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 Arzu Wasti. 

Arzu Wasti has been a member of Sabancı University since September 1, 1999. She has been a Sabancı University School of Management faculty member for 22 years. Arzu Wasti’s answers to our four questions are below.  

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

A.W: I first met Sabancı University's Karaköy building. Having been born and raised in Ankara, and studied in a relatively rural setting in the US, working in a historical building that overlooked the Galata Bridge was quite surreal. That was when I felt I was living in the Istanbul of songs and poetry. Since my parents were the first students, and then lecturers, of METU, I knew a lot of people from their circles: The late Tosun Terzioğlu and Hilmi Çelik, Alev Topuzoğlu, Albert Erkip, Muhittin Oral, Cemil Arıkan, Zerrin Koyunsağan - they were all METU alumni. It was a familiar, friendly environment. 

We had a host of meetings in the beginning as everything was being set up anew. It was exhilarating, especially for a young faculty member, to touch all systems and shape them to varying degrees. The university was never a hierarchical organization, and I think it stayed that way. I also remember the first opening ceremony. The campus was under construction and it rained, so the property was a mudfield in contrast to the brilliant scholarship students we had there! Also, I remember a parent saying "Is she a professor? She's so young!" when they saw me - I still don't know if that was disappointment or admiration.  

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

A.W: I went through physical changes which should surprise no one, and I completed the requisite academic stages to become an associate, then a full professor. Back then, the President would call with the good news. From what Nihat Berker told me, my dean at the time, Nakiye Boyacıgiller, was so moved by a letter of recommendation written for me that her eyes welled up during the meeting. "The criteria for professorship now includes making the dean cry with joy" he added jokingly. And I must add that the human emotion and love Nakiye Hanım poured into her administration has a special place in the memories of 20 years. 

Most importantly, thanks to Sabancı University, I never regretted returning to Turkey after my PhD in the US. The approach may have varied over the years, but Sabancı was always true to its mission of being a research university. Our doctorate program was always a leader among its peers in Turkey. We have had great support units, like the Information Center and Research and Graduate Policy Directorate (RGP) since the first day. Also in my experience, functions like IT and HR were of tremendous help, and everything flowed in a non-hierarchical, flexible structure. 

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? 

A.W: In 20 years, I dream of having a subway station in the university and no factories, or at least fewer, surrounding it. It is really difficult to dream of anything else during COVID-19. I hope the campus becomes a place that we would love to escape to at the weekends. I dream of a warmth, attraction and comfort that entices us to stay after work is over. As for myself, I hope to be strong enough to attend my Emeritus Professorship ceremony, and able to hear and understand the nice things said about me!

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

A.W: If our paths hadn't crossed, I would again be in Turkey, teaching at another institution aiming to become a research university.

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 Ali Alpar. 

Ali Alpar has been a member of Sabancı University since September 1, 1999. He has been a member of the Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences for 21 years, is currently an Emeritus Professor, and was the Foundations Development Program Director from 2004 to 2010 in addition to being a member of faculty. 

Below is what Ali Alpar, chosen "Best Faculty Member" by the graduation classes of METU in 1994 and Sabancı University in 2003, said in response to our questions. 

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

A.A: When we moved in to our first offices on the top floor of the Information Center, the space was shared between the FENS and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). They brought in the separator panels. We at the FENS built our cubicles in neat squares starting from the window. I got lost when I went over to visit FASS. Over there, everyone had picked their own spot, and people who came later had taken spots close to the people they wanted, so it was literally a maze.   

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

A.A: Well, I'm older, I have whites in my hair. But I don't feel old. Sabancı University made this possible with academic freedom and a culture of confidence that paved the way for a new kind of education. It didn't bring us down. Our job involves being with the youth; as long as relationships with the youth are open and friendly, we remain young as well. 

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?

A.A: Being innovative and unique - or trying to be. It is a little worn after 20 years, but it's still there. What I want 20 years in the future is to have a participatory, transparent and self-confident culture firmly instilled. I want the hierarchical and mediocrist pressure in Turkey to die down, and us to live on as best example. Us being Sabancı University. 

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

A.A: I would be retired but still teaching courses and doing research at METU.  

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 Ahmet Evin.

Ahmet Evin has been a member of Sabancı University since October 1, 1997. He has been a member of the Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences for 23 years, is currently an Emeritus Professor, and was the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 1997 to 2001. 

Ahmet Evin’s answers to our four questions are below.

