For the Record, Dec. 19, 2025

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

Recent appointments, recordings, presentations, publications, honors and memorials include the following:

Appointments

Jennifer Graber, professor and associate dean of academic affairs and practice initiatives in the College of Health Sciences, was re-elected to a second term as the Regional Chapters Coordinating Committee chair, overseeing 21 global regional coordinators for Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society. Jennifer Saylor, professor and associate dean of faculty and student affairs in CHS, serves as director of the Sigma Theta Tau Board. Together, along with Shawn Frapp, an alumnus of the nursing science doctoral program, they presented "Socioeconomic Influences of Behavior in Emerging Adult Men with Multiple Minority Identifications" at Sigma's 48th Biennial Convention, held in Indianapolis in November. Graber also co-presented with a colleague from Jamaica on "Reducing Burnout and Building Resilience: Leading and Thriving as Chapter Leaders."

Scott Abbott, assistant director of the Delaware Center for Civics Education (DCCE), was recently reelected for a two-year term as executive secretary of the Council of State Social Studies Specialists (CS4). CS4 is an associated group of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) for current and former state department of education employees who support social studies. He has served on the CS4 Executive Board for 10 years, including a term as president from 2019-20. Abbott has also been selected to serve as the co-chair of the Foundations of the C3 Framework Taskforce convened by the National Council for the Social Studies. This committee comprises 18 members from universities, school districts, state departments of education and nonprofit organizations who will review the implementation of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for State Social Studies Standards and make updates to incorporate lessons learned from the first 12 years of its use.

Recordings

Heidi Lucas, assistant professor in the School of Music, recently released her third album of new works for horn, tuba and piano, along with her chamber group, Eastern Standard. Titled A Grand Day Out, the album features works by Bruce Stark, Gina Gillie, Octavio Vazquez, Robert Litton and UD alumnus Daniel Morrison. Eastern Standard formed in 2014 and has been active in commissioning, premiering, performing and promoting new music for this ensemble. To date the group has commissioned and premiered over two dozen new works. The full album is available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Youtube.

Presentations

On Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2025, the annual Delaware Winter Freight Meeting took place in Dover, Delaware, presented by the Delmarva Freight Working Group, which includes the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Salisbury/Wicomico MPO, University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration (IPA) and WILMAPCO. Troy Mix, acting director of IPA, coordinated the meeting, and Jen Reitz, planning services coordinator at IPA, moderated it. This year's meeting featured presentations by Bruce Allen, planning supervisor at DelDOT, who led the freight plan updates segment, and Sibtay Haider, senior transit planner at Jacobs, who shared rail plan updates. Cliff Grunstra of Delmarva Central presented on shortline rail trends and updates. While Greg Mand, adviser and consultant at Senior Advanced Air Mobility, led a presentation on drones and freight. To commence the meeting, David Edgell, director of Delaware's Office of State Planning Coordination; Cooper Bowers of New Castle County Department of Land Use; and Jia Yuan, senior consultant at CPCS, spoke on land use, transportation and freight. This event connected stakeholders through presentations on freight planning programs and current research, building awareness and encouraging partnerships. IPA is a research and public service center in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration.

On Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, Fran O'Malley, director of UD's Delaware Center for Civics Education (DCCE) at UD's Institute for Public Administration (IPA) and Scott Abbott, DCCE assistant director, served on a Council of State Social Studies Specialists (CS4) panel titled, "Celebrating the 250th throughout the States," at the National Council for the Social Studies Conference in Washington, D.C. During the panel, O'Malley and Abbott shared details of Delaware's efforts to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence through their work at DCCE. Throughout the year, the center supports Delaware educators with civics teaching resources and training, helping them prepare students for success in college, careers and community engagement.

Publications

Xiaopeng Ji, associate professor of nursing, published "Sleep quality and mindfulness: mediating the relationship between neuroticism and subjective well-being in early adolescents" in the October edition of World Journal of Pediatrics, pages 1152-1162. Her research concluded that poor sleep and lower mindfulness may explain why neuroticism affects how teens feel, and that late chronotype is associated with poor well-being but not neuroticism. Her findings stress the importance of healthy sleep and mindfulness-based strategies to support overall well-being in adolescents, especially those with high neuroticism.

Honors

Two University offices were recognized recently by CASE, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The Office of Development and Alumni Relations won a 2025 Circle of Excellence Bronze award (a national award) and also a Best of District II 2025 award for its Scholarship Match campaign. The initiative resulted in 24 newly created current-use named scholarships with pledge commitments totaling $385,000. Judges for the Bronze award wrote, "We praise the campaign's cohesive design, personalized messaging and multi-channel coordination, which made a potentially complex giving opportunity feel accessible and compelling. Its simplicity, clarity, emotional appeal and strategic targeting made it a standout in execution and impact that can be a model for other institutions." The Office of Communications and Marketing won three CASE Best of District II awards for the University of Delaware Magazine. Honors went to "The Masters of Disaster" by Diane Stopyra, associate editor, in the categories of news/feature and research, medicine and science news, and to Jaynell Keely, graphic designer, for the AI issue cover.

Several members of the UD community have been named to the Delaware Business Times list of Delaware's 222 influential business, nonprofit and civic leaders for 2026. Included in the list are Mike Bowman, associate director of the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships; Ryan Carty, head football coach; Kelvin Lee, Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering and institute director of NIIMBL; Tracy Shickel, associate vice president for corporate engagement; and Oliver Yao, dean of the University of Delaware's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, along with several alumni, trustees and Professional and Continuing Studies instructors.

Ángel Esteban, who teaches in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures every fall, has been appointed as a corresponding member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española). In the official announcement, Academy Director Nuria Morgado stated that "this recognition highlights not only his brilliant career and valuable contributions to the study and promotion of the Spanish language, but also his commitment to the principles that guide our academic work. We trust that his incorporation will significantly strengthen our mission to preserve and enrich Spanish in the United States." Esteban directs the master's program in Latin American Studies at the University of Granada, Spain, and is an internationally renowned Hispanist.

In Memoriam

Robert "Bob" Hannah, one of collegiate baseball's most respected and successful coaches, passed away Dec. 14, 2025. A UD alumnus, he was the head coach of Delaware baseball from 1965-2000 and won more games than any coach in any sport in UD history. UD's Bob Hannah Stadium was named in his honor in 2000.

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