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Professor of the Month - April

Associate Professor Vasile Bogdan, PhD is an academic at Danubius University, within the Faculty of Communication and International Relations, but before that, he worked as an Expert in Postdoctoral Scientific Research and Teaching Activities and as a Mentor for Teaching and Postdoctoral Research, Expert on Bioterrorism at the Postdoctoral School within the CSCBAS of the Romanian Academy. He served as head of the multinational division in Theaters of Operations (OT) Iraq and Afghanistan, being a war veteran. His experience in theater of operations is complemented by various forms of specialized training, i.e. university, postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral.

He is a graduate of “Carol I” National Defense University, UNAP. In 2008 he completed his doctoral program, obtaining a doctorate in Military Sciences. In the period 2014-2015, he attended the courses of the Postdoctoral School within “Acad. David Davidescu” Center for Studies and Research of Agrosilvic Biodiversity (CSCBAS) belonging to the Romanian Academy.

In the period 2008-2018, he supported various specialized teaching activities at military educational institutions.

For Associate Professor Vasile Bogdan, PhD, the word professor is “one of the terms of the consecrated binomial of the teaching act, terms represented by the professor and, respectively, by the student. The professor is responsible for the efficient combination of the theory with the applicative dimension, the transposition of the desideratum into the daily reality, so that the preparation of the training subjects is ensured in the conditions of the future society and not only of the existing one.”

Professor Vasile Bogdan has also spoken about the importance of the professor-student relationship, seen as a binomial of training: “The student/ master student is the second term, the beneficiary of the teaching act, of the educational effort. Without the student, the educational effort would be useless, it would be a nonsense. At present, because the educational act benefits from the massive support of modern technologies, the technologies themselves being carriers of ample and complex information, with each passing day the cognitive level of the student becomes higher and higher.

The curricular design, thought as a multidimensional and multidisciplinary process, must be conceived as a corollary of several components, to foreshadow the basic educational landmarks (finality, content, procedural, action), which will efficiently and effectively guide the educational process. Obviously, all the mentioned steps will lead to the validation of the special importance of the relationship between professor and student.”

Professor Vasile Bogdan’s academic contributions intervened in some priority areas of national security, synchronizing the operational concerns of the past with the scientific and teaching effort carried out at Danubius University. In the following, the professor pointed out the directions of his scientific efforts:

  • Information support;
  • Beligen effort and capabilities;
  • Internal security and resilience;
  • Economic affairs;
  • Lasting development;
  • Cross-border cooperation;
  • External promotion of national interests;

 

The scientific assessments, formulations and interests are taken over, extended and customized in the content of more than  90 articles, published in journals and periodicals of high value.

To the question "What other profession would you have liked to have?", the professor's answer was a definite one: "I do not think we need to go too far with this effort of imagination. I am convinced that I would certainly have chosen all the areas already addressed - the military and the teaching sector. Both sectors involve a strong intellectual dynamism, facilitating the expression of attitudes, behaviors and existential concerns of  a particular type. Therefore, in the journey of imagination proposed by you, they also identified me in the already known fields.”

For Associate Professor Vasile Bogdan, PhD, “Danubius University of Galați is established as an academic center, mandated with the formation of tomorrow's generation. The university stands out as a renowned university education structure, which imposes high responsibilities. The goal of the Danubian training will prioritize achieving top results, deserving the placement of Danubian graduates on the competitive labor market. The future Danubian teaching effort must give the desired finality - the assertion of "Danubius University" as a pilot center in the area, Danubian diamond, university center with scientific-applied possibilities located at high levels."

In the end, Professor Vasile Bogdan described himself as: “an academic who cumulates expertise in asymmetric and hybrid belligerence, that has been firmly settled over the years. Eager to create rigorously planned and structured activities, being concerned about the rigor and efficiency of teaching activities. Interested in strategies, objectives, plans, stages, synchronizations, conclusions, results and learned lessons.”

