MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Members of the Koç University Community,
I am truly excited to communicate with you in this new format, a monthly newsletter in which I plan to share my thoughts on happenings in / around our campus(es), my experiences at various locations around the World, my dialogues with industry, government and community leaders, the wonderful things we do at our university and my reflections on current events.
I share these with many of you on different occasions both individually and in my meetings with different faculty & administrative groups. However, I find these to sometimes be insufficient as I might not be able to reach out to all of you. A monthly newsletter may thus help better communicate to you what matters, what is on my mind and what we can all do to elevate Koç University to new heights.
As we have now officially closed summer and welcomed the first leaves of fall, we have many newcomers on our campus. More than 1000 new students as well as tens of faculty and new staff joined our great KU community this semester.
Let me repeat a few things I shared during orientation with the new undergraduate Class of 2020.
Although our student & faculty numbers are a small fraction of the academic scene in Turkey, we strive to be a pioneering & exemplary institution in demonstrating excellence in education & in the pursuit of research. Our founding hope is that, as we do so, others will adapt the things we do, thus multiplying our impact across the nation and the region. Our faculty & students thus carry an awesome
responsibility.
Our basic premise in all we do is that people produce the best and the most when they are the freest. We thus strive to hire the best faculty, recruit the best students and then create & maintain the freest environment in which they can be the most productive, creative and successful.
We see university education as a rendez-vous, or an appointment if you will, between generations. My colleagues and I work hard to make this appointment as exciting, informative, fulfilling and productive as possible for our students.
We want our students to strive to find what feels right for them; to embark on their journey without fear as the only way to find your true self is to listen to your inner voice.
We ask our students to never lose their passion; it is only when you live your passion to the fullest, that you can give back and contribute the most.
We as KU strive to provide the environment where our students can explore, experience, try until they find their path. This does not come only through academic performance, we ask our students to be socially active, in student clubs, sports and cultural events.
To our students I say ‘Seize the day, Carpe Diem, it is your time’
To our faculty, I say, ‘Let us go ahead and do what we do best, teach what we know and research the unknown’
To our staff, I say ‘We are so glad you have our back; thanks a million for your support!’ (İyi ki varsınız!)
May this new fall semester bring more productivity, ideas and a lot of fun to our wonderful campus...
Best wishes and regards to you all,
Umran Inan
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/umransavasinan
/profumraninan
