Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU-IMC) Integrated Manufacturing Webinar Series continues with Prof. Dr. Francesco Tornabene's "Mechanics of Arbitrarily Shaped Doubly-Curved Shell Structures Made of Anisotropic and Advanced Materials Using Higher-order Strong and Week Formulations" seminar.

Please click to register webinar. 

Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU-IMC) organizes series of thematic seminars/webinars at different levels of academia and industry to understand and prioritize the recent institutional, organizational and technical developments for the Composite Structures. 

SU-IMC Thematic Webinar Series program

Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU-IMC) organizes series of thematic seminars/webinars at different levels of academia and industry to understand and prioritize the recent institutional, organizational and technical developments for the Composite Structures. 

This main focus of research areas is the complete value chain of composite structures including composite modelling, manufacturing, processing, and structural health monitoring. There will be various Renowned Experts and Keynote Speakers, who will be giving academic and industrial talks regarding the Composite Materials and Structures at the SU-IMC Thematic Webinar Series.

All seminars will be conducted online and open to the public in the form of a webinar.

Please click to register.

The SU-IMC is a world-leading Composite Technologies Center of Excellence that provides industrial-scale design and analysis, tests, prototype manufacturing services of advanced composite materials. In addition, the SU-IMC provides graduate education, training, and consultancy services in the fields of integrated manufacturing for industrial companies and governmental agencies. For more information, please visit our website: https://suimc.sabanciuniv.edu/.

Commemorating the 82nd anniversary of the passing of the great leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, an online ceremony will be held on Tuesday, November 10th, 2020, starting at 8:45.

Berk Esen, member of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, will take part in the ceremony with his speech entitled “Atatürk from the Perspective of a Young Academician”.

The ceremony will be held in Turkish. 

Registration link: https://sabanciuniv.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j_xbQVfPSEamX7Fw7jAdPQ

Senem Aydın-Düzgit elected as a board member to the executive board of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE). 

Senem Aydın-Düzgit, faculty member of Sabanci University's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and the Academic Affairs Coordinator at the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC), has been elected as a board member to the executive board of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).  YAE (https://yacadeuro.org/) is a pan-European initiative of outstanding young scientists for networking, scientific exchange and science policy; providing input and advice towards shaping European-wide science policy. Established in 2012, YAE has 157 members across Europe. This is the first time a faculty member from Turkey has been elected to the YAE board.  

Sabancı University awarded its first Honorary Doctorate to Sabancı University Board of Trustees Member and Chair of the Board of Directors of Hexagon Consulting, Jan Nahum. After the ceremony,  a panel entitled  "Sabancı University: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" took place with the participation of Sabancı University Founding Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı and Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici.

Sabancı University's first Honorary Doctorate was presented to the Member of the Board of Trustees of Sabancı University and Chair of the Board of Directors of Hexagon Consulting, Jan Nahum for special contributions to the education community, to the world of industry and to the collaboration between academia and industry. Güler Sabancı presented the Honorary Doctorate diploma to Nahum at the ceremony held on Monday, October 26th, 2020.

In her speech, Güler Sabancı said, “As Sabancı University, in the past 20 years we have introduced many firsts and we have always acted very meticulously with regards to these firsts. I would like to thank our Academic Board for showing the same meticulousness with regards to our first Honorary Doctorate and for approaching our Board of Trustees with the recommendation of Jan Nahum. Jan Nahum, with his extraordinary energy, has wholeheartedly participated in the processes at our university, and has made a great contribution to the entire Sabancı University family with his on point analyses of both the business and academic worlds.  It is not easy to ask the right questions. Jan Nahum has always asked the right questions and guided our university in a constructive way. He always shares what he knows with those around him; he is a faculty member through the nature of his contributory personality. We are delighted to present the first honorary doctorate of our university to him."

