Psychology Public Lecture Series: Gerd Gigerenzer

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Psychology Public Lecture Series: Gerd Gigerenzer (Max Planck Institute)

Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty

Date: March 25, Monday
Time: 13:30-15:00
Where: UC G030 - Cinema Hall

Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer will be visiting FASS on March 25, 2013, in the scope of Psychology Public Lecture Series.

Who is Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer?
Psychologist; Director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin; Author, Gut Feelings

GERD GIGERENZER is Director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He won the AAAS Prize for the best article in the behavioral sciences. He is the author of Calculated Risks: How To Know When Numbers Deceive You, the German translation of which won the Scientific Book of the Year Prize in 2002 and Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious. He has also published two academic books on heuristics, Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart (with Peter Todd & The ABC Research Group), and Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox (with Reinhard Selten, a Nobel laureate in economics).

Abstract:

Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty

There are risks that are known, and others that are unknown. In worlds of known risks, statistical thinking can provide the optimal course of action. The challenge here is in the art of risk communication, which is rarely taught. For instance, most doctors do not understand the outcomes of their tests. We have developed simple tools that help both doctors and patients to understand health statistics. In worlds of unknown risks, however, understanding statistics is not enough. Here, simple heuristics and good intuition are needed. A heuristic can find smart solutions by focusing on only a few cues and ignoring the rest. I will explain how heuristics work. They are embodied in the sense that they can exploit capacities of the human mind (such as recognition memory), which facilitates quick judgments. They are anchored in the environment in the sense that they can exploit statistical or social structures (such as signal-to-noise ratio). The study of the ecological rationality of heuristics provides a novel and general account to understand why and when less can be more.  

Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken: “Yes I admit: I have always wanted to be on stage.  Who knows what I could have done if there was somebody to help me along the way.” “I think some part of me always yearns for the stage. As an administrator you learn how to ask, how to question, and how to look at yourself.”

What did 10 years of running the Sabancı School of Languages teach you?
Being an administrator may not mean much as a title, but it does have you work with people –instructors, students, parents, others– and maintain constant communication with people who have a wide range of expectations, ideas and beliefs in education or even in their social lives, so you start thinking about things that you had not thought before, and in time, you begin to provide them with more choice.  You realize that not many things are black and white, you get to see shades of gray, and you become more flexible.

More importantly, you learn how to ask, how to question, and how to look at yourself.  I don’t know whether this applies to everyone, but what benefited me the most in this job was constantly asking questions about myself.  I wasn’t always an administrator; I facilitated training programs for years, we did many institutional surveys, we set up teams and worked in coordination, but we always asked questions and looked at how we did things.

You also learn not to worry about everything, which is good.  There are a million things happening at once and trying to keep everyone happy, going beyond yourself to make sure no one is upset you come to the realization that many things are no longer the way you were worrying about them in the first place, which is also good.  My colleagues were amazed at how calm I could remain.  This is something you have to do, but it doesn’t come overnight; you learn it as you go along.

What else did I learn?  There is one more thing which I cannot say I have learned because I already believed in it and I still do.  There are lots of professional seminars, we have leadership programs, you can opt for graduate and postgraduate studies, but unless you invest in personal development and peace of mind, there can be no professional expertise.  Without believing in and struggling for people’s potential and the inner peace they may have, financial and other benefits will have limited effect on their satisfaction.  The emphasis you make on personal development will be effective in determining the success of a career.  This applies to students as well.  If students don’t come to school with enthusiasm, if they don’t feel that they are appreciated and respected, they will not learn effectively.  But this is not how we think about academic and administrators; we only invest in them from a professional perspective.

When in fact the human is a whole, and not a machine with compartments.

Yes.  Furthermore, we spend 80% of our waking hours at work, so we must keep the workplace rich professionally as well as personally and socially so that we enjoy being there.  Since 2004, we have had a psychologist visit the School of Languages every year.  In addition to group seminars, instructors can have one-on-one sessions if they wish, and discuss anything related to work, families or personal life.  Our need for such counseling continues to grow.  Counseling hours fill up the moment they are posted.  We have a growing need for personal development in all areas.  We see the same thing in students: much has been repressed, swept under the carpet, and why?  Because it is weakness to talk and to share, because my parents will get mad, because I can’t say this to a teacher.  Helping the student overcome these obstacles is an adaptive effort and a struggle in its own right.  Considering that two-third of all students start with the Foundations Development Year, our role as the School of Languages is doubled: we must help them adapt to the school and support them not only cognitively and academically, but emotionally as well.  I am sure our efforts are not complete, but I think we as a team have been doing quite a good job. 

