College of the Liberal Arts celebrates 13 honorees at 2026 alumni awards dinner

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thirteen members of the Penn State College of the Liberal Arts family were honored during the college's annual alumni awards ceremony on Thursday, April 16, at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.

The event included awards sponsored by the college’s Alumni Society Board as well as awards sponsored by the college. Randy Wussler, president of the Alumni Society Board; Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts; and Debbie Hawhee, acting associate dean for research and graduate studies, presented the awards. Hawhee served as the evening’s emcee.

This year’s honorees included:

Justin Pelsinger, Penn State class of 2010 (political science, philosophy), received the Outstanding Liberal Arts Alumni in Business Award. Pelsinger is a partner and chief operating officer at Charney Companies, one of New York City’s most active and design-forward development firms. He provides direct oversight of all operating verticals — development, general contracting, property management, and brokerage — and has managed more than three million square feet of residential and commercial space.

Recognized as one of Crain’s 2023 Notable Leaders in Real Estate, Pelsinger is a frequent industry contributor and guest lecturer at NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate. He continues to serve the university on the Smeal College of Business Real Estate Advisory Board.

Keith Karako, Penn State class of 1976 (finance), received the Chaiken Leadership Award. Since re-engaging with Penn State in the mid-1990s, Karako has focused on helping students earn their degrees, minimize financial costs, and gain resume-building experiences that prepare them for careers or advanced study.

Karako built a 40-year career in finance, spending 37 of those years with Citibank across five cities and eight departments. He retired in 2016 as a managing director and head of Global Trade Finance, where he oversaw a portfolio exceeding $115 billion. For more than 12 years, he represented a nongovernmental organization at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

William “Bill” DeGrandis, Penn State class of 1977 (political science), received the Outstanding Liberal Arts Alumni Award. DeGrandis is an attorney with more than 44 years of experience in energy industry matters. Before retiring in January 2025, he spent 38 years at Paul Hastings, a global law firm, where he served as a partner in the Energy/Infrastructure Group and led the firm’s Energy Regulatory Team. Following retirement, he founded his own consulting firm and serves as chief regulatory advisor to Grid Reform.

DeGrandis graduated with highest distinction and earned a juris doctor from the UCLA School of Law, where he served as comments editor of the UCLA Law Review. He and his wife, Monica, have established a program fund supporting professorships in the College of the Liberal Arts.

William “Bill” Oliver and Juleesa Jolley-Whitby were both recognized with the Honorary Liberal Arts Alumni Award, which is presented to individuals who, though not graduates of the college, have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to its mission.

Oliver, a 1967 graduate of Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, retired as president and chief executive officer of Oliver Sprinkler Company in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, after 38 years leading the firm — the largest fire protection contractor in the Philadelphia area.

Together with his wife, Donna Oliver (psychology, 1967), he is a dedicated supporter of both the College of the Liberal Arts and the Smeal College of Business, contributing through scholarships, estate commitments, and support for the Paterno Fellows Program. In 2023, the Olivers received the Chaiken Leadership Award.

Jolley-Whitby found her way to the College of the Liberal Arts through her wife, Dionne Whitby, who graduated in 2011 in international politics, and was the college’s 2025 Outstanding Young Liberal Arts Alumni Award recipient. Jolley-Whitby is an architect at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she designs interior spaces and laboratories supporting the agency’s flagship science missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Artemis program. She also leads the renovation and consolidation of more than one million square feet of laboratory space as part of NASA’s strategic facilities planning.

Prior to NASA, Jolley-Whitby designed government spaces for the State Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and national security agencies. A U.S. Army veteran and former staff sergeant who served in Afghanistan, she has since found a new academic home in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.

William “Dexter” Fowler, Penn State class of 2024 (organizational and professional communication), received the World Campus Alumni Award. A Major League Baseball All-Star, Fowler built a 14-year career distinguished by a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and a World Series championship with the Chicago Cubs. Since retiring from professional baseball, he has remained a visible presence in sports media as a presenter for NBC.

Beyond broadcasting, Fowler has established himself as an entrepreneur, co-founding Fowlball Productions, a media company, and 400 Ventures, a talent management firm specializing in entertainment, sports, and brand partnerships. He also serves as an ambassador for the American Red Cross. Named student marshal for his major, Fowler fulfilled a promise made years earlier when his father negotiated the cost of a college education into his first baseball contract.

