The Career Office hosted an information session on working at Google.

Our Computer Science and Engineering alumnus (2008) Selim Onal, who works as a Software Developer at Google USA, visited Sabanci University to hold a presentation on career opportunities and working  at Google on October 1st.

Selim also talked about his experiencein Google and answered students’ questions on recruiting process.

Before the presentation, students had mock interview sessions that simulated Google Job interviews. 

The students recieved individual feedback after interviews and get tips for a successful interview in Google recruiting process. 

September 2014 marked the third year of the Mercator-IPC Fellowship Program. This year the program will host 7 renowned academics and journalists in 3 thematic areas: EU/German-Turkish Relations, Climate Change and Education. The welcoming the 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellows to Istanbul took place on the evening of October 20, 2014 at Feriye Restaurant.

The occasion marked the beginning of the third round of the Mercator-IPC Fellowship. Senior Fellowships for the upcoming term were granted to the Turkish sociologist, Nilüfer Göle, and former Member of the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda. 

The 2014/15 Mercator-IPC Fellows are Ayşe Ezgi Gürcan, Martina Priessner, Ethemcan Turhan, Cenk Demiroğlu, Susanne Güsten, Barbara Pusch, and Özlem Topçu. Following the official program, the evening concluded with a casual dinner.  

The Mercator-IPC Fellowship Program is part of the Istanbul Policy Center-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative, a strategic partnership between Sabancı University and Stiftung Mercator. The program aims to strengthen academic, political, and social ties between Turkey and Germany, as well as between Turkey and Europe by facilitating excellent scientific research and hands-on policy work in EU/German-Turkish relations, climate change, and education.

The “Akbank Family Company Academy” established by Akbank in association with the Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU will help family companies institutionalize and become sustainable.

The Akbank Family Company Academy held by Akbank and the Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU aims to increase the competitive strength of family companies, achieve healthy growth, and support efforts towards sustainability and institutionalization.

The program covers many aspects that the leaders of family companies may need, from strategic management to business development and innovation, institutionalization, finance, management best practices, legal issues, and human resource management.  Theoretical knowledge will be put into practice over examples from Turkey and the world.

Courses have been designed for family companies that wish to evolve into a corporation, keep up with current developments through academic training and plan to handover company management to the younger generation, and will be given by EDU advisors who are subject matter experts and long-time executives in business, as well as the trainers of program partners Deloitte Turkey and Pekin&Bayar.  Factory visits will be made to Sabancı Holding companies, and a Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU certificate will be awarded to participants who complete the training.
Participants will be able to purchase consultancy programs that include the actions they will need to take for institutionalization and the creation of a family constitution from program partners at special discounts.

Speaking on the program, Akbank’s Vice President of Small and Medium Enterprise Banking Bülent Oğuz said that the main reason for some family companies failing at sustainability was the lack of a specific plan and defined processes for transition across generations, and added:
“Family companies are governed by rules as well as emotions.  In an emotionally-sensitive environment, companies must evolve into institutions to carry on to future generations.  However, many family companies in Turkey and the world lack specific planning for the future, evolve according to the needs of the present, and grow to include more family members over the years.  Many family companies are unable to achieve sustained growth and financial success due to family disagreements in the long term, and the challenges faced by professionals in family companies.  Company owners have to deal with family issues on one hand and competition on the other.  Companies that have grown and thrived on the hard work of family members over the years come to the brink of ceasing to exist.  Research suggests that 35% of family companies are able to carry on to the second generation, and only 15% to the third generation.

“These facts were our motives behind the ‘Akbank Family Company Academy.’  Through our comprehensive partnership with EDU, we have designed a program to educate family companies in family constitutions, tax planning, company valuation, objective setting, management of the institutionalization process, and strategic management.  We regard this program of critical importance because we believe family companies are essential to the growth of the economy in Turkey.”

Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU Director Dr. Cüneyt Evirgen said the following about the program:

“When family companies have difficulty in taking steps towards institutionalization or are not assertive enough, problems arise in company continuity and achieving sustainable growth.  Since these companies comprise a large segment of the Turkish economy, enabling family companies to make effective use of the latest management tools and methods, and increasing their competitive strength will have significant contributions to the growth of these companies with sustainable profitability, and the part they play in the Turkish economy.  We are beyond discussing the necessity of change and sustainability, and looking into ways of enabling these.  Therefore, as EDU, we are happy to be a part of our ‘learning partner’ Akbank’s Family Company Academy to play our part in this important initiative.

“Akbank Family Company Academy was designed completely with family companies in mind, bringing the most relevant content together with the most effective learning approaches.  Family companies taking part in this program will have taken an important step towards keeping up with the evolving world and becoming a business based on sustainability.”

The three-month program between October and December 2014 is open to family company owners or family members working in their family companies.  The “Akbank Family Company Academy” will begin on October 16th, and applications may be made through www.akbank.com.

Sabancı University holds the fifth Summer High School this year.  The school offers an authentic university experience to high school students, and contains courses ranging from natural sciences to management, arts and social sciences.

The majority of the Sabancı University Summer High School courses will be in Turkish.  Students from Germany will attend courses in German and English for a truly multinational environment.  This provides an academic and cultural medium for high school students where they can develop themselves.

This year, courses like Use of Computers and Robots via Brain Signals; High Technology in Medical Sciences: Organ Design and Building; Introduction to Computer Programming and Data Analysis; Create Animation and Art on a Computer: You Too Can Do It; Architecture: Cultural Accumulation and the Design of the Future; Law and Ethics; and Turkey in a Global World: Threats and Opportunities for Institutions and Individuals are added to the curriculum of the Sabancı University Summer High School to expand the vision of students.

Courses will be supported by extracurricular activities.  Online application will be open until May 1st, 2015.

The fifth Sabancı University Sabancı University Summer High School will be held in two semesters from June 29th to July 15th and July 20th to 31st, 2015.  Courses in the Sabancı University Summer High School are divided into six categories, namely Engineering and Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Art, Management, Language and General Knowledge.

Courses will be supported by extracurricular activities, and applications will be accepted until May 1st, 2015.

Sabancı University Summer High School offers a rich curriculum
The Sabancı University Sabancı University Summer High School consists of two semesters of two weeks each, from June 29th to July 15th and July 20th to 31st, 2015.  Students may choose up to three courses each semester, and may be enrolled in both semesters.  All high school students may apply to the Summer High School.

The first semester curriculum of the Sabancı University Summer High School includes courses on Molecular Biology, Genetic Engineering and Nanomedicine; High Technology in Medical Sciences: Organ Design and Building; Brain, Science and Magic; Use of Computers and Robots via Brain Signals; Introduction to Computer Programming and Data Analysis; Astrophysics and Metaplanets; Augmented Mechanics I; Education and Industries in Engineering Branches; Psychology and Philosophy; Architecture: Cultural Accumulation and the Design of the Future; Law and Economics; International Relations: Turkey, Europe and America; Great Works of Western Art, Classical Music and Drama; Visual Communication, Design and Art; Create Animation and Art on a Computer: You Too Can Do It; Economy, Finance, Money and Your Future; and Creative Intellect and Creative Activity.

The second semester curriculum consists of Molecular Biology; Genetic Engineering and Nanomedicine; Nanoscience and Nanotechnology; Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Computers; Research, Development and Market; Augmented Mechanics II; Education and Industries in Engineering Branches; Psychology and Philosophy; Society, Economy and Politics; Law and Ethics; Turkey in a Global World: Threats and Opportunities for Institutions and Individuals; The History of a City: Constantinople/Istanbul; Great Works of Modern Art, 20th Century Music and Opera; Visual Communication, Design and Art; and Creative Intellect and Creative Activity.

Basic English II courses were offered in both semesters.  The Universities and Professions: Information, Choice and Success seminar was also offered in both semesters, where subject matter experts spoke to students on their jobs and industries.

