Faculty, staff announce recent honors, presentations, publications

10:48 a.m., Jan. 27, 2012--For the Record provides information about recent professional activities of University of Delaware faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Recent honors, presentations and publications include the following:

Campus Stories

From graduates, faculty

As it neared time for the processional to open the University of Delaware Commencement ceremonies, graduating students and faculty members shared their feelings about what the event means to them.

Doctoral hooding

It was a day of triumph, cheers and collective relief as more than 160 students from 21 nations participated in the University of Delaware's Doctoral Hooding Convocation held Friday morning on The Green.

• Doctoral hooding
• Old Swedes
• Summer SAT, ACT prep
• 'Opus 13' pre-sale

Honors

Silvia S. Jurisson, a 1978 UD graduate and professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri Columbia, is the 2012 winner of the American Chemical Society's Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry.

Arnold L. Rheingold, a Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty member from 1984-2003 who is now professor of chemistry at the University of California San Diego, is the 2012 recipient of the American Chemical Society Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Inorganic Chemistry.

Presentations

David Suisman, associate professor of history, joined artist Anita Allyn for an open gallery discussion concerning her Wind Challenge 2 exhibition Jan. 25 in the Louchheim Galleries, Fleisher Art Memorial, in Philadelphia. Suisman's research examines the relationship between cultural and economic forms of power, particularly as they relate to modern consumer capitalism. The Allyn exhibition explores the blurring boundaries between protests, capitalism and Gordon Gecko. The discussion was moderated by Fleisher's exhibitions coordinator, Dave Kim.

Cathy Matson, professor of history, gave a research presentation at the New-York Historical Society on Jan. 21 entitled "The Caribbean and the United States in the Revolutionary Era," which was part of a large symposium of speakers brought together around the international exhibition called "Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn," for which Matson was also a participating historian in developing an exhibition narrative and selecting material texts and objects. 

Rudi Matthee, Munroe Professor of History, presented “Safavid Iran as a Tributary State,” at a symposium titled “Comparing Modern Empires: Imperial Rule and Decolonization in the Changing World Order,” held in Sapporo, Japan, Slavic Research Center, on Jan. 19. He also spoke on “Safavid Decline, Comparisons with the Ottomans and the Mughals,” at Toyo Bunko (Oriental Library), Tokyo, on Jan. 22.

Publications

Theodore J. Davis Jr., associate professor of political science and international relations, is the author of a new book titled Black Politics Today: The Era of Socioeconomic Transition, Routledge Press, 2012. The book looks at a new era of black politics that began in the late 1980s and is defined by increased social and economic opportunities, and that coincided with the emergence of a new black middle class. It discusses unintended consequences of civil rights legislation of the 1960s, which provided some blacks with greater opportunities while leaving a significant portion behind in declining social and economic enclaves.

Suzanne L. Burton, associate professor of music education, was quoted as an expert source for an article in the national publication Teaching Music. Burton shared her expertise on early childhood music research in the cover story, "When They're Very Young." In the article, Burton discussed the importance of reciprocal musical interaction with young children at an early age. Burton's book Learning from Young Children: Research in Early Childhood Music was also featured. 

Cathy Matson, professor of history, recently published "A Port in the Storm: Philadelphia's Commerce during the Atlantic Revolutionary Era," in a volume edited by Thomas Bender, Laurent Dubois and Richard Rabinowitz (Giles: 2011).  This article brings to light research that Matson has been doing in archives spread around three continents on the connections of North Americans with the French and Haitian revolutions in a tumultuous era.

Megan Gaffney, senior assistant librarian, Access Services Department, University of Delaware Library, is the author of "Interlibrary Loan Requests for Locally Available Materials: WorldCat Local’s Impact,” College and Research Libraries, January 2012, volume 73, number 1, pages 68-77.

Farley Grubb, professor of economics, "State Redemption of the Continental Dollar, 1779-90," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., volume 69, number 1 (January 2012), pages 147-180.

To submit information to be included in For the Record, write to ud-ocm@udel.edu.