Spring Semester Welcome

Dear OzU Community;

Following the first day of our Spring 2019 classes, I welcome all new and returning OzU members to campus, and wish each of you a great semester with success in all your endeavors. 

As usual, this new semester starts with a number of events/activities that have become cherished OzU traditions because of dedicated and collective work of numerous OzU members; from students to faculty members and administrative staff.   Several student clubs help us kick-off the semester with Welcome Back Week activities which offer a great opportunity for OzU community to get together after the break.   

Next in line is the annual Sectoral Orienteering between Feb. 25th and March 3rd, where we will again host firms of different sizes and speakers from various sectors on campus.  This year’s co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are designed to complement last year’s focus on digital transformation by bringing “human” back to the forefront with discussions of issues like human rights, human capabilities, human interactions in an increasingly digital life with artificial intelligence and related technologies.   

In addition to these and other mainstay activities of the Spring semester, we will continue to celebrate our university’s 10th anniversary with signature events of different academic and administrative units throughout the semester.  I am especially excited about the coordinated efforts of several faculty members, together with our newly established Sustainability Platform, to organize a series of talks/panels addressing equality in its various manifestations.  The series will start with gender equality during the week of March 4th in recognition of the International Working Women’s Day and continue with other forms of equality such as income, politics and education; to name a few of the planned talks.  Plans are also well underway for “Yaklaş II”, with series of cross-disciplinary brown-bag thought discussions spearheaded by Prof. Mengüç.

All Spring semester events will be announced via myOzU.  You may also check our University’s homepage as well as the 10th year website (http://10.ozyegin.edu.tr) for most up-to-date information about special anniversary events. 

I encourage you to take full advantage of unique learning opportunities our new semester offers.  On behalf of myself and the university, I extend my sincere thanks to everyone for their hard work in making OzU a special place for learning, working and living.

All the best.

Prof. Dr. F. Esra Gençtürk, Ph.D.
Rector