And then there is technology: I know from my own son, who refuses to look up from his iPad.  I tell him to come over, hug me, give me a kiss, the iPad can’t do that…  All he does is sticking his head out and saying, “Okay, kiss me if you want.”  This is inevitable of course, but also worrisome because this is the technology-intensive environment in which the majority of our students are raised, and this will only grow and expand.  I don’t know how we can overcome this.  You can’t let them use technological equipment on the one hand and impose curfews on the other; you can’t limit your son’s gaming to two hours per day – this is their reality.  We need to understand them better under these circumstances and find more reasonable ways.  We need to accept some things.  We can’t set off to change people; this will not do any good to the instructor or the student.  There can be no way more wrong than trying to change someone.  A person will only change if they want to.

What can we do as educators and administrators?  We can provide support, create the environment and give opportunities.  But there still are elements that command “Thou shalt change!”  This is in the book you read and the conference you attend.  An academic comes up and says, “Unfortunately, we were unable to change the convictions of the instructors.”  This is wrong on so many levels, and worrying indeed.

For ten years, you have been the Director of the School of Languages, which is an institution that has been around for fourteen years.  Your work here must have been full of firsts and changes.
I did love my job, but it was very demanding too.  Looking back, the way I worked to meet the expectations from the education system and how I tried to ensure the satisfaction of instructors, students, parents and personnel put extreme pressure on me indeed.  But I learned lots as well.  Now I can say that I did the right thing to come to Sabancı, to do this job, and to move to Istanbul in general.  Doing that meant I had a lot more opportunities to develop.

A woman waiting to be discovered

You are keen on dance, drama and music.
Yes I admit: I have always wanted to be on stage.  Who knows what I could have done if there was somebody to help me along the way.  I had vocal training at the conservatory for a year with a private instructor.  But my parents were in Belgium and we couldn’t afford the lessons so I let go.  I performed at many belly dancing shows, and I even made my own costume.  That is not so well known a part about me.  I think some part of me always yearns for the stage.  My close friends try to console me: ‘You are always on stage anyway; you are a performer in your job and your social life.’  But it’s not the same thing.  There are some people –singers, actors– who have me look on in awe as they perform.  At this age –not that I’m too old– I could become a character actor.  Let’s hope for an opportunity.

Why not?  There are many amateur ensembles from where you can go professional.
Well, I do want a shortcut.  Someone needs to discover me!
 :))

Right, so the heading goes: A woman waiting to be discovered: Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken”
Well, I would love the opportunity. I could act in a good commercial too. 

You love literature, you wanted to work in literature, and you write poems.  I saw on Facebook that you write in English.  You read your poems at the recital held by the Information Center.  What can you say about this?
I used to write when I was young too, but never made a big deal of it; it was mostly like what every teenager does.  And I write in English because my childhood was shaped in English, not because I’m a teacher.  I enjoy expressing myself in English.  The poetry came after losing my mother.  We lost her in September 2009, and a few months later I was suddenly overcome by a desire to write poetry.  That is when my interest in needlework resurfaced too.  It could have been a means of coping with the stress, and a way to express myself.  It was something triggered not necessarily by my mother, but the loss of a loved one.

And the emotional circumstances.
It was a trigger and I continue to write, I quite enjoy it.  Sometimes it’s only four lines, sometimes much longer.  And I want to have a little memento dedicated to my mother, in the form of a poetry book.  My sister will take part in this too, and the proceeds could go to children.  I regret that I have not been able to do something in the name of my mother.  If you google Uğurkan Kurtoğlu, you will get no results.  These may be dark thoughts but if we are all going to end up in the same place, it is just a waste of time to offend people, to avoid them.  Regardless of what you may have believed, said or done, all that will remain about you is fond memories, and there can be no better reward.  That is why I want my mother to have something in her name, something dedicated to her.  My mother loved children, she paid for the education of poor kids.  She taught them how to read and write, and she was not a teacher.  I could have a school built in her name; well, a lot of people do, but I would have loved that.