Noting that Jan Nahum has made a great contribution especially in the area of industry-university cooperation, Güler Sabancı continued with these words, “Although we, as a university attach great importance to university-industry cooperation, unfortunately, our country is tarrying in relation to this issue. Sabanci University is a model in this area in Turkey. While establishing our Composite Technologies Center of Excellence with the support of Jan Nahum, we took great care to set a good example. One of Jan Nahum's most important characteristics is that he can foster cooperation. As a university we have always created and developed this together. On behalf of the Sabancı Group and Sabancı University I extend our thanks to him. With Jan Nahum now as a representative of both the business world and the academy we will continue to develop our work further.”

Now our Target is to Be One of the Best Universities in the World

Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici, in his speech at the honorary doctorate ceremony said, “We have celebrated our 20th anniversary as Sabancı University. In 20 years, our university has indeed fulfilled the ambitious goals set initially and has exceeded them. We see that our university is continuing its progress with the same acceleration and excitement. One of the initial founding goals of our university was to become one of Turkey's leading universities, attracting the best students of Turkey. Today we have achieved this goal. In all of the areas which we focus on we have attracted the best students in ​​Turkey.

Yusuf Leblebici stated that Sabancı University has started to gain a befitting  reputation worldwide as a research institution and he continued, saying “We are no longer satisfied with being one of the best universities in Turkey but also aim to become one of the best universities in the world. In doing so, our research identity will play an enabling role. We want to attain prominence with our identity as a scientific research institution, which is the foundation for providing the best and highest quality education, not only in Turkey but in the world. It is not possible for us to do this alone. Especially, if we want to progress as a research university, we have to work closely with industry. We have set out a strategic plan for this and adopted it as our road map from now onwards. Jan Nahum continues to contribute to the roadmap we have developed for the next 20 years.”

One Must not Be Afraid of Failure While on the Path to Success

Jan Nahum expressed his feelings of honor at being awarded Sabancı University’s first Honorary Doctorate. He said, "Sabancı University has put  its signature under many firsts. It is  one of the most successful universities in Turkey. It is a great honour that such a university should give me the title of first honorary doctor. I would like to thank everyone who has deemed me worthy of this.”

Jan Nahum, drawing attention to the fact that humanity has been going through a difficult period, and that the education system in Turkey was also experiencing difficulties, said: “Humanity has passed through great tribulations/hardships, such as the great immigration that emerged with the melting of glaciers, the great carnage caused by the Plague in the Middle Ages and the First and Second World Wars. Each time civilization progressed much faster and took great leaps forward. This is how we should evaluate this period we are going through. When there are obstacles to overcome, human history has always recorded greater progress.

I fought hard to make the Turkish automotive industry competitive with the world. Not renouncing my dreams, I worked hard for them, even ready to resign if necessary to realise them.  I, too, have experienced failures, as well as success. If you want to avoid failure while on the road to success, inevitably you distance yourself from success. It is important not be afraid of failure and to learn from failure. It is necessary to make strong connections between the new and the old and the inexperienced and the experienced. Sabancı University, as it has done in the past, is one of the change agents that will shape the future. Thank you for deeming me worthy of this award."

After the ceremony, in the  panel entitled “Sabancı University: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow”, the foundation of the university, its development up until today and the vision for its future was discussed with the  participation of Sabancı University Founding Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı and Sabancı University President Yusuf Leblebici. The moderator of the panel was Sabancı University Vice President Fuat Keyman.

About JAN NAHUM

Born in Ankara in 1950, Jan Nahum completed his high school education at Istanbul Robert College. He completed his university education at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London in automotive design, a department which only accepts four students each year. Nahum received the "Penguin Design Award" for research he engaged in on “Economic Vehicles”. He started working in 1973, in Otosan as a Project engineer. In the nine years following 1975, he served as department design head and coordinator respectively at the R&D Center of Koç Holding. Nahum, transferring to Otokar in 1984, was the general manager of the company for ten years and during this period, he was the driving force behind Otokar's Land Rover and armored vehicle production which led to its activity in the defense industry. In the three years following, he was the general manager of Tofaş, a partner of Koc Holding Fiat, and during this period, he pioneered the Doblo project which led to Tofaş’s transition to serious R&D activities and its transformation to a production base for Fiat. Nahum was the executive director of the company between 1998 and 2002 and was later the deputy chairman of Tofaş and FIAT S.P.A. until 2004, at the same time continuing his duties as head of the international business development department. Nahum, who, in 2004, became a member of the board of directors of Karsan Otomotiv, operating under the Kıraça Holding, served as the general manager of Petrol Ofisi between 2005 and 2007. Nahum played a leading  role  in  the establishment of the family firm, Hexagon Danışmanlık ve Ticaret A.Ş. in 2005. He identified the firm’s sectors of focus as ones that are closely concerned with Turkey's future:  the automotive, renewable energy, environment and emerging technologies sectors. Besides the chairmanship of Hexagon Consulting and Trade Inc., Nahum has also been the executive director of Karsan since 2008. Nahum, who is married with three children, specializes in automotive design, industrial engineering and energy.

