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 Erdinç Öztürk.
Erdinç Öztürk has been a member of Sabancı University for 21 years. He was one of the first 251 undergraduate students who were there when the university opened its doors in 1999. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) Microelectronic Engineering Program in 2003, and is among the first graduation class. He completed his master's degree at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the US in 2005, and obtained a PhD from the same school in 2009. Erdinç Öztürk has been a FENS faculty member since August 2017.
Erdinç Öztürk’s answers to our four questions are below.
What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?
E.Ö.: My first day at the university was the day of the English exam. I had heard it being described as a "campus like a space station" and had seen photos in newspapers, so my expectations were high. But what impressed me most was not the buildings, or the ongoing construction, or the sandwiches conveniently located everywhere, or the overpowering smell of fertilizer. What impressed me were my cohort and the professors I met that day. We were 251 people if I'm not wrong; we had the campus to ourselves for the first year. I learned a lot from, and shared a lot with, all 250 people during my time as a student there. We were given a laptop when we arrived on campus, and I had hardly used a computer before. I remember coming back to the dorm room and asking my roommate what we were supposed to do with them. During the orientation, FENS Dean Kemal İnan had said "The computers assigned to you are no less than weapons." After four years, I realized that he was underestimating: the real weapon we had was our friends.
What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?
E.Ö.: I can say that I had no idea about life 20 years ago. I was fresh out of the university exam, and the only thing I knew –and was devoted to– at the time was the exam. I don't remember having aspirations about the future. There were subjects I knew well, I was aware that I was talented in certain areas, and I loved to read and do research, but I don't remember having a dream. Sabancı University taught me how to dream, what ideals and principles are, how one is capable of free thought, and how to know what I really wanted for myself.
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?
E.Ö.: When I think of Sabancı University, I think of home. I grew up here, and I'm a child of this household. The university gave a lot to me, and I put in a lot of effort for it. Of course I have dreams for it, mainly for it to survive as it is. There are areas where Sabancı University is leading, and principles never compromised upon, and I hope these continue as they are in 20 years. But most importantly, I wish that students who graduate from this university in 20 years have more powerful, more creative and more evocative dreams for their university than I do. We the first graduates were stronger together, and I hope that the Sabancı University spirit becomes ever stronger with new graduates joining our ranks.
Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?
E.Ö.: We all make choices throughout life, but we really can't say what the choices we never made would have done for us. Maybe I would have been a much happier Boğaziçi University graduate, or maybe I would have dropped out because of all the issues I had had. On the other hand, it was Sabancı University that taught me the questioning way of thought, so I would have been much more confident in my answer to this question if I hadn't been here.