Let’s talk about what you expected and what you found in life.
Well, I think I was very lucky.  Not many people believe this, and they don’t speak about it even if they do.  And some say they are down on their fortune with trouble around every corner.  I think I have had a good life.  We did have some rough patches, illness and other things, but I can say I was very lucky in terms of my job, my emotions, my child and my friends; I still am.  I have loved and have been loved; what more could I ask?  If something were to happen to me today, I’d only worry about my son because he’s too young.  He looks quite imposing but he’s still a child.  Other than that, there would be nothing that I would regret not having done. But that stage thing Nesrin, we need to take care of that.

Thank you for this lovely chat

Barış Can Üstündağ, Taygun Kekeç and Mehmet Ali Güney, Graduate Students of Mechatronics Engineering and members of Sabancı University, Control, Vision and Robotics Research Group (http://cvr.sabanciuniv.edu), are awarded with the Technology-Entrepreneurship Startup Grant by The Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology.

Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken: “It is absolutely thrilling to share what you know and experienced, and to receive positive feedback from the people with whom you do.  What else could we be living for?”

“Being able to say ‘I’m sorry’ is a great and very important thing; it is not weakness or loss of power.  I try to set an example in this matter, both to myself and to others.”

She was the director of the Sabancı University School of Languages between 2002 and 2012.  Becoming a language instructor was an informed choice for her.  My guest this Wednesday is Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken with her vibrant colors and personality, merry laughter and warmth.  We had a candid conversation with Deniz Kurtoğlu about her past, about education, the condition of language schools in Turkey and at Sabancı University, children’s education and even her love of the stage.  This piece will continue next week.

Did you choose to be an instructor or did it happen by chance?
My major is English Language and Literature.  I have a sister who is three years older, and she was majoring in English Literature at Hacettepe University at the time, and she was very happy with it.  She was my role model.  In fact, we have gone to the same schools from primary to university, and chose the same profession.  I had a love for language and it was apparent from primary school onwards.  When I saw how happy she was with her choice, I went for the language departments as well.  I loved literature and I even was the top honor student of my department.  Just as I graduated, in 1987, Bilkent University had begun to recruit language instructors for the first time.  I loved the language anyway, so I said why not and applied.  This is how I ended up as a language instructor.  I was thinking about literature, but I went into language, and looking back, I have no regrets.  I filled in many roles in this job, from teacher training to administrative positions; I worked extensively on curriculum design and assessment; I never stayed still and that is how I grew.

Are you a happy instructor?
Yes, I am.  Being productive, sharing, creating, not being afraid to share…  From this perspective, I am very happy with where I am in Turkey right now.  In my second year as administrator, I sent out surveys to all universities to gain insight into how they managed their language schools and to facilitate knowledge sharing between universities.  The deadline was long from the start, and I even extended it later on, but I only received 36 or 37 responses.  I thought this was too few but our then-President Tosun Terzioğlu said, “You should be happy; this is quite a good number for Turkey.”

Now we are in close contact with all language schools in Turkey.  People are much more open and sharing; they share their experiences and exchange opinions.  Surveys are still getting few responses as people simply can’t be bothered, but the sharing of best practices is much more extensive now, which makes me thoroughly happy.  As Sabancı School of Languages we are very open to sharing.  We post lots of documents on our website and encourage visitors to download them and use them as they see fit.  This makes us both happy and proud.  Some institutions still hoard their materials and booklets, prevent others from using them, but I think more and more will decide to share in time.  I think it’s great that there is more sharing in this job.

Walking into the School of Languages, I feel as if I’m in a different world.  It is quite spacious and colorful, and when all the office and hall doors are open, you get a feeling of roominess like no other.  Great music wafts from some rooms.  I think women are in the majority there, am I right?  You were the director of the School for ten years, and your successor is also a woman.  I don’t know how you are in private, but you maintain your lively and colorful side in the school’s social environment.  Would you like to say a few words about this?

