This message of the IDD&E Department Chair opens the Spring 2021 IDD&E Spotlight newsletter. Following Dr. Lei’s message, you will find a brief Table of Contents to the news that the newsletter included.
Dear friends—
Greetings from Syracuse!
I hope you and your loved ones have been staying safe and healthy. The 2020–2021 academic year was a very unique year as we faced unprecedented challenges that have affected us in many ways. During the academic year, all of our courses were taught either fully online or hybrid with significant online components, and we also have been advising students as well as conducting departmental businesses online. While working/studying from our own homes, our community members, faculty, staff, students, and alumni have been staying connected through various digital channels, helping and supporting each other and building an even stronger community.
Now at the end of the academic year, there is so much to celebrate. On May 21, we held the annual IDD&E end-of-academic-year celebration online for the second time. We celebrated the nearly 40 C.A.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students graduating in the 2020–2021 academic year, including four doctoral students: Dr. Monica Burris, Dr. Lina Souid, Dr. Lili Zhang, and Dr. Abdulrahman Rashed A. Alogaily. Congratulations to you all on your achievements and we wish you very successful and fulfilling careers!
At the online graduation, we officially recognized exceptional performances and exemplary services in the past academic year. A total of ten awards (four for C.A.S./M.S. students, five for Ph.D. students, and one for a staff member)—nominated by faculty, staff, and students—were given to outstanding individuals and teams. Please check this newsletter to see the details and congratulate the awardees for receiving their honors.
We also celebrate the impactful activities our faculty, students, and alumni have been engaged in. Our faculty published in top-tier journals, presented and gave invited keynote speeches at conferences online, and won grants to support their projects; our students actively engaged in various projects and made great progress in their studies; our alumni were rising to leadership roles and making much-valued contributions in their professions. This newsletter provides a glimpse of the many activities our extended IDD&E community have been involved in.
Another very exciting news is that Dr. Moon-Heum Cho was promoted to Associate Professor and awarded tenure here at Syracuse University. This is a great milestone and well-deserved recognition of Dr. Cho for his significant contributions to scholarship, teaching and advising, and service at the local and global levels. Congratulations, Dr. Cho!
I would also like to share with you that I will be taking a research leave in the Fall 2021 semester to focus on my research. During my leave, Dr. Cho will serve as the Interim Department Chair; Dr. Koszalka and Dr. Cho will also share my other administrative and advising responsibilities; and our office coordinator Rebecca R. Pettit will be there, as always, whenever you have any questions or need any help. I’m very grateful to my supportive colleagues who helped make my research leave possible.
May you all have a great summer, and we look forward to hearing more from you.
Sincerely,
Jing Lei, Ph.D.
Chair
Professor of the IDD&E Department
June 29, 2021
The Spring 2021 IDD&E Spotlight newsletter includes stories that you can read in the following 9 links:
- Graduations and Awards 2021
- SPOTLIGHT: Moon-Heum Cho—Tenured and Promoted
- SPOTLIGHT: Fasika Minda Melese
- SPOTLIGHT: Aytaç Göğüş and Erin Cunia
- IDD&E Alumni Updates and Achievements January—July 2021
- IDD&E Faculty & Student Updates January—July 2021
- IDD&E International Partnership with SISU in China
- IDE 800 in Spring 2021—The Progress We Made
- Fascinating Topics in IDE 737 Capstone Course
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