Jieun Sung is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Formative Education and the Transformative Education Lab at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development. She earned her Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education at the University of Virginia, School of Education and Human Development. Jieun also holds degrees in chemical engineering and political science from Columbia University. 

Jieun’s work is concerned broadly with ways that education, schooling, ethical formation, and the preparation of individuals to participate in social, cultural, political, and civic life are interrelated. She is particularly interested in how families with backgrounds and experiences of immigration navigate educational and broader sociocultural contexts, how they make sense of and navigate experiences of racialization as minoritized communities in the United States, and how non-school settings may become influential sites for youth development. Her dissertation entitled “Where I don’t have to explain myself”: Ethnocultural church communities as a third place for immigrant education and acculturation,” examines the significance of Korean ethnic churches in shaping Korean American families’ navigation of children’s education and development.  

Jieun’s current research explores how individuals and families form ethical commitments and beliefs about education, development, and flourishing of young people, and how learning in diverse contexts shapes these processes. She is also interested in exploring how ideas about education, flourishing, and “the good life” travel and evolve across diaspora.