The Collected Works, and Siegel + Gale, he expanded his practice into beauty, food and beverage, and lifestyle. In 2018, Rizzo returned to hospitality at Goodrich, where he is now creative director of Brand. His clients have included Union Square Hospitality Group, Marriott, Shinola, The Ritz-Carlton, Momofuku, Heineken, Anheuser-Busch, Live Nation, BMW, The New York Islanders, and Bombay Sapphire, among others.
His work has earned numerous awards, including recognition from Pentawards, Restaurant and Bar Design, ID Best of Year, Hospitality Design, Graphic Design USA, Muse Design, Red Dot, NEWH, FiFi Awards, and Gold Key Awards. In 2024, Goodrich was named Designer of the Year by Boutique Design Magazine. While at Penn State, he was a five-year member of the Blue Band.
Integrative Arts
Renee Anderko, who earned a bachelor of arts degree in integrative arts in 2010, is a research assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, where she directs a research program at the intersection of translational oncology, tumor immunology, and stromal biology. After graduating from Penn State, she obtained her doctoral degree in infectious diseases and microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied memory-like NK cell populations and their crosstalk with dendritic cells in chronic HIV-1 infection under Robbie Mailliard. During her postdoctoral fellowship Amer Zureikat, she built a patient-derived organoid platform for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), establishing it as a clinically viable tool for predicting chemotherapy response and evaluating cell-based immunotherapies, including tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte and CAR T cell strategies.
Her journey to research began with an interdisciplinary education in which she combined dance and science through an Integrative Arts degree, followed by an early career in dance, teaching and nonprofit work. A chance encounter with an article about a Columbia University virologist who, like Anderko, had a background in dance reignited a curiosity she could no longer ignore and ultimately led her to pursue graduate education in science.
Her current work extends this system to model the stromal-epithelial interface driving treatment resistance in PDAC. Anderko's contributions have been recognized with several national awards, including the Pancreas Club/Nikki Mitchell Foundation Promising Women in Pancreatic Cancer Research Award.
Landscape Architecture
Jingpeng Gu, PLA, who earned a master of landscape architecture degree in 2003, joined Mahan Rykiel Associates soon after graduation and has served as president since 2018, advancing design excellence across parks, urban design, mixed-use, housing, hospitality, streetscapes, and corporate landscapes. With dual degrees in architecture (Tsinghua University) and landscape architecture, Gu brings a distinctive perspective to the relationship between buildings, landscapes, people, and nature. Throughout her 23-year career, Gu has led numerous award-winning projects that strengthen communities and create meaningful connections to the natural environment. Her work reflects her belief that landscape architecture is not simply about shaping space, but about fostering lasting relationships between people and place.
Music
Albert Frantz, who earned a bachelor of music degree in 2018, discovered classical music and his musical talent at the unusual age of 17. Now a Bösendorfer Artist based in Vienna, he earned his degree in piano performance at Penn State under the tutelage of Steven Herbert Smith. He subsequently received a Fulbright Fellowship to Austria, where he was mentored by legendary pianist Paul Badura-Skoda.
Frantz’s debut album, devoted to the music of Charles-Valentin Alkan, was nominated by the jury of the German Record Critics’ Award for best piano album of the quarter. His unconventional journey has been the subject of a short documentary and a worldwide Toastmaster magazine cover story.
An advocate for children’s rights, he has presented at venues ranging from the Austrian Parliament to Cambridge University and the United Nations in Geneva. For World Children’s Day 2025, he performed the inaugural Concert for Children’s Rights together with the Vienna Boys’ Choir and Vienna Girls’ Choir at Vienna’s City Hall.
As an educator and software developer, Frantz founded Key-Notes, a platform for learning piano and musicianship. He is also an Ironman triathlete and a frequent contributor to the TEDx platform as both speaker and performing artist.
In 2026, he made his Golden Hall debut in Vienna’s Musikverein, performing Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto.
Theatre
Robert W. Schneider, who earned a master of fine arts degree in theatre in 2009, is an acclaimed theatre historian, producer, director, educator, author, and cultural advocate whose work has made a lasting impact on the preservation, celebration, and advancement of musical theatre, focusing on the history of queer artists. He has built a distinguished career devoted to championing theatrical artists, expanding public access to theatre history, and creating meaningful bridges between past and present generations of performers, scholars, and audiences, utilizing Penn State students and alumni throughout.
As artistic director of the award-winning off-Broadway company J2 Spotlight, Schneider has collaborated with such artists as Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), John Kander (Chicago), Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Anastasia) on celebrated revivals of their works. In addition, he serves as a producer at the Tony Award winning 54 Below, where he has collaborated with Stephen Sondheim, Joe Iconis, Sheldon Harnick, Audra McDonald, Lewis Black, Andre DeShields, and many more, having racked up more than 200 concerts and cabarets, many for non-profit institutions.
Known for his deep knowledge of the American musical theatre and his passionate commitment to storytelling, Schneider has contributed to the theatre world through producing, writing, directing, podcasting, archival work, and educational initiatives. His projects, including the acclaimed book “Queer Musicals” (Oxford Press/Methuen Drama) and podcast “Behind the Curtain: Broadway’s Living Legends,” have elevated the voices of Broadway stars, emerging artists, and overlooked theatrical innovators, helping ensure that vital chapters of stage history remain visible, accessible, and alive.
Visual Arts
Hayon Park, who is receiving the Alumni Award posthumously, earned master of science (2016) and doctoral (2019) degrees in art education at Penn State. Her scholarship centered on early childhood art education, relational pedagogy, and culturally responsive teaching, with a particular commitment to creating more thoughtful and emancipatory spaces for children’s artistic voices. She authored “Rancière and Emancipatory Art Pedagogies: The Politics of Childhood Art: and co-edited “Visual Arts with Young Children: Practices, Pedagogies, and Learning.” A beloved scholar, educator, mentor, and colleague, she was deeply committed to children and the field of art education, as well as to building scholarly and professional communities. She co-founded the Center for the Study of Childhood Art, co-led the Childhood Art Speaker Series and podcast, and served in national leadership roles in the National Art Education Association, including president of the Early Childhood Art Educators Interest Group. Her lasting legacy is found not only in her scholarship, but also in the relationships, conversations, and communities she nurtured.
GOLD Award
Peruvian flutist Mafer Guglielmina, who earned a master of music degree in 2020, is the recipient of the college’s Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award. She is assistant professor of flute at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and holds the position of principal flute in the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. A versatile and sought-after performer and educator, she has most recently been a featured guest artist at the New Mexico Flute Association Flute Day, the Festival Internacional de Flautistas in Lima, Perú, and the National Flute Association conventions in Atlanta and Portland.
An advocate of performance and research of Latin American music, her latest published essay, "’Miami Flute Suite’ by Miguel del Aguila: A Musical and Cultural Study,” features an analysis of the elements of Brazilian choro, Latin jazz, tango, and Uruguayan milonga, as well as an interview with the composer himself.
In 2024, she created the annual UTEP Flute Festival, a free community event where flutists from all ages and levels in El Paso come to campus to experience flute workshops, clinics, competitions, ensembles, and guest artist masterclasses and recitals. She is now serving on the National Flute Association’s (NFA) Career and Artistic Development Committee and has just recently been voted to become assistant secretary and a member of the NFA Board of Directors.
In addition to her Penn Stage degree, Guglielmina holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and a bachelor of music degree from Western Michigan University. She is proud to be a Wm. S. Haynes Young Artist.