Sabancı University Summer High School is an international environment
Sabancı University Summer High School will also include courses in German and English.  The English-language Society and Culture and Economy and Government courses and German-language Gesellschaft und Kultur and Wirtschaft und Verwaltung courses will be offered in both semesters.  Sabancı University Summer High School students will take foreign language courses with students from Germany.

Extracurricular activities
Sabancı University Summer High School includes extracurricular activities throughout the day, offering sports and cultural or social opportunities.

Extracurricular activities in the Sabancı University Summer High School include basic first aid training, civic involvement projects, bridge, fitness, tennis, volleyball, basketball, football, group exercises, dance, creative drama, fine arts, and percussion workshops.

Programs and fees
Candidates may apply for one or both semesters and may register to up to three courses per semester.  The fee is TL 800 per course.  All Sabancı University Summer High School students are provided accommodation and meals at an additional charge of TL 800.

Click for details.

An interview with Manufacturing Systems Engineering professor Bahattin Koç on his 3D Aorta Tissue Printing Project was broadcast in the “Yeni Ufuklar” show on CNN Türk TV on Saturday, October 4th, 2014 at 7.25 pm.

Please click below for the interview with Bahattin Koç on the 3D Aorta Printing project (in Turkish)

Sabancı University School of Management’s Executive MBA program goes on Financial Times ranking for world's best management schools!

Sabancı University School of Management’s Executive MBA program was included in Financial Times’ global ranking for “Top Executive MBA Programs” 2014.  This is the first time the Sabancı University School of Management is ranked among the top 100 universities of the world in Executive MBA programs, making it another impressive achievement for the School of Management.

The Sabancı Executive MBA program continues to provide value to its participants with numerous international achievements and recognitions.  The latest was inclusion in the Financial Times ranking, whose criteria include alumni career potential, performance and salary increase, international profile and research performance of faculty members, percentage of female students and percentage of international students.

Speaking on the inclusion of the Sabancı University School of Management in the Financial Times ranking, Dean Füsun Ülengin said, “As the Sabancı University School of Management, we move closer to our goal of internationalization with great strides year after year.  We have proven our worth with the AACSB accreditation, one of the most prestigious recognitions worldwide.  We have made a strategic partnership agreement with the MIT Sloan School of Management, one of the world’s best management schools, and become their only partner in the region.  Finally, we were included in the Executive MBA category of the Financial Times Global Ranking.  It is a great honor for a young management school to enjoy these successes and be on the same list with the leading management schools of the world.  I am confident that my team and I will achieve even greater success in the future.”

World Energy Outlook 2014 – The launch of the Africa Special Report, Turkey took place in Sabancı Center:

“Energy Sector is the Key to Africa's Development”

Istanbul (20 October 2014) Sabancı University International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) and APCO Worldwide organized the Turkey launch meeting for “World Energy Outlook 2014 - Africa Special Report” on 20 October 2014 in Sabancı Center.

The meeting started with opening remarks from APCO Worldwide’s Istanbul Office Managing Director Zeynep Dereli and Sabancı University President Prof. Dr. Nihat Berker’s and continued with International Energy Agency (IEA) Chief Economist Dr. Fatih Birol’s presentation.

Business representatives who are currently investing or planning to invest in Africa, academics and experts attended the launch meeting, which discussed in detail Africa’s energy sector, and important opportunities regarding its energy potential.

“Economic and social development in sub-Saharan Africa hinges critically on fixing the energy sector,” said IEA Chief Economist Dr. Fatih Birol. “The payoff can be huge; with each additional dollar invested in the power sector the overall economy is boosted by $15.”

Increasing access to modern forms of energy is crucial to unlocking faster economic and social development in sub Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Africa Energy Outlook, a Special Report from the 2014 World Energy Outlook series. More than 620 million people in the region (two-thirds of the population) live without electricity, and nearly 730 million people rely on dangerous, inefficient forms of cooking. The use of solid biomass (mainly fuelwood and charcoal) outweighs that of all other fuels combined, and average electricity consumption per capita is not enough to power a single 50-watt light bulb continuously.