To celebrate the 20th year of our university, we have prepared a set of four questions to ask faculty and administrative personnel who have been with us since the beginning, and to our first students. They all tell "the story of 20 years" from their own perspectives.

Going in alphabetical order, this week's interviewee for "The Story of 20 Years" is Ömür Kula Çapan. 

Ömür Kula Çapan has been a member of the Sabancı University family for 21 years. She is one of the first 251 undergraduate students of 1999, when the university opened its doors. Ömür Kula Çapan, who graduated from the Economics Program, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) in 2003, is also one of the first undergraduate graduates of the university. She completed her Master's studies in Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design (VAVCD) program at FASS in 2005.

Ömür Kula Çapan, who started her business life after getting her Master's Degree, has a successful career in advertising. After working in leading companies such as RPM/Radar, Medina Turgul DDB, she was a member of the founding team of Finansbank Enpara.com and designed the brand, the product, the service, and the culture of the company. She established the Turkey office of R/GA, one of the most innovative companies in the world. Ömür Kula Çapan, who provides design and strategy services to giant companies such as Akbank, Turkcell, Kale Holding with her team, is currently collaborating with Turkey's leading brands in ares varying from strategy to design with an innovative business model at her own company, Primer Brand and Design Consulting.

Ömür Kula Çapan, a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Advertisers, has also been the President of the Foundation of Advertisers since 2019. In addition to professional organizations, she is a Board Member of the Education Reform Initiative (ERI) and serves on the Communications Committee of the SEV Foundation. Ömür Kula Çapan was also the first President of Sabancı University Alumni Association (SÜMED), which was formed after the graduation of the first undergraduate students in 2003.

Ömür Kula Çapan’s answers to our four questions are below.

What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?

Ö.K.Ç: I think I have nothing more than memories. But let me tell you one of my favorites. I think that is also my most famous memory. I always tell it. 

Actually, there is a love story behind my meeting with Sabancı University. My whole plan was to study in Istanbul because I was very much in love and he was in Istanbul, and we would finally be in the same city and be together - in my mind. I was going to the Boğaziçi University, for sure. Everything was going to be beautiful. However, Sabancı University, one of my first three choices due to my father's insistence that I would win a scholarship and the fact that he thought Sabancı University was safe (!) because it was far enough from Istanbul (!), was above the Economics Program of Boğaziçi University, and all my plans were turned upside down overnight. I was never happy to get into this school, I cried for days. If you think about the location of the Sabancı campus and the roads that led to it 20 years ago, I was not actually studying in Istanbul. And, of course, we were not together again. Adding other reasons... 

Even worse was the commute problem I encountered when I started the school. Among the first-year students of Sabancı University, there was no one who needed to go to the city center as terribly as me. Because the love story in question was about to end so badly, and I urgently needed to go to the city center and talk to him before he got on a plane and leave. 

In our campus, where the municipal bus did not pass and taxis came from İzmit, one night a historical e-mail titled “Shuttle Shuttle Shuttle” was going around; I was the one who sent that first e-mail. Because I had to go to the city center the following day, and I would set up a system for that if I had to. 

It was dear Mr. Terzioğlu, who brought this school into existence and who told me to go and do what I had to do, and it was his door, which was always wide open, that I burst through crying with love pang. I cried out, “Are we prisoners here? Why have you not thought about shuttles!” He said, “You are absolutely right, immediately go and figure out how many people would use it, which destinations they would want, what time they would use it, make a schedule, I am setting it up tomorrow,” and as I if he had read my soul, “You will fall in love, you will cut class, you will go to the city center. How can we not have shuttles? You are right, we could not think of that.” 

