Alumni of the College of the Liberal Arts are often recognized by their departments, the college, or the University for their contributions and achievements.
Know someone who would be a good candidate for an alumni award? Learn more about the award criteria and previous winners below, and then email Ellen Konkle, associate director of alumni relations, at eck110@psu.edu.
Unit Honorees
Each year, many departments, centers, and institutes in the College of the Liberal Arts honor outstanding alumni and others who have made significant contributions to the college, the University, business, and society. Here are the 2026 honorees.
Matthew Rice ‘03 (Posthumous)
Outstanding Alumni Award: Jennifer Hendrickson ‘07
Outstanding Early Career Achievement: Matthew Howland ‘12
Outstanding Alumni Award: Takeem Morgan ’05,‘15g
Outstanding Academic Alumni Award: Angela Brosnan Ryan ‘11
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Lindsey Aloia, Ph.D. ‘13
Outstanding Alumni Award: Patricia Coryell ‘79, ‘84g
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Kate Springer ‘09
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Jack Mayerhoffer ‘10
Outstanding Alumni Award: Felix Friedman ‘95
Outstanding Early Career Achievement: Will Baumgardner ‘22
Outstanding Early Career Achievement: Chloe Parker ‘14
Outstanding Alumni Award: Charlene Binder ‘82
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Emily Sutton ‘14
Outstanding Alumni Award: Amy J. Elias ’86, Ph.D. ‘91
Outstanding Alumni Award: Robin Hoecker ‘02
Outstanding Alumni Award: Michael Piwowar ‘90, Ph.D. ‘98
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Rachel White ‘14
Outstanding Public Service Award: Erin Wieczorek ‘01
Outstanding Alumni Award: Elizabeth Stormshak ’92, Ph.D.‘95
Outstanding Early Career Achievement Award: Timothy Kundro ‘16
Outstanding Criminology Alumni Award: Chris Dobbins ‘06
Outstanding Sociology Alumni Award: Lina Dostilio ‘00
Outstanding Alumni Award: Lauren Spiropoulos ‘08
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Nicole Kruse ‘23
Honorary Alumnx Award: Carolyn Sachs
Emerging Feminist Leader Award: Rosario Castro, Ph.D. ‘17
Department of Communication Arts and Sciences
Outstanding Early Career Alumni Award: Leah Triola ’09
Outstanding Alumni Award: Joe Pullizzi ’97
Department of English
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Jessica DeVore ’15
Outstanding Alumni Award: Cathey McClain Finlon ’71
Department of French and Francophone Studies
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Akam Lawson ’17
Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures
Outstanding Alumni Award: Carolyn Mudrinich Weiss ’81
Department of History
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Colleen Smith ’12
Outstanding Alumni Award: Elizabeth Covart ’03
Department of Philosophy
Outstanding Alumni Award: Ryan Suto ’08
Outstanding Alumni Award: Adam Yenser ’05
Department of Political Science
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Joshua Brady Branch ’13
Public Service Award: Seth Miller ’01
Outstanding Alumni Award: Mary Ann Danowitz ’69
Department of Psychology
Outstanding Alumni Award: Melissa Rowe ’89
Outstanding Alumni Award: Deborah Beidel ’76
Outstanding Early Career Award: Becky Brooker M.S. ’08, Ph.D. ’11
Outstanding Early Career Award: James Boswell M.S. ’06, Ph.D. ’11
Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
Outstanding Alumni Award: Amy Happ ’94
Outstanding Alumni Award: Gary McMillen ’12
College Honorees
Each spring, the College of the Liberal Arts hosts a ceremony honoring outstanding alumni and friends who have made significant contributions to the college, the University, business, and society. Several awards are sponsored by the Liberal Arts Alumni Society Board of Directors, and others are sponsored by the college. Here are the 2026 honorees.
Alumni Society Board Awardees
Originally established in 1987, this award was retitled in 2021 to reflect the service of former manager of alumni relations for the College of the Liberal Arts, Chris Gamble, and his contributions to the College. The award recognizes Liberal Arts alumni who have made significant contributions of time and talent to the College and/or University. Nominees’ contributions are judged on the basis of demonstrated commitment and dedication to enhancing the objectives of the College and/or the University.
