UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Three longtime faculty members in the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School at Penn State are set to retire after a combined 107 years of service at the University. Katsuhiko Muramoto, a faculty member in the Department of Architecture since 1987, along with Department of Landscape Architecture mainstays Eliza Pennypacker and Bonj Szczygiel, who have served at Penn State since 1982 and 1996, respectively, will retire from their positions, effective Dec. 31.
“These three members of the Stuckeman School faculty have dedicated decades of their careers to educating students and advancing research and collectively shaping practices that make a positive impact on the world,” said Chingwen Cheng, Stuckeman School director. “Their commitment and invaluable contributions to the school, college, University and society are truly remarkable and deeply appreciated.”
Katsuhiko Muramoto
An associate professor of architecture, Muramoto arrived at Penn State 37 years ago as an assistant visiting professor. Since then, he has taught hundreds of students about 20th century Japanese architecture and Asian culture both in the classroom — as the instructor of the “Theory of Modern Japanese Architecture” course for 21 years — and the initiator of the Korea/Japan study abroad program.
“[I] wanted to broaden students’ perspectives and understanding of architecture beyond the Western canon and to help them to see Japan as more than simply ‘exotic’ by sharing the concept of ‘Alternative Modernity’ via the history of Japanese architecture,” he said.
According to Emeritus Professor of Architecture Dan Willis, Muramoto focused his efforts on what the architecture department needed as well as what the students needed.
“He created his popular 'Japanese Modern Architecture' course in response to an accreditation review in 2002 that advised the department to offer more courses in non-Western architecture, and he initiated the Korea-Japan summer study abroad option to give [architecture] students an alternative to spending a semester in Rome,” Willis said.
In his design studio courses, Muramoto said he tried to challenge and expand traditional design methodology to incorporate the “intertwining of technological media and design-build strategies.”
According to Emeritus Professor of Architecture Loukas Kalisperis, at that time in the Department of Architecture computers were thought to be useful only for complex structural calculations or the production of construction documents in professional offices. Computers weren’t “cool,” and students didn’t see them as design tools, he said.
"As one of the first design studio professors to embrace the use of computers, Katsu was instrumental in changing that perception,” said Kalisperis.
According to Mehrdad Hadighi, professor of architecture who served as the department head from 2012-2022, Muramoto led the department's curriculum committee in re-assessing the undergraduate bachelor of architecture program that resulted in the inclusion of the Design Research Studios. His work with the same committee in preparation for the most recent accreditation visit, in 2019, brought his extensive curricular experience to bear on the report.
Due to Muramoto’s selfless devotion to his students, a few architecture alumni approached Willis in the summer of 2024, and initiated a submission to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture to nominate Muramoto for the title of ACSA Distinguished Professor. He was also named a recipient of the College of Arts and Architecture Award for Outstanding Teaching. Muramoto served as a visiting architecture professor at several other institutions including Cornell University, Nihon University (Japan), McGill University (Canada), the Technical University of Nova Scotia and Carleton University (Canada).
Muramoto’s research portfolio is largely interdisciplinary and has focused on 20th-century Japanese architecture, issues surrounding the question of subjectivity and modernity, and the history and theory of architectural representation in the country. He was also interested in the theory of new media and digital mediation, mobile augmented reality, cyber-enabled collaboration, and making and mediation of design-build architecture.
Two dozen of his articles or projects have been published in books, non-refereed journals/magazines and catalogues, and his work has appeared in more than 10 international exhibitions, installations and permanent collections.
Eliza Pennypacker
Pennypacker, professor and two-time head of the Department of Landscape Architecture, came to Penn State in 1982 as an instructor. She moved up the academic ranks to full professor in 1996 and served as the department head from 1994 to 2000 and again from 2014 to 2020.
Known as a passionate teacher, Pennypacker led a wide range of courses, including the "History of Landscape Architecture, First-Year Seminar" and all levels of design studio, including the semester abroad in Bonn, Germany.
During her time as department head, she assisted in the establishment of two endowed research centers within the Stuckeman School: the Hamer Center for Community Design and the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing. She also guided what has become known as the MG2V project, which then-Penn State President Eric Barron initiated in 2019. Pennypacker led the study of a 356-acre University-owned, environmentally sensitive piece of land in State College, Pennsylvania, with the intent of establishing strong environmental protection and public passive recreation access. The process included important community engagement through online surveys and face-to-face sessions and led to a conceptual framework for the site that addresses priorities shared by town and gown.
