King’s College to Dedicate Dona Posatko-Maffei Welcome and Arts Center

Grand opening celebration will honor the Maffei family’s legacy and feature an exhibition by local artist Sharon Cosgrove

King’s College will celebrate the grand opening of the Dona Posatko-Maffei Welcome and Arts Center with a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, from 5 to 7 p.m., honoring the Maffei family’s lasting commitment to King’s College while marking the opening of a new destination for welcoming visitors, celebrating the arts and bringing the community together.

The Center is named in recognition of Dona Posatko-Maffei, formerly Dona Petrillo, an art collector who previously served as director of the art gallery at Misericordia University. Carmen Maffei ’56 had expressed an interest to Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C., Ph.D., president of King’s College, in naming the former College chapel in her honor should it contain an arts component.

“Carmen’s love for King’s and belief in our mission led him to seek multiple ways to support the work of the College and to honor his loved ones. Naming the Maffei Theater after his son, George P. Maffei II, the Gold Room after his first wife, Sandra Dyczewski Maffei, the Family Commons after his mother and father, Giovita and George Maffei, and his last act of love, naming the Welcome and Arts Center after his beloved widow, Dona,” said Father Looney. “Through this center, the Maffei family’s generosity will continue to welcome, inspire and serve members of the King’s community for generations.”

The dedication continues the Maffei family’s longstanding philanthropic relationship with King’s College. Their generosity has supported the College’s theater program, student scholarships, facility improvements and the arts.

The family established the George P. Maffei II Memorial Scholarship in memory of Carmen’s son, George P. Maffei II, a former King’s student who was deeply involved in theater during his time at the College. The scholarship supports students pursuing studies and careers related to theater and theatrical production. The family’s early support of the theater program also funded the purchase of a computerized soundboard, while the Maffei Family Theater Endowment continues to support the program and its facilities.

In 2014, King’s completed the renovation and renaming of the Gold Room through Carmen Maffei’s generosity. Artwork by his late wife, Sandra Dyczewski Maffei, is displayed in the Gold Room, further connecting the family’s legacy to the arts at King’s.

The public celebration will begin with an outdoor ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jackson Street. Following the ceremony, guests will be invited inside the new center for a reception and an opportunity to explore the facility. The opening celebration will also include an exhibition by acclaimed local artist Sharon Cosgrove.

The Dona Posatko-Maffei Welcome and Arts Center will serve as the primary welcome destination for prospective students and their families, providing an engaging introduction to the mission, academic programs and campus culture of King’s College. Alumni returning to campus will also be directed to the center as their first point of contact, creating a dedicated place to reconnect with the College and begin their visits.

Beyond its welcoming function, the center will support academic, cultural, institutional, and community programming. The multi-faceted space will showcase art exhibitions, lectures, academic presentations, musical performances, donor events, community gatherings, and other special programming. The facility can seat up to 224 guests.

Identified as a priority initiative within the King’s College Campus Master Plan, the project transformed the former College chapel. The College preserved the building’s distinctive architectural features and history as a campus gathering place while incorporating modular furnishings, flexible floor plans, enhanced acoustical treatments, and state-of-the-art audiovisual systems. By giving an existing campus facility a new purpose, the project reflects King’s commitment to responsible stewardship and sustainability for long-term campus renewal.

Complementing the center’s grand opening will be an exhibition by Cosgrove, an award-winning artist and professor emerita of studio art at Wilkes University. Working from her studio near the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre, Cosgrove draws inspiration from the rhythms of nature and the beauty found in poetry and prose. Through layered compositions of ink, acrylic, oil and cold wax, her work explores themes of time, nature, balance and stillness.

“My work explores classic themes of time, nature, balance and stillness,” said Cosgrove. “In studio practice, as in life, I seek a quality of intention, meaning, beauty and grace.”

Her paintings and prints have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are included in public and private collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work was selected for the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program and displayed at the U.S. Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan. Cosgrove is also a recipient of the Medici Award in Painting from the International Biennale Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Florence, Italy. She served for 35 years at Wilkes University as a professor of studio art and artist-in-residence and is now professor emerita.

The dedication, ribbon cutting, exhibition, and reception are open to the public.