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

A.E: My first encounter with Sabancı University happened in the summer of 1995, on occasion of the Search Conference. There were participants from all over the world who represented a very wide range, both geographically and professionally.  Amidst animated discussions and hearty contributions, the answer to the question "What kind of a university?" began to emerge as an outline. Getting this result in two days was perhaps the first success of the University. The recommendations in the Search Conference stayed unchanged through the design process. Those first recommendations shaped the design of the University's vision, mission, and education and administration models. Our initial brainstorming session later contributed to creating and shaping institutional philosophy.

I have another memory to share. In the fall of 1997 –when the campus wasn't even groundbroken, the Karaköy Contact Office was in renovation and not yet acquired– we the skeleton crew of the university started working in an office at the Sabancı Holding towers. One day, the late Hacı Sabancı came down to our floor and I ran into him at the entrance. He said he had an appointment with the Rector. I said, “Thank you for coming down, but Tosun (Terzioğlu) could have come up to see you.” Hacı Bey’s reply told me that the university had love and respect woven into its very fabric. Hacı Bey said: “We don't view the university like a company. The university is an institution of science and education that we all respect. If we are to speak about the university, we don't call the Rector to us; we go to the university and request an appointment from the Rector.”

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

A.E: As the memories I've just told give it away, it has almost been 25 years since I met Sabancı University. I have gained vast experience in many different areas. Most important among my learnings was how to build a university. It's not something that befalls everyone, you know.

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?

A.E: In 20 years, I hope Sabancı University will have developed along its vision and mission to be closer to its objective of becoming a global university. A university that cultivates international partnerships while preserving small campus appeal; one that has the capacity to implement projects on a great scale with a strong faculty, student exchange programs, and research projects.

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

A.E: I had joined the first Sabancı University Search Conference from Germany. I am now writing from Germany as well. If it weren't for Sabancı University, I would not have lived in Istanbul; I would most likely be in the US or Germany now.

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 Ayşe Kadıoğlu.

Ayşe Kadıoğlu has been a member of Sabancı University since January 1, 1998. She has been a member of the Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) for 22 years, also serving as FASS Dean from September 2013 to October 2016, and Acting Dean from October 2016 to January 2018.   

Ayşe Kadıoğlu’s answers to our four questions are below. 

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

A.K: It was the summer of 1997. I was an Assistant Professor at Bilkent University. I was closely following the foundation work for Sabancı University because my spouse Erdağ Aksel was involved. We had just been offered to join the university. We knew it would be built somewhere around Bayramoğlu, Gebze. We had been invited to a Sabancı University meeting. We figured that we could stop by and see the university location if we drove to Istanbul. Starting around Gebze, we began to look for signs of the Sabancı University construction. We pulled into a gas station, and then took a side road, looking about us for any clues. My son, sitting in the back, was just 4years old. Erdağ and I saw a sign at the same time: it said Sabancı University. We were on the university property. We got out to a vast, empty plot of land.  My son started running, and we joined him. So our first impression of Sabancı University was running through its property before it even existed. We had an idea of Sabancı University, but my first encounter with the physical institution was when I saw that sign. 

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

A.K: I joined Sabancı University in January 1998, when the university was in the foundation stage. Our first offices were on the 17th floor of the Sabancı Holding. Then we moved to Karaköy, and finally to the campus. Our first offices on the campus were where the Information Center stands today. It was an extraordinary experience to be involved in thbe foundation of a university. I believe that my years at Sabancı University, and my experience as faculty member and administrator, made me a better person. I already knew that I would be an academic for life. But being an academic at Sabancı University, and during the foundation of the university, we not only had to focus on our academic work, but were also involved in the making of an institution, which was an entirely different thing. I believe that the experience enriched me as a human, improved my problem-solving skills, made me more pragmatic, and encouraged me to step outside the mold in a world where academics are inclined to be egocentrically absorbed in their own work. 

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? 

A.K: When coronavirus forced everyone to stay home, Sabancı University made a tremendously fast and successful transition to online education. I find this very important. Staying on top of shifting circumstances requires a solid foundation. I believe this is one area where people and institutions are alike: you need a solid foundation to achieve sustainable success. Foundations development has been a top priority for Sabancı University since the beginning. When people have a strong foundation in education, they may run into temporary setbacks or unfavorable circumstances, but they will find the strength and capability to get up and continue on their path. The same applies to institutions. Sabancı University is built on a solid foundation. In 20 years, the foundation spread its roots and became a tradition, and will continue towards the future with strong, sure steps. 

