University community reports recent announcements, awards, presentations

9:04 a.m., Sept. 5, 2014--For the Record provides information about recent professional activities of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent announcements, awards, presentations, recognition and service include the following:

Campus Stories

From graduates, faculty

As it neared time for the processional to open the University of Delaware Commencement ceremonies, graduating students and faculty members shared their feelings about what the event means to them.

Doctoral hooding

It was a day of triumph, cheers and collective relief as more than 160 students from 21 nations participated in the University of Delaware's Doctoral Hooding Convocation held Friday morning on The Green.

• Doctoral hooding
• Old Swedes
• Summer SAT, ACT prep
• 'Opus 13' pre-sale

Announcements

George Watson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), has announced two new appointments, both effective Sept. 1. Robin Schulze, professor of English, has accepted a two-year appointment as interim associate dean for the humanities, succeeding Matt Kinservik, who began serving in July as vice provost for faculty affairs. Kathryn Meier, a UD alumna and former marketing and communications manager in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, has been appointed CAS director of communications, following a national search. 

Awards

Eric M. Furst, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and director of the Center for Molecular and Engineering Thermodynamics, has been awarded a 2014 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. The NASA medal is awarded to individuals for exceptional scientific contributions to the agency’s mission.

Presentations

Rudi Matthee, John and Dorothy Munroe Professor of History, presented “Infidel Aggression: The Russian Assault on the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, March 31, 1912” at the 10th biennial conference of the International Society for Iranian Studies held in Montreal, Aug. 6-9.

Margaret D. Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, gave a keynote lecture on July 11 at the Michael Field Centenary Conference: New Directions in Fin-d-Siècle Studies, an event examining the work of two Victorian women (Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper) who wrote together under the pseudonym "Michael Field." The conference was organized by the Institute of English Studies, University of London, and held at Senate House, London. On June 12 she also delivered a paper titled “The Other Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name: Wilde’s Jewish ‘Fans’ in WWII-Era Cinema” at the conference Wilde Days in Paris/ The Cosmopolitan Wilde, which was held at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (Irish Cultural Center) in Paris.

Program recognition

The Department of Art’s visual communications program has been named one of the top 20 such degree programs in the nation by Graphic Design Degree Hub, a website that provides resources and information about graphic design and visual communications programs and careers. The new rankings were compiled by surveying accredited colleges and universities and analyzing statistics from the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics, according to the website. UD’s bachelor of fine arts in visual communications degree program was rated No. 14 in the listing.

Service

Dawn Elliott, professor and director of the biomedical engineering program, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), it was announced recently by Gilda Barabino, president of the organization. Elliott’s term will officially begin at the BMES annual meeting to be held Oct. 25 in San Antonio.

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