As part of this work group I’m part of, I get to travel three times a year to meet with the smartest minds in corporate communications to discuss the issues of the day.
Our venue this go-round was the University of Delaware in Newark, a city 20 minutes away from Wilmington, where I stayed the past two nights.
I won’t write too much about Wilmington because I didn’t like it too much. On my first day there, I went for a run only to learn it’s known as Murder Town USA. Roughly .5 miles in to my run, and I was overwhelmed by the sense I might get mugged at any moment.
Newark (pronounced new-ARK) was a different story, and it was terrific as college towns oft are.
The University of Delaware was founded in 1743 by a Presbyterian minister named Francis Allison, and it’s a campus proud of its rich, green landscape as much as it’s proud of its beautiful Georgian architecture. Their sports teams are called Blue Hens, and they’re most famous for producing Super Bowl champion quarterback Joe Flacco.
Check out these pics from a campus tour I took Thursday.
And this is what Gore Hall looks like on the inside:
For a closer look at the architecture of this specific building on the campus of the University of Delaware, check out Allan Greenberg Architect.
(A note from Ryan on April 27, 2018: The biggest reason why our group had such a terrific time at the University of Delaware was thanks to our hosts, Holly Norton and Meredith Chapman, both of whom I’ve gotten to know over the years as part of a professional corporate communications group. In fact, we had talked about a team trip to UD for at least a year or two before we made it happen — and while I hated Wilmington, quite possibly the worst city I’ve ever visited, I loved Newark and UD. Meredith took the time to run me by the Blue Hen bookstore before it closed so I could buy a t-shirt and a cap and other UD swag. Long story short: Meredith was a good egg and a terrific soul and she will be incredibly missed by a planet that desperately needs smart, positive people.)