I don’t think I could live without those colors, that’s what gives me the feeling of choice and change.  I’ve had run-ins with my choice of colors: at Bilkent I was once summoned to the director’s office.  I was back from America in 1991, and the director called me to her office, asked what the nose piercing I was wearing meant, and had warned me in a subtle way.  Another time, I had had a very good train-the-trainer interview, but the feedback included comments about my attire.  I was warned to “mind what I was wearing.”  I just thought of myself as someone who liked to dress differently and in striking colors.  Being colorful may get you into slight trouble from time to time, but I like being colorful, both literally and figuratively.

I enjoy handcrafts too.  I’m engrossed in needlework at the moment.  I go for the most colorful and vibrant yarns and wool I can find and I knit stuff like blankets and mats; I work with beads, I make rings…  I give the stuff I make to people as presents, and sometimes to people I don’t know.  This makes me happy; it adds meaning to my life.  Color isn’t limited to how light reflects off the surface of an object; it also has to do with how you communicate with people.  I was at the hospital the other day, and there is a very polite, smiling woman there who always asks about my day when I’m there, and it fills me with happiness to see her smiling face.  So I went out and bought a scarf for her, gave it to her saying, “I hope your smile never fades,” and I held her hand.  She was very happy, of course; but I was even happier.

Reading in areas other than your field of expertise is another way of enriching yourself because you never know where you might find inspiration.  In all meetings I attend and presentations I make, I tell my colleagues that being interested in altogether different areas expands your horizon.  I read psychology for example; I try to comprehend quantum physics and come up with very different ideas.  There are popular psychology, sociology and personal development books that I read all the time.  In fact, I read little about English language instruction.  I do read about management, but more inspiration comes from books on self-development and I love that.  But of course we must not hoard all we read; it is absolutely thrilling to share what you know and experienced, and to receive positive feedback from the people with whom you do.  What else could we be living for?  You can’t completely eliminate petty ambitions in work, family or friendships but I feel that personal development is absolutely necessary for peace, welfare and a happy life.

You mean being at peace with oneself.
Yes, but that doesn’t happen overnight.

Of course not; you always try to round out your corners throughout your life, beginning with childhood, all the way to old age.

Absolutely. For instance, being able to say ‘I’m sorry’ is a great and very important thing, and I always make a conscious effort in this matter.  Apologizing to my son is one thing.  I think about why it is so hard to do, and I try to set an example in this matter, both to myself and to others.  Apologizing it is not weakness or loss of power; to the contrary, it is a very special thing.  Saying “I think I hurt your feelings; I’m sorry” is great, but when you refuse to apologize to someone because they don’t apologize to you, you end up in a vicious circle. 

There are some things that we should not wait for others to do. We have a psychologist who gives a seminar every year, and that person has told us that a person’s self and behavior are separate things.  I am not what I act like.  You see my behavior; not who I am.  When you get in this mindset, you begin to separate the things you dislike about a person’s conduct from that person’s self.  In other words, saying “I don’t like the way Deniz acts” is altogether different from saying “I don’t like Deniz.”  This is a powerful way of thinking and I have been sharing this with people all my life, encouraging them to think this way.  Otherwise, it is very easy to say “What kind of a man are you?” “What kind of a person is she?”  If you take the easy path, you can just say “I can’t waste my time on her.”  Oh, but you can!  You don’t have a problem with who she is; every person is unique and particular.  But one person’s thinking or behavior may not be congruent with yours, and this is what you get to see.  But look at me rambling!

As far as I know and can see, you are keen on shoes.  I think this is our common point.
I could see that one coming.

How many pairs do you have?
Surprisingly, not too many.

Really?  It does appear otherwise though.
How many do you have?  Winter and summer shoes together?

I’m not sure, but I think 30 or 40.
I don’t have that many, but I wear eye-catching colors and shapes so people tend to pay attention.  We have a two-week teacher training course intended for teachers outside Sabancı University.  Three or four years ago, I had bought a pair of shoes with pink straps from someplace in Kadıköy.  Those shoes became so much of a hit that four participants went to that shop and bought the shoe in every color: tan, green, yellow, pink…  Then we took photos wearing our colorful shoes and had great fun.  This must be a part of being colorful.  I also like to do manual labor and to fix things.  When my son comes over saying that such-and-such is broken, I come up with a way to fix that, and we both love it.  My son has started to come up with fixing ideas of his own

