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

Recent honors, publications and presentations include the following:

Honors

The University of Delaware has earned a Gold Seal from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for nonpartisan student voter participation efforts in the 2020 election. The initiative at UD is guided by Lindsay Hoffman, associate director of the Center for Political Communication. The gold seal is awarded to campuses with a participation rate of 70-79% or higher in the 2020 presidential election. The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge honors select higher education institutions, educators and students for their work in student voter engagement during the 2020 presidential election, which engaged the largest and most diverse group of college students in U.S. history. More than 840 institutions enrolling close to 9 million students participated in the challenge. This national, nonpartisan initiative strives for a more inclusive democracy and works to strengthen college and university efforts to improve civic learning, political engagement and voter participation. Ensuring that students are registered to vote and participate in all elections is a key component of this work. Previously UD received a Gold Seal in 2019 for participation in the 2018 midterm election and a bronze seal in 2016 for participation in the 2016 presidential election.

Lynnette Overby, professor of theatre and director of UD's Community Engagement Initiative, has been selected as a member of the Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship. ACES recognizes exceptional leaders who unite academics and communities to benefit society. The academy’s mission is to provide expertise to policymakers, higher education institutions and organizations, community leaders, and national and international entities interested in addressing complex societal issues through the effective engagement of higher education with community members and organizations. Overby also has been appointed a fellow of the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy and Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her activity as a fellow will involve grant writing, research, advocacy, partnerships, evaluation, policy formation and leading professional development endeavors that advance diversity, equity, inclusion, access and excellence in PK-12 dance education in the United States and internationally. 

Michael Crossley, assistant professor of entomology and wildlife ecology and agricultural entomologist, earned an Early Career Professional recognition award from the Entomological Society of America. His agricultural entomology lab bridges basic and applied approaches to managing and utilizing insects in changing farmscapes. 

Publications

Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, recently had several poems appear in print, including “Crème Brûlée, 1983," in Rushing Thru the Dark , a literary journal published by Choeofpleirn Press (Autumn 2021, page 136) and "Vocation," in the journal  Kerning: A Space for Words, issued by Toad Hall Editions Press (October 2021, pages 92-93). In addition, her short prose memoir titled “I’ve Been Through the Mill—and Also Through The Mill on the Floss” appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of the Blydyn Square Review, devoted to the theme of "My Life in Books."

Presentations

Heinz-Uwe Haus, professor of theatre, participated with an invited paper, "From text to stage: experiences directing Ancient Greek drama - Notes on transcultural identity," at the International Theatre Conference  on“Values of Ancient Greek Theatre Across Space & Time: Cultural Heritage and Memory,” held online by The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece, Nov. 6-7, 2021, as part of the European research programme VAST (Values Across Space and Time). The conference focused on the lasting and, at the same time, ever-changing values of ancient Greek theatre. The participants were interested to explore how these “old” values concerning Democracy, Human Rights, Freedom, Peace, Rational Thinking, Hegemonic Discourse and Equality, among others, travel through time and space, how they are recalled or forgotten, how they are engaged with our variously enclosed existence, by what method they are performed and how they evolve and/or transfigure in the context of postmodern and posthumanist world boundaries, especially after the peaceful revolutions 1989 in Middle and Eastern Europe and the impact of globalization on national cultural identity. Haus examined - based on his work in Cyprus and Greece over more than 40 years - narratives that represent significant moments of European culture/history and narratives stemming from citizen experiences, to study how the meaning of specific values always has been expressed through different narratives (Greek tragedies, 17th century scientific revolution texts, folktales) and user experiences (artists, spectators, pupils). His speech will be published by edition VAST next month.

Julie McGee, associate professor of Africana studies and art history, presented at the Bard Center for Curatorial Studies 30th anniversary symposium, “Reshaping the Field: Arts of the African Diasporas on Display,” held Nov. 4-6, 2021. The three-day conference was recorded live and will be available soon on the symposium website.

Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, delivered a paper titled "Screening Victorian Books” at the online international conference “Books on Screen," which was held Nov. 3, 2021, and sponsored by the University of Leeds and Anglia Ruskin University (UK), along with SHARP (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing). In her paper, she speculated about the reasons behind the frequent appearance of material book elements (often, flagrantly inauthentic ones) such as pseudo-19th-century bindings, title-pages, illustrations, etc., in Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s from Jane Eyre (1934), through Devotion (1946), a biopic about the Brontë sisters.

Maria Aristigueta, dean of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, co-moderated a virtual panel discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, on “Vaccine Hesitancy and Non-Vaxxers in Latino and African American Populations: A Theoretical and Practical Perspective.” The event, hosted by the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), offered views from a variety of experts on the racial and cultural causes and ramifications of vaccine hesitancy in Latino and Black communities. This webinar provided a north/south comparative exploration of the issue from organizations working on the ground with these populations as well as some current research findings. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disparate impact on communities of color, with these populations experiencing a disproportionately high burden of disease and death, seeking out the root causes of vaccine hesitancy and refusal is a critical public affairs issue. As an area of study, it can also more broadly inform understanding of the impact of public policy—and its limitations—in times of a public health crisis, as well as the leadership and implementation factors that may impact the success of enacted policies. ASPA members—including leading public affairs scholars and practitioners—as well as the general public were invited to view the webinar. 

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