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

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

Honors

John Crowley, professor of communication, has been notified that he and his research team have won the Franklin H. Knower Article Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association. The title of the article, which Crowley coauthored with a number of individuals including Amy Bleakley, professor of communication at UD, is "The longitudinal influence of supportive messages on stress reactivity and general well-being for LGBTQ+ recipients of hate speech: Comparing the relative effects of verbal person-centered and autonomy support." This article was published in Communication Monographs in 2023. This award acknowledges an outstanding research article published in the last five years that has made a significant impact on the field of interpersonal communication. The award will be presented at the annual National Communication Association conference scheduled in  New Orleans in November.

Lane Bradley, a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication, has been notified that he will be receiving the Outstanding Thesis Award from the Human Communication and Technology Division of the National Communication Association. Lane's master's thesis, with the title, "Seeking support from AI or Human: Testing Impression Management Goal as a Mechanism Driving Variation in Support Seeking Messages" is being recognized for the quality of the research done and the potential impact it can have on the field of communication. The award will be presented at the annual National Communication Association conference scheduled in  New Orleans in November.

Joseph Trainor, dean of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, has been appointed to the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) as a fellow for 2026. The newly elected class will be formally recognized at NAPA's National Conference, Nov. 8-10, in Washington, D.C.

Partnerships

Mark Blenner, Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Career Development Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is partnering with Ambrosia Space on a Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer contract from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The project will explore yeast and cyanobacteria co-cultures as part of an effort to develop adaptable, scalable biomanufacturing processes for use in space. 

Presentations

Sheng Lu, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies, spoke at the session “Western Hemisphere Sourcing: What Will It Take for Nearshoring to Become a Reality” at the 2026 Sourcing Journal Fall Summit on Sept. 29, 2026, in New York City. Lu was joined by Maristella Iacobello, vice president of global customs and trade governance from PVH Corp.; Jason Kra, president of Li and Fung; and Kate Nishimura, deputy editor of Sourcing Journal. During the session, Lu shared findings of his latest research on U.S. free trade agreements and their impacts on fashion companies’ sourcing strategies.

Rudi Matthee, John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History, was invited by the Center of Humanities and the Center of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University to help celebrate the publication of department member Ayṣe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer, Boundaries of Belonging. Sectarianism and Statecraft in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (Cambridge UP), by commenting on the book in relation to the Safavids, the dynasty her work studies in its interaction with the Ottomans, Sept. 24, 2026.

Julie L. McGee, associate University librarian for Special Collections and director of museums, was a guest presenter in a two-day VoCA workshop at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in September. Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA) is a nonprofit organization that generates critical dialogue and interdisciplinary programming to address the production, presentation and preservation of contemporary art. VoCA’s Workshops provide artists and arts professionals at all stages of their careers with a greater understanding of various methods and skills needed to successfully steward contemporary art collections.

Amit Kumar, assistant professor of marketing and psychological and brain sciences, presented his research paper, "Hello, Neighbor: Interactions with Weak Ties in One's Community Can Increase Prosocial Behavior," at the Association for Consumer Research annual meeting in Chicago in September. He also spoke on a panel about "Reconnecting Consumers: How Consumer Research Can Address the Crisis of Loneliness and Social Isolation" at this event.

Publications

A poem by Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, appears in the current issue (Vol. 23, No. 1, 2026, pp. 92-95) of The Steinbeck Review, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Pennsylvania State University Press. The poem, titled "Copy Rights," which is accompanied by her critical prose commentary on it, is a response to issues of cultural appropriation raised by John Steinbeck's 1947 novella, The Pearl.  In addition, Stetz is the author of four poems—"Pencil" and three haiku—that were published recently in The Pocket Poet: An International Poetry Journal. All four poems appeared in the September 2026 issue of this literary quarterly, which is sold on Amazon.

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