“Eliza has been a dedicated and visionary leader for the department, and it has been an honor to follow her as department head and grow under her mentorship,” said Roxi Thoren, professor and head of the landscape architecture department. “In her two terms as [department] head, she set the stage for the current and future success of the department, defining a bold department mission and vision, guiding significant curricular revisions to support that vision, and hiring extraordinary faculty members who advance the discipline of landscape architecture.”
Pennypacker’s research has focused on “artful rainwater design,” which is stormwater management that not only manages rain runoff but also celebrates rainwater in a design that educates or entertains visitors. She co-authored “Artful Rainwater Design: Creative Ways to Manage Stormwater,” which was published in 2015 by Island Press.
Pennypacker served as the inaugural director of the Division of Campus Planning and Design at Penn State during a period of extensive growth and improvement of the University’s Physical Plant. Projects to which she contributed include the transformation of a parking lot into a new sub-campus area that comprises the Business Building, Forestry Building and Berkey Creamery; the development of the Arboretum at Penn State, the Westgate Building and the Stuckeman Family Building; and the expansion of the Shortlidge Mall with the Chemistry and Life Sciences Buildings.
Pennypacker was awarded numerous honors and awards during her tenure at Penn State, having most recently been elected to the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Academy of Fellows in spring 2024.
“I have truly loved my 42 years at Penn State. Through a variety of professional roles over the years, I’ve enjoyed ever-changing challenges, surprises, and satisfaction,” said Pennypacker. “Life post-Penn State will be quite different — the word ‘freedom’ comes to mind! I look forward to my next chapter and will always reflect on my career at Penn State with great gratitude.
Bonj Szczygiel
Szczygiel joined the Penn State faculty in 1992 as an instructor shortly after obtaining her master of landscape architecture degree from the University, and will retire as an associate professor of landscape architecture. She taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels but found a particular interest in teaching LARCH 60: Design for Land, one of the first web-based general education courses at Penn State that introduces students across the University to the world of design of the land.
“Over her career, Bonj has transformed the department, the University, and the discipline of landscape architecture,” said Thoren. “She was an early innovator in online education, developing an extraordinarily successful course on landscape design that is available for students throughout the Commonwealth.”
In terms of research, Szczygiel focused on the historiography of built environments and the untold histories of women in landscape architecture. Her articles have been published in numerous refereed journals and she is a co-editor of “Gender and Landscapes: Renegotiating Morality and Space,” published by Routledge in 2005. She was also an editorial board member of “Landscape Review” published by Lincoln University in New Zealand from 2012 to 2020, and provided ongoing manuscript review for “Landscape Journal,” “Bulletin of the History of Medicine,” “Journal of Urban History,” “Landscape Review” and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA).
For her work, which also focused on the cultural significance of memorials over time and the meta-messages they carry, she received both internal and external funding from sources including the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence; College of Arts and Architecture; Continuing and Distance Education’s Program Innovation Fund; The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; Center for Rural Pennsylvania; and the Alexander J. Stewart Foundation.
Her other honors include a CELA Award of Recognition for excellence in teaching, scholarship and service; the Roy C. Buck Award for excellence in scholarship in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture; a College of Arts and Architecture Outstanding Teaching Award; and an American Society of Landscape Architects, Pennsylvania/Delaware chapter Merit Award in the Planning Category.
In 2019, Szczygiel was selected as a Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Academic Leadership Program Fellow from Penn State. The BTAA is the academic consortium of the Big Ten universities and the United States’ pre-eminent model for effective collaboration among research universities. Those named fellows have “demonstrated exceptional ability and administrative promise [and] can further develop their leadership and managerial skills.”
At Penn State, Szczygiel served on numerous committees, councils and special groups at the departmental, school, college and University levels during her tenure. She retires as a 22-year member of the University Faculty Senate, which is the University’s recognized faculty governance organization with direct oversight of curricular matters at Penn State, where she served as chair from 2022-23 and chair-elect the year prior.
According to Thoren, Szczygiel’s election as chair of the Faculty Senate “shows how her fellow senators respect her wisdom, insight and creativity.”
“It has been nothing less than an honor to be associated with this University, my colleagues and students,” Szczygiel said. “My long-time affiliation and recent leadership roles within the University Faculty Senate have been extremely gratifying. Their/our efforts, ofttimes unnoticed, have contributed to the quality of working and teaching at this institution; I point to that organization with pride.”
“But it is the thousands of students who enrolled in my Gen Ed “Design of the Land” course for the past 30 years that kept my enthusiasm on high,” she continued. “Mainly [it served] as it was a great 'ambassador' role for both landscape architecture and for presenting the designed world to those who may have not otherwise taken note.”