 

Mioara Lepadatu,

PR Specialist


Professor of the Month - May

Engineering Teacher MAXIM ELENA-LILIANA

With the vocation to teach others and the desire to pass on to future generations all that is the best and most beautiful in life, ELENA-LILIANA MAXIM combines the SUBJECT to be taught with LIFE LESSONS, depending on the situations in the classroom. When everything seems like a GAME, it is much easier to learn and remember the most complex problems.

She entered the education system in 2001 under the guidance of a psychologist from the National School of Court Clerks and, from a Mechanical Engineer and Programming Analyst at Galati Shipyard, she became a teacher of Mechanics, Machine Parts, Technical Drawing, AUTO-CAD and Computer Science at “Traian” Technical College in Galati.

Simultaneously with the work at the teaching desk, she created “Speranța Miron” Creation Workshop where she polished the “flickering light” from the impenetrable corners of childhood, and theater, poetry and good mood are present every Wednesday in the college library, everything with the agreement of the principal with an archangel name, passionate about BEAUTY and TECHNICS in any form transmissible to adolescents.

What could be so close between Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics-Computer Science and Art? A BUTTERFLY (FLUTURE). And from here everything gets complicated… books, magazines, drawings, shows, contests appear…

The pleasure and tact of guiding the young generation makes ELENA-LILIANA FLUTURE MAXIM consolidate her Engineering studies with those of Computer Science and Mathematics, following her father's advice.

Starting from heat and steam treatments to software and hardware, with an abundance of Moisil, Thales and Pythagoras, we have the “WORD” that needs to be programmed, compiled and distributed to students.

If she should talk about herself, she would talk about >>the "CLAY" which, in the hands of a teacher, is molded with LOVE, RIGOUR and LIGHT to get to shine, to turn into a RUBY or DIAMOND with her own work, but also accepting the help of the  mentor, the teacher that can be surpassed at any time. Polishing takes a long time and is sometimes painful, but the consequences over the years are amazing and beneficial to the ennobled human being, but also to society. >> says Mrs. Maxim.

She prefers to read a book from her grandmother's bookcase rather than an online book, and gladly says the following in BOEMA Literary Magazine, being a member of its editorial staff.

"A book, taken in your hand, seems lightweight, but in it we have the unspoken prayer of the one who wrote it. Browsing through it, we most often seek to find that unique prayer among its pages, and when we are lucky, we discover the symphony of Light with it. Books are the gold of the nation, that cannot be forgotten or neglected by anyone.

As the prayer raises the soul towards God, in the "church of letters" (the library) the reader is and will be carried on the books’ wings to the immaculate universe of the nation and exalted by the scent of past ages, sublimely kneeling on the carpet of knowledge. Let us pray that the dust of time does not settle on any book and will never bury it in the oblivion of the tumultuous daily life.” http://www.inforapart.ro/boema/reviste/Boema009.pdf


Professor of the Month - March

The Professor of March

Associate Professor Cătălin Angelo Ioan, PhD

 

Associate Professor Cătălin Angelo Ioan, PhD graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics within the University of Bucharest in 1985 and became a Doctor in mathematics at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași in 2000, with the thesis "Contributions to the geometry of semi-Riemannian foliations", coordinated by Professor Aurel Bejancu, PhD.

From graduation until now he has taught 20-30 branches of mathematics or related ones (algebra, real mathematical analysis, complex analysis, linear algebra, numerical analysis, analytical and differential geometry, differential and partial differential equations, variational calculus, linear programming, graph theory, mathematical probabilities and statistics, mathematical modeling, game theory, expectation theory, financial mathematics, actuarial mathematics, stock theory, microeconomics in n-dimensional spaces, urbanism and landscaping, computer science, etc.) at almost all levels, starting from the 5th grade, continuing with high school, and since 1990 at university level: bachelor's and master's studies.

