12:03 p.m., April 24, 2009----UD in the News provides a roundup of recent news items about the University of Delaware, its faculty, students, staff and alumni.

UD alumni David Plouffe and Steve Schmidt were featured widely after a presentation at Clayton Hall, in which the two political strategists discussed the 2008 presidential race. Plouffe played a central role in the Democratic campaign of Barack Obama and Schmidt in the Republican campaign of John McCain. The presentation was featured in Ben Smith's blog at Politico.com on April 23 and in a column by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post on April 24. It also was featured on CNN's Political Ticker and in Neal Rubin's Detroit News blog, which christened UD the “Cradle of Top Operatives.”

Ben Yagoda, professor of English, wrote a piece in the April 24 Chronicle of Higher Education Review titled “In Defense of Common English.”

Kenneth Ackerman, associate professor of anthropology, was quoted in an April 24 Chronicle of Higher Education story about children who choose not to go to college.

John Byrne, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, was quoted in an April 22 Philadelphia Inquirer story about Earth Day and community activist Meenal Raval who has taken steps to decrease her family's impact on the environment. Byrne also was quoted in April 18 News Journal stories about the Environmental Protection Agency and vehicle emissions and about people holding the key to climate change.

Wes Hanna, a 2004 UD graduate and restaurateur, was featured in an April 22 Bethany Beach Wave story about the family's Harpoon Hanna's restaurant in Fenwick Island, Del.

Charles Elson, Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair and director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, was quoted in an April 21 Bloomberg story about Bank of America's looming board of directors election and in the April 20 New York Times DealBook concerning investor discontent with Bank of America.

Kenneth Lewis, Chaplin Tyler Professor of Economics, associate chairperson of the Department of Economics and a member of the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council, was quoted in April 21 News Journal and Associated Press stories on state revenue forecasts.

UD's Resident Ensemble Players received strong reviews in the April 20 Philadelphia Inquirer and News Journal for the new show, Noel Coward's Hay Fever. “Hay Fever's short third act shines and is a great ending to the solid first season by this professional ensemble, sponsored by the University of Delaware. The performances have been staged in the university's nifty new on-campus theater in Newark and run by the theater department's Sanford Robbins,” wrote Inquirer theatre critic Howard Shapiro. “An excellent ensemble turns Coward's silly dialogue and wild sight gags into an evening of sophisticated and hilarious comedy,” reviewer Tom Butler wrote in the News Journal.

UD's free tuition higher education for senior citizens program was cited in an April 20 U.S. News and World Report story about how retirees can attend college for free or for low cost.

Chelsea Stachura, a junior in the College of Engineering, was quoted in an April 20 News Journal story about the American Society of Civil Engineers steel bridge and concrete canoe competition hosted by UD.

Dannagal Young, assistant professor of communication, was quoted in an April 19 NewJerseyNewsroom.com story about the New Media Index report by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which tracked difference in information of interest to bloggers and mainstream media. “The young people in their 20s and 30s have been socialized into media, they have authority over their media experience,” Young told the news site.

New UD quarterback Pat Devlin was featured in a story about the Blue Hens football team in the April 18 issue of The New York Times.

Willett Kempton, associate professor of marine and earth studies, was quoted in a story about wind power in the April 16 issue of Nature magazine. The story notes that Kempton “expects that, by 2018, the United States will be installing offshore wind capacity at a rate of 500 megawatts per year and will employ hundreds of scientists in design development, impact assessments, manufacturing and installation.”

UD's Center for Historic Architecture and Design was reference in an April 16 Washington Post story about the Maryland tobacco industry. CHAD prepared architectural models of tobacco barns for the Maryland Historic Trust because so many of the wooden structures are vanishing.

Marianne Carter, director of Delaware Center for Health Promotion at UD, was quoted in a story about adopting healthy lifestyle in the workplace in the March/April issue of Delaware Business. "Brown bagging your lunch guarantees that you're in control. Not only can you enjoy healthier fare, but you'll save money, too,” Carter said.

Chandra Reedy, professor of art history, was interviewed March 30 on China Radio International on the topic Tibetan art protection.

The Delaware postcard collection at the University of Delaware Library was featured recently on the Internet Scout Project at the University of Wisconsin Madison. The project is focused on developing better tools and services for finding, filtering, and presenting online information and metadata and produces a Scout Report. The postcard collection was featured in the general interest section.