That was how I actually met Sabancı University for the first time. That was the first day I realized that I was in the nest of minds and wisdom that understood me, that would be there for me, that would provide me with opportunities. During the 6 years I studied there, again thanks to the founding team, I was never wrong. 

What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?

Ö.K.Ç: I can write for pages and pages. But first, I have to say that this is the place that made me love organizations, love the school. I used to think that in an education system where I believed everyone was dishonest and pretty mediocre, we were all decent people -not even quite that decent- thanks only to very few self-sacrificing teachers. In Sabancı, I met people who were not only competent in their job, but also had a great heart, mind, and morality. I have known people who have become giants with their careers and characters, from administrators to professors, dorm attendants, construction workers. I found myself in a culture where rotten apples were immediately separated, but not due to differences of opinion, but differences of character, where everyone had to behave with certain virtues, and I joined with admiration like everyone else. Being like them, taking it further became my greatest ambition in life. Today, I am still trying to maintain a life and career where I can be worthy of Tosun Terzioğlu, Hüsnü Paçacıoğlu, Zerrin Koyunsağan, Gülçin Atarer, Tara Hopkins - I could go on-. I owe a lot to this school that gave me this compass. Besides, if I had really gone to Boğaziçi University, maybe I would have had a very good life and career again, but I do not know if I could have found my own values that I have today, which are distinct with their nuances and sharpness. If I had not known and observed Halil Berktay, İzak Atiyas, Alev Topuzoğlu, Albert Erkip, Ayşe Kadıoğlu, Hasan Bülent Kahraman, Zehra Sayers, Mehmet Ali Alpar, and Ahmet Evin, if I had not heard the words “You will establish this school from scratch”, beginning, if I had not had the opportunity to carry the motto of creating and developing together to most remote corners of Anatolia, I would not have known myself or this country or this life. If I have been able to make endless decisions in these 20 years, and each of them contained common themes despite all the risks, it means that I have realized that I know a thing or two, and that standing out is possible with knowledge and hard work combined with virtue. 

I believe that there can be nothing greater that a school can give to a person. This school has allowed us all to find our own light, by setting countless perfect examples for us, teaching us to separate the one that is not clean, and encouraging us to take risks that make us grow. 

What comes into your mind when you think of Sabancı University in 20 years? What are your dreams for Sabancı University for the next 20 years? What about yourself?

Ö.K.Ç: This school has always been a quiet and humble oracle to me. When I think about Sabancı University and the years I spent here, what we did, what we talked about, the opportunities provided to us, I realize that how progressive the aspects that were given to us were, and how this school get them in our blood without making a big noise, as it should be. I have always been ahead in life. For me, this school has turned it into a habit and an internal dynamo, a constant ability to predict. I dream that my school will continue to create the future. I have dreams of one day spreading the culture of this school even further. I used to dream of being Mr. Paçacıoğlu. Joke aside, I think that the culture created in our time is a formula that will be a solution to many social and economic dead ends of today. So it is my dream to protect it if it is necessary, but to expand and deepen it further. I always consider myself an active part of this school as well, wherever I am in my career. 

Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?

Ö.K.Ç: I am sure that I would have a copy and paste resume, a marriage with someone close to the average of my profile, a far-fetched smile, in short, a very boring life. By the time I finished high school, I was very smart, very successful, but as a different and difficult person, I was already at a crossroads with my own mess and knots. If I had not joined Sabancı University, I could easily have stumbled, settled down quickly, disappeared in shallow ambitions, and taken chosen paths. I found power in realizing that I was not complicated at all in the areas that this school opened up for me, and this power gave me the ability to transform everything that I touch and make them “mine”. If I had studied in another school, I would have been the product of that school. However, I am not. I am grateful to my father for not missing this opportunity - it was a sad but necessary love story, and I am always grateful to him.  