That kind of thing does develop a child’s creativity.  Well, to add to your vibrant colors in clothing and shoes, you have also made quite a name for yourself dancing at the new year’s parties on campus.
I’m not what I used to be. I’ve always loved to dance.  Before Ali and I were married, we were both teaching at Bilkent.  Back then in Ankara, there was a place called Paradise Dance Hall.  We would go there on Fridays and dance until closing time, which was around four.  We would be back on Saturday, again until closing time.  We wouldn’t leave the place until Uğur the DJ stopped playing.  Once my heel had broken, so I had left Ali in the club, gone back home, changed my shoes and come back.  We were so wild about dancing and I was thrilled to fly over the dance floor.  I still love to dance but I did slow down a little.  I like dancing because it is another way for me to express myself – and so is drama.  When I was in university, I acted in a play every year.  The worst nightmares I have are still those where I forget my lines.  Even when I wake up from them, that anxiety as if I had 10 minutes before the curtain remains with me for a long time.  I’m amazed at myself because that was so long ago.  I wonder what a psychoanalyst would have to say about this.

to be continued...

Faculty member of Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Sabancı University Asif Şabanoviç has been promoted to membership of the Academy of Sciences and Art of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ANUBiH).   

About the Academy of Sciences and Art of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ANUBiH)

The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ANUBiH) arose from the Scientific Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1966, as the highest scientific and artistic institution on the territory of the state. The ANUBiH takes care about the overall development of science and arts in the country. The Academy is independent and autonomous, and it is managed exclusively by the principles and interests of science and free beliefs of its members. The ANUBIH has the following six departments: Department of Social Sciences, Department of Humanities, Department of Medical Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Department of Technical Sciences. The departments are carriers of fundamental activities of the Academy in the domain of science and arts. By the law the total number of the members of the Academy is limited to 55.

ANUBIH members are chosen from among the distinguished scientists or artist of Bosnian origin, actively engaged in different fields of science and art. On the proposal of the members of the Academy the Assembly of ANUBiH unanimously elected A. šabanović to the Department of Technical Sciences. The department has 9 members.

Wednesday talks with Nesrin Balkan

Nakiye Boyacıgiller: From the outside, you may think Nakiye has had it all roses, but I did have bitter periods in my life.  And that’s what life is; you embrace it for better or for worse.  A happy childhood is the silver spoon in your mouth.  It is your most important asset that you spend throughout your life.

Born in the USA to Turkey’s first petroleum engineer, Oğuz Avdan.  We know her by her smiling face, swathes of colors she chooses to wear from red to purple and fuchsia and green, not to mention her wild dance figures at New Year's parties.  The inaugural guest of “Wednesday Talks” is Nakiye Boyacıgiller.  Today, we take a look into her personal life; her childhood, devastating losses, first love, and her outlook on life.  In the next chapter, we will talk about her career after she came to Turkey to work at Sabancı University, and the international recognition enjoyed by the faculty under her leadership.

I have known you for ten years, and your colorful personality shines through the way you dress.  I must admit I sometimes envy you and your choice of dress.  How much of this color rubs off on your surroundings; how are you with being a dean, having a family, pursuing administrative and academic work?

NAKİYE BOYACIGİLLER: Excellent question Nesrin; let me put it to you this way: I love life, I love people, and I love to smile.  I believe this had a great effect on my personal life and career.  Whenever they ask me about somebody, I always say “He’s a great person.”  And they tell me I say that for everyone.  I almost always look on the full side of the glass and the better side of people.  And I always try to look on the bright side of life, which yields returns.  Yes, I do dress in colors; I love neutral colors on other people but they simply don't work for me.  I am borderline hyperactive and unable to sit still–that is the legacy of my late father.  As an upside, I work very hard.  I always try to do more, and I think this did good for the faculty.  I have never contented myself with the work I did.  I always think about what more can be done.

