Past Presidents
2021 - 2023
Professor Zeynep Gürhan Canlı - Acting President
Prof. Zeynep Gürhan Canlı was appointed as the Acting President (2021-2023) Professor Gürhan Canlı is also the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Koç University. She served as the Dean of the College of Administrative Sciences and Economics (September 2017-August 2021) and the Director of the Graduate School of Business (February 2018-August 2021: March 2010-February 2016).
Prof. Canlı’s research interests include consumer information processing in relation to branding and corporate image (brand relationships, co-branding, brand extensions, brand communications, corporate social responsibility), consumer experiences and sustainability. She completed her Ph.D. in marketing at New York University, Stern School of Business in 1997. Prior to joining Koç University, she was a faculty member in the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Prof. Canlı has published several articles in leading academic journals. She received a number of awards and was tenured at the University of Michigan in recognition of her productivity and quality of her research. She served as an associate editor for the Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology, and a senior editor for the International Journal of Research in Marketing. She is on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and International Journal of Research in Marketing.
2009 - 2021
Professor Umran S. İnan
Prof. Umran S. İnan served as the President of Koç University between 2009 and 2021. Prof.İnan, who served as the Rector of Koç University from 2009 to 2021, also contributed to the university's administration as a Member of the Board of Trustees Advisory Committee alongside the Acting Rector from 2021 to 2023.
He is a Professor (Emeritus) of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where he served on the faculty for more than 30 years and as the Director of Space, Telecommunications & Radioscience Laboratory for 15 years. Professor Inan has served as the Principal Dissertation Supervisor for 60 PhD Students at Stanford. Professor Inan managed numerous scientific projects totaling $100M and involving geophysical observations at more than 40 sites on all seven continents, including many sites in Antarctica as well as on Earth-orbiting satellites. These scientific investigations are currently been carried out by his many students who are faculty members at various universities in the United States.
Prof. İnan is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE), a Fellow of American Physical Society (APS), and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and the Electromagnetics Academy. Prof. İnan is a Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and The Science Academy and has served as the Chair of the U.S. National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and the International Chair of Commission H (Waves in Plasmas) of URSI, and is currently the Vice President of URSI. Prof.Inan was the recipient of the 2007 Stanford University, Allan V. Cox Medal, 1998 Stanford University Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Several Group Achievement Awards from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the European Space Agency Antarctic Service Medal of the U.S. with an Antarctic Mountain named ‘Inan Peak’ in his honor, 2008 Appleton Prize from URSI and the Royal Society, 2010 Special Science Award from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye, 2020 the Mustafa Prize granted by the Mustafa Science Foundation.
Professor Inan is also the 2023 recipient of the John Adam Fleming Medal of the American Geophysical Union.
2001 - 2009
Professor Attila Aşkar
Prof. Attila Aşkar was president of Koç University between 2001 and 2009.
After finishing Saint Joseph High School in 1961, Prof. Aşkar studied civil engineering at Istanbul Technical University, graduating with a master’s degree in 1966. He completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University in the USA and after graduating in 1969 began working as a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University. In 1971 he returned to Turkey, working for a while at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu; TÜBİTAK), where he taught a Ph.D. class. He was appointed as a lecturer at the Mathematics Department of Boğaziçi University in 1972, later serving as vice dean of the Faculty of Basic Sciences, Senate member, and Intercollegiate Board representative. He was also guest professor at Princeton and Paris VI universities, the Göttingen Max-Planck Institute in Göttingen, and the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Aşkar is currently professor in the KU Mathematics Department. As well as lecturing, he was also founding dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1993–98) and vice dean responsible for academic affairs (1998–2001).
A member of both the Turkish Academy of Sciences (Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi- TÜBA) and TÜBİTAK, he has received the TÜBİTAK Incentive Award, TÜBİTAK Science Award and Ministry of Culture Information Age Award. Almost 100 of his articles have appeared in international journals and he has written two books on mathematics: Methods in Applied Algebra and Analysis (1981) and Lattice Dynamical Foundations of Continuum Theories of Solids (1986). He also developed the “Aşkar Theory” in mathematics, which was named in his honor.
1993 - 2001
Seha Tiniç
Prof. Seha Tiniç served as president of Koç University (KU) from 1993 to 2001.
In 1964, he obtained a degree in business administration from Robert College Undergraduate Department (today’s Boğaziçi University). After completing a master’s degree at the University of Tulsa, USA, he lectured at the Middle East Technical University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Business Administration (1966-67). He received a doctorate in business from Cornell University, USA in 1970. He lectured as associate professor in the University of Alberta, Canada (1970-73) and professor (1973-85). He also served as guest lecturer at Dartmouth College, USA (1976-77) and the University of British Columbia, Canada (1978-79) and worked at the University of Texas School of Business Management (1985-93). Tiniç contributed to the foundation of KU, where he was appointed as president in 1993, a position he held until the middle of 2001.
Member of American Finance Association, Western Finance Association (President, 1984-85), American Economic Association and Finance Management Association, Tiniç has published over 30 papers on finance as well as several books including, Investing in Securities: An Efficient Markets Approach (1979) and Solutions Manual for Investing in Securities: An Efficient Markets Approach (1979; with Richard R. West).
1990 - 1993
Tamer Şahinbaş - Founding President
Tamer Şahinbaş represented Koç Holding on the Vehbi Koç Foundation Board of Directors from 1994 to 1996.
After completing his studies at Tarsus American College in 1958, Şahinbaş obtained a degree at the Middle East Technical University Department of Civil Engineering (1958-64).He received a master’s degree from the same university in 1965. He served as a road bridge engineer in Denmark (1965-67), returned to Turkey in 1967 to complete his military service in 1969 and later worked at the State Planning Organization between 1970 and 1972.
In 1972, Şahinbaş took up a position as planning manager at Aygaz AŞ, a Koç Holding company, and moved to Koç Holding as planning coordinator in 1979. He was general manager of Koza İnşaat AŞ (1981-90) and founding president of Koç University (KU) (1990-92). Şahinbaş was appointed in 1993 as president of human resources at Koç Holding, and remained until his retirement in 2000. At present, he continues to serve on the board of directors of Ramerica Inc.