By Ken Mammarella
Contributing Writer

The University of Delaware traces its history back 1743, when the Rev. Francis Alison, a Presbyterian minister, started a school in his Chester County home. It moved to Newark in the 1760s and went through various names until being chartered as Delaware College in 1843. The college closed in 1859 and reopened in 1870, after it was designated Delaware’s land-grant university. It remained small for most of its history: Enrollment topped 1,000 only in 1946.

UD today trains 23,000 students in 150 majors and minors; supports 80 research centers; and employs 4,700 people at 12 sites around Delaware, including 340 buildings on its main campus.

Let’s go behind the scenes of my alma mater.

How do you speak like a Blue Hen?

These terms come from John Munroe’s “The University of Delaware: A History,” a Facebook post asking people to chime in and additional research. Like fame, campus and off-campus slang is fleeting.

Balloon shoes. Shoes sacrificed to hit the Stone Balloon, a Main Street bar. “The floor was so nasty from all the beer spills, etc., it looked like you had been walking in mud,” a Facebook user posted.

The Bob. The Bob Carpenter Center, a 5,000-seat arena on the south campus. The Lil Bob is the Carpenter Sports Building, on the northern end of the main campus.

Campusing. Restricting Women’s College of Delaware students to campus, the worst punishment for breaking the rules, which included getting clothes and makeup approved before attending a dance.

Dink. A class beanie. For at least several decades, UD freshmen were required to wear their dinks and name badges at all times on campus, attend all pep rallies before football games and follow other policies, such as not walking on the grass on the Green. These “rat rules” were “meant to create a class and school spirit,” the University of Delaware Archives and Records Management wrote in an exhibition on student life.

Fear the bird. A warning to opponents of Blue Hen teams.

Got Katie. A reprimand for rule-breaking. From the 1850s.

Habitrail. The pedestrian overpass over South College Avenue, from when its design resembled a brand of hamster cages. Also known as the Gerbil Tube. 

Harrington Beach. The grassy area near the Harrington dormitories.

Kissing arches. “For decades, romantically inclined UD students have heard (and heeded) the tradition that couples will be blessed with marriage if they kiss five times beneath the triple brick arches adjacent to Memorial Hall,” UD writes.

The Mall. The grassy area between Mitchell Hall and Main Street, now called the Green.

Mid-flopper. A student who flattered a professor for a better grade. From the 1930s.

Pencader Hills. A measure of stamina, in the number of times a students went uphill between the main and north campuses. Reduced since a bridge was built in 2005-06.

The Rodjects and Dickinslums. Former dormitories west of South Main Street (built when it was called Elkton Road).

The Scrounge. A place to get food and drink, first in the 1940s as a coffeeshop and soda fountain in the basement of Memorial Hall, then expanded in size and menu at the Perkins Student Center. 

Skid Row. Eight row houses on Academy Street, north of Delaware Avenue, with a nickname earned for their “unkempt appearance and the wild behavior [they] seemed to attract,” dirtAmerica.com wrote. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as a “novel example” of downtown rental housing built mostly of wood.

Topsy, Turvy and Boletus. Temporary dorms for women built in the 1920s.

Traying. Using cafeteria trays to go sledding.

Wilburfest. A block party, heavy on beers and bands, along Wilbur Street, from the 1970s to the 1990s.

How have students, student life and Newark changed?

The first students at the first predecessor to the University of Delaware were a homogenous bunch: young, male, white, probably Presbyterian. And Newark was quiet and staid.

In 1843, when Newark College was chartered, the youngest student was 9, and the average age was 14. Francis Alison was a Presbyterian clergyman who founded the earliest school that UD traces its history to, and Presbyterianism was the faith of dominant faith in New Castle County.

The first women were admitted in 1872. And until 1948, UD only had one black graduate.

The trustees in the 1820s and 1830s “never ceased advertising the good reputation of Newark for both health and morals,” John A. Munroe wrote in his history of UD, with their ads proclaiming “the absence of ‘temptation to vice and extravagance.’ ”

UD today has more female than male students, and about a third of undergraduates aren’t white. And there are plenty of temptations to eat and drink on Main Street.

Time, however, doesn’t change some things. There was a staffing shakeup in 1835 to resolve complaints of “incredibly bad food,” Munroe wrote.

Who is the most important person in UD history?

Hugh Rodney Sharp was “the greatest benefactor the college has ever known,” University of Delaware professor John A. Munroe wrote in his history of UD.

Sharp (known also as Rodney or H. Rodney) was one of 18 students in the class of 1900, and after graduating at age 20, he began working for the DuPont Co., married a du Pont and also helped steer gifts from his brother-in-law – Pierre S. du Pont , of Longwood Gardens fame – and other du Ponts to UD. Sharp was a member of UD’s board from 1915 to his death in 1968.

