Jim Falk has been appointed acting director of Delaware Sea Grant.

For the Record, April 10, 2015

Sea Grant, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources appointments announced

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9:26 a.m., April 10, 2015--For the Record provides information about recent professional activities of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent appointments, awards, conferences, presentations, publications and service include the following:

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Delaware Sea Grant appointment

Jim Falk has been appointed acting director of Delaware Sea Grant (DESG) effective April 1, as current DESG Director Nancy Targett prepares to lead the University of Delaware as interim president effective July 1. Since 2009, Falk has served as associate director of Delaware Sea Grant.

Falk began his career serving as a marine recreation and tourism specialist for DESG’s Marine Advisory Service (MAS) for 21 years, conducting numerous applied research projects directed at understanding peoples’ attitudes, behaviors, and opinions about outdoor recreation, tourism, and natural resource issues. In 1999, he was appointed director of the MAS program, to coordinate the activities of outreach specialists who deliver science-based educational programs on marine issues throughout the state and region.  Falk received his master’s degree in recreation and resource development from Texas A&M University and bachelor’s degree in history from Texas Tech University.  

The University of Delaware was designated as the nation’s ninth Sea Grant College in 1976 to promote the wise use, conservation and management of marine and coastal resources through high-quality research, education and outreach activities that serve the public and the environment. UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment administers the program, which conducts research in priority areas ranging from aquaculture to coastal hazards.

CANR appointment

Eric Wommack has been named to the position of associate dean for research and graduate programs and deputy dean for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR). Wommack assumed his new responsibilities on Wednesday, April 1. 

Wommack, a professor of environmental microbiology in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, has worked at UD since January 2001. He also holds faculty appointments in the marine biology and biochemistry program in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

CANR Dean Mark Rieger said that he is “pleased that Eric has accepted the position and is coming on board immediately. He has had a stellar career at UD and is well respected for his research and graduate student mentoring. Importantly, Eric has strong collaborations with the Department of Biological Sciences and the School of Marine Science and Policy, and has some great ideas for enhancing interdisciplinary collaboration between our college and others at UD. The tough problems in agriculture and natural resources only get solved via strong, interdisciplinary efforts.” 

Of the appointment, Wommack said that he is “incredibly flattered and honored with the opportunity to hopefully make a difference in what we do.” 

One of the aspects of the job that he is really looking forward to is helping grow an already strong graduate research program at CANR. “Graduate education and research has been my focus the entire time here. I’ve trained over a dozen graduate students who have gone on to do great things and I’ve always valued working with graduate students and with undergrads in the lab,” said Wommack. 

Wommack said he is looking forward to working more closely with his faculty colleagues and that he enjoys the university setting “because I’m around really bright and creative people every day.”

Wommack received a bachelor of science degree in biology and a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Emory University, a master’s degree in physiology from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and a doctorate in marine estuarine environmental sciences from the University of Maryland. 

Awards

Rudi Matthee, John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History, won the award for best history book of the year from Mehrnameh, Iran's most prominent political, cultural and literary monthly magazine. He was awarded the prize for his Persia in Crisis; Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan (2011), which in 2014 came out in a Persian translation as Iran dar bohran: Zavval-e Safaviyeh va soqut-e Isfahan.

Conferences

Art Trembanis, associate professor of oceanography in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, participated in the inaugural “International Conference on Science and Technology for Marine and Coastal Environments” in Da Nang, Vietnam. This three-day conference held in March brought together scientists, engineers, and policy makers from throughout Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. Trembanis was a member of the U.S. delegation that included colleagues from the Office of Naval Research, Naval Research Lab in Mississippi and the U.S. Naval Academy.

Exhibitions

Work by Brian Wagner, a UD master of fine arts student, is among 23 artists included in the exhibition “Brick Layers,” which will be on view from April 11-June 28 in the Vulcan Gallery of the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia. The exhibition features the work of artists who engage in conversations of current and historic significance related to the penal system, the Suffragists and the use of labor and natural resources as a vehicle for suppression or liberation. And opening reception will be held from 6-9 p.m., Saturday, April 11. The exhibition is presented by the Washington Sculptors Group at the center.

Presentations

John Callahan, associate scientist with the Delaware Geological Survey, presented a talk on "Analysis of Tides and Storm Surge from Observations Records in the Delaware Inland Bays" at the Coastal GeoTools conference held March 30-April 2 in Charleston, South Carolina, sponsored by NOAA and Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Publications

Matthew J. Robinson, professor of sport management in the Lerner College of Business and Economics, and Jeffrey Schneider, instructor in the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, co-authored an article, “The Changed Landscape,” that appears in the Winter 2015 issue of Olympic Coach. The authors explore some of the reasons the world has caught up to the U.S. in sport, with a focus on the foundation, participation, talent identification, and athlete development pillars and the increased importance that sports clubs have in strengthening those pillars. 

“It is at the sport club level that future elite athletes are recruited, trained, and developed,” they write. “If the sport club environment is flawed, so will the athletes being produced from the environment.” Specific issues include the age at which young athletes start to participate in a sport, the use of professional rather than volunteer coaches, an increase in parental involvement in youth sports, and the decline of education-based sport opportunities.

Service

Mark Samuels Lasner, senior research fellow, Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, currently serves as the Modern Fine Printing Committee chair as well as councilor on the 2015 Council of the Grolier Club, New York City.

To submit information to be included in For the Record, write to publicaffairs@udel.edu.

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