Homecoming 20 19 PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOMMY LEONARDI C’89 Jan | Feb 2020 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 53 Merit Awards Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw are over, inviting them to your talks and back Tennessee when you were 11. With artist parents, Faculty Award of Merit to campus for exhibits. you grew up surrounded by art and by music—not An Associate Professor in You have engaged alumni in numerous other classical music, but the Beatles, Bob Marley, and History of Art, you are a ways. As part of Experience Penn, you have ac- the Rolling Stones. Through rock, you have said, scholar, a teacher, and a cu- companied alumni on behind-the-scenes tours you discovered music’s power to communicate. rator. As you explore race, at the Prospect New Orleans and Art Basel Mi- Your fi rst experience as a musician was as a gender, sexuality, and class ami, providing context and spurring incisive fl utist in your high school band, having found in art from the United discussion. Audiences at Trustees’ Council of a fl ute in your attic and taught yourself to play States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, you Penn Women and Penn Spectrum events have at age 15. At Bowling Green State University, move seamlessly from the classroom to the mu- also benefi ted from your expertise. you began formal music studies; three years seum. In this, you represent the full arc of knowl- This past spring, you dazzled Penn alumni later—at the age of 21—you took your fi rst com- edge: from discovery, to teaching, to communi- and friends as one of three panelists on stage position class. With abundant natural talent, a cating with the broadest possible audience. with President Amy Gutmann as part of The newfound goal to be a composer, and a commit- No matter the medium—academic publica- Power of Penn Campaign tour. “One of the ment to working hard to make up for your late tions and books; classroom lectures; or popular things that’s most important to me as an art start, you entered the Curtis Institute of Music. exhibits such as “Represent: 200 Years of Afri- historian,” you said at the Philadelphia event, By the time you arrived at Penn’s graduate can American Art,” which you co-curated at the “is sharing art with people.” In this, you have program in composition, you were still a rela- Philadelphia Museum of Art—you do it all with succeeded magnifi cently. tive novice by your own account, albeit one with great virtuosity and passion. In recognition of your remarkable scholar- dazzling potential. You soon gained a reputa- At Penn, you teach a range of classes, from ship, your commitment to broadening and tion as a strong student, impressing faculty with survey courses to graduate seminars. In addi- deepening access to art, and the joy with which your mastery of a range of styles and your speed tion, you lead curatorial seminars in which your you do it all, Penn Alumni is delighted to pres- in composing. George Crumb was among your students develop art exhibits at galleries and ent you with the Faculty Award of Merit. Penn mentors. You have said he challenged you museums on campus and throughout the city. to inject unexpected sounds into your work. A magnetic teacher with a contagious love of Jennifer Higdon G’92 Gr’94 After graduating, you took a yearlong posi- learning, you recently won the Abrams Memo- Creative Spirit Award tion with the Penn Orchestra and wind ensem- rial Award for Distinguished Teaching. Penn One of America’s top com- ble as conductor, while continuing to compose. Arts & Sciences recognized you with their In- posers today, you have cre- From there, you rocketed ahead quickly. Blue novation in Teaching Award for integrating ated award-winning clas- Cathedral, which premiered in 2000, was your digital techniques into your courses. sical compositions that breakthrough piece, winning critical and pop- You bring the same dynamic teaching style have cut across genres, ular acclaim. Today, it has the distinction of to the alumni community. You have been a fac- soared through diverse au- being one of the most frequently performed ulty host for Penn Alumni Travel for 10 years, diences, and—like all great art—come to rest contemporary orchestral works by a living leading trips to Peru, Spain, Portugal, France, deep in the hearts of your many listeners. American composer. A string of successful and Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, and the Carib- With two Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer extraordinarily diverse compositions followed. bean. On each, you share your deep knowledge Prize, you are one of this country’s most fre- Like your music, you are known for your ac- of art and culture with alumni