He has never considered teaching as a profession but simply as a passion.

A little secret of his activity is that he permanently considers that he is playing. A game that can be a little serious, from the challenge of the first course, when he sets personal records of capturing attention (at this discipline hated by so many people), to the articles in which he sometimes plays with formulas, trying to make light firstly for himself and then, perhaps, for others and ending with the attitude towards life.

"A continuous play puts an end to monotony, so that a course taught for the 30th or 40th time may become as exciting as in the initial moments", Professor Ioan confesses.

During his career, he has written 37 distinct books (99 in total with the revised editions and sometimes hundreds of pages added), 205 scientific papers published in Japan, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Turkey and, of course, Romania, being citing in 84 international articles. Starting with December 2021, he reached the 22nd place in the world (out of the 63969 economists present) in the Repec ranking in the category Top 5% Authors, Number of Journal Pages, Weighted by Number of Authors (with a total of 2217.5 pages/ author ).

Starting with January 2014, a huge amount of math didactic work began on YouTube, reaching a total of 3126 today. The number of permanent subscribers is 6944 (in addition to tens of thousands of others), and the number of views reached 1,740,419 from more than 11 million posts. The satisfaction of these movies is enormous, with favorable comments and dozens of requests for solving problems or various situations, creating a constant pressure to continue this approach.

In parallel with this, for about 10 years and under the auspices of Danubius University, he has been holding a series of preparatory sessions for the Baccalaureate exam for the use of 12th grade students, especially as, in these turbulent times, they are also free. All these lessons as well as the current courses of the university teaching activity are posted on YouTube, so that the preparation for the Baccalaureate exam has exceeded the borders of Galați municipality.

Some time ago, in the year 2007, he played like literature (not very successfully, according to the author). But he wrote three prose books and a poetry one. And he tried various experiments. For example, a short story - "Four Widows in Klein's Group" - concretizes the behavior of the group of symmetries with respect to the axes in the plan and its origin in a series of events involving four rather grumpy ladies. The poetry volume brings new levels of play, some of them comprising poems in poems in the last words of the verses. As an example, the poem "E" (but not only it):

 

"Elegies lost

Epics rewritten

Episodic verses

Edifices outlawed.

 

Effigies too full

Evocations for show

ermetic writings

Entropy in bravado.

 

Ecumenical gestures

Epistles returned

Eden lost

Emblematic tricks.

 

Embolism of world

Equilibria full

eresies reborn

Ephemeral destinies.”

 

read on the last words, it becomes: Lost, rewritten, outlawed verses/ Too full, for show, writings in bravado/ Returned gestures lost in tricks/ Of the entire world, reborn destinies.

When asked what other profession he would have liked to have, Professor Cătălin Ioan said that: “In principle, no other profession than the one that I have. But, if fate had pushed me in another direction, I would have probably tried to honor my profession (probably - because a number of professions would have seemed impossible to me in terms of skills). The idea is that everyone should be aware of what he/ she can do and his/ her real skills. People who are good at everything (and not even then) have no longer existed since the Middle Ages and, if they insist, they end up badly.”

Although mathematics is the discipline that bothers students even from  elementary school, regarding the question ”what is mathematics good for?”, Professor Cătălin Angelo Ioan’s answer was short: “Look around you and tell me what you see! Could a phone, a computer, this building, the car you get in when you leave, your watch and practically everything around you (except the lovage in the soup) have existed without mathematics (with its applications in physics)?”

Associate Professor Cătălin Angelo Ioan, PhD also said something about his future projects: “Well, I haven't reached the halfway point! In principle, I want to write several dozens of more serious articles, to write one of the books that I have started and restarted many times, a book of differential geometry on differentiable varieties that can reach appreciable dimensions, to reach about 10,000 math videos for students and many, many more. On the other hand, I don't have sure projects because, if I have an idea, something like a play, I can work on it for months, giving up everything I am working on at that moment."


