CLAS announces 2024 faculty promotion and tenure awards

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has announced the recipients of its prestigious awards for faculty who received a promotion to tenured associate professor and full professor, and to associate professor and full professor of instruction.
Friday, April 12, 2024

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has announced eight faculty members will receive the college’s esteemed Dean’s Scholar, Collegiate Scholar, Distinguished Associate Professor of Instruction, and Distinguished Professor of Instruction awards. 

Eight faculty members who received a faculty promotion or tenure award

CLAS Dean’s Scholar Award 

The Dean's Scholar Award recognizes faculty candidates for promotion who excel in both teaching and scholarship or creative work. The two-year award carries a one-time financial award. The following faculty were selected among those promoted to associate professor with tenure:   

Casey DeRoo, Department of Physics and Astronomy 
DeRoo’s research areas include astronomy, astrophysics, and space physics. He is interested in researching high energy astrophysics and astronomical instrumentation. DeRoo also prioritizes professional development opportunities for graduate students. 

Donika Kelly, Department of English 
Kelly is an award-winning poet whose work has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and more. Kelly’s research interests include contemporary American poetry, African American poetry and poetics, and ecopoetics. 

Bennett Sims, Department of English 
Sims is an accomplished author and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His novel, “A Questionable Shape,” received the Bard Fiction Prize and was a finalist for The Believer Book Award.  

CLAS Collegiate Scholar Award  

The Collegiate Scholar Award was inaugurated in 2008 to recognize mid-career faculty for exceptional achievement. The award carries a financial award to support the recipient's teaching and research initiatives. The following faculty were selected among those promoted to full professor:   

Matt Hill, Department of Anthropology 
Hill’s work focuses on landscape-scale processes of human-environment interactions expressed in long-term behavioral changes across various environmental settings. He is currently involved in three different research projects and is leading an archaeological field school for students this summer. 

Ryan Kinser, Department of Mathematics 
Kinser’s research areas include algebra, as well as representation and number theory. Kinser, who is also DEO of the department, is interested in researching representation theory of algebras, geometric methods in representation theory, and more. 

Damani Phillips, School of Music 
Phillips, who serves as head of jazz studies, is an accomplished performer, scholar, teacher, and composer. He has taught and performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. 

CLAS Distinguished Associate Professor of Instruction   

The Distinguished Associate Professor of Instruction Award recognizes candidates who excel in teaching, institutional and professional service, and their record of publications at the time of advancement. The two-year award carries a one-time financial award. 

Kirsten Kumpf Baele, Department of German, was selected among those promoted to associate professor of instruction.   
Kumpf Baele is committed to combining learning goals and community service projects in ways that enrich student growth and the common good. She continuously pushes her students and herself as educator. Kumpf Baele is also the director of the Anne Frank Initiative. 

CLAS Distinguished Professor of Instruction   

The Distinguished Professor of Instruction Award recognizes candidates who excel in teaching, institutional and professional service, and their record of publications at time of advancement. The two-year award carries a one-time financial award, which may be used for research and teaching initiatives. 

Lori Adams, Department of Biology, was selected among those promoted to professor of instruction. 
Adams is interested in enhancing undergraduate biology education through research experience opportunities, mentoring, and the practice of scientific teaching. Adams teaches courses in communicating research, student development, and more. 

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.