My dream for myself in 20 years is to be somewhere by the sea where I can still read and entertain loved ones at vibrant tables. Without social distancing! 

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

A.K: I believe our paths would have crossed sooner or later. Maybe I can't imagine otherwise because it has been so long! I could have stayed at Bilkent for a while, and then gone to Boston... I really don't know. Reimagining history in a way that has not occurred is not the strong suit of Social Scientists. We are so focused on how actual history occurred that it is beyond me to ask "what if".  Sometimes I question my ability to dream, but then, wasn't Sabancı University a dream in the beginning? Wasn't the first question we asked the determining factor in this journey? After all, we had asked "what should a global university look like?" and had built our dreams on this.

Birkan Icacan has always had a passion for computers and technology. After Sabanci Business School, he launched an MBA career with Google as a product manager.

Birkan İcacan studied undergraduate electrical engineering degree at Sabancı University. During that time, he worked on a project with IBM Turkey alongside eight engineering students from Sabancı University.

He became the person managing the team and liaising with senior stakeholders at IBM—that’s when he realized he loved being at the intersection of business and tech. There were gaps in his business knowledge though, and that’s when he set his sights on an MBA. 

He had a connection with Sabancı University through his undergraduate days, and the MBA there appealed to him greatly. He had the opportunity to network with a group of peers whose average age was 24, and whose backgrounds spanned engineering, international relations, management and economics, and science and literature. 

On the MBA, Sabancı Business School’s Executive Insights Seminars would also give him the chance to network with experienced, top managers from a variety of companies. CEOs and company owners come in to deliver guest lectures to the students, and Sabancı sets up career panels with company representatives that focus on different sectors and management functions. 

Birkan İcacan says he was also pulled to the Sabancı MBA by the Company Action Project—a project working in real-time on a range of business issues for a company.

“You have work experience before you even graduate,” he explains. “You have a success story to share during interviews with other companies.”

My MBA project gave me the experience to launch a career with Google

Birkan İcacan did his Company Action Project with Turkcell, a telecommunications company in Turkey. He was Turkcell’s product manager for paperless statements, and his task was to increase the adoption rate of the service. 

“This was literally a dream come true for me,” Birkan İcacan says, “because before I even graduated, I had product management experience in one of the top tech companies in Turkey.”

Birkan İcacan took data analysis courses, alongside marketing classes and people management modules on the MBA. He says that during the company project he was applying forecasting skills to calculate the potential adoption rate of the campaigns the company were running. 

While he was undergoing his project, the core MBA education he’d received at Sabancı had been preparing him to move his career into the context of global business. 

Modules like Global Business Context, that address globalization in relation to business and managerial practices, and Ethics in Business, that teaches students about social responsibility and to build their capacity for moral inquiry, as well as increase their alertness to the consequences of misconduct—two modules whose teachings are inescapable at a company like Google. 

Getting a job at Google

During the MBA at Sabancı Business School career coaching is available for MBA students who want it. The career coach suggested Birkan İcacan look to launch a career with a foreign company in another country for a couple of years at the start of his career. Birkan İcacan wasn’t convinced, as he had set his sights on remaining in Turkey. 

The two had a bet. If Birkan İcacan set about applying for jobs at the big tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, for four hours a week, and was successful, he’d win. 

He reached out to a lot of people on LinkedIn, he recalls. Rejections piled up, but luck was on the cards when one person responded from Google in Dublin, saying they could refer Birkan İcacan to an opening in one of their Google AdWords teams who were working with SMEs in Turkey. He took a punt, thinking if he was to land this job, he could then begin working his way up internally until he became a product manager. 

Birkan İcacan was set up well for the interview stage by the Managerial Skills Workshop on the MBA. The workshop hones students’ oral and written presentation skills, their ability to negotiate, and build teams, so he was able to articulate his CV in a way that stood out from other candidates. 

It was a success, and when he was offered the job he accepted it on the spot. Birkan İcacan recalls graduating from Sabancı on a Saturday, flying to Dublin on Sunday, and beginning work on Monday—he’s been with the company for nearly nine years, and is now a product manager for Google Docs, in New York City. 

When he first began his MBA career at Google, Birkan İcacan knew that the skills he had developed at business school would assist his climb up the ladder. Being able to work with a variety of stakeholders is key as a product manager, he explains, and his MBA education taught him to speak the language of marketing, sales, accounting, finance, and strategy.  