To celebrate the 20th year of our university, we have prepared a set of four questions to ask faculty and administrative personnel who have been with us since the beginning, and to our first students. They all tell "the story of 20 years" from their own perspectives.

Going in alphabetical order, this week's interviewee for "The Story of 20 Years" is Oya Arus. 

Oya Arus has been a member of the Sabancı University family since 8 October 1998. Oya Arus, who has been working in the Information Center (IC) at Sabancı University for 22 years, started to work at the university as an intern when she was a student and continued as an Information Resources Organization Employee. Oya Arus worked at the IC as the Information Resources Organization Officer and the Collection Development Officer. She has been serving as the Director of Collection Development and Information Access Systems at the IC since 2011. 

Oya Arus’s answers to our four questions are below.

What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?

O.A: I started working at Minerva Han in the building in Karaköy. At that time, the Information Center was on the 2nd of Minerva Han. They organized a picnic event at Sabancı University's Tuzla campus shortly after I started working. By the time we got to the picnic, all the buildings including the Information Center were still under construction. In fact, the stairs inside the Information Center were just frames. I still remember that image even today. At that time, I was very active and very excited by both the grandeur of the building and what our Founding Director Hilmi Çelik said. I never forget that moment. I told my friends studying in the same department as me many times about that.

What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?

O.A: I was a student when I first started working, I had not graduated from university yet, and I was pretty excited about my job. I had a lot of ideals, a lot of things I wanted to do. I loved my profession. I wanted to work in a place where I could make the most of my profession and make my dreams come true. 

At this point, Sabancı University was a great chance for me.

The Information Center was formed as a service unit of Sabancı University, which was established with its mission, vision, values, very large and very beautiful goals, with the goal of becoming a “world university", and I took part in this stage of establishment with great pleasure and excitement. We have worked and managed to be one of the leading institutions of today with all our employees and students.

In my 22 years of service, I have learned a lot and I have had the opportunity to do a lot of things that I wanted to do. I have given presentations at several national and international meetings, I have found the opportunity to write an article with my knowledge in the field of librarianship, to visit different universities around the world, to meet with my colleagues abroad, to share professional experiences with them, and to promote Sabancı University and the Information Center by participating in the “Erasmus+ Staff Mobility” program, to volunteer at ANKOS (Anatolian University Libraries Consortium), thereby contributing to the national economy and indirectly to academic research on behalf of the Sabancı University Information Center. Being an internal quality auditor at the university allowed me to learn about different subjects in addition to my profession, and again, Human Resources training at the university allowed me to constantly improve myself and my management skills. And much more…

What comes into your mind when you think of Sabancı University in 20 years? What are your dreams for Sabancı University for the next 20 years? What about yourself?

O.A: I try to pass on what I have been taught, the values to my friends who are coming after me. I am sure that in 20 years, Sabancı University will be one of the leading universities with its vision and important values. I hope that I will also be able to see more of the University's growing achievements in 20 years.

Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?

O.A: I could have been working in a different organization, a different kind of library. I could even make a different career plan at the point where I could not realize my dreams.

To celebrate the 20th year of our university, we have prepared a set of four questions to ask faculty and administrative personnel who have been with us since the beginning, and to our first students. They all tell "the story of 20 years" from their own perspectives.

Going in alphabetical order, this week's interviewee for "The Story of 20 Years" is Oğuz Babüroğlu. 

Oğuz Babüroğlu has been a member of the Sabancı University family since 5 January 1998. Oğuz Babüroğlu, who has been a faculty member at the Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS) for 22 years, is also the Founding Director of the Executive Development Unit (EDU). He served as the Director of EDU for 17 years and has been the Head of the Search Chair at the FMS since 2018.   

Oğuz Babüroğlu’s answers to our four questions are below.

What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?

O.B: My meeting with Sabancı University was a process rather than a momentary occurrence. 

