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

Recent presentations, publications and honors include the following:

Presentations 

Five students from the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration participated in the 2025 Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) Policy Simulation Competition, held virtually on March 1 and 8. The annual event presents aspiring public service professionals with real-world challenges to tackle in real time, connecting classroom theory with practice and encouraging skill development. Student participants were Gema Otheliansyah, a student in the Master of Public Administration program; Samuel Mackey, a student in the Master of Public Policy program; Elena Reim, a senior majoring in public policy; Meghan Rydell, a sophomore honors public policy and international relations double major; and Cole Tierney, a junior majoring in public policy.

Publications

Rachael Hutchinson, Elias Ahuja Professor of Japanese and Game Studies in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, was interviewed by The Economist on the impact of Japanese aesthetics on videogame studios in Asia. She also published two book chapters on Japanese videogame analysis, “Ideologies of the Body in Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid Series,” in The Metal Gear Solid Series: Critical Essays and New Perspectives, ed. Steven Kielich and Chris Hall (Bloomsbury) and “For the Love of Monsters: Yōkai and Colonialism in Japanese Games,” in Monstrosity in Games and Play: A Multidisciplinary Examination of the Monstrous in Contemporary Cultures, ed. Mikko Meriläinen et al. (Amsterdam University Press). These essays examine Japanese blockbuster games such as Metal Gear Solid and Pokemon through disability aesthetics and colonial frameworks.

Micki Burdick, assistant professor of women and gender studies, has a piece in The Conversation 'The FACE Act was enacted to protect reproductive health clinics − here’s why its history matters today.'"

Heinz-Uwe Haus, professor emeritus in the Department of Theatre and Dance, published in the bilingual German and Romanian journal Alternanzen: Zeitschrift für Literatur und Kultur, Munich, Germany,  issue 1/2025, two articles. An essay under the title “Notizen zur Notwendigkeit der ‘Verwestlichung’ des Westens (Notes on the necessity of the ‘westernization’ of the West)” addresses the future facing Europe in respect of climate change, migration, demographic change and economic uncertainties. The aim is to inspire interest in such challenges beyond mere cooperation at the European level and to promote collective supranational action on a global scale. "The West is at a crossroads: Towards a 'Greater West' or a 'Post-Western World'? - What is each actor's overall vision of how to address global challenges?" Haus asks. The second is a review of a collection of poems by the Romanian author Clelia Ifrim, called Die Lämmer Abels (Lambs of Abel), Bucuresti, Cismigui Books, 2024. Her poems interweave life experiences from the Ceaucescu dictatorship with the biblical legend of sacrifice. "While filled with tragedy, the story of Cain and Abel teaches us a valuable lesson about living with sincerity. Through their example, we learn how not just our actions, but our attitudes matter – and how devastating sin's consequences can be." Haus said.

Honors

Jonathan Justice, professor in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr., School of Public Policy and Administration, will receive the Laverne Burchfield Award for the best book review in Public Administration Review. His book review is entitled “The new Ph.D.: How to build a better graduate education.” Justice will receive the award on March 31 at the American Society for Public Administration annual conference in Washington, D.C. 

Katherina Kang, a doctoral student in UD’s Plant and Soil Sciences Program, was selected to receive the Ecological Society of America’s 2025 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award. The Ecological Society of America (ESA) offers this award each year to give graduate students hands-on training and science policy experience. Award recipients receive an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., in the spring to receive policy and communications training at ESA’s headquarters followed by meetings with congressional policymakers on Capitol Hill to discuss the importance of federal investments in the biological and ecological sciences.

Nigel Caplan, professor and assistant director for teacher-training programs at the English Language Institute, was featured in the Delaware Online News Journal as one of Delaware's "most influential people" in education for his grant, Project DELITE. The article discusses how the project, which graduated its first cohort of teachers last summer, expects to see at least 60 teachers and 15 paraprofessionals taking the necessary UD courses to become certified teachers of multilingual English learners over the next five years.

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