What was the best story of 2022 at the University of Delaware?

Ask a hundred people, and you’ll get at least a hundred answers because there’s so much to celebrate.

Among students, there were Goldwater Scholars, Fulbright Awards, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, Plastino Scholars and more, including one Blue Hen who is officially SMART. Around the world, UD students demonstrated their artistic talent and used their knowledge to save lives and improve communities. Closer to home, students helped provide healthier food, better infant care, greater wellness and top-notch emergency medical response.

Students — including a record first-year class — continued to build a diverse and welcoming campus community this year, celebrating the Festival of Nations, participating in the First Year Common Reader, hearing inspirational words about cultivating Black joy and breaking ground on the new and larger Chabad House. A group of Afghan women found healing and hope at UD this year, as well.

It was a great year for Blue Hen student-athletes, too. The men’s and women’s basketball teams played in the NCAA Tournament, the first time ever both were part of March Madness in the same season. What’s more, the field hockey team won its ninth Colonial Athletic Conference tournament in 10 years, the men’s lacrosse team won its CAA tournament and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, the softball team won its CAA regular season tournament, and the football team made an exciting run to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

In May, one new graduate became the first Blue Hen to be commissioned to the U.S. Space Force, and another proved that it’s never too late to earn a UD degree. 

Speaking of graduation, how about that time the 46th President of the United States spoke to his fellow Blue Hen alumni at Commencement? Definitely a highlight of 2022.

Other alumni posted successes, too — being named Delaware Teacher of the Year, taking top positions in state government and becoming ambassador to Bahrain.

UD faculty continued to rack up honors and achievements in 2022. They were recognized for their work as outstanding scholars, top researchers, inventors, educators and engineers, as well as for their work in the humanities, kinesiology and science advocacy. Professors also shared “How I Teach” introductory subjects to first-year students in engineering, psychology, agriculture and world history, while English professors enlightened students about the perpetual power of poetry.

Among administrative leaders, UD welcomed a new provost, Laura Carlson, and new deans for the College of Health Sciences and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. The Association of Research Libraries will be headed by a UD leader next year. And because of his lifelong academic and research career, President Dennis Assanis was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which provides input and recommendations to the White House.

In 2022, UD celebrated the 10th anniversary of both Horn Entrepreneurship and the First Step competition … and, not coincidentally, UD now ranks as one of the best places to study entrepreneurship. 

The list of research wins over the past year could easily be its own story: UD hit a record $221 million in research expenditures, an increase of 20% over last year. The University celebrated the work of its nearly 300 inventors, who have generated more than 500 inventions and 125 patents in the past decade, and marked the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Energy Conversion, which is the world’s oldest solar research facility.

Several new research centers opened in 2022, including the Center for Clean Hydrogen, the Coastal Hazards, Equity, Economic prosperity and Resilience (CHEER) Hub and the Delaware Center for Cognitive Aging Research. The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) earned a federal grant to develop an advanced-manufacturing training facility, too.

UD’s researchers made discoveries and advancements in a broad range of fields: developing K9 Kevlar, growing crops in space, making cement on the moon, discovering what Black girls in Delaware say about their lives, putting the world’s fastest computer to work, using synthetic biology to engineer new vaccines, helping children become bookworms and much more.

The past year also saw the demolition of McKinly Lab and the start of construction for Building X as a multidisciplinary “science collider” where biologists, physicists, psychologists and neuroscientists will connect in new ways. The new Wellbeing Center at Warner Hall opened this year, too, serving students with a comprehensive array of wellbeing resources and services.

It was, indeed, another impressive year at the University of Delaware.

But quite possibly, the very best story of 2022 was that the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t make this list.