Seen+Heard: Fall 2025

A New Director for Powdermill

A woman with long dark hair and glasses smiles warmly in an indoor setting. She wears a green jacket. Shelves with books and decor are blurred in the background.

Powdermill Nature Reserve welcomed Mary Janecka as its new director this summer. A field scientist at heart, Janecka was most recently assistant professor of evolutionary biology and curator of ichthyology and parasitology at the University of Texas at El Paso. Earlier in her career, she was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, where she was first introduced to Powdermill. “With her multidisciplinary expertise, Mary is uniquely positioned to further elevate Powdermill’s scientific profile and impact,” said Gretchen Baker, the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Striking Gold

Five awards for the 61st Annual Golden Quill, featuring a gold quill design on a black and brown background, celebrating written journalism excellence.

Carnegie magazine emerged as a big winner at the 61st annual Golden Quill Awards, earning top prize in every category for which it was nominated at the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania’s annual celebration of the region’s best journalism. The magazine claimed top honors for News Feature, Traditional Feature, History/Culture, Art/Entertainment, and Science/Environment.

Collections Trailblazer Honored

A woman in a red sweater sits on a ladder, holding a tray with preserved birds in a museum storage room lined with wooden drawers, exuding a scholarly ambiance.

Sue McLaren, the recently retired collection manager for the Section of Mammals at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, received the highest honor of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC)—the Carolyn L. Rose Award. The annual award distinguishes a practitioner with significant contributions to the profession of the preservation, conservation, and management of natural history collections. A true pioneer in her field, McLaren began working at the Museum of Natural History in 1977. She’s a founding member of the SPNHC and was awarded their first President’s Award in 1993.

A person wearing glasses and a jacket thoughtfully examines a colorful painting, holding it upright. The scene is calm and focused, with a plain backdrop. — Charles “Teenie” Harris, Portrait of Raymond “Ray” Saunders holding prize winning pastel street scape, at Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Art competition, Heinz Family Fund, © Carnegie Museum of Art, Charles “Teenie” Harris Archive

“Pittsburgh was artistically instrumental in Saunders knowing he could work toward bigger and better things.
Alyssa Velazquez, assistant curator, Carnegie Museum of Art, speaking to Pittsburgh City Paper about the museum’s Raymond Saunders exhibition, Flowers from a Black Garden. Saunders passed away at age 90 in July.

Teens At Work

There was a youth invasion at the four Carnegie Museums this summer, as 25 Pittsburgh teens spent six weeks learning about the work that goes on at the museums as part of the Learn & Earn and Teen CEO career-readiness programs. The teens were paid for their time through the programs as they assisted with museum-related tasks from June 30 to August 7, developing hard and soft skills as they also completed a final group project. The Learn & Earn and Teen CEO programs—partnerships supported by Allegheny County, the City of Pittsburgh, and workforce development nonprofit Partner4Work—have connected nearly 13,500 young people with jobs at more than 400 worksites across Allegheny County since they began in 2015.