In the IEA’s first comprehensive analysis of sub-Saharan Africa, it finds that the region’s energy resources are more than sufficient to meet the needs of its population but are largely under-developed. The region accounted for almost 30 percent of global oil and gas discoveries made over the last five years, and it is already home to several major energy producers, including Nigeria, South Africa and Angola. It is also endowed with huge renewable energy resources,

including excellent and widespread solar and hydro potential, as well as wind and geothermal.

About APCO Worldwide:

Founded in 1984, APCO Worldwide is an independent global communication, stakeholder engagement and business strategy firm with offices in more than 30 major cities throughout the world. We challenge conventional thinking and inspire movements to help our clients succeed in an ever-changing world. Stakeholders are at the core of all we do. We turn the insights that come from our deep stakeholder relationships into forward-looking, creative solutions that always push the boundaries. APCO clients include large multinational companies, trade associations, governments, NGOs and educational institutions. The firm is a majority women-owned business. For more information, please visit www.apcoworldwide.com.

About Sabancı University International Center for Energy and Climate:

Working with governments, partners from industry, international organizations, think-tanks and other research bodies, establishing a network of cooperation with other universities in the region and in the world; IICEC aims to inform policy makers, industry, academics and opinion leaders on key energy challenges and provide them with objective and genuine analysis. We foster the exchange and development of ideas by providing a distinguished platform gathering key stakeholders involved in energy and climate fields.

The decision to establish the Istanbul International Centre for Energy and Climate was motivated by the growing role of Turkey in the international energy landscape and the strategic position of Istanbul, where Europe and Asia meets. The Center, at Sabancı University Karaköy Minerva Palace in Istanbul, is located at the crossroads of almost all current and emerging energy players, both on the producing and consuming sides of global energy markets. Utilizing this strategic position, IICEC will serve to fill the need for an international approach with international resources to the future of energy and climate topics, as a globally recognized networking center.

Sabancı University International Autophagy Symposium

Leading scientists of the world working on autophagy, a new and emerging field of biomedicine and molecular cell biology, will be in Turkey on October 21st and 22nd, 2014 in association with Sabancı University and the Turkish Biochemistry Association. 

Autophagy is one of the fundamental biological mechanisms that recycles intracellular structures.  Autophagy dysregulations are observed in many diseases including intracellular protein degradation disorders, ageing, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and infectious diseases.  Autophagy is a very basic and hot field of research that is extremely important for human health.  The purpose of the meeting is to raise awareness and interest in the field of autophagy in Turkey. Within scientific circles, there are talks of autophagy being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in the future.

Sabancı University has Turkey’s only active autophagy laboratory

Autophagy dysregulations are observed in many diseases including intracellular protein degradation disorders, ageing, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and infectious diseases. Consequently, major drug companies worldwide are investing significant sums to discover and clinically validate novel drugs modulating autophagy.  Currently there are around 200-250 labs dedicated to the study of various aspects of autophagy in the world, and around 150 labs are in Europe.  The lab of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences faculty member Devrim Gözüaçık is the only active autophagy lab in Turkey.

Devrim Gözüaçık is a doctor of medicine and an expert on molecular cell biology and genetics.  His work on autophagy received science awards from Roche, European Molecular Biology Organization, Turkish Academy of Sciences and Istanbul Kültür University.  In his research at Sabancı University, Gözüaçık leads pioneering studies in the connections between autophagy dysregulation and diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s.  Dr. Gözüaçık is an editor of Autophagy journal printed in Texas and considered the leading publication in the field, and sits on the board of the New York-based International Cell Death Society.  He is an academic referee for many national and international research institutions including Cancer Research UK, Wellcome Trust, UK, The Health Research Board, Ireland, Research Foundation Flanders, FWO (Belgium) and TÜBİTAK.  In addition, Dr. Gözüaçık is internationally recognized for his work on programmed cell death. 

