Bilkent Day Celebrated on April 3
Photographs by: Aydın Ramazanoğlu
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Prof. Ali Doğramacı and Rector Prof. Abdullah Atalar met with faculty, staff and students on Tuesday, April 3 at the Bilkent Concert Hall. Prof. Doğramacı announced that beginning this year, April 3 -- the birthday of the university's beloved founder Hocabey -- will be celebrated as Bilkent Day. Each year, current and future projects and issues of Bilkent University will be discussed in an open meeting to promote the sharing of ideas. Prior to this year, similar meetings had been held in 2001, 2008 and 2010.
The meeting began with Prof. Doğramacı's opening remarks addressing the question, "Why does Bilkent exist?" He noted that before Bilkent came into existence, Turkey had had only one model of higher education, the state university. The new university founded by Prof. İhsan Doğramacı offered an alternative organization for higher education in the country -- one that was nonprofit and more independent.
Prof. Doğramacı also referred to the international Statement on Academic Freedom, endorsed by Bilkent's Senate and Board of Trustees in 2005. The statement defines academic freedom as "the freedom to conduct research, teach, speak, and publish, subject to the norms and standards of scholarly inquiry, without interference or penalty, wherever the search for truth and understanding may lead."
Prof. Doğramacı concluded his talk by stating, "Bilkent Day will be celebrated each April 3, to discuss where we are, where we are going, and what lies ahead."
Prof. Atalar then made his presentation, which focused on entrepreneurship and innovation (comprising creativity and initiative) as requirements for a creative university environment. He referred to Prof. İhsan Doğramacı as an example of an entrepreneur/innovator: someone who perceives what others have not and then acts upon that perception. Characterizing the university's role as creating an environment in which entrepreneurs/innovators flourish, Prof. Atalar proceeded to discuss the ways in which Bilkent was striving to fulfill this purpose.
He stated that there should be a diversity of courses: the curriculum should have "plenty of electives," and students should take electives from different departments and faculties. For example, engineering students would take courses in art, music and the social sciences. Moreover, electives should be free rather than restricted, with fewer rules confining students' course choices.
Prof. Atalar also discussed the desirability of further increasing the diversity of the student body through exchange programs, and underlined the importance of teamwork and internships, which encourage collaboration and prepare students for life. The rector ended his talk by describing the features of a number of innovative courses at Bilkent, such as GE 401/402, HIST 200, GE 250 and GE 440.
Vice Rector for Administrative and Financial Affairs Kürşat Aydoğan's presentation concerned accreditation at Bilkent as well as the work of the university's Strategic Planning Steering Committee. Bilkent, noted Prof. Aydoğan, already has two accreditations: three departments in the Faculty of Engineering (IE, CS and EE) are accredited by ABET (the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), and the Faculty of Business Administration holds the distinction of being the first business school in Turkey accredited by AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). In addition, Bilkent University has gone through the Institutional Evaluation Program (IEP) administered by the EUA (the European University Association).
Prof. Aydoğan then spoke about the university's Strategic Planning Steering Committee, which is chaired by Prof. Atalar. The committee, he said, "will decide our future" in the four areas of research, teaching and learning, wider engagement with society, and quality of life at Bilkent. Four subcommittees, which include student, alumni and/or other representation in addition to faculty members and university administrators, have been established to work in these areas.
Following Prof. Aydoğan's talk, presentations were made by three members of the Strategic Planning Committee: Prof. Dilek Önkal, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences (chair of the Teaching and Learning subcommittee), Prof. Adnan Akay, vice president of the Board of Trustees (chair of the Research subcommittee) and Prof. Erdal Arıkan, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. They all stressed the message that they are waiting to receive comments and suggestions from members of the Bilkent community. Such communications may be sent to:
Research res@bilkent.edu.tr
Teaching and Learning t_and_l@bilkent.edu.tr
Wider Engagement with Society society@bilkent.edu.tr
Quality of Life at Bilkent quality@bilkent.edu.tr
The next event on the Bilkent Day schedule was a panel headed by Prof. Talat Halman, dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters, titled "Cultural Initiatives of İhsan Doğramacı" and held at the FMPA Theater Hall. Prof. Halman and the other panel members, Prof. Işın Metin (associate dean of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts and artistic director and conductor of the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra) and Rasim Özyürek (director, Training Programs for Regional Countries), explored the cultural initiatives implemented by Prof. Doğramacı and spoke about his passion for music and the arts.
The panel ended in mid-afternoon, but the celebration was far from over. That evening, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra performed a special commemorative concert in honor of Prof. Doğramacı's birthday at the Bilkent Concert Hall. Prof. Metin conducted the program, which featured soloists Gülsin Onay, Esen Kıvrak and Çağ Erçağ in Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor, and concluded with Dvorak's Symphony No. 9.