Can you talk about your childhood, your family, relations to your parents…

I was born in America.  My father Oğuz Avdan was Turkey’s first petroleum engineer.  He goes to America in 1937 with a Mining Survey Authority fellowship, and upon return he has compulsory service, where he works at a refinery in the town of Batman.  He marries my mother and they lose their first child at birth because of blood sensitivity.  When my mother was pregnant with me, my father receives a job offer from a petroleum engineering company in America, which he accepts because they fear blood sensitivity will be an issue for their second child as well.  So they move to America before I was born.  I was born in 1953 and was immediately taken into an incubator, and I had a complete blood transfusion just like my late brother had.  The procedure had just been discovered; I think it was in 1952.  That’s why I always say I’m one year younger than the technology needed to keep me alive.  I had a very happy childhood in America for 11 years, and then we moved to France for my father’s job, and during the two years we lived there, we lost my mother in a terrible car accident.  And that’s why I always tell people to wear seat belts.  I first came to Turkey when I was 13.  My Turkish then was limited to “table talks” – the conversations you have in the kitchen and such, and children’s books.  I joined the Üsküdar American Academy in the 9th grade.  I had a very difficult time in high school, from 1967 onwards.  I had just lost my dear mother, I spoke little Turkish, the school was too difficult, I needed to adapt culturally.  But my grandmother and aunt fully embraced me, and that is how my personality came to suit the Turkish way of life, family affairs and all that.  Boğaziçi University, then Robert College, had a separate admission exam.  If the central admission system was in place, I would never have made it there.  But back then, they had a separate admission process; they wanted recommendations and checked your high school grades.  I’ll never forget how, when I got a 6 in the first Turkish essay that I wrote, my teacher Perizat Hanım told the class “Turn the 6 upside down and that’s 9 for Nakiye.”  She wrote me a recommendation explaining why my grades were low, and I was admitted to Robert College, which became Boğaziçi University during my time there.  I was an honor student too: I graduated in third place.

You had a very busy life; how did you find the chance to socialize?  How did you meet the man you were going to marry?
I met Ziya when I began Boğaziçi, and we had something going on in the summer of my first year – I was 17 then.  My daughters keep kidding me because “I married the first man I loved.”  Ziya and I were lucky because I guess we grew up together.  From the outside we are quite different: he is just as calm and reserved as I am lively.  But we live by very similar values and have wanted very similar things in life, so I was lucky.  Back to education, I decided early on that I wanted an academic career.  I think it was in my second year at Boğaziçi that I decided I could spend my entire life in a university.

It must have been to know what you wanted in life when you were just 18.
Deciding early on was good for me, but I was too young.  Coming from America, I skipped the prep year and was the youngest student in high school, I was the youngest in Boğaziçi and in my commencement class.  Then came MBA, where I was the youngest too.  In fact, I had my master’s degree when I was just 21.

My intent was to pursue an academic career, but my professors encouraged me to work in the business to get to know the environment better.  That is how I worked at IBM for two years, during which I had the chance to decide whether I wanted an academic career because I really enjoyed it, or because it was the only option I knew.  IBM was a great company and I was very happy there, but amidst all that work you never had any time to read.  One reason I wanted an academic career was because I enjoyed the company of books and people who like to read them.  After two years at IBM, I was sure that my want of an academic career was genuine, so I applied to Berkeley and did my PhD there.

There is one more thing I’d like to say about my life.  I lost my mother at a very early age, but I also had a very happy childhood.  And I always thought that a happy childhood is the silver spoon in your mouth.  It is your most important asset that you spend throughout your life.  This is how I tried to make my children feel.  When a child feels loved by her parents and has a happy childhood, they are galvanized against whatever life may throw at them.

I lost my brother very early too, at the age of 26.  I had two great tragedies in life.  So I tell my students From the outside, you may think Nakiye has had it all roses with a happy marriage, good career, living and working abroad… But I did have bitter periods in my life.  And that’s what life is; you embrace it for better or for worse.

We must accept life for what it is and keep going whether good or bad.
Exactly.  Which brings me to a life lesson: Life is capable of dealing us the most severe of blows, so we should look out for the people around us and never do anyone any harm.

I couldn’t agree more.  How long have you been married?
We married in 1975, so it will be 38 years this summer.  Right now, we’ve been married for 37 and a half years!  We did run into difficult patches during all these years; but we were lucky because we loved each other and agreed on fundamental values.  Young people today are too quick to throw in the towel.  It is natural that you run into problems with your family or loved ones every now and then; you need to talk about them to resolve them.  You can’t simply walk to the nearest exit.  Having said that, you should also know when to walk out after you’ve done all you can.  And that’s my advice on marriage.

