College of Liberal Arts and Sciences names Distinguished Associate Professors of Instruction

Monday, April 8, 2019

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa has appointed two faculty members to the honor of Distinguished Associate Professor of Instruction. This award recognizes candidates for advancement from Lecturer to Associate Professor of Instruction who excel in teaching, institutional, and professional service, and their record of publications. The 2019-21 Distinguished Associate Professors of Instruction are Lavinia Ciungu of the Department of Mathematics and Sang-Seok Yoon of the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures.

Interim Dean Joe Kearney said the appointments reflect the outstanding work of the faculty members.

"Dr. Ciungu and Dr. Yoon are exceptional teachers and mentors," said Kearney, "and it is my privilege to honor their contributions. I wish them continued success in their academic careers."

Lavinia CiunguLavinia Ciungu earned the PhD in Mathematics from the University of Bucharest in 2007 and the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2010, and joined the Department of Mathematics in 2013. With primary research interests in cryptography, boolean functions, residuated lattices, algebra, and fuzzy structures, she regularly referees articles for numerous journals. She teaches classes at all levels, and serves as advisor to mathematics students.

Sang-Seok YoonSang-Seok Yoon, who earned the PhD in Korean Linguistics from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, joined the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures (a unit of the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures) in 2012. He serves as the coordinator of the Korean Program and the director of the King Sejong Institute, which is a Korean government-funded institute for teaching Korean language and culture. The focus of his research is sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and second language acquisition. He specializes in linguistic politeness of the Korean language, and is one of the authors of the Integrated Korean Textbook series by the University of Hawaii Press, the most commonly used Korean textbook in the U.S.

 

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.