Other speakers in the symposium

The invited speakers are top level scientists who are World class pioneers in their respective fields. They are all famous in the field of autophagy:

Richard Lockshin (USA): One of the pioneers of the "Programmed Cell Death Field" and a prominent scientist in the "Autophagy and Cell Death Field", writer of many popular science books. He is the first person in the history to coin the term “Programmed Cell Death” in his early seminal works, opening the way for one of the major fields in current biomedical research. Dr Lochshin is also the founder of the “International Cell Death Society” that brings together researchers from varying backgrounds and countries to each other, in an attempt to foster international cooperation and collaborations based on new and different ideas in biomedical research.

Ana Maria Cuervo (USA): The founder of the "Chaperone-mediated Autophagy (CMA) Field", prominent scientist in the "Ageing Research Field". She continued the work of Fred Dice, her former mentor and single handedly discovered the basic mechanisms  governing this very basic biological phenomenon. Her work also showed the importance of CMA dysregulation in human diseases including ageing, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease).

Zahra Zakeri (USA): Prominent scientist in the "Viruses and Autophagy Field", Chairperson of the "International Cell Death Society" and the "Scientists without Borders Initiative". Her work layed foundations of research on cell death regulation mechanisms. Moreover, she made important contributions that allowed a better understanding of how viruses currently threatening humanity, including Ebola and Dengue and Influenza abuse autophagy mechanisms for their infection, multiplication and spread.  

Jörn Dengjel (Germany): Prominent Scientist in the field of "Proteomics of Autophagy". He published landmark papers revealing how autophagy networks are connected at a protein level. He published important work relating autophagy to immunity, cancer and lifespan. 

In addition, young scientists Devrim Öz-Arslan (Acıbadem University) and Elif Damla Arısan (Istanbul Kültür University) will present their work on autophagy.

By Melek Sarı

Introductory remarks were made by Sabancı University Faculty Member and European Journal of Women’s Studies editor Ayşe Gül Altınay, Sabancı University Faculty Member Hülya Adak, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Faculty Member Kathy Davis.  Introductory remarks were followed by panel discussions.

The 20th anniversary of the EJWS coincides with a highly politicized moment shaped by austerity regimes that accompany various crises, rise of conservative and racist political movements (with significant numbers of women participating in them), grassroots urban movements reclaiming public spaces and challenging the limits of representative politics, neoliberal biopolitics expanding the control of bodies to the genetic and the molecular, and seemingly contradictory changes in gender and sexuality regimes – the expansion of rights for women and non-normative sexualities accompanying hate crimes, sexual violence and new forms of control and repression. On the southern and eastern edges of Europe, women have played a key role in the “revolutions” that have changed authoritarian regimes, and are now facing religious and political backlash. In the case of Syria and Iraq, women’s lives are destroyed or torn by war and sexual violence, turning them into one of the most vulnerable group of refugees in Europe and the Middle East. Challenges of climate change and the increasingly difficult access to water and other resources are adding to women’s vulnerability.

As feminist scholars, we find ourselves faced with some difficult questions. For instance, while the legalization of same-sex marriage in so many states would have been unthinkable only a decade ago, such “normalization” risks intersectional politics and solidarity across class, race, ethnicity and religion. Moreover, terms like “gender equality” and “women’s liberation” have become incorporated by right-wing movements which involve significant mobilization of women. How have feminist activists and scholars dealt with such incorporation? How do we respond to such mobilization (of women, LGBTI individuals, or feminist/queer conceptual tools) for conservative and racist agendas? Are the tools developed by feminist theory and activism through the years adequate to respond to the vast changes taking place in our social and political milieu? Or do we need “new words, new methods” (to paraphrase Virginia Woolf)? Do we see “new words, new methods” coming out of the various grassroots or transnational movements that are emerging?

This conference aims to provide a dynamic forum to discuss the narratives of contemporary political change from a feminist perspective, focusing on two main threads: Understanding the gendering and sexualization of narratives of contemporary political change and analyzing the ways in which feminist and LGBTI movements respond to narratives of political change and/or construct alternative narratives.