Heard on the Mall

Anyone with access to the Internet now can learn about the latest campus events, news and announcements through UDaily, a new source of up-to-date information.

Check it out at [www.udel.edu/udaily] or by visiting the University home page and clicking on "News" or "more news." UDaily contains important information about cultural and athletic events on campus. A feature section spotlights a variety of stories, including accomplishments, books, international perspectives, giving and research. Under the resources section, a Bulletin Board with key dates and deadlines and a new Q&A service called Ask Francis Alison are featured.

Coming soon will be Marketplace@UD, where special coupons and bargains from area businesses can be found.

The new UDaily is complemented by the monthly publication schedule for UpDate, UD's community newspaper.

The University's mailbox is full of applications.

Acting Provost Dan Rich, along with the University's admissions staff and YoUDee, gathered recently to commemorate the opening of the envelope that contained the 20,000th application. Never in the history of the University have so many prospective students applied for admission. Both online and traditional submission forms are accepted.

In 1999, less than 15,000 applications were received. Now just three short years later, the 20,000 mark was hit in mid-February. Last year the number of applicants totaled 18,209.

"This is certainly an indication of the quality of the University and the recognition of that quality among prospective students," Rich says, adding that an increased number of applicants allows the University to be increasingly selective.

A senior at Wilmington's Concord High School sent in the 20,000th application.

A Courtyard by Marriott hotel is scheduled for completion by the spring of 2003, adjacent to the Clayton Hall conference center.?

Rezoning approval was given by Newark City Council in February, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held in April. For this project, the University and the Shaner Hotel Group, a leader in the hospitality industry, have formed the Blue Hen Hotel LLC. Fred DeMicco, Aramark Chair in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management, says the hotel "will provide a learning laboratory for our students" as well as "a hands-on 'lodging experience'."

A limited edition lithograph of Old College by painter Richard Bollinger, dubbed "a historic treasure," has been donated to the University by PNC Bank.

Used as a 2001 holiday greeting by the bank, officials commissioned the painter to capture Old College in winter.

Old College Hall was the only building on campus in 1834. The hall held dining facilities, student and faculty housing and classrooms under one roof.

PNC Bank officials wanted the University to have the first print of 950 reproductions that were made.

David Kovara of Flemington, N.J., a senior and UD's most recent Rhodes Scholar, has been named to USA Today's 13th annual All-USA College Academic First Team.

Kovara, who traveled to Kenya with the organization Doctors Without Borders, co-founded a network of attorneys to provide legal assistance for abused children both in Kenya and Uganda. Now known as Children's Legal Action Network (CLAN), the organization has grown to seven employees and 20 volunteers.

The newspaper, along with consultants from national education associations, chose 20 students out of 600 to receive $2,500 and make up the First Team.

Kovara, who has a 3.94 grade point average, will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in liberal studies.

For a complete story and listing of the winners, information is available at [www.usatoday.com].

The playing field in Delaware Stadium has a new name. In May, the University of Delaware Board of Trustees voted to recognize UD's recently retired head football coach Harold R. "Tubby" Raymond by naming the playing field in his honor.

The playing surface will now be called Tubby Raymond Field, and will be officially dedicated on Aug. 29, when the Fightin' Blue Hens take on Georgia Southern. This night opener has been designated Tubby Raymond Day.

Raymond, who retired in February after a 36-year career as head coach at Delaware, became just the ninth coach in the history of college football to win 300 games.

"In the recent past, the University of Delaware's Board of Trustees has provided special recognition by naming UD athletics venues for three outstanding coaches, each of whom earned national icon status in their sports and in the larger enterprise of collegiate athletics," University President David P. Roselle said. They include Bob Hannah, for whom the baseball stadium is named; David Nelson, for whom the athletics complex is named; and Barbara Viera, for whom the volleyball court is named.

"Today, the trustees have added Coach Raymond to this list by naming Delaware Stadium's football field in his honor. Coach Raymond is a football icon and the newly christened Raymond Field is where many of his greatest victories were recorded. It is fitting that there is now a oneness of the coach and his field."

Raymond has accounted for more than 50 percent of Delaware's 575 all-time victories in 110 seasons of intercollegiate competition. He retired with a record of 300-118-3. Under his leadership, Delaware teams won three national titles, 14 Lambert Cup Eastern Championships and made appearances in 16 NCAA Division II and NCAA I-AA tournaments.

With a 10-6 victory over Richmond on Nov. 10, 2001, Raymond became just the ninth coach in college football history to record 300 wins. The others, college football legends all, are Eddie Robinson, John Gagliardi, Joe Paterno, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Bobby Bowden, Pop Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Roy Kidd.

The man who epitomized UD's winning athletics tradition on the football field returned to campus to deliver the University's 153rd Commencement address on Saturday, May 25.

"If one statement can be made to describe the work of Harold R. 'Tubby' Raymond," Elbert Chance, longtime UD fan and Delaware Stadium announcer, wrote in his 1989 book 100 Years of Delaware Football, "it is that his has been both consistent and consistently excellent."

The University has named Mark W. Huddleston dean of the College of Arts and Science and Robin W. Morgan dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, both effective July 1. Huddleston and Morgan have been serving as acting deans of their colleges.

Before becoming acting dean, Huddleston was associate provost for international programs and special sessions and previously served as chairperson and professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations. His academic specialty is public administration.

Morgan, a molecular biologist and professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, conducts research at the University's Delaware Biotechnology Institute, focusing on the virus that causes Marek's disease in chickens.

The College of Arts and Science is the largest of the University's seven colleges, with majors ranging from anthropology to women's studies. Last year, about 9,400 full- and part-time students were enrolled. The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources includes about 840 students, in majors ranging from agricultural and technology education to wildlife conservation.

An extra touch of class was added recently to UD's Vita Nova dining room with the donation of a state-of-the-art, redwood-paneled wine cellar.

Tatiana and Gerret Copeland, owners of Bouchaine Vineyards in Napa Valley, Calif., and residents of Greenville, Del., said they wanted to make an investment in the University's student hospitality school in the form of a wine cellar.

According to Acting Provost Dan Rich, the wine cellar, dubbed the Copeland Vinotek, is yet another amenity that the students in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (HRIM) will be able to utilize as part of their classroom experience.

Vita Nova is the final step in the education sequence that prepares HRIM majors for hospitality careers.

Impressed with the exceptional cuisine and service at Vita Nova, the Copelands volunteered to donate the Vinotek.

Volume 11, Number 1, 2002

Heard on the Mall