Honors and Achievements

Mark Parcells, associate professor of avian molecular virology in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, received the Josef Marek Award in recognition of his research, which has contributed to the fundamental understanding of the Marek’s disease virus, a cancer-causing virus in chickens. The award was presented during a conference at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, at which Parcells also delivered the keynote lecture.

Mary Dozier, Amy E. du Pont Chair in Child Development and professor of psychology, was given the Bowlby-Ainsworth Award at the Society for Research in Child Development’s biennial meeting in April. She received the international award for her “translational research on adoption: applying attachment theory on behalf of adults offering care and infants and children seeking security.”

Aaron Kupchik, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, has been named the 2007 recipient of the Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology. The award recognizes outstanding scholarly contributions to the discipline of criminology by a young faculty member. Kupchik is an expert on violence in schools, juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice.

J. Ritchie Garrison, associate director of the Museum Studies Program and associate professor of history, has won the prestigious Abbott Lowell Cummings Award, given by the Vernacular Architecture Forum, for his book Two Carpenters: Architecture and Building in Early New England, 1799-1859. The award is given annually to the publication that has made the most significant contribution to the study of vernacular architecture and landscapes of North America.

Three doctoral candidates in biomechanics and movement science—Joaquin Barrios, Erin Hartigan and Brian Noehren—have been awarded Promotion of Doctoral Studies Scholarships by the Foundation for Physical Therapy. The $7,500 awards are part of the Doctoral Opportunities for Clinicians and Scholars program and are awarded to physical therapists or physical therapist assistants who have completed at least two full semesters toward a doctorate.

Julie Nemeth, a psychologist in the Center for Counseling and Student Development and an assistant professor in the Department of Individual and Family Studies, was honored for her research involving the contributions of attachment and separation from parents and the role of Jewish identity in fostering the psychological health of adolescent Jewish women. As the recipient of the Jewish Women’s Caucus Award for Scholarship of the Association for Women in Psychology, Nemeth delivered the award address at the association’s annual conference.

Delphis (Del) Levia, assistant professor of geography, was elected chairperson for 2007-09 of the Cryosphere Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. The specialty group is an international group of scientists who conduct research on permafrost, snow-climate interactions, snow chemistry, snow and remote sensing, cold-regions hydrology, glaciers and other forms of ice.

Jennifer J. Armiger, doctoral candidate and Hagley Fellow in the Department of History, has been awarded the prestigious American Fellowship from the American Association of University Women to support the completion of her dissertation, “The Women of Western Electric: Reconsidering Gender Discrimination, Deindustrialization and Title VII in Post-1960s America.” She also received UD’s Women’s Studies Dissertation Completion Award.

M. Dina Giambi, assistant .director for library technical services at the UD Library, has been elected vice president and president-elect of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), a major division of the American Library Association. Giambi, who received the ALCTS presidential citation in 2005, will serve as president in 2008-09.

Nancy Weiss, co-founder and co-director of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities, an organization coordinated through UD’s Center for Disabilities Studies, received the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities’ highest honor, the 2007 Presidential Award. Weiss was recognized for her work in combating the use of aversive devices on persons with severe developmental disabilities.

Michelle Parent, assistant professor of medical technology, was one of 12 recipients awarded an Early Career Faculty Travel Grant from the American Society for Microbiology to support attendance at the society’s 14th annual conference for undergraduate educators in May.