Under the baobab: Penn State alumni honored, events roar on in Happy Valley
One of our brightest lights has dimmed. Mimi Barash Coppersmith joined the ancestors. She was 92.
Much of the philanthropic activity in Happy Valley was bathed in the light of Mimi’s participation. She was the first woman to chair Penn State’s board of trustees. Rest in peace, dear sister.
Penn State alumni honored The College of Arts and Architecture honored its 2025 Alumni Award recipients on Thursday. This year’s recipients are George Ehringer, 1964 B.Arch. Architecture; Janalee Emmer, 2009 Ph.D. Art History; Luke Gall, 2014 B.M.E. Music Education; Rebecca Kamen, 1972 B.S. Art Education; Eric Yeamans, 2010 B.Des. Graphic Design; Meesh Zucker, 2014 B.L.A. Landscape Architecture; and Marissa Guarriello, 2016 B.M.E. Music Education and Kate Pappas, 1997 B.A. Theatre Arts.
My former student, Pappas, is the executive in charge of character programs and development at Disney Live Entertainment, leading the team tasked with ensuring global accountability for performance, brand management, and development of the highest artistic representation of beloved Disney characters. She is responsible for guiding Disney Experiences and for defining the segment’s strategic vision while bringing Disney character activations to life around the world.
The Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications Alumni Society honored Josiah Bates ‘15, Emerging Professional Award; Michael Signora ’96, Alumni Achievement Award; Dave Wozniak, excellence in teaching award; Kim Lemon, Communications Contributor Award; Dawn Manning ‘00, Outstanding Alumni Award.
Elsewhere in the community
Hundreds enjoyed the Presidents Club Reception at the Penn Stater. And Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, professor of English at Penn State Altoona, was one of 17 international poet laureates featured at the 55th Poetry International Festival. Jabbeh Wesley served as headliner poet at the opening ceremony.
Coming up, the Latin Festival will be held 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at downtown State College’s MLK Plaza. Tempest Studio productions will sponsor a reading and discussion on Sunday at 3 p.m., “The Works of Arthur Miller, the Darkness of the American Dream.”
The State College Community Theatre produced “And Then There Were None” at the Boal Barn Playhouse. The Agatha Christie favorite was directed by Eli Beers-Altman and featured Will Barksdale, Mercer Bristow, Peter Buck, Rob Burns, Hilary Caldwell, Heidi Cole, Rod Egan, Jared Kehler, Fiona Mulley, Brandon Smith and Phillip Zapkin.
The Penn State School of Theatre, directed by Kikora Franklin, announced its Center Stage 2025-26 season at its annual sneak preview at the Playhouse. Beginning with “Rhinoceros” director by Sam Osheroff at the Pavilion Theatre in October, the rest of the season includes “Crazy for You,” directed by Christine O’Grady, “Antigone” directed by Jenny Lamb, a new musical “The Morris & Essex Line” directed by John Simpkins, “Our Town” directed by Steve Synder, and Dominique Morisseau’s “Detriot ‘67” directed by Marcus Jordan.
The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State presented “The Artistry and Activism of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper” at Eisenhower Auditorium on Friday. Harper was one of the first Black women to have her books on anti-slavery published in the United States. The production was directed by Lynnette Young Overby, professor emerita of theatre and dance at the University of Delaware, and performed by actress Sharia Benn, the Sharing Our Legacy Dance Theatre, and members of the State College-Penn State community.
Part of the Colored Conventions Project produced by the Center for Black Digital Research and the Africana Research Center, the symposium honors Harper’s 200th birthday with Saturday and Sunday panels in Foster Auditorium, from noon-6 p.m. The guest of honor is one of Harper’s most foremost scholars, Dr. Frances Smith Foster, Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of English and Women’s Studies at Emory University.
And the resistance must continue. WPSU belongs to the people. Beginning in 1965, it was the first educational TV station in Pennsylvania. We the people must save it. We can not allow the Penn State Board of Trustees to eliminate one of our primary means of community communications.
Stand up, fight back, speak up. It is our right.
Charles Dumas is a lifelong political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Congress in 2012. He is a Lions Paw honoree. He lives in State College with his wife and partner of over 50 years.