Art PhD Student Wins National Dissertation Award

Pin-Hsuan Tseng's transnational feminist tent project honored by US Society for Education through Art

Apr. 1, 2026 at 12:20am

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Pin-Hsuan Tseng, a doctoral candidate in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture's art education program, has received the 2026 United States Society for Education through Art (USSEA) Award for Outstanding Student Dissertation for her project "Transnational Tent/Tensions: Feminist Tenting Art Pedagogy with Immigrant Women in the United States from East Asia."

Why it matters

Tseng's dissertation develops a participatory arts-based methodology that uses a mobile yellow tent as a transnational feminist space for "storytenting," highlighting how immigrant women from East Asia negotiate identity, belonging, and resistance within and beyond national boundaries through collaborative artmaking and story sharing.

The details

Tseng's dissertation project began with the yellow tent as a personal refuge and has expanded into a shared space where she invites participants to make art and articulate their transnational tensions. The project also extends into a digital platform, tentart.org, which serves to amplify underrepresented narratives and make visible the complexities of transnational women's lives.

  • Tseng plans to graduate this summer.

The players

Pin-Hsuan Tseng

A doctoral candidate in the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture's art education program and the recipient of the 2026 United States Society for Education through Art (USSEA) Award for Outstanding Student Dissertation.

Karen Keifer-Boyd

Professor of art education and of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Penn State, and Tseng's doctoral adviser.

United States Society for Education through Art (USSEA)

An organization that presents the award Tseng received, which recognizes a student whose creative project, thesis or dissertation reflects the mission of USSEA to foster teamwork, collaboration and communication among diverse constituencies in order to achieve greater understanding of the social and cultural aspects of the arts and visual culture in education.

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What they’re saying

“I am honored to be the recipient of the USSEA award, which affirms the value of arts-based, feminist and community-engaged research, especially work that centers immigrant women's voices and lived experiences.”

— Pin-Hsuan Tseng, Doctoral Candidate

“Her tent art pedagogy unpacks East Asian immigrant women's experiences of (un)belonging, daily discrimination, and persistent stereotypes and builds transnational feminist communities.”

— Karen Keifer-Boyd, Professor of Art Education and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

What’s next

Tseng plans to continue her work as a researcher, artist and educator, while bringing the project to different states and countries and engaging diverse communities across borders.

The takeaway

Tseng's award-winning dissertation demonstrates the power of arts-based, feminist, and community-engaged research to amplify the voices and lived experiences of underrepresented groups, in this case, immigrant women from East Asia navigating identity, belonging, and resistance across national boundaries.