The idea of establishing Sabancı University emerged in 1994 at a Search Conference that I held in Mersin for Sabancı Holding. After finishing the Search Conference at Hilton Mersin, we all took the bus to get on a plane to Adana. Mr. Sakıp Sabancı was sitting in the front and we were sitting in the back. After a while, Mr. Sabancı called me and Mrs. Güler Sabancı to the front of the bus. He said that we should hold a Global Search Conference to design Sabancı University. We started to work with Ertuğrul Ergöz (Secretary General of Sabancı Holding) as consultants to Mrs. Güler Sabancı in her floor at the Sabancı Tower of Kordsa to organize such a Search Conference in August 1995: The Search Conference of Sabancı University was held with the participation of a group of 60 individuals including very carefully selected academics from the most reputable and innovative universities from 25 countries including Chile, Hong Kong, Egypt, Norway, the US, and the EU, business representatives, and students. For 3 days, we looked for answers to the question “How should a 21st century university be?" We came up with the still applicable principles of interdisciplinarity, non-departmental university, prioritizing social responsibility and impact, global positioning and the motto of “Creating and Developing Together”, which has somewhat become the identity of the University. Then I coordinated the design committees for at least 2.5 years. Once the Secretary General and the Rector were appointed, I became the 38th employee of the university in its design process. 

What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?

O.B: Being able to take such an active role in the development of a common mind in the design process of such an institution was one of the most important events that could happen in life for me. Together we have created a world University that we all dreamed of in 20 years. We were one of Turkey's three most Entrepreneurial and most Innovative universities 8 years in a row. I have been working at a university which I have actively helped design for 20 years. It is like I am still in a dream world.  Personally, I have been proud and continue to be proud of implementing and maintaining some innovations such as the Company Action Projects, which are indispensable parts of our institutionalized and very well-known Professional MBA Program, the Executive Development Unit, and the Action Research Doctoral Program as part of the Search Chair’s activities after I was given the chair. I would like to thank Mr. Güler Sabancı, the Founding Rector Tosun Terzioğlu and others who gave me the confidence to make such innovations in the sector. 

What comes into your mind when you think of Sabancı University in 20 years? What are your dreams for Sabancı University for the next 20 years? What about yourself?

O.B: 20 years from now, what comes to my mind when I think of Sabancı University is innovation, authenticity, and freedom.

My dream for Sabancı University 20 years from now is  that it becomes a global university that is best known for implementing science and technology and manages to stay in the top three of the most innovative and entrepreneurial rankings in the world.  

My personal dream is that my students, who I know I have made a difference in raising, are proven to be significant innovators on a global scale. My own dream is to continue my work without borders and in this context, to continue to contribute to the identity of the University.  

Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?

O.B: I would not even like to think about that. 

To celebrate the 20th year of our university, we have prepared a set of four questions to ask faculty and administrative personnel who have been with us since the beginning, and to our first students. They all tell "the story of 20 years" from their own perspectives.

Going in alphabetical order, this week's interviewee for "The Story of 20 Years" is Nesrin Balkan.

Nesrin Balkan has been a member of the Sabancı University family since 1 March 1999. Nesrin Balkan, who has been working as a Corporate Communications Officer at Sabancı University for 21 years, served in the Institutional Development, Communication, and Public Relations units. She has been working in Marketing and Institutional Communications unit since 2010.

Nesrin Balkan’s answers to our four questions are below.

What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?

N.B: My first meeting with Sabancı University was when the communication company I worked for at the time was selected to promote the university during the foundation period. I worked externally for four years as the responsible for press communications at the university. During these four years, I participated in hundreds of television and newspaper interviews with our Founding Rector Tosun Terzioğlu, whom I always remember with affection and love. I have organized so many press conferences as well. I have written press releases and news stories describing the university's system. After four years, when I informed them that I would leave the company where I worked and wrote them a farewell message, Mr. Terzioğlu and our Founding Secretary General Mr. Hüsnü Paçacıoğlu, whom I always remember with affection and love, said, “Where are you going? Your place is Sabancı University.” Shortly after this invitation, I found myself as Sabancı University's Institutional Communications Officer. 

I remember working as a student preparing for an exam in order to write press releases that would introduce Sabancı University to the public in the first months of 1999, when the construction works of the campus was ongoing. I also remember the long meetings we had with Mr. Terzioğlu and Mr. Paçacıoğlu in order to explain to the press and therefore the public the very original system that was not available at other universities in Turkey. 

