The College of Arts and Architecture announced the recipients of the Sustainability Awards at its annual spring awards ceremony in April.
The awards reflect each recipient's dedication to excellence inside and outside of the classroom, while celebrating their positive and lasting impact on the College of Arts and Architecture.
Faculty Sustainability Award
Rahman Azari is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, leading the Research and Energy Efficiency (RE2) Lab. Rahman is a national expert representing the United States in the International Energy Agency's 'Energy in Building and Communities' Annex 89 project, which focuses on net-zero carbon buildings. Rahman, who teaches building environmental systems and sustainability building design studios, co-edited “The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment” in December 2023.
Staff Sustainability Award
Joyce Robinson moved to State College in the early 1990s with husband Norman Spivey (School of Music) and worked in a variety of adjunct faculty and part-time positions in the College of Arts and Architecture before landing as a curator, and now assistant director, at the Palmer Museum of Art. In addition to curating many exhibitions, authoring numerous catalogues, and serving on a variety of committees, she has been active in the community as president of the Board of Directors of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, ongoing member of the Schlow Library gallery committee, occasional juror for regional art exhibitions, and volunteer pledge host for WPSU-TV and WPSU-Radio. She received the college’s Staff Award for Outstanding Service in 2009.
Graduate Student Sustainability Award
Negar Dehghan is a second-year, master of fine arts degree candidate in graphic design at Penn State. With an interdisciplinary academic background, her research interest is applying interaction design principles to promote various sustainability-related issues. Her thesis involves developing an application for Type 1 Diabetes management, addressing both physical and mental health aspects to empower young patients and ensure they can live more confidently and have better control over their diabetes. Negar has co-authored several journal articles. She serves on the College of Arts and Architecture Sustainability Council as a graduate student representative, committed to promoting a culture of sustainability.