Sawyer Welham Caruso
Labor and Employment Relations, Psychology of Leadership ǀ Class of ’14, ’20g
Sawyer Caruso is a transformative people leader and proud Penn State alumna with more than a decade of experience building high-performing, people-first organizations. She currently serves as director of people at Nooks, an AI-powered sales platform, where she leads talent strategy and organizational development in support of the company’s rapid national growth. Previously, Caruso held leadership roles at advisory and professional services firms including Toffler Associates, Mytaverse, and MorganFranklin Consulting, driving people strategies that enable business performance and scale.
A two-time Penn State graduate, Caruso earned her bachelor’s degree in labor and employment relations and a master’s degree in psychology of leadership. She holds SHRM-SCP certification and remains actively engaged with the Penn State community as an Emerging Alumni Leader, mentor, and mock interviewer. Passionate about empowering people and shaping the future of work, Caruso lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and daughter.
Past Award Winners
2025: Linda Belfus ’70
2024: Mike Wagner ’95
2023: Kelly Gibson Caplan ’91
2022: Randy Houston ’91
2020: Ernest Janssen ’65
The Christopher B. Gamble Service to Penn State Award was established in 2021 to recognize a Liberal Arts undergraduate who has made significant contributions of time and talent to the College and/or University.
Serenity Myers
Political Science, African American Studies ǀ Class of 2026
Serenity Myers, a first-generation college student and Chaiken Scholar, is graduating from Penn State in May 2026 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and African American studies. She is passionate about leadership, policy, and civic engagement, reflected in her roles 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., where she works to build inclusive communities to support her peers.
A Philadelphia native, Myers gained experience through internships in the offices of Senator Vincent Hughes and Congressman Dwight Evans, assisting with constituent engagement and community outreach. She has also mentored students and developed programs connecting peers to leadership opportunities and university resources. Through her studies, internships, and leadership, Myers has combined her interests in the arts and advocacy with a commitment to mentorship and service at Penn State.
Norma Sannon
Global and International Studies, International Affairs ǀ Class of 2027
Norma Lourdevine Sannon was born and raised in Haiti and now calls Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, home. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Global and International Studies with a concentration in Human Rights and a Master of Arts in International Affairs through Penn State’s integrated undergraduate-graduate program, with an expected graduation in May 2027. She also holds a minor in Civic and Community Engagement.
A Bunton-Waller Merit Scholarship recipient and Penn State Scholar of Excellence, Sannon brings her academic commitments to life through extensive campus engagement. She 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.
Past Award Winners
2025: Cameryn Allen ’25
2024: Ima Bazan ’24
2023: Janiyah Davis ’23
2022: Casey Sennett ’23
The Outstanding Young Liberal Arts Alumni Award was established in 2009 to recognize young Liberal Arts alumni for extraordinary professional accomplishments and their success and influence as leaders.
Adriana Lacy
Journalism, African American Studies ǀ Class of 2018
Adriana Lacy is the chief executive officer of Field Nine Group, a portfolio company encompassing strategic communications, creator-newsroom partnerships, design, and software products. She holds a master’s degree in digital audience strategy from Arizona State University, along with bachelor’s degrees from Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications (journalism) and the College of the Liberal Arts (African American studies).
Lacy 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, she is an internationally recognized speaker who has presented at the Saudi Media Forum, WAN-IFRA World Congress, Sciences Po, and the Online News Association conference, among others. She also teaches at Brandeis University, where her courses include AI in Journalism. Lacy is based in Boston.
Past Award Winners
2025: Dionne Whitby ’11
2024: Stephanie Yoon ’08
2023: Josh Korn ’12
2022: Julius Halstead ’16
2021: Whitney Stringer ’11
2020: Brenna Hassinger-Das ’05
The Service to Society Award recognizes Liberal Arts alumni whose contributions have served to enhance the quality of life at the local, state, national, or international level. The contribution to society should be humanistic, have social goals consistent with the liberal arts tradition, and be outside the academic community or beyond the person’s professional or vocational achievement. The award was established in 1975.
