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

Recent presentations, publications, honors and exhibitions include the following:

Presentations

Tracey Bryant, senior director for research communications in the Office of Communications and Marketing (OCM), was an invited speaker at the U.S. Department of Energy - Office of Science’s 2021 Science Communications Summit: Engaging the Public in Discovery Science, on October 26. The event involved more than 150 communicators from national labs, universities and Dept. of Energy staff. Bryant also chaired and hosted the virtual conference of the University Research Magazine Association (URMA) — “Navigating a New Age” — from July 14–16. The event, supported by OCM and the Research Office, featured speakers, panelists and moderators from 18 research universities including UD, federal agencies and national labs, as well as news media. URMA promotes excellence and professionalism among those who write, edit, design and publish magazines, e-newsletters, social media and multimedia about research at a university, nonprofit research center, agency or institute. The association has more than 200 members across the U.S. and around the world. Bryant was elected vice president of URMA at the conclusion of the conference

Trevor A. Dawes, vice provost for libraries and museums and May Morris University Librarian, was an invited speaker at the plenary session of the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON XXIX) on Oct. 17, 2021. The meeting, originally scheduled to be held in Fukuoka, Japan, was held virtually. Dawes’ session, “The Digital Divide and Digitization Efforts,” a part of the program on “COVID and Local and Subnational Diplomacy.” focused on the importance of digitized materials in providing access to content and the inherent barriers for those without stable internet access.  

On Oct. 21, 2021, Sheng Lu, associate professor of fashion and apparel studies, served as a speaker for the “Trade Opportunities in the Northeast of the United States Symposium,” hosted by the Consulate General of Guatemala in New York. Lu shared his research findings of U.S. fashion brands and retailers’ evolving sourcing strategies at the symposium. Other speakers included Shirley Aguilar, Guatemala’s deputy foreign minister, and Beth Hughes, vice president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association. 

Publications

Laura Gasiorowski, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, published a paper in Business Management Dynamics, called “Uncovering the Evolution of Director Experience in Early-Stage Ventures.” It discusses how new ventures bring in the expertise they need as they grow (through adding board members).

Tad Glasscock, a graduate of the Associate in Arts Program (AAP) in Georgetown and now a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of “Selling Belltown,” a scholarly article that appeared in Lewes History, the award-winning journal of the Lewes (Delaware) Historical Society, which is published annually in November. In the same journal, Holly Wright, a graduate of the AAP in Dover and also now a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, wrote “Portraits of the Past: Christening the Green Run,” which provides the story behind a 1963 photo showing the christening of a menhaden fishing boat owned by a former mayor of Lewes.

Melody Barnett Deusner, who earned her doctorate in art history in 2011, is the author of Aesthetic Painting in Britain and America: Collectors, Art Worlds, Networks, published by Yale University Press. Deusner also wrote a catalog essay and helped with object selection for the exhibition “Sargent, Whistler and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano,” which opened Oct. 8 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Barbara Kutis, who earned her doctorate in art history in 2013, is the author of Artist-Parents in Contemporary Art: Gender, Identity, and Domesticity, published by Routledge.

Honors

Keeley Powell, senior assistant dean of Student Services in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE), was the recipient of the Rising Star Award given by the Delaware American Council on Education (ACE) Women's Network (DAWN). The award is presented to women in higher education in Delaware whose potential to achieve more is evident through their work and service. She was honored at DAWN's virtual awards ceremony that took place on Oct. 21, 2021. Powell holds a doctorate in educational leadership from UD and in her role as senior assistant dean for Student Services in CEOE, she leads the college’s student recruitment and retention efforts, assisting students in maximizing their success at UD. She previously worked for UD’s Graduate College as the director of graduate recruiting and diversity. She also serves as president of the Christina School District Board of Education. 

Yasser Payne, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice and of Africana studies, has received a 2021 Kandler Award from the ACLU of Delaware, recognizing members of the community who represent the highest commitment to ensuring the civil rights and liberties of all Delawareans. The ACLU cited Payne’s Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR) ethnographic project that examines resilience, structural violence and gun violence with street-identified Black Americans. He is currently leading two projects on gun violence in Wilmington and a national gun-violence project in five cities nationwide. An ACLU video about Payne can be viewed here.

Exhibitions

Meghan Constantinou, who earned her master’s degree in art history in 2010, is curating an exhibition at the Grolier Club in New York City, America’s oldest and largest society for lovers of books and the graphic arts, where she is the librarian. The exhibition will include loans from the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection.

To submit information for inclusion in For the Record, write to ocm@udel.edu and include “For the Record” in the subject line.