For the Record provides information about recent professional activities and honors of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent publications, presentations and honors include the following:

Publications

Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, continues to publish poetry on a variety of topics, including on issues related to pedagogy. This was the subject of one recent poem, "Self-Harm," which appeared online in Sad Girl Diaries on April 19, 2025. Other recently published poems include "Solitaire," in Last Stanza Poetry Journal, issue #20, p. 52 (a print journal sold on Amazon), and "The Little Boys Next Door," which was published in the online journal Feminine Collective on March 30, 2025.

Presentations

Farley Grubb, professor of economics, presented “The Struggle to Obtain or Create ‘Monies’ to Media Domestic Exchange in 18th Century Colonial America,” to the Wilmington Coin Club Chapter of the American Numismatic Association, Wilmington, Delaware, April 22, 2025.

On April 21, 2025, Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, was an invited participant at an event organized by the American Humor Studies Association and sponsored by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Held online, this was a discussion of issues involving humor and the current political climate occasioned by the publication of a new book, When Comedy Goes Wrong, by Christopher Gilbert. 

Chase Barnes, associate policy scientist at the Institute for Public Administration (IPA), presented at the 2025 Main Street Now Conference hosted by Main Street America in Philadelphia, on April 7–9, 2025. Barnes co-presented "Federal Funding for Main Street Visions" with Ellen Gamson (Mt Vernon, Washington) and Risa Thomas (Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, Washington). Shane Hampton and Maggie Gillespie of Main Street America hosted the panel. More than 110 people attended the session as Barnes discussed the ongoing work of the Grant Assistance Program (GAP) in Milford and Slaughter Beach, Delaware. Barnes also highlighted partnerships with university colleagues at Sea Grant and the Coastal Resilience Design Studio. The Institute for Public Administration is a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.

Honors

Alisa V. Moldavanova, associate professor and director of the Master of Public Administration program in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and senior faculty fellow in the Institute for Public Administration, received the 2025 Service Award from the American Society for Public Administration’s Section on Public Administration Research (SPAR). Presented at the annual conference in Washington, D.C., this award recognizes Moldavanova for her “exemplary dedication, leadership and vision” to SPARC and its members. Since joining SPAR’s Executive Committee in 2015, Moldavanova has served as treasurer, president-elect and acting president. “Through her service, Alisa has championed collaboration across SPAR’s membership, strengthening ties among junior and senior scholars, practitioners and academics. She has also played a pivotal role in connecting SPAR with other ASPA sections, fostering innovative initiatives that resonate with our members,” wrote Angela M. Paez, associate professor in the Department of Public Administration at Tennessee State University and SPAR board member. Moldavanova’s recognition coincided with two major publishing accomplishments. In August 2024, she authored and published The Overlooked Pillar: Making a Case for Cultural Sustainability. She is also the coeditor of The Nonprofit Sector in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia: Civil Society Advances and Challenges with David H. Smith and Svitlana Krasynska. The Institute for Public Administration is a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.

Six members of the UD community were recognized at the Delaware Hotel and Lodging Association’s Stars of the Industry Awards on April 10. Retired UD hospitality faculty members Robert Nelson and Brian Miller received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Education, honoring their longstanding contributions to hospitality education. UD hospitality students Dayana Garzon Lagos, a senior with a position lined up at Hyatt in San Diego, and Kiley Michulka, a junior, were both awarded the Gregory Kramedas Scholarship, supported by a UD donor family. Jeff Brittingham, executive chef at the Courtyard Newark at UD, was named Manager of the Year for his leadership and commitment to service. Zeus Canogo-Torres, a staff member and UD alum at the same property, was recognized as Heart-of-the-House Employee of the Year, celebrating his excellence behind the scenes.

