On October 10, Dr. Ionut Popescu, a member of the department’s international relations faculty, was presented with the Texas flag flown over the Texas Capitol in honor of his military service. Dr. Popescu is a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, and he has recently been recalled to active duty to deploy with the US Special Operations Command for nine months starting this week. Alana Garrett, a political science major, presented Dr. Popescu with the flag after he informed his class that he had to leave on a military deployment. Alana mentioned that she, along with other staffers in the office of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, “thought it would be a nice gesture to thank Dr. Popescu for his service and wish him well throughout his tour of duty.” Dr. Popescu was “truly honored and humbled” by this surprise in his last class before his military leave, and he looks forward to “return to Texas State next year and share his stories of his military deployment” with his future students.
Dr. Popescu, received his Ph.D. from Duke in 2013 and joined Texas State’s faculty in 2017 and was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2023. He joined the naval reserve in 2018.