According to Munroe and “Familiar Relations: The du Ponts and the University of Delaware,” by Carol Hoffecker, Sharp’s legacy includes shaping UD’s “internal values” and these physical items:

• Leading the effort to grow Delaware College south from Old College to the Women’s College of Delaware. “He aspired to create the most aesthetically attractive and compelling vista anywhere in the state,” Hoffecker wrote. That included buildings in the Colonial Revival style; landscaping by Marian C. Coffin, who helped design the gardens at Winterthur; and the brick wall that girds the main campus.

• Giving Mitchell Hall to the school. Naming Wolf and Harter halls for his favorite professors. Leading the fundraising for Memorial Hall. Leading a campaign to add a Georgian portico to Du Pont Hall, to better match nearby buildings. Giving UD $200,000 to buy Newark Presbyterian, incorporated later into the Trabant Student Center.

• Giving $58 million, via the Sharp Trust endowment, to UD.

UD named a lab and a dorm for him and created Rodney Sharp professors and scholarships. The Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes is named for one son, Bayard Sharp Hall for another.

Who are the most famous alumni?

Of the more than 200,000 University of Delaware alumni around the world, it’s a highly subjective exercise to rank the most famous.

Its Alumni Wall of Fame, for instance, “recognizes outstanding professional and public service achievements” by 300 graduates. Wikipedia lists almost 250 alumni with individual entries.

A few websites – such as ranker.com, thefamouspeople.com and edurank.org – offer shorter, ranked lists. Search engines and artificial intelligence come up with different rankings. But some people on these lists trained, studied or performed at UD but are not alumni.

UD, by the way, is just one of five colleges that have produced both a president of the United States and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Read on, if those names don’t leap out.

I considered all these lists and my own perspective as an alumnus to come up with this.

1. Joe Biden: The president (1965 bachelor’s, double major in history and political science, and a 2004 honorary doctor of laws) has lent his name to the Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration and the Biden Institute (chaired by his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, a 1967 graduate given her own honorary doctorate of laws in 2018). Others notables in politics include First Lady Jill Biden (1975 bachelor’s in English); Delaware Gov. John Carney (1986 master’s in public administration); former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie (1984 bachelor’s in political science); U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (1975 MBA), U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt-Rochester (2002 master’s in urban affairs and public policy); Steve Schmidt (2013), a Republican strategist and manager for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign; and David Plouffe (2010), Democratic strategist, manager for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and a 2024 campaign adviser to Kamala Harris. Yes, Schmidt and Plouffe finished their degrees after working in politics.

2. Robert W. Gore: In 1969, while working at a company founded by his parents, Gore (1959 bachelor’s in chemical engineering) developed expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, which led to Gore-Tex fabric, the world’s first breathable waterproof fabric. He held nine patents, and his inventions led to materials used in spacesuits, medical devices and other applications, UD wrote. Sally Ives Gore (1976 master’s and 2023 honorary doctorate in humane letters) is his third wife, and she focuses her philanthropy on women.

3. Elena Delle Donne: The basketball player (2013, human services) “has followed her record-breaking performance at UD with an impressive career as a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, WNBA superstar, author, spokesperson and role model,” according to UD. Other notables in sports include Dallas Green (1956), manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees and the New York Mets and president and general manager of the Chicago Cubs; Dave Raymond (1979), the original Phillie Phanatic; Scott Levy (criminal justice), known as the wrestler Raven; White Sox pitcher Chad Kuhl (2014); Mike Koplove (1998) a former MLB pitcher turned baseball scout.; and Missy Meharg (1985), who almost made it to the 1988 and 1992 Olympics as a lacrosse player.

4. Susan Stroman: The choreographer and director (1976 bachelor’s in theater, plus a 2005 honorary doctorate in humane letters) has won five Tony awards – Broadway’s highest honor. “It is such an idyllic campus, and the people I met there gave me the strength to pursue my passion,” she told UD. Other notables in the arts include Ty Jones (bachelor in communication, master of fine arts, 2021 honorary doctorate of humane letters), producing artistic director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem.

5. Adam Osborne: The entrepreneur (1966 and 1968 master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering) “is credited with introducing the first portable computer,” UD wrote. The Osborne 1 debuted in 1981. Other notable entrepreneurs include Wang Xing (2004 master’s ion computer engineering), founder of Meituan, a huge Chinese commerce site; Larry Probst (1972 bachelor’s in business administration), president of the U.S. Olympics Committee and CEO of Electronic Arts, the video game publisher; and Ömer Sabancı (1987 master’s in economics), a Turkish billionaire.

