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 Özlem Kalkan.
Özlem Kalkan has been a member of the Sabancı University family for 21 years. She is one of the first 251 undergraduate students of 1999, when the university opened its doors. Having graduated from the Microelectronics Program, the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) in 2003, Özlem Kalkan is one of the first graduates of the university. She completed her master's studies in Leaders for Industry as well as Telecommunications and Business Administration programs at Sabancı University.
Having started her professional professional career as the Value Added Services Manager at Borusan Telekom during her master’s studies, Özlem Kalkan worked in various positions for the industry's leading telecommunications companies between 2005 and 2019, and became a member of the SabancıDx family as the Chief Strategy and Sales Officer (CSSO) in April 2019. Since February 2020, she has been working as the Chief Sales and Product Management Officer at SabancıDx. Özlem Kalkan is also a founding member of Wtech, the Women's Association in Technology.
Özlem Kalkan’s answers to our four questions are below.
What was your initial memory / impression of when you met Sabancı University for the first time?
Ö.K: In high school, we would have university tours, we would see all the schools, we would imagine ourselves laying on the school’s lawn, getting lost in great lecture halls; I mean, at least I would. However, I had never imagined myself in the classrooms of a school I had never seen before. Yes, the first thing I remember about Sabancı University is that nothingness! The first time I saw the school was when I went there to take the English examption exam. Let us not call it the school; actually it was just an observation tower (I think only we and Sakıp sabancı could enter there), a dormitory building, a library which was not called the library, a café, a faculty building, and a lot of construction and the smell of turf... “What have I done?”, I said to myself... I guess I took the biggest gamble of my life that day, but I never knew I would win so much! That oasis grew so fast... As if it was not just the buildings that were constructed, it was the knowledge within us... So quickly, special, beautiful, and universal…
What are the differences between yourself 20 years ago and yourself today, and how did Sabancı University contribute to that change?
Ö.K: I am the same because I still keep walking choosing to take big risks, inspired by my adventure of choosing this university, which ended in great success…
On the other hand, I am different because I did not know how to create something from scratch, shoot for the impossible, question, and achieve not on my own or directly from someone else, but together by mutual interaction, discussion, learning, teaching, and improving; I learned that at Sabancı University. And I learned that not in a classroom or a lecture hall or from books, but by first hand experience, I learned that to my bones. And thanks to what I learned, I managed to achieve very successful results in my career. The secret of my achievements comes from a virtue that you cannot see with your eyes or touch with your hands; something unique to this university, something in its DNA.
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?
Ö.K: There is no stopping for this school. It is always progresses, improves, develops, acquires fame, and acts as a leader. When I think of my university 20 years later, I see a university that has grown with the number of campuses, has become famous and built a reputation all over the world with its graduates, and has made a name for itself and its faculty members in international arena with its academic achievements. This is not a dream; I believe that we will see this picture. I imagine myself as one of the graduates who have planted the seeds of success in this global framework, just like I planted the seedlings of the trees in the campus 20 years age, in whose shade another generation rests.
Where and how would you be now if your paths hadn't crossed with Sabancı University?
Ö.K: If Sabancı University had not opened that year, I would have gone to Boğaziçi University. As I wanted to be an industrial engineer back then and other universities did not offer the freedom to choose your program in the last two years, I would graduate as an industrial engineer (now I am a microelectronics engineer). After school, I would have probably found myself joining a global consulting company, spending many years of busy shifts there, trying to become a partner. I cannot say it is better or worse, but it certainly would have been a safer life with low risks and less opportunities. And I certainly could not have had the chance to write these sentences, because then I would not have been one of the first graduates of a university that was so successful on a global scale! I am so lucky and I am so happy for that... How many times do you say “Thank God” about something in life anyway? Sabancı University is a rare one for me....