I remember the meetings we held in cities such as Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Adana in March, April, and May 1999 in order to introduce Sabancı University directly to prospective students and school counselors first-hand. Güler Sabancı, the Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, Tosun Terzioğlu, Secretary General Hosni Paçacıoğlu, Founding Director of Student Resources Zerrin Koyunsağan, Founding Deans Ahmet Evin and Kemal İnan, Director of the Basic Development Program at the time Hasan Bülent Kahraman attended these meetings. As a team, we traveled various cities with great excitement, enthusiasm, and explain the university’s system to school counselors and prospective students. 

There are so many memories from the early years of Sabancı University. I remember the Board of Trustees meeting where we invited journalists on a hot day in July 1999. The meeting was held in a shed on the campus, which was essentially a construction site. We gave everyone a helmet and showed them around the campus. After that, the front pages of the country's most prominent newspapers were heralding the news of Sabancı University. For days and weeks, our university was on the agenda of the country. 

I remember 20 October 1999. The opening day. Everyone from the President of the Republic to the Turkish Parliamentary Speaker was there. On that day, television channels broadcast the opening ceremony of Sabancı University. When we look at the face of our Honorary President, the late Sakıp Sabancı, we saw and understood from his body language very clearly that his happiness and pride were at their peak. Our first students, who had only been on campus for a few weeks, cheered and chanted slogans of love when Mr. Terzioğlu was announced, their applause was turly incredible. 

The feelings of excitement, happiness, and pride we experienced at our first graduation ceremony, where the first undergraduate graduates received their diplomas, were so intense that it was impossible to hold back our tears. Being part of the establishment of such a unique and special university which had set out to be “a world university in Turkey” adopting the philosophy of “Creating and developing together” at all stages and and feeling this excitement first-hand since the early years of this process were a great chance and privilege. It makes you feel so good and special. 

What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?

N.B: It has been about 22 years since I met Sabancı University. All these years, the Sabancı University campus has emerged from its barren appearance under construction, and the saplings planted 20 years ago with great efforts and under the supervision of Mr. Terzioğlu have become huge trees. Thousands of plant varieties have made the campus a wonderfully beautiful oasis. It has been a great pleasure and privilege for us old-timers to be able to observe this change step by step. 

It is the people who make up organizations and add value to them. When I think about Sabancı University, I think of people I have known and worked with during this time. It was a wealth for me to know Tosun Terzioğlu, who I had the opportunity to work with very closely as a press representative during his Rectorate. Mr. Terzioğlu with his quiet and calm leadership, his determination to fight for the truth without slogans, his unpretentious and natural kindness... Our managers who had adoped a human-oriented approach, prioritized the happiness of the employees, and always embraced by saying “we” such as Hüsnü Paçacioğlu, our Founding Secretary General and Haluk Bal, our second Secretary General who served for fifteen years, Berna Özkul, our director whom we worked with for ten years... Our academics such as Üstün Ergüder, Zehra Sayers, Ayşe Kadıoğlu, Mehmet Ali Alpar, and many others, who have achieved international success in their respective fields and whose names would fill pages and pages if I tried to count each and every one of them... Our precious friends, beautiful people in the administrative and technical staff and service units... Our brilliant, witty, and self-confident students and our graduates who are growing in number and age over the years... We were a big family at Sabancı University with all these beautiful people. Being a member of this family together with its academics and administrative and technical staff ranks first among what Sabancı University has given to me. I believe that teamwork, walking arm in arm is very important on the way to a common goal and the different cultural visions, perspectives that each member of the team has enrich me and mature me.

All these years, I have come to the campus almost every day with happiness, pleasure, excitement, and enthusiasm, and I have always said and will always say “I am a member of the Sabancı University family” with pride. I hope our friends who will serve after us will work with the same happiness and pride. 

What comes into your mind when you think of Sabancı University in 20 years? What are your dreams for Sabancı University for the next 20 years? What about yourself?

