Students & Alumni News

Growing up as the oldest sibling to a younger brother and sister shaped the way that University of Delaware Associate Professor Mellissa S. Gordon learned to communicate and cope with challenges. As a single parent, her mother often looked to Gordon to set an example and, over time, she found …

During a reading lesson, Mateo, an elementary multilingual learner (MLL) in a Delaware public school, read “sit” as “seat.” Jon Kittle, his reading interventionist, walked him through the short vowel sound, but Mateo made the same “mistake” and grew frustrated. Kittle began to wonder if these “errors” were actually the …

In a middle school math classroom, students often feel pressured to understand new concepts immediately and get the “answers” right on the first try. They may also be hesitant to share their thinking in front of classmates, especially when math is framed only with “right” and “wrong” solutions. With these …

When Max Orland graduated from high school in 2006, he faced a choice. He could enroll in a life skills program near his home in Westport, Connecticut, continue living with his parents, take classes exclusively with other students with disabilities and accept a job someone else chose for him. Instead, …

With relaxed schedules, trips to the swimming pool and long days spent outside, summer brings a welcome break from the harried pace of the school year. But it may also bring about the summer slide, or learning loss. College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) faculty and staff members Roberta …

When you think about getting a Ph.D., images of books piled high and long, solitary nights at the library or lab may come to mind. But at the University of Delaware, doctoral education is far from solitary. In fact, mentorship is a cornerstone of the student experience, helping students navigate …

All trauma, all the time. For decades, research into queer life focused solely on discrimination, stress and stigma. Mainstream film and television (when they featured queer characters at all) explored the same. The entire LGBTQ experience flattened into a single hardship narrative. Queer identity became synonymous with struggle. So what …

Learning and connection. That’s what drew Juliet Samuel, now a high school chemistry teacher at Brandywine School District’s Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington, to University of Delaware’s Teacher Residency program. Housed in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) and funded by the Delaware Department of Education, the …

Antonia Vázquez did not set out to be the University of Delaware’s youngest Class of 2026 graduate. She was just satisfying an insatiable thirst for knowledge and research. At just 18, she will graduate with a 4.0, a finance degree from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and …

Summer camps remain one of Antwain Flowers’ fondest childhood memories. “I can still remember the teachers and counselors who poured into me — the ones who saw potential in me before I fully saw it in myself,” said Flowers, who graduated from the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) …