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

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

Honors

Ann Aviles, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, will receive the 2024 Kandler Award from the ACLU Delaware at its award ceremony on Oct. 15, 2024. The Kandler Award honors the work of community members who exemplify the tireless commitment of former ACLU Delaware President Gerald Kandler to defend all Delawareans’ civil liberties. Aviles, whose research, teaching and organizing activities address housing and educational inequality, will be honored for her leadership in the Housing Opportunity Mobility Equity Stability (HOMES) Campaign, which advocates for affordable housing and to end homelessness in Delaware.

Heather Milea, family nurse practitioner and adult-gerontology acute care practitioner at the Nurse Managed Primary Care Center, received the 2024 Delaware State Award for Excellence from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Each year, the AANP recognizes a nurse practitioner from every state who has demonstrated excellence in clinical practice and advanced the visibility of nurse practitioners. Award recipients were honored at the AANP State Awards for Outstanding Contributions Ceremony as part of the 2024 AANP National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. As lead clinician and first nurse practitioner for the University of Delaware’s community healthcare and wellness initiative, H.E.A.L.T.H. for All, Milea works to identify gaps for Delaware community members in healthcare and health literacy, bring equity in healthcare to those in economically or socially marginalized communities, and guide experiential learning opportunities for nursing and nurse practitioner students, especially through direct primary care services. “My work supports the independence of the nurse practitioner profession in Delaware through personalized, holistic care for our patients as well as the management of chronic and episodic conditions,” said Milea. “This award recognizes the holism we practice as nurse practitioners, makes the role visible to others as a trustable and committed discipline, and showcases the creativity and dedication we have when caring for our community.”

Publications

Patricia A. Martin-DeLeon, Trustees Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences Emerita and Francis Alison Professor has published: "Proteomic analysis and in vivo visualization of extracellular vesicles from mouse oviducts during pre-implantation embryo development" in FASEB J. Vol. 38 Issue 77, 15 September 2024 e70035 with co-authors Kalli K. Stephens, Ryan M. Finnerty, DeAna G. Grant, Sarayut Winuthayanon and Wipawee Winuthayanon, all from Translational Biosciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.

Juan Perilla, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, andalumnus Alex Bryer, who received his doctoral degree in May, recently published Elasticity of the HIV-1 Core Facilitates Nuclear Entry and Infection in the journal PLOS Pathogens. The article details research that combined computing, molecular biophysics and molecular virology to show that the shell of the virus that causes HIV can bounce back after being compressed, and that flexibility is vital to the process of infection. This work opens the doors to new strategies for disrupting transmission. It is the result of three years of collaboration with scientists at Ben-Gurhion University in Israel and Vanderbilt University.

Ali Alalou, associate professor of French and applied linguistics, is the author of "Language policy during both colonial and post-colonial eras in Morocco: Aspects of double marginalization of Imazighen" in The Palgrave Handbook of Language Policies in Africa. 2024.

A selection of poems by Alexander Selimov, Elias Ahuja Chair of Spanish, has been translated into Chinese by Chris Chen, a poet from New Zealand, and published in Compact News, New York, on Aug. 10, 2024. Another collection of poems has been published in the anthological issue of Revista Prometeo, volumes 121-122 (July 2024). This special edition features works from 68 poets who participated in the 34th International Poetry Festival in Medellín, Colombia (recipient of The Right Livelihood Award in 2006). The inclusion of Selimov's poetry in this prestigious anthology highlights his contribution to the global poetic community and his participation in one of the world's most renowned and selective literary events.

Presentations

Farley Grubb, professor of economics, presented “The Origins of the Continental Dollar, 1775-1777: Explaining the Choices that Congress had to Make when Creating a New Money” to the New Jersey American Revolution Roundtable (NJARRT), Morristown, New Jersey, Sept. 12, 2024. The event was held in America’s first national historical park and General Washington’s headquarters from December 1779 to June 1780.

Rudi Matthee, John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History, was interviewed by ABC Radio, Australia, Late Night Live, on “Tea, coffee and opium in Iran,” on Sept. 17, 2024. Listen here.

Service

Dominique Baker, associate professor in CEHD’s School of Education and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, has been appointed to the Board on Higher Education and Workforce within the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. At the National Academies, the members of the Board on Higher Education and Workforce provide the academic community, policymakers and businesses with insights and recommendations on critical higher education and workforce issues facing the nation. Baker’s research focuses on the way that education policy, such as student financial aid and admissions policies, affects and shapes the access and success of minoritized students in higher education.

Paige Seppanen, retired colonel with the University of Delaware Police Department (UDPD), has been named president of the Delaware State Fire Police Association (DSFPA).  Seppanen served as a UD police officer from 1984 until his retirement in 2012. He was rehired as a miscellaneous wage employee in 2014 and remains a vital part of the UDPD team. At the installation ceremony, retired UDPD Maj. Jeffrey Evans served as the installing officiant for the 2024-25 DSFPA Board of Officers, and UDPD Chief Patrick Ogden attended the ceremony as well. Seppanen and Evans are proud Life Members of the Aetna Hose, Hook and Ladder Company.  

Jack Puleo, professor and chair of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, has been appointed by the secretary of the Army to a three-year term on the Coastal Engineering Research Board. Established by law in 1963, the seven-member advisory board provides the secretary of defense, the deputy secretary of defense and the secretary of the Army, through the commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, independent advice and recommendations to the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory on coastal engineering research priorities and additional functions as assigned by the chief of engineers.

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