N.B: 20 years later, I imagine that Sabancı University will remain a university that is special and pioneering, preserves its authenticity, continues to protect the values of the Declaration of Academic Freedoms, has happy employees, and as Mr. Terzioğlu said “a school which does not force certain thinking patterns to its student, but teaches them how to think, how to argue in a civilized manner, how to have moral courage and self-confidence.” 

As for myself, I dream of engaging in activities that I will enjoy in a healthy way, sharing good moments with my friends, being engaged in cultural studies, and being able to continue making music. 

Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?

N.B: I would have continued to work in a different organization to sustain my life, but I would have lacked the wealth of people I have today and the sense of maturity and satisfaction brought by the experience I have gained over the past 20 years. I would not have had the privilege of knowing and acting and working together with the leading brilliant minds of the country who are so excited and eager, who set out to become a “world university in Turkey” and mobilized their minds and experience to achieve this goal. I would not be who I am today.

To celebrate the 20th year of our university, we have prepared a set of four questions to ask faculty and administrative personnel who have been with us since the beginning, and to our first students. They all tell "the story of 20 years" from their own perspectives.

Going in alphabetical order, this week's interviewee for "The Story of 20 Years" is Mümin Özkan.

Mümin Özkan has been a member of the Sabancı University family since 12 May 1997. Mümin Özkan, who has been working in the Financial Affairs department at Sabancı University for 23 years, started as an accounting officer and has been serving as the Financial Operations Manager since 2014. 

Mümin Özkan’s answers to our four questions are below.

What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?

M.Ö: My first meeting with Sabancı University took place immediately after the end of my military service.

I remember listening with pleasure to the late Hüsnü Paçacıoğlu talking about works related to the establishment of the university at length and enthusiastically in the 17th floor of the Sabancı Holding building. 

As for the job, “Can you do the work manually, even without the help of a calculator?”, he asked me, of course, due to the lack of alternative accounting/finance software in the circumstances of that time. I still remember that in the face of that question, I suddenly found myself preparing payroll on paper manually and excitedly telling him how it was done.

This dialogue was actually the beginning of 23 years for both of us. 

Him saying “Take a week off and then start with the same excitement” since my military service was just recently over is one of the important anecdotes that remain in my mind. 

It is a great honor for me to be a part of this family for many years as the university was founded, developed, and grew. 

What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?

M.Ö: For me, to age, grow and celebrate together with my university for 23 years are precious experiences that few people find the opportunity to enjoy. For this reason, I can admit that I am one of the lucky few. 

Over the years, as I moved and improved together with my university in line with universal values and goals, I have experienced in this organization that I can recognize myself and what I can do and add value to people and the organization, as well as that there is a great need for different perspectives in an ever-changing and developing world, and that it is important and possible to make a difference in everything we do. In this sense, I can say that Sabancı University has added universality to my point of view.

In summary, I have always been very proud and continue to be proud of being a part of this beautiful family, which contains great and universal riches in it. 

What comes into your mind when you think of Sabancı University in 20 years? What are your dreams for Sabancı University for the next 20 years? What about yourself?

M.Ö: What comes to mind when Sabancı University is mentioned is 20 years later, when I think of Sabancı University, I hope that it will continue to be known as a private university that uses the technology in every field and at the highest level, contributes to the advancement of technology, continues to be an example and pioneer with its students, graduates, academics, and employees, and continues to be a school that is respected in every platform with its contributions to society and education. 

Organizations are like plane trees. They live for centuries in the right hands. I know that we have many valuable and determined hands at Sabancı University. My wish is that these precious hands will multiply and this organization will survive FOR CENTURIES LIKE PLANE TREES in its long life cycle. 

Just like everyone else, what I wish is a life full of health, happiness, and peace. All this would be great if this occurs with my loved ones next to me, under a blue sky, among the green of the nature, and on the shore of the sea. This is my dream.

Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?

M.Ö: My first instinct would be to say “I have crossed paths.” 

Since I grew with Sabancı University, I have never thought about going back to the beginning and asking where and how I would be. We walked together, we improved together, we grew together.

As Mevlana said applying to my case: "everything becomes what it deserves to be.”