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

Recent presentations, awards and publications include the following:

Presentations

Duygu Phillips, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, presented “Ethical Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence: Propriety Judgments and Validity Beliefs of Investors” at the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) conference on Jan. 14. In this study, Phillips theorizes and empirically assesses how the ethical perceptions of AI influence investors’ intention to invest in entrepreneurial ventures and how their propriety judgments and validity beliefs affect this relationship.

Johann Ducharme, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, presented “Developing Character Virtues in Undergraduate Entrepreneur Leaders,” with Kate R. Allman, Susan Fesperman and Rebecca Park in The Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) annual conference in January. They studied the cultivation of character virtues in molding the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders, identifying pedagogical strategies to develop courage, creativity, leadership, humility and teamwork. Ducharme and Stephanie Raible, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, participated in a panel discussion with Eundeok Kim, Lane Perry and Jill Fox and moderated by Elena Dowin Kennedy, titled “Around the World in 50 Minutes: Designing Social Entrepreneurship Study Abroad Experiences.” The discussion focused on creating a study abroad program that cultivates social entrepreneurship skills.

Awards 

Jovan Tatar, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in UD’s College of Engineering, has received the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Young Member Award for Professional Achievement. Tatar was recognized for his research in the repair materials and methods for concrete structures; some of his recent projects include creating design guidelines for the anchorage of composite plates in concrete structures and the development of durable, moisture-resistant adhesives for concrete inspired by the adhesion of mussels to rocks underwater. He was also recognized for his service on ACI technical committees and his leadership as the founding faculty advisor to the UD student chapter of ACI. A scientific society focused on the usage, application and innovation of concrete, ACI develops consensus-based standards and technical resources along with educational, training and certification programs. The Young Member Award for Professional Achievement is given to an ACI member under 35 years of age who has demonstrated active participation at the local or national chapter level, service to the advancement of the industry and serves as an example for mentoring students or young professionals. Tatar will be recognized during the President’s Reception at the ACI Spring 2024 Concrete Convention, March 24-28 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Owen White, professor of history, has been awarded the 2024 Eugen Weber Book Prize for The Blood of the Colony: Wine and the Rise and Fall of French Algeria (Harvard University Press). The prize is awarded to the best book in the field of modern French history published over the previous two years. 

The book titled Adverse Childhood Experiences, The Neuroscience of Trauma, Resilience and Healing throughout the Life Course, written by Kathleen Brewer-Smyth, associate professor in the School of Nursing, was first to receive four Book of the Year awards from the American Journal of Nursing since it began recognizing quality healthcare publications in 1969. The book was honored with first place in the categories of Community/Home Health, Creative Works, and Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing, as well as third place in the Consumer Health category. It serves as a resource to promote optimal brain function for all and can be utilized by healthcare providers, schoolteachers, public safety professionals, foster parents, and even loved ones to understand the long-term impact of adverse childhood experiences on trauma survivors. 

Alisa Moldavanova, associate professor and Master of Public Administration (MPA) program director in the Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, received, on behalf of the University of Delaware, one of 1,288 first-round grants nationwide from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for 2024. Announced by NEA on January 24, 2024, the $35,000 award is part of $32,223,055 in grants awarded nationwide. Moldavanova’s grant will fund the research project “From Decline to Prosperity: Examining the Role of a Vibrant Arts Sector in Supporting Rural Sustainability.” The study seeks to equip rural community stakeholders with the tools and knowledge necessary to leverage their arts and culture assets for community sustainability. Her broader research program investigates how nonprofits and other public service organizations foster sustainable development in their local communities. She also studies organizational sustainability in the context of public service organizations, inter-organizational networks, and other forms of social connectedness in enabling sustainable organizations. Moldavanova was an NEA research grant recipient in 2016 and again in 2019. Her previous NEA-funded work was published in the Journal of Urban Affairs (JUA). “From Decline to Prosperity” runs now until Jan. 1, 2026. For more information, please visit the NEA website.

Joanna Hoh and Kate Kasemen, both doctoral students in the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, were awarded fellowships from the American Heart Association. Hoh’s research project with Jennifer Semrau, assistant professor, is titled “Understanding the Contributions of Proprioceptive Impairment on Arm Capacity and Real-World Performance After Stroke.” Considering how nearly half of all stroke survivors have issues with a limb following recovery, Hoh will be conducting measurements to determine how these deficits may affect a stroke survivor's performance in everyday life. Kasemen’s project, “The Role of Sex and Age on Intestinal Permeability and Endothelial Function,” is supervised by faculty advisor Shannon Lennon, professor. Her research will explore the relationship between the gut and vascular function using biomarkers for gut permeability as well as factoring in age and sex, with a long-term goal of understanding ways to protect vascular function in women as they grow older. 

Publications

Heinz-Uwe Haus, professor of theater, published in the newest issue of Matrix, the magazine for European literature, poetry art and culture, an essay in German "Wie das 'Fremde' zum 'Eigenen' wird" ("How the 'foreign' becomes the 'own'"). He analyzes how fundamental initiatives of cultural change and awakening in (Western) Europe after the end of the Second World War were triggered by U.S. policy. The focus is on how these days the European Union is to be understood as an intercultural pan-European task.

Adil Bentahar, assistant professor of ESL at the English Language Institute with a joint appointment with the School of Education, co-authored an article, “Bolstering Student Writing Through a Reading-to-Critique and Reading-to-Synthesize Approach,” in the EnglishUSA Journal on synthesis writing in English language programs. The focus is on critiquing and outlining as part of the writing process. He believes this empirical publication may offer helpful insights to instructors new to teaching synthesis writing in courses such as ARSC150 and E110.

Appointments

Timothy D. Murray, longtime head of Special Collections at UD Library, Museums and Press (retired 2023), was appointed by President Biden to the National Museums and Library Services Board, which is the advisory board of the Institute for Museums and Library Services (IMLS).

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