For the Record, Jan. 20, 2012
Faculty, staff announce recent honors, presentations, publications
1:06 p.m., Jan. 20, 2012--For the Record provides information about recent professional activities of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.
Recent honors, presentations, publications and service include the following:
Campus Stories
From graduates, faculty
Doctoral hooding
Honors
Susan Miller, professor of sociology and criminal justice, has received the Outstanding Book Award from the American Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences for her 2011 book, After the Crime: The Power of Restorative Justice Dialogues Between Victims and Violent Offenders.
Stacey Hendrix, instructor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, has been named first place winner in the amateur category of the National Arts Program: Delaware State Employee Exhibition and Contest. Her work, and that of 22 others, will be on view through Jan. 27 in the Mezzanine Gallery of the Carvel State Office Building in Wilmington.
UD alumnus Thomas F. Degnan Jr. has been awarded the American Chemical Society’s Industrial Chemistry award for outstanding contributions to chemical research in the industrial context. Degnan, a research executive with ExxonMobil, received his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from UD in 1977. He received the ACS Hero of Chemistry Award in 2007 and the AIChE Chemical Reaction Engineering Award in 2010 for his contributions to industrial catalysis. At UD, he currently chairs the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Advisory Council. Degnan will be honored on March 27 in conjunction with the 243rd ACS National Meeting in San Diego.
Presentations
Margaret D. Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, delivered a paper titled "The 'Transatlantic' and the 19th Century American Women's Humor Tradition" at the 2012 Modern Language Association Convention in Seattle on Jan. 7.
Maryam Akhavan, doctoral student in the College of Engineering, with Paul Imhoff, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, Scott Andres, senior scientist with the Delaware Geological Survey, and Stefan Finsterle, geological scientist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, produced a poster titled "Modeling Nitrogen Losses under Rapid Infiltration Basins" that was shown at the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN) annual research conference held Jan. 12 in Clayton Hall. Akhavan is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is affiliated with the Delaware Geological Survey.
Jane M. Tippett, a doctoral student in art history, will be a featured speaker at the symposium "Gay New York and the Arts of the 20th Century," Feb. 11, Museum of the City of New York. The symposium will explore the influence of gay New Yorkers on the city's artistic life from the 1920s through the 1960s and is being held in conjunction with the museum's current exhibition Cecil Beaton: The New York Years. Tippett will speak on Sam Green, an art curator and consultant and Warhol intimate.
Several staff members at the Center for Disabilities Studies were presenters at the 14th annual LIFE Conference, which was held Jan. 19 at the Sheraton Hotel in Dover. The conference featured Constance Garner, executive director of Advance CLASS, as the keynote speaker. Advance CLASS is a national advocacy organization dedicated to the implementation of a strong and vital long-term services and supports program for both the aging and disability communities. CDS staff members presented the following workshops at the conference:
• Marvin Williams and Dan Fendler, Delaware Assistive Technology Initiative (DATI), presented "There's an App for That? The Exciting World of Mobile Devices as Assistive Technology," which examined the expanding world of mobile devices and how they can be used as assistive technology. Williams and Fendler also discussed the accessibility of these devices.
• Williams and Eileen Mapes, DATI, along with Katie Megee, Easter Seals Delaware and Maryland's Eastern Shore, and Adam Samuel, Avenue Medical, shared "The Long and Winding Road: Understanding the Process of Getting Assistive Technology" with attendees. Presenters worked with participants to help them learn the process of getting assistive technology. This workshop also featured a panel discussion with clinicians and equipment vendors.
• In "Access to Medical Service," Annalisa Ekbladh, project coordinator in the health and wellness unit at CDS, Ann Phillips, Delaware Family Voices Family to Family Health Information Center, and Gregory McClure, dental director for the Delaware Division of Public Health, provided information about resources and programs in Delaware that can assist families of children with special health care needs and disabilities in locating and accessing the services they need.
• Phyllis Guinivan and Gary Mears, Emergency Preparedness for Individuals with Disabilities, CDS, joined Terry Whitham, State Police Dispatch Centers, in "Emergency Preparedness," sharing new collaborative approaches and tools that can be used to address inclusive emergency preparedness and assist people with developmental disabilities and their families in the preparation of customized emergency readiness plans.
• Chris Barthold, researcher with CDS, provided a brief overview of the rationale for conducting a thorough Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) in her presentation, "Taking the Mystery and Myth Out of Functional Behavioral Assessment and Behavior Intervention Plans." Barthold also explored best practices for conducting an FBA, including how these results are used for creating behavior intervention plans.
Publications
David Pong, professor of history, had his Encyclopedia of Modern China reviewed in China Review International, University of Hawaii Press, 2011, a premier review of books on Chinese studies. The review notes, "Much thought has gone into the planning of the encyclopedia, which distinguishes it from online venues of informational warehouses and gives it a nuanced coverage of modern Chinese history."
Susan Goodman, who is H. Fletcher Brown Chair of Humanities and professor of English, is the author of Republic of Words: The Atlantic Monthly and Its Writers, 1857-1925, published by University Press of New England.
McKay Jenkins, who is Tilghman Professor of English and co-director of the environmental humanities program, wrote a commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled, "Why I'm Not Preparing My Students to Compete in the Global Marketplace," in which he describes the students in his environmental humanities class and their desire to "engage more fully with local ecosystems and local communities" rather than with the global marketplace. Jenkins also writes regularly for the Huffington Post; his latest column concerns plans for a national park in West Virginia, a state he describes as "blessed with beauty and grotesque exploitation in equal measure."
Stacie Beck and Eleanor Craig, associate professors of economics, published an op-ed in the Dec. 21, 2011, News Journal entitled "Dems Put Job Creation in a Chokehold," which discussed the seriousness of the employment situation and successful ways to encourage job formation in the U.S. economy.
Douglas Tuttle, director of the Institute for Public Administration, was featured in the International Institute of Municipal Clerks' education newsletter.
Service
Erin Daix, associate librarian, Collection Development Department, University of Delaware Library, was appointed by Gov. Jack Markell to the newly formed School Libraries Council as a representative of UDLib/SEARCH.
Megan Gaffney, senior assistant librarian, Access Services Department, University of Delaware Library, was nominated to serve on the SHARES Executive Group of the Online Computer Library Center Inc. (OCLC) Research Library Partnership for a two-year term beginning January 2012.
David Hollowell, executive vice president and treasurer emeritus, has been appointed by the board of trustees of Boston University to its board of overseers. The overseers board is comprised of alumni and friends who act as informed advisers to the trustees and administration on issues of strategic importance.
Elizabeth Zielinski, a sophomore elementary education major, has been selected as the regional chair of the National Catholic Student Coalition.
To submit information to be included in For the Record, write to ud-ocm@udel.edu.