Adam Taliaferro
Labor and Industrial Relations ǀ Class of 2005
Adam 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 eleven years at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he advanced from healthcare alliance liaison to director of Strategic Alliances, developing patient advocacy strategies and shaping state and federal market access policy.
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.
Taliaferro holds a Bachelor of Science in Labor and Industrial Relations from Penn State and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School.
Past Award Winners
2025: Delore Zimmerman ’86
2024: Sara Woods ’96
2023: Evita Salles ’03
2022: Gary Gregory ’86
2020: Larry Seamans ’85
The Welch Alumni Relations Award, established in 2002, recognizes faculty and staff of the College of the Liberal Arts who make significant contributions to enhance connections with alumni at the department, college, or interdisciplinary level. The award was named for and first awarded to Dean Susan Welch, who set the standard for faculty involvement with alumni, by which all will be measured in the future.
Jill Davis
Jill Davis graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in public relations. Following graduation, she spent six years in Pittsburgh working in higher education, holding roles in admissions, career services and student services.
In November 2021, Davis joined Penn State 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. Jill manages all aspects of event planning from start to finish, including invitation design and distribution, room scheduling, program and agenda development, script preparation and on-site technical support. In addition to her event planning responsibilities, she plays a key role in supporting the day-to-day operations of the dean’s office.
Ted Toadvine
Ted 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. A native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, he studied at Salisbury University, Temple University, and the University of Memphis. Before joining Penn State in 2017, he held faculty positions in Oregon, Kansas, Michigan, and Florida.
Toadvine specializes in environmental philosophy and contemporary European philosophy. He has published more than fifty 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). His work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, and Turkish. He serves as editor of the Springer International Publishing series, Contributions to Phenomenology, and is leading a Mellon Foundation–funded project on cultural preservation and environmental justice in partnership with the community of Africatown, Alabama.
Past Award Winners
2025: Jeff Lieb ’88
2024: Marc Kepler
2023: Lee Ann Banaszak
2022: Liberal Arts Career Enrichment Network Staff
2020: Denise Haunani Solomon and Kevin Conaway
College of the Liberal Arts Awardees
Established in 2013, the Chaiken Leadership Award honors alumni and friends whose volunteer service has helped the College of the Liberal Arts achieve its philanthropic goals.
Keith Karako
Finance ǀ Class of 1976
Since re-engaging with Penn State in the mid-1990s, Keith 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 is a 1976 graduate of the Smeal College of Business with a major in finance and a minor in economics. After graduating, he 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 global head of Global Trade Finance, where he also served as in-business risk officer for the Global Trade Business, overseeing a portfolio exceeding $115 billion. For more than 12 years, he represented an NGO at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.
Karoko and his wife, Janelle, along with their two Boston Terriers, divide their time between State College and Charleston, South Carolina. He serves on multiple for-profit and nonprofit boards.
Past Award Winners
2024: Dick Hayes ’68
2024: Jim Newell
2023: Donna and Bill Oliver
2022: Susan Welch
2020: Hal and Sandy Rosenberg
Established in 1999, the Outstanding Liberal Arts Alumni Award recognizes Liberal Arts alumni for success and influence as leaders. In addition to their significant career success, honorees must serve as outstanding role models for current Liberal Arts students.
William “Bill” DeGrandis
Political Science ǀ Class of 1977
Bill DeGrandis is an attorney with more than four decades of experience in energy industry matters. Before retiring in January 2025, he practiced for over thirty-eight years at Paul Hastings, a global law firm, where he was a partner and led the firm’s Energy Regulatory Team. There he worked on regulatory and transactional issues involving renewable and non-renewable generation, electric storage, transmission, and data center projects. After retirement, DeGrandis founded Great Falls Energy Consulting, LLC, and serves as chief regulatory advisor to Grid Reform, a start-up focused on large data center development. In recent years, he secured Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals for transactions valued at over $24 billion.
