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

Recent presentations, publications and honors include the following:

Presentations

University President Dennis Assanis spoke at Texas A&M University on March 21 as part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Fowler Distinguished Lecture Series, which invites nationally recognized engineers and scientists to lecture as part of the graduate department seminar class. He also met with graduate students there during his visit.

Artika Rangan Casini, managing editor of the University of Delaware Messenger magazine, delivered the commencement address at her high school alma mater, the Charter School of Wilmington, on June 2 at The Playhouse on Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware.

Publications

A documentary memoir by Richard Zipser, professor emeritus of languages, literatures and cultures, is available online in English, with a substantial amount of new material. Remembering East Germany was published in 2013 as Von Oberlin nach Ostberlin (From Oberlin to East Berlin). Zipser calls the book, which is based on experiences he had with writers and the Stasi secret police while doing research in East Germany during the 1970s and ’80s, an unusual Cold War spy story. He completed the English translation last year.

Honors

Yvette Yien, assistant professor of biological sciences, has been awarded a prestigious Cooley’s Anemia Foundation research fellowship to support her work in the study of iron deficiency disorders. Yien also was named a “Rising Star in Iron and Heme Research” by the Center for Iron and Heme Disorders (CIHD), which is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. She has been invited to speak at the CIHD Rising Stars Symposium in November.

Richard Zipser, professor emeritus of languages, literatures and cultures, has accepted an invitation to join the International PEN Centre of German-Speaking Authors Abroad, a global community of writers in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1934 by four emigrated German writers, the organization seeks to keep alive the remembrance of its earlier members’ lives and works. Its focus today is on supporting writers who have been persecuted, exiled or silenced.

The Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS) was recently recognized for its marketing and communications efforts at the state level by the Delaware Press Association (DPA) and at the national level by the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW). Two UD PCS publications, the Spring 2018 Guide to Programs and Courses and the 2017 Impact Report, earned first-place awards in the Delaware Press Association Communications Contest, while the 2017 Diversity Summit Poster and the 2017 Invest in You ad campaign received second-place honors. As first-place selections in the statewide competition, the guide and the impact report were selected to compete against winners from other states in the 2017 NFPW Communications Contest. In the national competition, the Spring 2018 Guide to Programs and Courses earned first place, and the 2017 Impact Report finished second. DPA judges had kudos for both the guide (“The bi-fold guide provides useful information to potential publics. It is clearly based on good teamwork. Informative and visually appealing.”) and the report (“Starting with the one-page statement, this judge was drawn into the team’s experience. The first-person narrative made it personal. In a mere five pages, the report communicated the program’s philosophy, purpose and professionalism. Punchy headlines told the story. There was power in the numbers. The report is aptly named. It delivered a High Impact read.”) Steven M. Kendus, UD PCS marketing and communications manager, said, “Producing 11 catalogs a year, promoting dozens of programs and addressing the rest of the marketing and communications efforts of UD PCS are daunting tasks, but the combined efforts of the UD PCS team members continually drive us toward success. We are grateful for the awards from the DPA and the NFPW because they gain recognition for and show the value of all continuing studies programs and serve as a testament to coordinated teamwork.” The Delaware Press Association is a network of more than 150 journalists, broadcasters, public relations specialists, graphic designers, photojournalists, educators, authors, poets and freelancers dedicated to the highest standards of excellence in communication and to protecting First Amendment freedoms. The annual DPA Communications Contest is open to all professional communicators in Delaware and is judged by out-of-state communications professionals to ensure impartiality. The National Federation of Press Women is a nationwide organization of professional women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum. Entries are judged by leaders in their fields of expertise.

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