For the Record, Friday, March 29, 2024

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

Recent presentations, awards and appointments include the following:

Presentations

Persephone Braham, professor of Spanish and Latin American studies in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, presented her research on "The Caribbean EcoGothic" at the Congreso de Ciencia Ficción y Fantasía del Caribe in Santiago de Cuba on March 21. The talk centered on Caribbean influences in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Caribbean gothic and science fiction as a reflection of climate catastrophe.

In February, the Delaware Center for Civics Education (DCCE) in UD's Institute for Public Administration hosted a webinar titled and based on the book How to Confront Climate Denial: Literacy, Social Studies, and Climate Change, written by presenter James Damico, professor of literacy, culture and language education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University. Later that month, Fran O'Malley, DCCE project director, joined Delaware Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. and James "Sonny" Knott, a former student of the Hockessin School 107c, to talk with third, fourth and fifth graders at William F. Cooke, Jr. Elementary School in Hockessin, Delaware. The former student, Knott, described how his one-room schoolhouse and the family of Shirley Bulah helped end school segregation throughout the country. The Chief Justice detailed how his father, Delaware Chancellor Collins J. Seitz, applied the separate but equal test, found the schools unequal, and ordered the immediate admission of Black students to the white school, Hockessin School No. 29. This decision resulted in Delaware's consequential involvement in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case and contributed to the eventual desegregation of schools in Delaware, including the University. These events were partly funded through the Office of Delaware's Secretary of State and Delaware Supreme Court to enhance civics education in K-12 schools. 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 and Awards

Stephanie Raible, assistant professor of social innovation and entrepreneurship, was selected for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award. In spring 2025, she will be a U.S. Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor at the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) in Innsbruck, Austria, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Austrian-American Educational Commission in Austria, and Management Center Innsbruck. During this time, she will work on the project, "Exploring the intersection of entrepreneurship education, identity, and culture in Austria," focusing on women's entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education topics. The award will consist of teaching, research, startup mentoring and projects with MCI's centers.

Elizabeth Orsega-Smith, professor of health behavior and nutrition sciences, was recently recognized as a Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM). She was elected a Fellow at the SBM's Annual Meeting and Scientific Session in Philadelphia in March. Orsega-Smith was recognized, in part, for her rigorous research program, which focuses on physical activity in older adults, including psychosocial determinants of health. Fellow status is the highest status achieved by an SBM member and recognizes Orsega-Smith's outstanding contributions to advancing science and the practice of behavioral medicine.

Appointments

The University of Delaware has selected Allison Coomey to be the inaugural head coach of the women's ice hockey program. Coomey comes to Newark after spending the past seven seasons at Penn State, where she served as an assistant coach for three seasons before being promoted to associate head coach in 2020-21. Over the course of her career, Coomey has coached four student-athletes to the Olympics, eight to national teams, four All-Americans, 15 major conference award winners and 47 All-Conference selections. Read more on bluehens.com.

Annie Johnson, associate university librarian for publishing, preservation, research and digital access, was elected to the Board of the Library Publishing Coalition, an independent, community-led membership association of academic and research libraries and library consortia engaged in scholarly publishing.

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