For the Record, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024

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

Recent presentations, honors and appointments include the following:

Presentations

Margaret Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and professor of humanities, was interviewed on BBC Radio in the U.K. about her scholarly work on the two queer Victorian women poets who wrote as "Michael Field." Her interview with Kathy Caton was the final segment of the "Out with Kathy" show, which was broadcast from 9-10 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 25, and remains available online for two weeks on BBC Sounds. In addition, on Sept. 14, 2024, she delivered a paper titled "Celebrity Jeopardy, Late-Victorian Style" at the North American Victorian Studies Association conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Stetz's paper discussed the rise of the modern celebrity industry in Britain at the end of the 19th century and the unease that this inspired in a number of artists and writers (not unlike the unease that many still feel today about celebrity culture). Her examples of late-Victorian satirical texts, both visual and literary, aimed at the concept of celebrity were taken from works by Max Beerbohm, Oliver Herford and E. V. Lucas, among others. She was also an invited participant, on Sept. 27, at a meeting of the online "Aestheticism and Decadence Seminar Series" sponsored by Cornell University and by a grant from the Central New York Humanities Center, where the topic under discussion was the relationship of late-Victorian British decadence to early ecology movements.

Rudi Matthee, John and Dorothy Munroe Distinguished Professor of History, presented Angels Tapping at the Wine-shop's Door. A History of Alcohol in the Muslim Middle East, Iranian Studies Book Launch, University of Toronto, on Sept. 19, 2024. The program is available online.

Honors

The University of Delaware was a finalist for the 2024 Delphi Award of the Pullias Center for Higher Education, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities. The award recognizes institutions making key, specific changes that need to be in place to support higher education visiting, instructor, temporary, adjunct and lecturer (VITAL) faculty across the country. The award committee cited UD for the 2016 creation of the "Continuing Track (CT) Caucus, a volunteer organization that each VITAL faculty member belongs to, unless they choose to opt out.The Caucus promotes a fair and equitable work environment for VITAL faculty, advocates on behalf of them and students, and collaborates with other groups and caucuses on issues of common concern. The CT Caucus has been a key voice in efforts to improve hiring practices through the development of guidance documents, voting rights, promotion and performance review processes, helping chart a path forward for systemic change."

Appointments

Cheryl Ernst, director and associate professor, English Language Institute, was elected to the board of the consortium of University and College English Language Programs (UCIEP), then appointed membership coordinator. In this capacity, she will serve a three-year term recruiting new members, assisting with renewal applications and mentoring new members as they apply for, and hopefully, qualify for membership. UCIEP is the premier membership organization for university governed English Language Programs.

To submit information for inclusion in For the Record, write to [email protected] and include "For the Record" in the subject line.