Timothy K. Barnekov, acting dean of the University of Delaware's College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy (CHEP) since September 2001, has been named dean of the college, effective July 1.

According to Provost Dan Rich, the search committee unanimously recommended Barnekov, citing his widespread support within the college and in the communities it serves.

Before his appointment as acting dean, Barnekov had been director of UD's Center for Community Development and Family Policy since 1992. He joined the UD faculty in 1970 and has served as both acting dean and associate dean of the former College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, as well as director of the urban affairs and public policy graduate program in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy.

Barnekov's scholarship has focused on the role of the private sector in urban policy and programs. He is co-author of Privatism and Urban Policy in Britain and the United States, published by Oxford University Press, and Neighborhoods: Changing Perspectives and Policies and has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, essays, monographs and technical reports.

As a member of the faculty in the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, he led the development of a specialization in community development and nonprofit leadership that achieved national recognition.

Well-known throughout Delaware, Barnekov has been involved in numerous community projects that serve low- and moderate-income citizens.

Graduate students working with Barnekov have helped to establish a Boys and Girls Club near Glasgow, Del., to build a resource center for community organizations in Wilmington and to promote urban neighborhood and small-town revitalization.

Hardball College Tour stops here

Chris "Hardball" Matthews lets his guests pick their favorite venue for his Hardball College Tour, and UD alumnus and Delaware's U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden picked his alma mater for the Jan. 15 show.

The MSNBC political talk show host peppered Biden, AS '65, with questions about a possible presidential run in 2004, but the most he could get out of the former Student Government Association member was, "I'm considering it.''

A full house at Mitchell Hall watched the live telecast--with additional fans watching on TV from classrooms in Gore Hall. Matthews and Biden visited the classrooms after the show.

Consumer advocate Nader to speak

Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, lawyer, author and Green Party candidate in the 2000 presidential election, will give a free public talk May 1 at UD's Clayton Hall auditorium.

His speech, "Democracy, Big Business and the American Duopoly," will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Sponsored by the Eugene duPont Memorial Distinguished Scholars, Nader's speech will be the sixth in a lecture series titled "Passing the Torch: An Interdisciplinary Look at a World Poised for Change." Other speakers in the series include Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn and Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse.

100 linear feet of wood engraving history and art

The University Library has acquired the papers of illustrator John DePol, one of America's most accomplished contemporary book artists and illustrators. Regarded as one of the country's preeminent wood engravers, DePol is an accomplished artist in a variety of media and techniques, including etching, lithography, watercolor and oil painting.

DePol, who was born in 1913 in Greenwich Village, N.Y., had no formal art training and is largely self-taught. By the mid 1950s, he began to accept independent commissions illustrating private-press booklets, separate prints, broadsides and limited edition books. His work was chosen to appear in a series of publications by The Woodcut Society.

He worked with some of the best-known fine-press printers, including The Pickering Press, Barbarian Press, the Press of Appletree Alley, The Stone House Press and a host of others.

The papers, which occupy 100 linear feet of shelf space, were acquired by a combination of gift and direct purchase. An exhibition of DePol's work is scheduled for fall 2004.

Winter sendoff

Jan. 4 was graduation day for 1,214 students who completed their degree requirements in August and December.

Leo E. Strine Jr., a 1985 summa cum laude UD graduate and vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, delivered the Commencement address.

Honorary doctor of laws degrees were awarded to Delaware's former U.S. Sen. William V. Roth Jr. and E. Norman Veasey, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware.

Strine urged the graduates to become informed citizens in a complex world, while helping to make the tough choices that America faces at home and abroad.

Among the issues they will face, Strine said, are improving living standards in emerging nations, addressing the hostility that our own comparative prosperity sometimes generates and integrating the world economic system without diminishing our own labor and environmental standards.

On the home front, Strine said, this latest generation of UD graduates needs to be concerned with finding the best long-term solutions for Social Security and protecting America from terrorism while deciding what infringements on civil liberties must be endured.

In accepting his award, Roth said, "You have given me a great honor, ... and it has a special meaning coming from this outstanding University."

"You represent the future of America," he told the graduates. "I can tell you--having had many Delaware students work in my office when I was a U.S. senator--that I am entirely confident in the future of our great country."

In his remarks, Veasey urged the graduates to have "the courage to accept moral responsibility," citing several historical examples of political and personal courage that have advanced American society.

"I'd like to echo the words of Sen. Roth in honoring this great University--a University at the forefront of moral responsibility throughout the state and this nation," Veasey said.

Advice for women

Defining Her Life: Advice Books for Women," an exhibition of books on household management, health and etiquette published between 1650 and 1950, will be on display until June 13 in the Special Collections Gallery of the Morris Library.

The advice book has been one of the most common volumes on home bookshelves for 300 years, since the publication of Gervase Markham's The English Housewife in 1615. These books have incorporated both philosophical and practical guidance, teaching the skills of cooking, gardening, etiquette, childcare and family medical care, but they also conveyed the appropriate role of a woman in society.

The early English conduct writing was aimed at aristocratic readers, but later works were aimed at middle-class American women. After the Civil War and the women's suffrage movement, some advice books began to promote a more independent outgoing woman, including information on physical fitness and dress reform. By the 20th century, advice books used a more light-hearted approach to etiquette leading up to Amy Vanderbilt and Miss Manners and Dear Abby columns.

"African Americans in the Cinema," another display located in the first floor exhibition cases at the Morris Library, focuses on the African-American actors and directors who paved the way for Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Halle Berry, the three black Americans who took home Oscars last March.

The exhibit includes items from "race films"--early African-American films shot on small budgets and shown at segregated theatres.

Also on display are items reminiscent of Gone With the Wind's Oscar-winning Hattie McDaniel, Dorothy Dandridge, Paul Robeson and Cab Calloway. The exhibit runs through May 16.