Do you have anything at home that you couldn’t leave behind?
Having lost my mother at a very early age, her memory is precious to me, and that includes photos of her.  Yes, there are CD’s that can hold them all, and I can be too traditional in this, but photos are important to me.  I also keep my childhood books.  Before my children were born, I gathered all the books I had read as a child.  I remember this one; a large book of Indian tales.  My mother had bought it from somewhere.  I found it the other day, the other day being years ago, and I was extremely happy.  I used to cherish that book and I still love it.  So it’s my childhood books and photos, and a few pieces of my mother’s jewelry that couldn’t leave behind.  There are a couple of paintings that my mother had bought in Paris, paintings by Avni Arbaş and Nuri İyem; those are also very precious.

How is your relationship with your daughters Belkıs and Esen?  How would they describe their mother?

I have a great relationship with my daughters.  I had always wanted to be a mother, I guess because I had lost my own mother.  I always believed that I could have both a career and children; I never thought I would have to choose between them.  And I always tell young women that they can have both.

I think my daughters know me very well.  We like spending time together and have a very good relationship.  It is a mother-daughter relationship first and foremost, but we also enjoy each other’s friendship.  Of course, they have their own friends and we’re not always together.  They were both born and raised in America, but want to live here.  They are working for their master’s degrees now.  They both want to settle here, though you never know.

As a mother, I think I have raised two good human beings, and that is what matters to me.  They love and respect the people around them, and this is what everyone else says about them too, which makes me happy.  I am proud of my daughters.

So you are friends, maybe close friends with your daughters.
We have a great relationship, and let’s hope it stays that way.  I do have a piece of advice for young, working mothers: when they were in primary school, my daughters used to say “I wish you stayed home like the other moms.”  But once they were teenagers, they were proud of my career and achievements.  They love the fact that their mother is a dean!

to be continued
 

Tea Talks with CEOs team executed their organizations as a part of Economics and Management Club for 6 years and from the beginning of 2012, they have been carrying on the path with their own club called "Leaders of Sabanci (LEOS) - Tea Talks with CEOs".

They have started the new term with wonderful news.

Approximately after a year of endeavoring, "Tea Talks with CEOs" became an official brand of Sabanci University with having a certification from Turkish Patent Institute.

The winners of the 2nd High School Debate Contest held by Sabancı University International Relations Office in Pakistan visited the Sabancı University campus with their advisors

The winning students of the 2nd High School Debate Contest held by Sabancı University International Relations Office in Pakistan visited the campus with their advisors on February 15, 16 and 17.  Students and advisors took a tour of the campus, attended some courses and visited SUNUM.  Visitors joined School of Management Dean Nakiye Boyacıgiller for lunch and attended a presentation by MBA student Mariam Hamid Shafiq, who spoke on behalf of international students about Sabancı University and life in Istanbul.

The guided tour of the city included historical landmarks such as the Sultanahmet Mosque, Topkapı Palace and the Grand Bazaar as well as important districts like Taksim and Bağdat Street.

The 2nd High School Debate Contest was held among the leading high schools of Pakistan including the Lyceum School, Nixor College and St. Patricks High School.  Elimination rounds were held between January 14 and 18, and the finals took place on January 19 at the Karachi Sheraton Hotel.  This year’s theme was “Turkey: A model for the developing countries.”  Speakers at the finals were Sabancı University Pakistan Representative Danish Ahmad, International Relations Office Director Dr. E. Burak Arıkan and Consul-General of Karachi, Murat M. Onart.  The winners and finalists received their awards from Consul-General Onart, and the winning team also won an Education in Turkey trip and stayed on Sabancı University campus for three days.

A first batch of 43 courses have been favorably evaluated and finally approved for the Sabanci University Summer School 2013 -- after careful screening by the relevant academic bodies of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, the Faculty of Management, and the Foundations Development Program.

This does not include another large group of mostly ANTH, CULT, HIST, FILM, PHIL, SOC, IR and VAVCD coded courses that are still being evaluated at FASS, and which are expected to be announced as a second list, probably bringing the total number of courses to be opened to student registration to around 70.

They will all be available for registration by all non-Sabanci (including international) students as soon as the course schedule is announced.

For Sabanci students, on-line registration will begin in May 2013.

Sabancı Summer School Office
summer@sabanciuniv.edu
http://summer.sabanciuniv.edu/
facebook.com/sabancisummerschool