travelers. At the quently performed living composers. You are cessibility and warmth. The Milton L. Rock same time, you join with them in uncovering also one of its most prolifi c, with works ranging Chair in Composition at Curtis Institute and a new insights that have gone on to shape your from concertos, to operas, to school band piec- frequent composer-in-residence at universities research and teaching at Penn. es. Your impact has been so profound that some throughout the country, you are a dynamic and Your most recent curatorial seminar—in which have referred to our current classical music committed teacher. As one of the nation’s most your students researched and developed “Soy moment as “the age of Higdon.” distinguished queer composers, you have been Cuba/I Am Cuba: The Contemporary Landscapes Your work has been called many things: “pro- an engaging role model for the LGBT commu- of Roger Toledo”— was a direct result of your pulsive,” “joyful,” and “American.” But most nity. And you rarely turn down an invitation to meeting the artist on a 2015 Alumni Travel trip. often, it is called accessible—or, as you have talk—at a preconcert session, an academic The exhibit, on view at Penn’s Arthur Ross Gal- said, “communicative.” It’s a label that you have seminar, or an interview for a Pennsylvania lery this past spring, opened to great acclaim. embraced. “I want my music to touch the audi- Gazette piece. No matter the audience, you Alumni travelers have raved about your ex- ence. You don’t need a Ph.D. to understand my speak with insight and candor, making you one pertise, your enthusiasm and accessibility, and pieces,” you have noted. of the most sought-after voices in music today. your friendship. In fact, you have stayed in Much of this comes from your background. Fortunately for us, even as your star has risen touch with many alumni long after your trips Born in Brooklyn, your family moved to rural into the stratosphere, you remain deeply rooted 54 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Jan | Feb 2020 Merit Award photos by Eddy Marenco in your adopted hometown of Philadelphia and alumni club, Parents Council, and more. committed to Penn. In addition to returning to As both a law student and a lawyer who has campus for Music Department colloquia and Uni- won awards for your commitment to pro bono versity talks, you welcomed Penn students into a work, you have embodied the University’s motto, behind-the-scenes experience at Opera Philadel- “Laws without morals are useless.” Penn Law phia’s production of your opera, Cold Mountain. Admissions could always count on you to take For moving modern classical music in new prospective and admitted students on tours, to directions and touching a chord that has reso- class, or even to lunch with you. You partici- nated powerfully in the hearts of so many, we pated in the mediation clinic and helped coor- are delighted to present you with the Creative dinate Orientation to help fellow transfer stu- Spirit Award for 2019. dents feel welcome. These days, you are still helping to bring talented students to Penn Law Shannon Hedvat EAS’07 GEng’08 L’11 by volunteering as an Alumni representative at Young Alumni Award recruiting fairs and admitted student receptions. You are what is known as a As an alumna, your dedication to Penn con- “triple threat.” Not only do tinues to expand. You have volunteered your you have the rare distinction time through the Alumni Interview Program, of holding three Penn de- Host Committees for various Penn events, and grees, you have made sig- The Penn Fund Executive Board. You also con- nifi cant contributions to the tinue to serve the Class of 2007, having held University as a student, alumna, and volunteer. leadership roles such as Vice President of the Your extraordinary service to Penn began when class and Gift Chair. While balancing your full- you were a student. Among your many leadership time work as a rising-star intellectual property roles, you were President of both the Kite and Key attorney, you are ever-willing to share your time dentist. After graduating from Wilkes Univer- Society and the Engineering Student Activities with Penn, whether to give a guest lecture on sity, you earned an M.S. from Cornell, then a Council. You served as Co-Chair for the Univer- the legal aspects of entrepreneurship or mentor D.M.D. and Certifi cate in General Dentistry from sity Honor Council and the Class of 2007 Gift current engineering students. You have even Penn Dental. As planned, you returned to Asia Drive, and you served fellow students as a Resi- proposed the creation of a new shared interest with incredible experience and credentials, and dential Advisor and Graduate Associate in the group for alumni women entrepreneurs.