People

Potrait of Jan Steyn

Jan Steyn, PhD

Title/Position
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor of Instruction, French
Associate Professor of Instruction, Translation
Jan is a translator and critic of literature written in Afrikaans, Dutch, English, and French
Portrait of Kendra Strand

Kendra Strand, PhD

Title/Position
Associate Professor, Japanese
Kendra specializes in premodern Japanese literature and visual culture, with expertise in travel writing, poetry, calligraphy, and landscape painting.
Bode Sven

Bode Sven

Title/Position
Graduate Teaching Assistant, German
Bode Sven is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within the field of German at the University of Iowa.
Potrait of Nozomi Tanaka

Nozomi Tanaka, PhD

Title/Position
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Nozomi Tanaka specializes in morphosyntax, child language development, second language acquisition, and heritage languages.
Portrait of Sokna Thiaw

Sokhna Thiaw

Title/Position
PhD Candidate, French
Graduate Teaching Assistant, French
Sokhna Thiaw is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Iowa.
Portrait of Downing Thomas

Downing Thomas, PhD

Title/Position
Professor, French
As Professor of French, the bulk of my scholarship in early-modern French studies can be divided into three interdisciplinary areas, with a considerable amount of overlap between areas: music and opera, theories of language, and aesthetics.
Portrait of Diana Thow

Diana Thow, PhD, MFA

Title/Position
Assistant Professor, Italian
Assistant Professor, Translation
Diana Thow is a literary translator and scholar working from Italian.
Kodjo Tovor

Kodjo Tovor

Title/Position
PhD Candidate, French
Graduate Fellow, French
Kodjo Tovor is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Fellow within the field of French at the University of Iowa.
Lisa  Truong

Lisa Truong

Title/Position
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Italian
Lisa Truong is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within the field of Italian at the University of Iowa.
Fion Tse

Fion Tse

Title/Position
Graduate Student, Masters of Fine Arts in Literary Translation
Iowa Arts Fellow
Fion Tse is a Graduate Student and Iowa Arts Fellow at the University of Iowa.
Portrait of Steven Ungar

Steven Ungar, PhD

Title/Position
Professor Emeritus, French
Steven Ungar teaches Cinema, French Studies, and Comparative Literature and has written essays on Jean-Paul Sartre, Francis Ponge, Jean Rouch, Jean Vigo, Patrick Modiano, W.G. Sebald, René Vautier, André Bazin, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Portrait of Ovi Velasquez

Jose Ovidio Velasquez, MA

Title/Position
Assistant Professor of Instruction, American Sign Language
Jose-Ovi Velasquez is an Assistant Professor of Instruction for American Sign Language at the University of Iowa.
Robert Vizzini

Robert Vizzini, MA

Title/Position
Assistant Professor of Instruction, American Sign Language
Robert Vizzini serves the Deaf Community through several state advisory groups and supporting parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. He currently serves as Iowa Association of the Deaf deaf education liaison.
Robert Wachal

Robert Wachal, PhD

Title/Position
Professor Emeritus, Linguistics
Robert Wachal is a Professor Emeritus in the University of Iowa.
Portrait of Emily Wieder

Emily Wieder, MA

Title/Position
PhD Candidate, French
Emily Wieder researches women Surrealists, teaches French, edits Dance Research Journal, and studied in Pau, France.
Portrait of Lynette Williams

Lynette Williams

Title/Position
Interpreter, American Sign Language
Lynette Williams is an Interpreter for American Sign Language at the University of Iowa.
Portrait of Eleanor Witt

Eleanor Witt

Eleanor Witt is a Graduate Student at the University of Iowa.
Miharu Yano

Miharu Yano

Title/Position
Graduate Student, Master of Fine Arts in Literary Translation
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Translation & International Writing Program
Miharu Yano is a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of Iowa, and studied literature and translation at Waseda University and the University of Oxford.
Rebecca Yeager

Rebecca Yeager

Title/Position
Associate Professor of Instruction, English as a Second Language
Rebecca Yeager currently serves as Co-Chair of the ESL Programs Assessment Committee, and has experience teaching in the Iowa Intensive English Program, ESL Credit Program, and Teaching Assistant Preparation in English program.
Portrait of Sang-Seok Yoon, Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Korean

Sang-Seok Yoon, PhD

Title/Position
Assistant Professor, Korean
Sang-Seok Yoon specializes in linguistic politeness of the Korean language and research is sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and second language acquisition.
Portrait of Wenqi Zeng

Wenqi Zeng

Title/Position
Graduate Fellow, Linguistics
PhD Candidate, Linguistics
Wenqi Zeng is a Linguistics Ph.D. student researching phonology, phonetics, and speech processing in bilingual and bidialectal speakers.
Wenyang Zhai

Wenyang Zhai

Title/Position
Assistant Professor of Instruction, Chinese
Dr. Wenyang Zhai teaches Chinese literature and cinema at UI. Her research focuses on modern Chinese culture, diaspora literature, and translation.