Frank E. Dittenhafer II, FAIA, LEED AP, Owner and co-founder of Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects—an award-winning firm with offices in York, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland—was recently elected President of the Architecture Alumni Group of The Pennsylvania State University. The group’s purpose, according to their Constitution, “shall be to stimulate continued interest of all graduates and friends of the Department, to act as an advisory board to the Department, and to provide a means whereby alumni and friends may have enhanced relations and interactions with the Department.”
Frank commented, “Serving as President of Penn State’s Architecture Alumni Group is truly an honor, and I look forward to collaborating with the other Board members, faculty, students, and alumni on some exciting initiatives. Specifically, I am looking forward to the upcoming launch of PennStateArchilink – an online resource website for “connecting” current Penn State Architecture students with PSU Architecture alumni in geographic locations across the country (and globe) for advice, specific information or just conversation over a cup of coffee.”
Dittenhafer graduated with honors from Penn State University in 1978, receiving a B.S. in Architecture, and for over 25 years has hired and mentored PSU architectural graduates at his firm. His continuing involvement with Penn State also includes the design of such noteworthy projects at Penn State’s York Campus as the Pullo Family Performing Arts Center, Lee R. Glatfelter Library, the Swenson Engineering Center, “The Lair” student lounge, and the Ruhl Student Community Center renovations. Dittenhafer serves on the Advisory Board of Penn State University’s York Campus and was their 2013 Spring Commencement speaker.
Mr. Dittenhafer also attended the University of Pennsylvania, achieving a Master of Architecture and receiving the E. Lewis Dales Traveling Fellowship and Bronze Medal for design. Now inspiring a new generation of architects, Dittenhafer has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maryland, College Park, design critic for the Pennsylvania School of Art and Design and Harrisburg Area Community College, and chair of numerous AIA Design Award juries. He also serves on Morgan State University’s Architecture Advisory Board and chairs the Central PA Architecture Foundation Fund Scholarship Board.
Upon Frank Dittenhafer’s 2007 induction into the AIA College of Fellows, FAIA jury members shared that Dittenhafer, “through highly imaginative but rooted and contextually sensitive design, has significantly enriched the urban and architectural character of Central Pennsylvania and the surrounding region.” Dittenhafer and his firm have received regional, state and local design award and historic preservation recognition for over 170 projects, among them CODO 241, the Lofts on George Street, Market Street Parking Garage, and The Marketview Arts Center in Pennsylvania; and the University of Baltimore Student Center, Boonsboro Public Library and Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Maryland.