DeGrandis earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Penn State (1977, with highest distinction) and a JD from the UCLA School of Law (1980). He and his wife, Monica, established funds supporting professorships and scholarships in the College of the Liberal Arts. He received the college’s Outstanding Service to Society Award in 2019 and was recognized as an Outstanding Alum of Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity—Kappa Chapter in 2014 and received the chapter’s Lifetime Achievement Award in March 2026.
Past Award Winners
2025: Ernie Janssen ’65
2024: Melissa Rowe ’89
2023: Debbie Montick ’80
2022: Matt Rhule ’97
2021: John Taylor ’87
2020: James Antoniono ’71 and Elizabeth King ’79
The Outstanding Liberal Arts Alumni in Business Award was established in 2009 to recognize Penn State Liberal Arts alumni for demonstrated success in the business community and influence as leaders.
Justin Pelsinger
Political Science, Philosophy ǀ Class of 2010
Justin 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. He is currently overseeing a $2 billion pipeline of three thousand apartments, including the transformative Gowanus Wharf campus.
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. A graduate of Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts, he credits his multidisciplinary foundation for his holistic approach to urban development. He continues to serve the university on the Smeal College of Business Real Estate Advisory Board and holds a master’s degree from NYU.
Past Award Winners
2025: Liz Bower ’97
2024: Doug Barbin ’97
2023: Vincent McDonald ’85
2022: Mark Matteson ’85
2021: Tom Merchant ’90
2020: Eric Zinczenko ’91
The Honorary Alumni Award recognizes longtime friends of the College of the Liberal Arts for the extraordinary contributions they have made to benefit students, faculty, and programs. Although they may have earned their degrees at other schools, these friends have adopted Penn State and the College of the Liberal Arts as their own.
William “Bill” Oliver
Bill 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 thirty-eight years leading the firm—the largest fire protection contractor in the Philadelphia area. Oliver remains active in fraternal and civic life as a member of Phi Gamma Delta and past president of Waynesborough Country Club, and he volunteers generously with nonprofit organizations. 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, which recognizes individuals who have made a profound impact on the College of the Liberal Arts through leadership, philanthropy, and commitment to its mission.
Juleesa Jolley-Whitby
Juleesa 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—enabling complex and sensitive operations both domestically and abroad. She is known for bringing structure to uncertainty and helping teams move forward with clarity and purpose. A US Army veteran and former staff sergeant who served in Afghanistan, Jolley-Whitby holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Maryland. She has since found a new academic home in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.
Past Award Winners
2024: Ron Gatehouse ’94, ’98g
2023: Matt Farrell
2020: Carolyn Grow
Established in 2025, the World Campus Alumni Award honors a Penn State World Campus graduate who has achieved notable professional success while exemplifying the value of lifelong learning. As a leader in their field and community, the recipient serves as an inspiring role model for current World Campus students.
William Dexter Fowler
Organizational and Professional Communication ǀ Class of 2024
A Major League Baseball All-Star, Dexter Fowler pursued a 14-year career in the sport, earning a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and a World Series win with the Chicago Cubs four years later. Now retired from America’s favorite pastime, Dexter has remained on screen as a sports presenter for NBC. He has also become an entrepreneur, cofounding media company Fowlball Productions and talent management company 400 Ventures focused on entertainment, sports, and brand partnerships.
A 2024 graduate with a bachelor of science in organizational and professional communication and the student marshal for his major, Fowler credits much of his post-baseball success to Penn State World Campus, where he has also set an example for young athletes: Fowler’s father made sure his son’s baseball contract covered the cost of four years of school. Fowler promised to return. “I’m a man of my word,” Fowler has said. Hence, his outstanding career at World Campus.
Past Award Winners
2025: Carmen Paredes ’18
University Honorees
Every year, the Penn State Alumni Association honors Penn State alumni as well as Penn State faculty and staff for making a significant impact on their disciplines, their communities, and more. Individual awards include the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Alumni Fellows Award, and the Honorary Alumni Award. The Alumni Association also recognizes volunteer organizations such as alumni chapters and interest groups. View the full list of the University’s alumni awards.
