The University is pleased to announce the recipients of
the Distinguished Teachers of the Year Awards for 2008.
Prof. Abdullah Atalar, Prof. Selim Aktürk, Assoc. Prof.
Marie-Henriette Gates, Asst. Prof. Alev Çınar and Asst.
Prof. Ali Aydın Selçuk were chosen for demonstrating
outstanding teaching abilities, and for contributing to
students' academic and intellectual development.
Bilkent News asked this year's "Distinguished
Teachers" for their thoughts on receiving this award.
Prof. Abdullah Atalar I am very much honored to receive this award. It
is wonderful to see that my students appreciate me as a
teacher. I enjoy teaching because it is a great
satisfaction to see the glittering eyes of students when
they comprehend a difficult concept. I wish I had more
time for teaching. I thank my students and colleagues
who nominated me. I am grateful to my wife, Ayşe,
because she is the one who suffers when I spend a lot of
time for course preparation and “Moodling” at home.
Prof. Selim Aktürk
I am really honored to be a recipient of such a
prestigious award. I would like to thank everyone who
has participated in the nomination process. How does
someone learn "effective teaching"? We could read
articles, attend workshops and seminars, and more
importantly, observe other faculty members and learn
from their experiences. I take this opportunity to thank
Prof. Ömer Benli, founding chair of the IE Department
who also received this award in 2000, for being an
exemplary role model. Things are meaningful when they
are shared. I would like to share this award with my
colleagues, IE alumni and students, since teaching and
conducting research with them has been the Fountain of
Youth for me. The past eighteen years at Bilkent
University have been a great pleasure. I have had the
opportunity to meet hundreds of wonderful students, who
have become very successful academicians, CEOs, general
managers, directors, etc. Whenever I hear about their
success in their selected fields, I take a great pride
in thinking that I had the privilege of teaching them. I
am a big fan of Pink Floyd, and Roger Waters described
teachers and the education system as parts of the
"wall." I am very happy to find out that I am not an
"another brick on the wall."
Assoc. Prof. Marie-Henriette Gates I
have been training to be a teacher since childhood. It
is my family profession, spanning one century and three
generations! But the training phase never ends. Each
time I enter the classroom, I feel the same nervous
excitement, as if stepping on stage in front of the most
demanding audience. Will main points come across? Can I
keep students alert throughout the class hour? Will they
perceive underlying themes, and draw conclusions instead
of getting stuck on detail? Teaching archaeology at
Bilkent offers advantages I would not find elsewhere,
and they certainly help bring the past into sharper
focus. Taking students on fieldtrips to museums and
sites, and to work on excavations, gives a direct
experience that enhances courses immeasurably. But
especially, Bilkent students have, for 18 years,
encouraged me to improve in learning my profession.
Today, they have awarded me the highest grade. Thank
you, dearest students, for your enthusiasm and
generosity!
Asst. Prof. Alev Çınar In
my career as a scholar, I have received other
prestigious awards, but I have never felt as honored as
I did upon learning that I was the recipient of this
award. Since my first day of teaching, 24 years ago, as
a Teaching Assistant, I have enjoyed teaching
tremendously, every single time I stepped into the
classroom. This is mostly because teaching for me is so
much more beyond a job or a career and is actually a way
of life where I continue to find some of my life's most
valuable experiences and lessons. I see the classroom as
a place where I have the invaluable chance to interact
with intelligent, creative young people in an atmosphere
of mutual respect and learning. These young men and
women have certainly touched my life in ways that I
cannot even begin to put into words, and so I am deeply
moved and honored to find that I have also managed to
touch their lives. I thank Bilkent University and my
Department for allowing me to explore and develop new
ways of teaching where mutual learning can be a joyful
experience.
Asst. Prof. Ali Aydın Selçuk Learning
and teaching are two of the greatest fulfillments in
life. Although this has always been so for me, it has
never been truer than here at Bilkent, where I have felt
extremely lucky for the privilege of teaching such
wonderful young people since my first day in the
classroom. In addition to the very pleasure of teaching
Bilkent students, now I am extremely honored that my
work has been appreciated so highly by my students and
colleagues. I want to thank them all. This award is
especially honoring since there are so many good
teachers at Bilkent. Perhaps the best way to say "thank
you" would be to share the advice of a master teacher,
Parker Palmer, not just on authentic teaching but on
authentic living in general: “I know of no better way to
keep my knowing, my teaching, and myself alive than to
keep the vision of truth continually before me.” Thank
you.
I
have been training to be a teacher since childhood. It
is my family profession, spanning one century and three
generations! But the training phase never ends. Each
time I enter the classroom, I feel the same nervous
excitement, as if stepping on stage in front of the most
demanding audience. Will main points come across? Can I
keep students alert throughout the class hour? Will they
perceive underlying themes, and draw conclusions instead
of getting stuck on detail? Teaching archaeology at
Bilkent offers advantages I would not find elsewhere,
and they certainly help bring the past into sharper
focus. Taking students on fieldtrips to museums and
sites, and to work on excavations, gives a direct
experience that enhances courses immeasurably. But
especially, Bilkent students have, for 18 years,
encouraged me to improve in learning my profession.
Today, they have awarded me the highest grade. Thank
you, dearest students, for your enthusiasm and
generosity! 
In
my career as a scholar, I have received other
prestigious awards, but I have never felt as honored as
I did upon learning that I was the recipient of this
award. Since my first day of teaching, 24 years ago, as
a Teaching Assistant, I have enjoyed teaching
tremendously, every single time I stepped into the
classroom. This is mostly because teaching for me is so
much more beyond a job or a career and is actually a way
of life where I continue to find some of my life's most
valuable experiences and lessons. I see the classroom as
a place where I have the invaluable chance to interact
with intelligent, creative young people in an atmosphere
of mutual respect and learning. These young men and
women have certainly touched my life in ways that I
cannot even begin to put into words, and so I am deeply
moved and honored to find that I have also managed to
touch their lives. I thank Bilkent University and my
Department for allowing me to explore and develop new
ways of teaching where mutual learning can be a joyful
experience.
Learning
and teaching are two of the greatest fulfillments in
life. Although this has always been so for me, it has
never been truer than here at Bilkent, where I have felt
extremely lucky for the privilege of teaching such
wonderful young people since my first day in the
classroom. In addition to the very pleasure of teaching
Bilkent students, now I am extremely honored that my
work has been appreciated so highly by my students and
colleagues. I want to thank them all. This award is
especially honoring since there are so many good
teachers at Bilkent. Perhaps the best way to say "thank
you" would be to share the advice of a master teacher,
Parker Palmer, not just on authentic teaching but on
authentic living in general: “I know of no better way to
keep my knowing, my teaching, and myself alive than to
keep the vision of truth continually before me.” Thank
you.