Zach Davis, a second-year doctoral student in the bioinformatics data science program, recently won a poster award at the University of Delaware Data Science Institute’s Data Science and DARWIN Computing Symposium, held on STAR Campus in April. Davis, who works in the lab of Medical and Molecular Sciences Department Chair and Professor Esther Biswas-Fiss, presented on “Data-Driven Approaches to Understanding Genetic Variants of ABCA4 in Inherited Retinal Disorders.” Davis said, “I’ve only been conducting this research for three months, so winning this award felt amazing and helped me recognize just how far I’ve already come.”

Roderick L. Carey, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) and CEHD Faculty Scholar, received the 2025 Early Career Award from the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education at its annual conference on March 31, 2025, in National Harbor, Maryland. This award recognizes individuals who have made significant research contributions to the understanding of issues that disproportionately affect minoritized populations and/or the advancement of Black people in higher education. Carey’s interdisciplinary research seeks to make sense of the school experiences of Black and Latinx adolescents in urban contexts, drawing upon critical theories, sociological tools and constructs from developmental and social psychology. Carey has also received the 2025 Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA)’s Division G: Social Context of Education and the 2025 Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award from AERA. The AERA Division G Early Career Award recognizes research on the social contexts of education from an individual in the early stages of their career, no later than 10 years after receipt of the doctoral degree. The AERA Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award recognizes a scholar within the first 10 years of their career who has made significant contributions to the understanding of issues which disproportionately affect minority populations and a minority scholar who has made a significant contribution to educational research and development. Carey received both awards at AERA’s annual conference from April 23-27, 2025, in Denver.

CEHD alum Cara Kelly, EHD24PhD, received the 2025 Outstanding Dissertation Award from AERA’s Early Education and Child Development special interest group during AERA’s annual conference. This annual award recognizes exceptional dissertations on topics related to the development of children between birth and age 8, including studies focused on families, teachers and others who care for and educate young children. Kelly’s dissertation investigated teacher perceptions of quality in the federal Head Start program, which provides early childhood education, health and social services to low-income families.

CEHD alum Latrice Marianno, EHD24PhD, received AERA’s Leadership for School Improvement special interest group 2025 Dissertation of the Year Award and the School Effectiveness and School Improvement special interest group 2025 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award during AERA’s annual conference. Both awards recognize exceptional work in educational leadership. Latrice’s dissertation offered a critical policy analysis of the relationship between equity and school improvement planning at the state, district and school level. Her graduate paper examined the extent to which school improvement plan templates had the potential to create conditions for school leaders to identify and address inequities.

The 2025 Carol A. Ammon Case Competition brought together 56 graduate students from the UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics to tackle a timely, high-stakes business challenge. Over three weeks in March, 15 teams analyzed a Harvard Business School case study on NVIDIA, a global technology company incorporated in Delaware known for its advanced chips and software powering gaming, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. The case was adapted by Kurt Norder, assistant professor of management and director of the master of science in international business program, to include NVIDIA’s historic $600 billion market capitalization loss in January 2025. Teams were tasked with analyzing the causes and offering strategic solutions. In the preliminary round, students presented to a panel of 18 UD Lerner College MBA alumni. The top three teams advanced to the final round, judged by regional business professionals.

• First place went to Synergy: Pascale Mwavaga (M.S. in business analytics and information management (BAIM)/MBA), Mary Brago Duah (M.S.BAIM), Patience Adjei (MBA), and Mansi Gupta (M.S.BAIM).
• Second place went to Blue Hen Strategists: Rylee Monoski (MBA), Silvia Atelo (M.S. BAIM), Denielle Clarke (MBA), and Naomi Okemwa (M.S. BAIM).
• The third-place team, Team Crossover: Nabila Briste (MBA), Tahseef Reza (MBA), Sai Hrushikesh Mandapaka (MBA), and Haiwen Li (M.S. international business).

The competition sharpens students’ strategic thinking and presentation skills while connecting them with alumni and business leaders. Founded in 2000, the Carol A. Ammon Case Competition remains a signature Lerner College event linking classroom learning with real-world experience.

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