The Right Honorable Baroness Joanna Shields, OBE, ’84 Public Services
Baroness Joanna Shields
Baroness Joanna Shields, OBE, life peer of the United Kingdom House of Lords, is chief executive officer and director of BenevolentAI, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand the underlying causes of disease, accelerate drug discovery, and develop new medicines for hard-to-treat diseases. Additionally, she is the founder of WeProtect, a global alliance to protect children from online abuse and exploitation.
Before joining BenevolentAI, Joanna served as the UK’s first minister for internet safety and security, special adviser to the UK government on the digital economy, and chair and CEO of TechCityUK. Impressed by Joanna’s work with TechCityUK and WeProtect, among other accomplishments, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron appointed her as an officer of the Order of the British Empire for “services to the digital industry and voluntary service to young people” in October 2014. Prior to her British government service, Joanna held executive roles at Google, Facebook, and other high-tech companies. Her career spans more than thirty years and has focused on harnessing the power of technology to drive change that improves connectivity, humanity, and society.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, and the Child Dignity Alliance, Joanna was named one of the Top 50 Women in Tech Influencers to Follow in 2021 by The Awards Magazine. She received the British Interactive Media Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, among other accolades, and in 2016 was named a Penn State Alumni Fellow.
Joanna lives in London and is married to Andy Stevenson, a British Formula One team manager. She has one son, Ben Shields.
Past Award Winners
Randy Houston ’91
Joshua Brady Branch ’13
Joshua Brady Branch is a policy specialist with the Crime and Justice Institute, a non-profit organization providing analysis to improve the adult and youth justice systems. Since 2021 Josh has contributed to justice reinvestment initiatives in Michigan, North Carolina, and New Mexico.
After graduating, Josh began his career as an award-winning teacher for Teach for America. Seeing students arrested at school inspired him to pursue a legal education at Georgetown Law where he received the Juvenile Justice Public Service and the Pro Bono Exceptional Service Awards. After law school Josh became a juvenile defense and foster care attorney where he contributed to a historic class action lawsuit against Glen Mills Schools (PA) for abusive practices and violations of civil rights leading to the facility’s closure and a state investigation.
In 2020, Josh moved to New Orleans serving as a program and campaign manager for the Justice and Accountability Center of Louisiana. There he helped lead an advocacy group in passing four of six expungement reform bills in his first year. He also created and oversaw a first of its kind virtual traffic program resulting in over $7,000 traffic related fines and fees being removed from citizens’ accounts. The program was replicated in several parishes because of its success. His writings on criminal justice have been published in Slate, the Root, and Medium among others.
While a student, Josh was a Penn State Lion Ambassador, university nominee for the Rhodes Scholarship, and Political Science Student of the year. He was recently a visiting teaching fellow at the College of the Liberal Arts teaching a course entitled “Juvenile Law and Policy.”
Melissa Pardi ’13
Melissa Pardi is an innovative philanthropic leader in the sports industry. As senior director of social responsibility at the NFL, she leverages the League’s platform to raise awareness, inspire engagement and make an impact throughout communities across the country. In this role, she oversees the League’s core community relations strategy, business integration and national partnerships. Melissa also leads her team in developing and executing community impact plans and events around the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and NFL Draft each year. She plays an integral role in cross departmental projects focused on the continued growth of the NFL.
Outside of her position with the NFL, Melissa serves on the Associate Board of Covenant House New York, Advisory Panel for Beyond Sport, Pat Tillman Foundation Selection Committee and Athletes Fighting Cancer’s Board of Directors.
Melissa was born and raised in the Philadelphia area and earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Public Relations from Penn State. In 2016, she earned an executive certificate in Sports Philanthropy from the George Washington University School of Business. She resides in New York City and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration from the NYU Stern School of Business. Melissa was named to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 List, was named to her High School’s Hall of Fame in 2021 and received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the College of the Liberal Arts in 2019.
Past Award Winners
Randy Houston ’91