Adriana Lacy, Penn State class of 2018 (African American studies), received the Outstanding Young Liberal Arts Alumni Award. Lacy is the chief executive officer of Field Nine Group, a portfolio company encompassing strategic communications, creator-newsroom partnerships, design, and software products. She has built a career at the intersection of media, technology, and entrepreneurship, with experience at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Axios.

A Forbes "30 Under 30" honoree, Lacy is an internationally recognized speaker and also teaches at Brandeis University, where her courses include AI in journalism. She holds a master’s degree in digital audience strategy from Arizona State University. She is based in Boston.

Adam Taliaferro, Penn State class of 2005 (labor and industrial relations), received the Service to Society Award. Taliaferro is director of State and Community Engagement at Johnson & Johnson, where he leads initiatives at the intersection of healthcare access, advocacy, and community partnership. He brings more than a decade of pharmaceutical industry experience to the role, including 11 years at Bristol Myers Squibb.

A former New Jersey state assemblyman representing the Third Legislative District from 2015 to 2022, Taliaferro chaired the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee and championed legislation affecting public safety, emergency services, and criminal justice. He is also the founder of Stately Lion, an apparel brand celebrating individuals making a positive impact in their communities. He holds a juris doctor from Rutgers Law School.

Sawyer Welham Caruso, Penn State undergraduate class of 2014, graduate class of 2020 (labor and employment relations; psychology of leadership), received the Christopher B. Gamble Service to Penn State Award. Caruso is director of people at Nooks, an AI-powered sales platform, where she leads talent strategy and organizational development. Previously, she held people leadership roles at Toffler Associates, Mytaverse, and MorganFranklin Consulting.

Caruso holds SHRM-SCP certification and remains engaged with the Penn State community as an Emerging Alumni Leader, mentor, and mock interviewer. She lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Serenity Myers, Penn State class of 2026 (political science, African American studies), and Norma Lourdevine Sannon, Penn State class of 2027 (global and international studies, international affairs), both received the Christopher B. Gamble Undergraduate Service to Penn State Award.

Myers, a first-generation college student and Chaiken Scholar, is graduating from Penn State in May 2026. She has served as president of BLK Elites Dance Company, membership and alumni relations chair for BLUEprint Peer Mentoring, and corresponding secretary for the Epsilon Gamma Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

A Philadelphia native, Myers gained experience through internships in the offices of Senator Vincent Hughes and Congressman Dwight Evans. She has also mentored students and developed programs connecting peers to leadership opportunities and university resources.

Sannon, born and raised in Haiti and now based in Philadelphia, is pursuing her degrees through Penn State’s integrated undergraduate-graduate program, with an expected graduation in May 2027.

A Bunton-Waller Merit Scholarship recipient and Penn State Scholar of Excellence, Sannon serves as a University Park Undergraduate Association student body representative for the Black Caucus, a peer mentor, a teaching assistant for the DC Social Justice Fellowship, a research assistant at the Center for Black Digital Research, an intern at the Palmer Museum of Art, and sergeant-at-arms for the Delta Gamma Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Jill Davis and Ted Toadvine were both recognized with the Welch Alumni Relations Award, named in memory of Susan Welch, who served as the college’s dean for nearly three decades. The award recognizes a faculty or staff member who has contributed significantly to strengthening the connection between the college and its alumni.

Davis joined Penn State in November 2021 as an event planner for the dean’s office in the College of the Liberal Arts, a role she continues to hold today. She coordinates large-scale events for the college, including the dean’s monthly meetings, receptions, all-faculty and staff meetings, award banquets, and social gatherings, managing all aspects of event planning from start to finish.

Before joining Penn State, Davis spent six years in Pittsburgh working in higher education, holding roles in admissions, career services, and student services. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

Toadvine is professor of philosophy and Nancy Tuana Director of the Rock Ethics Institute, which pursues a university-wide mission to promote engaged ethics research and ethical leadership. He has published more than 50 journal articles and book chapters and has authored, edited, or translated nine books, including "The Memory of the World: Deep Time, Animality, and Eschatology" (University of Minnesota Press, 2024).

Toadvine specializes in environmental philosophy and contemporary European philosophy and is leading a Mellon Foundation–funded project on cultural preservation and environmental justice in partnership with the community of Africatown, Alabama. He joined Penn State in 2017 after holding faculty positions in Oregon, Kansas, Michigan and Florida.

Additional information about these college-level awards, and names of recipients of alumni awards bestowed by several of the college’s departments, centers and institutes, can be found in the Alumni Honorees section of the college's website.