Bilkent Commemorates Acclaimed Turkish Poet Cahit Külebi

Cahit Külebi (1917-1997), prominent Turkish poet, bureaucrat and former chief accountant of the Turkish Language Association, was remembered at a half-day event entitled "Poet of Love for the Homeland and People: Cahit Külebi Memorial Day" held by the Bilkent University Center for Turkish Literature in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Directorate General for Libraries and Publications at the National Library on November 19. Moderated by Assoc. Prof. Nermin Yazıcı of Başkent University, the event included poetry recitations, music and short films as well as talks by academics and friends and relatives of Mr. Külebi.

Those who took the floor included Assoc. Prof. Nuran Tezcan and Prof. Semih Tezcan of Bilkent University; Prof. Onur Bilge Kula; the poet's nephews Prof. Baran Tuncer and Uğur Tuncer, his son Ali Külebi and his daughter-in-law Dr. Oya Külebi; musician and composer Alpay, who has adapted Mr. Külebi's poems as lyrics to his songs; the mayor of Niksar, Duran Yadigar; friends,
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IAED Student Wins Second Prize in EU Information Center Design Competition


Ayça Özel, a student in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, has received second prize in the recent Promotion Product Design Competition organized by the European Union Information Center (EUIC) at Bahçeşehir University. The competition was open to all students in art, architecture and design faculties in Turkey.

No first prize was awarded in the competition. Ayça's project, awarded second prize, was entitled "unity." She designed a note-holder, consisting of a magnet in the shape of a human body symmetrically divided into two. The award-winning designs from the competition will be produced for distribution at seminars and conferences organized by the EUIC network in Turkey.

Fallacies, Psychology and Vikings: World Philosophy Day at Bilkent

BY ALPER ÖZKAN (MSN/PhDII)

Last week, on November 22-23, Bilkent University students and faculty alike celebrated UNESCO World Philosophy Day (actually designated as November 15 this year) with a two-day series of lectures in a joint effort by the Department of Philosophy and the Bilkent Philosophy Society.

A workshop on logical fallacies, both in the context of formal logic and as made during everyday conversations, was held on the first day of activities. After an introduction to validity and soundness of inferences by Asst. Prof. Hilmi Demir and an overview by Dr. Robin Turner of the fallacies most commonly observed in daily life, the mini-workshop concluded with a game in which participants were asked to intentionally construct a particular logical fallacy while avoiding others. Given the human propensity to commit unintentional fallacies, this trivial-sounding objective quickly proved to be a Herculean task.

The theme chosen for World Philosophy Day 2012, "Future Generations," was the focus of the second day's talks. Following a brief introduction by Prof. Varol Akman, Asst. Prof. Simon Wigley summarized the recent accomplishments and failings of Turkey with regard to the gender gap in education, underlining the fact that higher percentages of girls attending primary or higher education do not necessarily translate to higher percentages of girls learning (or, for that matter, earning) more from the experience. Despite completing compulsory education, girls in Turkey, for reasons that are unclear, still do not fare as well in certain areas of standardized tests, and a marked lack of workplace equality remains despite the improvements in school attendance.

Dr. Wigley then discussed the possible reasons for and implications of these trends, as well as potential solutions (and non-solutions, for one plausible-sounding approach in fact suggests that we should abandon education altogether).

Asst. Prof. William Wringe then gave an account of the mutual but sometimes unintentionally misleading relationship between developmental
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FEASS Exchange Get-Together 2012

Photographs by Bikem Ahıska (IR/I)

The Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences welcomed its past and present exchange students at a get-together on November 21. The dean and associate deans of FEASS, department chairs, exchange coordinators and representatives from the Bilkent exchange office were there to meet with incoming and outgoing international exchange students.

FEASS hosts a significant portion of the exchange students Bilkent receives every year. For the current semester, there are 39 exchange students from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the US.