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 Canan Atılgan.
Canan Atılgan has been a member of Sabancı University since November 8, 1997. She has been a Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) member for 21 years and served as FENS Dean from March 9, 2018 to June 30, 2020.
Canan Atılgan’s answers to our four questions are below.
What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?
C.A: It was my first day on campus! Faculty were in cubicles on the top floor of the Information Center. The oldest were by the windows, and when a new faculty member came, cubicle construction materials, office furniture and supplies were brought in to add another cubicle into the workspace. Deans and administrators had offices along the hallway. The floor was divided between FENS and FASS but it was a close-knit social environment. And of course, Dean Kemal İnan's booming voice could reach all of us! You smelled something in the air that was extraordinary, even fantastic - it brought down everything you knew about universities, and enticed you to be a part of it.
What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?
C.A: Over the years, I have moved from rookie to senior, of course. I held positions in almost all bodies of the university, I made great friends, and I experienced different perspectives. These expanded my vision far beyond academia. Because we had a strong Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and inter-faculty communication reached out to all employees rather than just students, the “liberal arts” spirit that I always found lacking in my engineering education suffused into me over time. The lifelong learning aspect of the job was something I had never imagined, and it played a part in all personal or professional decisions I made. I know there are many other institutions good in science, but Sabancı University brought surprising colors to my life.
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?
C.A: We are living through extraordinary times. The pandemic will have ramifications on higher education institutions, but what that effect will be is not yet clear. The majority of students who view online education as adequate for professional training will meet this need through their computers, so many institutions will simply become redundant. On the other hand, institutions which are able to distill the academic experiences of these days into its academic tradition, and reinvent themselves at the same time will survive and prevail. I have no doubt that Sabancı University will be one of them.
For myself, my dream is that I will be active in research in 20 years, and be known as a person who has introduced different perspectives to the academic world in Turkey.
Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?
C.A: I'm sure I would still be an academic. I wholly believed in the Sabancı University education system, and worked hard to contribute to it. I was a member of working groups for transformative changes made to NS courses over the years; this work did take away time from my research, but as I observed with pleasure during the pandemic, Sabancı University's quick adaptation to education through a pandemic was fed by those efforts. In another institution, I likely would have more articles but a less enriched life.