The UD Alumni Relations Blog is always on the lookout for Blue Hens who are doing great things. Since we’re lazy we don’t look that diligently and we rely on the help of others to clue us in to the amazing work alumni do.
Avi Amon ’08 sent us an email the other day to clue us into the work of Jenny Somers ’07 and Tyler Somers ’07 who are in the midst of putting together their third full length album of music that a fan dubbed ‘soulgrass’ (soul + bluegrass, geddit?). Jenny & Tyler were on campus only a few months ago performing in Mitchell Hall, but now they’re back in Nashville getting ready to take the music world by storm.
Amon, who recently visited Jenny & Tyler, put together a video (he’s the one at the piano) so you, loyal reader, can get a behind-the-scenes look at what the duo is all about. Check out the video below – simply put, after watching it our heart grew three sizes seeing Blue Hens following their dreams and achieving them. Our advice is to get on the Jenny & Tyler bandwagon now so when they get huge you can dismiss all their new fans with such hipster classics as, “I liked their early work better” or “I remember seeing them in [insert small venue name] and it was far more intimate” or the like.
The UD Alumni Relations Blog agrees that children are to be seen and not heard. In fact, it’s even better when they are not seen. We keep our student workers chained to their desks in the basement of our office – it’s good preparation for life in the real world
So you can imagine how our world was rocked when a University of Delaware professor stated in a recently published book that we need to listen to kids more and lay off the draconian punishments when disciplining them, particularly in school. In Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear, Aaron Kupchik, associate professor in the UD Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, found that disciplinarians followed what he calls excessive and counterproductive strategies for dealing with students’ misbehavior, one of the worst of which is the popular notion of zero tolerance.
Kupchik’s book outlines suggested strategies, based on data, for making schools safer. Among them: mandatory tutoring rather than suspension and involving students in rule creation. Not among them: dunce caps and shoving bamboo chutes up the fingernails of poorly behaved students.
It’s not just campus that is seeing lots of construction – Main Street is in on the act as well. Check out the photos below for pics of the future home of (a) the UD Bookstore and (b) the IHOP. The first two photos are taken from Caffe Gelato across the street from Grassroots. The third photo is taken behind Grassroots on Academy St. The final two photos are taken from the Stone Balloon area.
Robert Benchley said, “It took me 15 years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” We have no idea who Robert Benchley is (so much for being famous), but the UD Alumni Relations Blog certainly sympathizes.
It took us about 15 months to realize we are a bunch of talentless hacks but we can’t stop blogging because we would never deny our legions of fans and hordes of readers the pleasure of reading our awesome posts.
That said, we do admit that we are taking the easy way out with these “Scenes from Campus” posts because we keep posting photos of campus and what’s happening at the University of Delaware instead of doing any writing about UD. Nonetheless, we ventured out of Alumni Hall today and visited the UD Farmers Market on Mentors’ Circle. Check out the photos below – note the UD strawberry ice cream. All we needed was some cake to go with the ice cream.
The walkway on The North Green across Delaware Avenue is getting a redesign. Instead of two different crossings, there will be one. Check out the photos below and let us know what you think in the comments.
From the production of ice cream and the groundbreaking for the UDairy Creamery to the creating of a wetland out of a cow pasture, there’s a lot of buzz around the University of Delaware regarding cows. Now you can add ‘saving/housing cows from New Jersey’ to the mix.
The Universities of Michigan, Minnesota and Kentucky are all putting some (or all) of their herd on the auction block just as Rutgers did several years ago. While the UD Alumni Relations Blog fears that these fine bovines will end up in the supermarket, thanks to UD we know that there’s hope that they’ll continue to provide students with discovery learning opportunities because the Rutgers cows were sold to the fine folks at the University of Delaware College of Agriculture & Natural Resources.
Rutgers raises the heifers until they are old enough to produce milk at which time they are shipped down I-95 to UD which specializes in dairy production research. UD’s students and researchers benefit as do all those who get to taste the wonderful ice cream that is the product of these transfers.
Having returned from the vacation back to campus, the UD Alumni Relations Blog went to soak in some sun behind the Little Bob on Frazer Field (map for location). Lo and behold, the field had turned to dust – not because of the oppressive heat that has struck lovely Newark, but because of some serious summer construction.
Check out the photos below. The word around campus is that artificial turf fields will soon be installed à la the Harrington Beach. Gone are the tennis courts and the narrow rugby field. Any thoughts, Blue Hens?
Speeches, talks, lectures, homilies, fireside chats, et al are normally met with a roll then shutting of the UD Alumni Relations Blog’s eyes. There are few occasions when we close our mouth long enough to listen to anyone, but every so often, we shut up and snap to attention when someone speaks.
Last Saturday at Forum & Reunion Weekend 2010 was one such occasion as UD President Patrick Harker hosted an annual town hall open to all members of the UD Community. While our compadres at UDaily did the heavy lifting of covering the story, we are kind enough to summarize it for you below. Thank us in the comments.
Goals for the coming year and beyond = new interdisciplinary science and engineering building, improved recreational and varsity athletic facilities, development of a Science and Technology Campus on the site of the former Chrysler Assembly Plant, expanded research partnerships, and a new bookstore that will become “the signature store on Main Street”.
The UDairy Creamery began construction this spring and is targeted for completion next year is. The facility on South Campus will use milk from the University’s dairy herd to manufacture, market and sell ice cream and other homegrown or handmade agricultural products.
Other plans highlighted involve creating a student housing focus on East Campus, elimination of the Rodney and Dickinson complexes as student housing.
A new branding identity for the University was unveiled and can be is summed up in a key phrase, “Dare to be First.” That brand, he said, will provide a consistent way to “articulate our core message — the message that describes our attitudes, our vision, our mission and our unique identity — to the world. …It’s a bold statement that comes from our history.”
“I think it’s clear we’re on the cusp of great things at UD,” Harker said. “We’re growing bigger and more ambitious. We’re growing bolder. And that’s what we want to tell the world.”
UD Forum & Reunion Weekend 2010 was simply awesome. Thanks to all those who came and shame on those who didn’t. The UD Alumni Relations Blog spent the weekend trying to attend every party, enjoy every program and meet every attendee. While we may not have succeeded (save for the ‘attend every party’ bit), we definitely lost our voice trying.
One month and over 38,000 views later, Delaware: The Musical is back with a behind-the-scenes look at the humble beginnings of this campus blockbuster. This latest video does run a bit long (10 min. total), so we highly advise you to kick back with some popcorn and enjoy the whole thing. We’d also advise keeping a busy-looking spreadsheet minimized so that you can bring it up in case bossman stops by.
Author of Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo to join University of Delaware faculty in fall, http://bit.ly/b8LMdT2 days ago
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So you can imagine how our world was rocked when a University of Delaware professor stated in a recently published book that we need to listen to kids more and lay off the draconian punishments when disciplining them, particularly in school. In Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear, Aaron Kupchik, associate professor in the UD Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, found that disciplinarians followed what he calls excessive and counterproductive strategies for dealing with students’ misbehavior, one of the worst of which is the popular notion of zero tolerance.
