UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Gabriella Heidorn has been selected as the College of Arts and Architecture’s student marshal for the summer 2026 commencement ceremony scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 15 at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Heidorn, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, will receive a bachelor of arts degree in art history with a minor in French and Francophone studies, and a museum studies certificate. She completed her degree program in seven semesters while making the dean’s list each semester respectively.
“I have put a lot of time and effort into my studies at Penn State and still can’t believe I was chosen to represent the college I love so much,” Heidorn said. “It makes me feel very validated in my dedication to my degree in art history and with the college itself, as I have challenged myself numerous times and took risks that have truly paid off.”
While at Penn State, Heidorn was the recipient of the Valley Family Scholarship, the Max and Shirley Kogan Museum Experience Fund and the Rising Star Award for French and Francophone Studies. She was also a Golumbic Scholarship nominee.
Heidorn was an active member in the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority serving as its THON family relations chair during her final year and as the assistant family relations chair during her second year.
A pediatric cancer survivor herself, Heidorn represented Sigma Sigma Sigma as a dancer during THON 2026. The experience, she said, was the most memorable during her time at Penn State.
“It was incredible to see the community that Penn State builds to help children and families suffering from childhood cancer while also having a whole university and my closest friends in the stands supporting me to keep dancing,” Heidorn said. “I also was able to speak on stage during Greek hour with my family present, and it was a wonderful way to share what Penn State and THON means to me with the entire Bryce Jordan Center.”
During her pursuit of an academic degree, she was an active undergraduate researcher collaborating on “Through Different Eyes: Industrial Worlds by Women Artists,” an exhibition examining women artists’ interpretations of Pennsylvanian industrial life in the early 20th century, and “When do Morals Surpass Beauty?”, an original undergraduate research project using primary sources to explore the societal responses to the pigment “mummy brown” in 19th and early 20th-century art.
Heidorn held internships at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State and Paris by Rola, a women-owned tourism and guiding business based in Paris, France.
After graduation, Heidorn will work during the 2026-27 academic year as an advanced level intern in the Curatorial Office of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. under the direction of the assistant curator for photography and the McEvoy family senior curator for photography. Her goal is to become a curator that shares stories of untold American lives through art while earning a doctoral degree in art history.