Professor of the Month - February

Alina Beatrice Cheșcă is an Associate Professor PhD at “Danubius” University of Galaţi, tenured at the Faculty of Communication and International Relations and teaches English at almost all faculties and specializations within the university. She is also a translator and interpreter for the Media Department within  ”Danubius” University.

Alina has a PhD in Philological Sciences (with the distinction Summa cum laude), degree obtained in December 2008, at “Ovidius” University of Constanţa, with a thesis on psychoanalytic literary criticism.

She published 7 poetry books, won 6 prizes at national poetry competitions, she is a contributing editor of several culture magazines, she published poetry in numerous literary magazines in the country and abroad, she is present in 16 poetry anthologies and books of literary criticism and translated 7 poetry books into English.

Alina says that she has always considered that the teacher's mission is to be a light in the world, to offer the young generations not only information, but also to open paths to spirituality, to teach them the love for knowledge and everything that shapes them as human beings. She strongly believes that the teacher should be, besides parents, the first role model for a child. This is how it happened to her and maybe that is why she has wanted to be a teacher ever since she was little.

She has been a member of ”Danubius” community since 1997 and has had the great joy and honor of meeting all generations of scholars. Her colleagues have always been her second family, some of them becoming true friends for her. Alina also tells us that, in ”Danubius” family, there has always been not only collegiality and collaboration, but friendship, appreciation and inspiration.

The relationship between Alina and her students is a special one, based on human warmth, respect, inspiration and valorization. She believes that a problem of Romanian education (and not only) is that it offers a lot of information, but less knowledge. "In this confusing world, with so many social, political and economic problems, young people must be taught how to be wise, to have a strong heart, they must be taught how to overcome the life’s hardships with inner balance, without losing their morality, their path and meaning. That is why I believe that we, teachers, must stand by them as partners of spiritual evolution, not only of intellectual one."

The areas of interest for Associate Professor Alina Beatrice Cheșcă, PhD are: literature, cultural studies, oriental culture and civilization, imagology, ESP (English for specific purposes).

In her 24 -year academic career, she has participated in about 50 national and international conferences (in Europe and Asia), published numerous courses and specialized articles, she was the leader of the Romanian team in two projects initiated within “Youth in Action” international program, she was a tutor and training expert in POSDRU and POCU projects.

Between October 2009 and December 2010, she was the producer and presenter of the education and culture talk show "Learning in Europe", broadcast on TV Galaţi, a show where she had as guests professors from ”Danubius” University.

Moreover, she is also a member of the scientific and editorial boards of several scientific journals, but also an editor of Lyvre de Lyon International Publishing House.

"All these experiences have shaped me, inspired me, raised me up, made me happy... I confess that going to international conferences and projects is one of the biggest pleasures of my life. I love combining travel with study, with reading, with intellectual satisfaction!”

About the projects she is working on, Mrs. Alina Beatrice Cheșcă is telling us: "Some time ago I started working on a monograph on my great love - the greatest mystical poet of all time, Rumi Mawlana."

I also continue my work as a poetry translator. I have just finished translating into English a poetry book written by a well-known and appreciated poet from Bucharest. I will also have a book of postmodernist texts published, that I wrote in collaboration with 2 poetesses and friends.

Some time ago, Alina was invited as a keynote speaker at an international conference in Izmir, where she presented a paper on cultural studies.

Alina Beatrice Cheșcă confesses to us about the way she is as a human being: “Ever since childhood I have been extremely empathetic to the sufferings and joys of my fellow human beings. I have the ability to listen to them and understand them, I am a true friend, I have an enormous compassion for people, animals and, generally, for the nature so sorely hit by those who should love and respect it. I love culture, I am creative and, I hope, wise.

I trully wish that our Danubian community could always remain a real family, with genuine friendship relationships and an inspiring environment for an  ongoing intellectual and spiritual growth for both scholars and students.”


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