David Rudder has lived in Delaware for less than four years, but he knows more about the state and its residents than many natives do.

A doctoral candidate in CHEP's School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, Rudder works as a graduate assistant in the College's Center for Community Development and Family Policy. In conducting various research projects for the center, Rudder has surveyed some of Delaware's lowest-income neighborhoods, compiled a resource guide to help community organizations, analyzed the condition of children in the city of Wilmington, and
co-authored a statistical report on the state's African-American and Hispanic populations.

His public service, both in the center and as a volunteer for various groups, earned him the first James H. Sills Jr. Scholarship, a stipend that will be awarded annually to a graduate student in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy to recognize the student's strong academic record and commitment to public service and community development.

"The University of Delaware has provided me with a number of opportunities to work on interesting projects and to contribute to the community," says Rudder, who plans to finish his dissertation and receive his doctoral degree this summer. "I was honored just to be nominated for the Sills Scholarship, and when I was selected, I was not only elated but equally humbled after realizing what it represented. My hope is to set a standard and be a model for future recipients."

The $250,000 Sills scholarship fund was established last year by corporations and friends of Sills, who served as mayor of Wilmington--and the city's first African-American mayor--from 1992-2000. Now emeritus, Sills joined the UD faculty in 1972 and was the founding director of the Urban Agent Program, which became the Center for Community Development and Family Policy (CCDFP). Over the years, he has continued to serve as a senior adviser to the center.

Rudder says he chose the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy for his doctoral work because of its competitive program and proximity to his family in Brooklyn, N.Y. His academic work has focused on the field of local economics and black business development in American cities, while his work for CCDFP has been wide-ranging.

His latest project, completed this spring for the Wilmington Metropolitan Urban League in partnership with CCDFP, is a detailed historical and statistical look at Delaware's largest minority groups, African Americans and Latinos. "The State of People of Color in Delaware" examines education, employment, income, business ownership and home ownership rates, comparing minority groups with white Delawareans as well as with their counterparts elsewhere in the region.

"It's a very extensive study and a major undertaking that was my life for about nine months," Rudder says. "I feel that it's a landmark document that--although we don't make any formal recommendations--will provide the basis for some important public policy decisions, as well as serving as a catalyst for critical public discourse on issues that are often seen as fragmented rather than logically interrelated."

In compiling the study, using census and other demographic data, Rudder worked under the direction of Prof. Leland Ware, the Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and Public Policy in CHEP. The report, which also contains significant work by Theodore Davis Jr., associate professor of political science and international relations, was "a fairly enormous project," Ware says.

"David is co-author, and I couldn't have done it without him," Ware says of Rudder. "He's an outstanding scholar and a highly motivated young man. I expect big things from him in his career."

Rudder's earlier projects with CCDFP included work on the first report of its kind, "Wilmington Kids Count," a statistical analysis of family, health, educational and other issues affecting the well-being of children in Delaware's largest city. It was intended, he says, as a guide for public officials in formulating initiatives to help children.

His other projects have included a community resource guide to help neighborhood councils in Wilmington's East Side and Southbridge sections obtain services and apply for grants for improvement projects. One of Rudder's related responsibilities, he says, was to assist a new nonprofit organization, the New Millennium Community Development Corporation, with its organizational structure, strategic planning and grant writing.

Rudder also worked on a case study of the Brookmont Farms development near Newark, Del., surveying residents to help evaluate the effectiveness of a community policing program in that neighborhood.

He serves on the Strategic Planning Committee for the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League and has been a mentor for elementary students at the Wilmington East Side Charter School.

Rudder, who holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and psychology from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., and a master's in public affairs from the State University of New York at Buffalo, says his immediate post-Ph.D. plans have not been finalized.

After teaching several semesters at Delaware Technical and Community College, Rudder says he knows he wants to return to the classroom at some point in his career. More immediately, however, he plans to explore opportunities as a policy analyst at a think tank or government agency.

"Ultimately, I plan to open my own consulting firm, which would provide technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, as well as research and program evaluation to local and federal agencies," he says.

The Sills Scholarship Fund was created to recognize the former mayor's service to Wilmington and the state of Delaware, as well as his advocacy for UD faculty and staff to play an active role in public service.

"The School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy is honored and pleased to be the home of the Sills Scholarship, so that we can continue to uphold the values that Jim Sills has advocated and exemplified so well," says Jeffrey Raffel, director of the school.

--Ann Manser, AS'73, CHEP'73