6. Joe Flacco: The NFL quarterback (2008 bachelor’s in accounting, 2024 honorary doctorate of humane letters) led the Baltimore Ravens to the Super Bowl XLVII title in 2012. Other NFL notables include Matt Nagy (2001 bachelor’s in health and physical education and 2020 honorary doctorate), head coach of the Chicago Bears 2018-21; and Rich Gannon (1987). “The ability to process a lot of information quickly, the preparation, the learning, the studying, the memorizing and the core value of taking care of myself both mentally and physically, I learned as a player at Delaware,” Gannon told UD.

7. Daniel Nathans: The doctor (1950 bachelor’s in chemistry) won the Nobel Prize in 1978 for medicine or physiology for discovering restriction enzymes and their application to molecular genetics. He “is known as one of the founders of molecular biology and modern genetics,” UD writes. Other notables in the sciences include John L. Anderson (bachelor’s in chemistry, 2021 honorary doctorate of science), president of the National Academy of Engineering; and Arup K. Chakraborty (doctorate in chemical engineering, 2023 honorary doctorate of science), then one of only 25 individuals who are members of all three branches of the U.S. National Academies – the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering.

8. Charles R.E. Lewis: Lewis (1975 bachelor’s) founded the Center for Public Integrity, wrote or co-wrote six books and worked as a producer for ABC and CBS News. In 1998, he won a MacArthur fellowship, nicknamed the “genius” grant. Other genius grant winners include Jacqueline Jones (1970), who has written multiple books that explore race and other issues, including “Creekwalking: Growing Up in Delaware in the 1950s” and the Pulitzer-winning “No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era.” 

9. Roger Craig: Craig (master’s and doctorate in computer science) in 2010 won $77,000 on “Jeopardy!” a record that lasted until 2019. His six-day winning streak earned him $230,000. In 2011, he won $250,000 more in the tournament of champions. “Let’s face it, for ‘Jeopardy!,’ the name of the game is breadth not depth,” he told UD. “I think the main reason both universities [UD and Virginia Tech] helped so much is that they cover just about all spheres of learning in extraordinary depth.”

10. No Kum-Sok: Kum-Sok (known in America as Kenneth Rowe) was just 21 in 1953 when he defected to South Korea with a state-of-the-art Russian fighter plane. His flight to freedom, 56 days after the Korean War ended, earned him a $100,000 reward for delivering the top-secret MiG. A few months later he enrolled at UD, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. While traveling between Washington and New York, “I had seen Newark from the train and knew it was a good engineering school,” he told UD. “I ... wanted to be an engineer.”

Is UD public or private?

“Yes,” Laure Bachich Ergin, vice president and general counsel for the University of Delaware, joked at a 2020 Delaware Legislature committee meeting. “We are a private corporation. But we’re not like other private organizations,” delawareonline.com reported. “We have lots of characteristics that make us sound like a public institution.”

Those characteristics include getting funding from the state, prioritizing enrollment for Delawareans and considering the needs of Delaware when developing programs.

“UD points to its charter as evidence that it is a ‘privately governed, state-assisted university,’ ” the article continued. That’s a phrase that Google can find for only one other university: Washburn University in Kansas, whose website notes it also receives funding from city and county taxes.

Here’s why the distinction matters: UD gets money from the state, and it must tell the state how it spends that money, but it can be private about its other spending, funding and other activities.

Its charter says the board of trustees has “entire control” of the university. For instance, salaries (largely) “do not have to reported or justified” to the state. Ditto for tuition and fees.

That said, the university offers cheaper tuition to Delawareans, and it’s easer for them to get in.

It’s the First State. What’s UD first in?

University of Delaware history professor Carol Hoffecker, in “Familiar Relations: The du Ponts and the University of Delaware,” offers three firsts at UD:

• In 1923, it became the first U.S. college to offer a study abroad program, thanks to the zeal of French professor Raymond Kirkbride. 

• In 1952, it began the nation’s first master’s degree oriented toward museum studies, in cooperation with Winterthur.

• In 1967, it began the nation’s first doctoral program in art conservation, again with Winterthur.

What’s in Biden’s donation of political records?

The University of Delaware Library on June 6, 2012 acquired more than 1,850 boxes of archival records and 415 gigabytes of electronic records from the Joe Biden’s Senate career. 

What’s in them won’t be revealed “no sooner than … two years after the donor retires from public life,” UD says. Conservatives looking for a smoking gun in all that material prompted another digital disclaimer from UD: “No Biden designee has visited the collection since November, 2019. No documents have been added or removed by any Biden designees during any visits.”