“It was one of the best decisions in my life to do an MBA degree at Sabancı University, it impacted my career in the most positive way I could imagine. 

“The things I learned and studied during my MBA program help me do my job in a better capacity as of today, and I use those skills almost every single day as a product manager at Google."

Source: https://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-jobs/6947/mba-job-at-Google?sponsored

Turkey's first and only Behavioural Big Data Analysis and Visualisation Laboratory established in collaboration between Sabancı University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) started a research project with Grupo Ageas Portugal, one of the largest insurance companies in Portugal. 

The "Employing Advanced Analytics Techniques for Insurance Agent Segmentation" project is the first research project in the field of advanced data analytics which our country is conducting together with a foreign company, with a duration of five months. 

Under the leadership of Sabancı University, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Member Prof. Dr. Selim Balcısoy, Sabancı University Computer Science and Engineering Program graduate students Hasan Alp Boz and Mert Gürkan, as well as an analytics team of 6 members from the Grupo Ageas Portugal company shall take part in the project that aims to use advanced data analytics techniques in the segmentation of insurance agents. 

Conducting big data analytics studies with a view to addressing the needs of the industry and the business community in cooperation with the MIT, Sabancı University Big Data Behavioural Analysis and Visualisation Laboratory already started to share its experience in the field of insurance with abroad thanks to the research project initiated with Grupo Ageas Portugal. 

Stating that it is important and proud to continue the scientific studies initiated at Sabancı University with leading international companies, Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Member Prof. Dr. Selim Balcısoy said, “Behavioural segmentation of Ageas insurance agents in Portugal shall be done during the project. So far, the first algorithmic design has been completed with the company data. At the end of the project, detailed analyses about the insurance agents in Portugal will be shared with the company. ”

EFSUN Summer 2020 Webinar organized by Center of Excellence for Functional Surfaces and Interfaces will be held on 23 July 2020 Thursday at 11.00 am.  

 "Nanobiotechnology Applications for Ocular Disease Treatment" 

SU Gender continues organizing international webinar series on sexual harassment, gender based violence, diversity and inclusion within and outside the university. 

Keynote speaker of the fifth webinar will be Ana Vidu, University of Deusto.

She will make a speech on “A Step Forward on the Reality of Sexual Harassment in Universities: Sexual Consent and Second Order of Sexual Harassment."

Please click for registration.

July 22, Wednesday 19.00, UTC+3

SU Gender webinar series will continue in September.

Sabancı University IICEC and the Energy PMP of the World Federation of Scientists cordially invite you to the webinar on ''Outlook for Nuclear Power in a Carbon Constrained World''

Thursday, 23 July 2020

13:30 – 15:00 (GMT)

16:30 – 18:00 (Istanbul)

15:30 – 17:00 (Paris)

14:30 – 16:00 (London) 

Speakers

Dr. Robert J. Budnitz, Staff Scientist (retired), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Prof. Carmine Difiglio, Director, IICEC (Moderator)

Prof. H-Holger Rogner, Emeritus Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Director General, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences 

Please CLICK HERE to register the webinar on

''Outlook for Nuclear Power in a Carbon Constrained World''

on 23 July from 13:30 – 15:00 (GMT)

Please submit any questions to funda.inal@sabanciuniv.edu / nazli.karadag@sabanciuniv.edu

Action Research (AR) PhD Program is designed for high-level professionals who believe that true social change and transformation is possible only by combining academic knowledge with collaborative action. AR is an active, participatory, democratic research methodology that aims to foster social change and transformation.

Founded under the ARAMA Chair of Sabancı University in 2020, AR PhD Program is the only program entitled ‘Action Research’.

If you are a professional from private corporations, state institutions, local administrations and civil society and interested in advancing your career with an academic program that would enable you to produce the knowledge necessary for transformational management, you are invited to the AR PhD info session on Tuesday, July 21th at 19:00pm via webinar.

The session will address the following questions:

• Why Sabancı University Action Research PhD Program?
• What is the program’s content?
• What are the program admission requirements?

For registration, please click.  

Looking forward to meeting you!

Prof. Dr. Oğuz Babüroğlu 

ARAMA Chair in Action Research

Dr. Pınar Akpınar 

Action Research Program Manager

Danilo Romeu Streck

Editor in Chief of International Journal of Action Research

Richard Ennals

Co-editor at European Journal of Workplace Innovation