Four faculty recognized for excellence

Rabolt, chairperson of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been appointed Karl W. and Renate Böer Professor of Materials Science Engineering.

His research interests are organic thin films, surface-directed assembly of liquid crystals, polymer surfaces and interfaces, hybrid organic/inorganic polymers, nanostructues and spectroscopy of organic materials and polymers.

Before joining the UD faculty in 1996, Rabolt worked at the IBM Almaden Research Center from 1977-1996, serving as co-director of the National Science Foundation Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies, a cooperative effort of Stanford University, IBM and the University of California at Davis, from 1994-1996.

Rabolt was the first scientist to receive four Coblenz Society awards for outstanding research in the field of vibrational spectroscopy– the Coblenz Award in 1985, the Williams-Wright Award in 1990, the Ellis R. Lippincott Award in 1993 and the A.E. Michelson Award in 1999.

Karl W. Böer is a distinguished solar scientist and the first director of UD's Institute of Energy Conversion.

Renate Böer has a doctorate in international trade from the University of Cologne in Germany. She formerly served as director of trade finance and acting deputy assistant secretary for trade information and analysis for the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Vukelich, who joined the UD faculty in 1972, has been appointed the L. Sandra and Bruce L. Hammonds Professor in Teacher Education.

Since 1996, she has served as the director of the Delaware Center for Teacher Education and also as codirector of the Delaware Writing Project. She has published several articles and made many presentations on children's literacy and other topics of childhood education.

Among her honors, she received the then College of Education's Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award and its Distinguished Faculty Award, the UD Excellence in Teaching Award and the Order of Excellence Award from the Delaware State Board of Education.

Vukelich has served as president of the Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children in 1977-78, the Delaware Association for Childhood Education from 1982-84 and the Association for Childhood Education International from 1993-95.

Sandra Hammonds was graduated from UD in 1987 with a major in education. She has served as chairperson of the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy Campaign Steering Committee.

Bruce Hammonds is chief operations officer of MBNA America, N.A. He is a member of the College of Business and Economics Visiting Committee.

Watson has been appointed Unidel Professor of Physics and Astronomy. He was on the technical staff at AT&T Laboratories for two years. At UD, he served as associate chairperson of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Recently, he was appointed associate dean of the College of Arts and Science.

His research involves condensed matter experimental physics, including cw and picosecond spectroscopy; optically disordered random media, photon localization; photonic band structure measurements, particularly in colloidal crystals; Raman spectroscopy and laser ultrasonics of composites.

In addition to his scientific research, he has been a pioneer in problem-based learning and using technology in education. He also has written articles and made several conference and workshop presentations in this area.

He has been actively involved in UD's Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education, for which UD received the Theodore M. Hesburgh Certificate of Excellence for Faculty Development to Enhance Undergraduate Teaching and Learning. Watson was named Delaware Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in 1998.

The Unidel Foundation has provided a $10 million gift to the University for endowed chairs in connection with UD's current capital campaign.

Wirth, who joined the UD faculty in 1986, has been appointed C. Eugene Bennett Chair in Analytical Chemistry.

Her research interests involve understanding absorption and transport at chemical interfaces and in nanomaterials for the separation and analysis of biomolecules Her research has received support from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the Keck Foundation.

Among her honors, she won the National Science Foundation Creativity Award in 1994, chaired the Gordon Conference on Analytical Chemistry in 1995 and served on the Gordon Research Conferences Council at Large from 1996-1998, was the national program chairperson for analytical chemistry in the American Chemical Society from 1995-97.

She has published more than 85 articles in professional journals, is on the editorial board of Chemical Reviews and served as guest editor in October 1999. Wirth also holds a patent with another one pending.

Wirth was a preceptor for Project SEED, an American Chemical Society program to provide research experience for economically disadvantaged high school students.

C. Eugene Bennett was a leading analytical chemist who helped develop and market gas chromatographs and other analytical instruments. His wife, philanthropist Edna Bennett Pierce, established the chair in analytical chemistry to honor her late husband.

Leslie Friedman Goldstein was Unidel Professor of Political Science and International Relations and is now Hugh M. Morris Professor of Political Science and International Relations, named after Hugh M. Morris, a graduate of then-Delaware College in 1898 who served as U.S. District Judge for Delaware from 1919-1930. In 1964, the University named its new library the Hugh M. Morris Library in his honor.

James Hiebert was the H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Educational Development and is now the Robert J. Barkley Professor, named after Robert J. Barkley, a 1919 UD alumnus, who joined the Hercules Inc. engineering department in 1940 and who was a state Republican committeeman from Wilmington.

James Knowles Oliver was Unidel Professor of Political Science and is now the Emma Smith Morris Professor of Political Science and International Relations, named after Mrs. Morris, who was wife of Judge Hugh M. Morris and a generous benefactor to the University.

Donald Sparks was Distinguished Professor of Soil Science and is now T. A. Baker Professor of Plant and Social Sciences, named after Thomas A. Baker, who was a member of the faculty of the then College of Agricultural Sciences for 39 years and served as acting dean of what was then Delaware College and the School of Arts and Science.


Leslie Friedman Goldstein	James Hiebert	James Knowles Oliver	Donald Sparks