Announcement for Faculty Members



Dear Members of the Koç University Community,

A very warm welcome to our campus and to both our new and returning students, faculty and staff at the beginning of a new academic year…

Today, we both salute and greet all our students, faculty and staff in a very full, lively campus which longed for our return for the past 18 months… We cannot overemphasize our excitement and joy of seeing our Koç Square, our Student Center, other courtyards, our Library and many more places so busy and so alive, with so many students . . .

This welcome is not only to newcomers who have joined us this year but to all our community who had to leave the campus in a matter of 2 days back in March 2020. Thus, this year, as we welcome and embrace more than 1200 new undergraduates, hundreds of new MA/MS/PhD students and tens of new faculty and staff joining our Koç University community, we also share the common joy of coming together, yet once again after a long hiatus.

We all had been waiting and preparing for this reunion for a very long time and we look forward to the great energy we create when we teach, learn, work and simply be together. Our face-to-face rendezvous has been put on hold/postponed for way too long a time and now that we finally once again have that opportunity, we ask all of you to grab it and take advantage of being in classes, offices, labs and all campus spaces engaging with one another, albeit paying close attention to our guidance on physical distancing and face mask mandates.

Many of our staff and faculty have dedicated literally hundreds of hours of work to develop our plans for the Fall Semester and we have put to use all our plans, new systems and preparations for a face-to-face teaching/learning model with online options. We are as ready as anyone can be, adapting to the ever-changing pandemic landscape in our country and the world, if and when necessary. We have been ready for our return since last year, always following and abiding to every guidance from the Ministry of Health and other related public authorities. With our own experts, we have honed our abilities to adapt swiftly and decisively, allowing ourselves as much flexibility as possible so that when circumstances change, we can respond to these changes and the needs of our community as swiftly as we can as there is no doubt in our minds that the next 12 months ahead harbors a new set of many challenges.

Please do know; however, that this pandemic facing us today and other crises that may come our way in the future shall surely pass and that we have already come out of this period as a stronger institution than ever before.

Now, it is time to look forward…

To our students, we say ‘Seize the day, Carpe Diem, it is your time’

To our faculty, we say, ‘Let us go ahead and do what we do best, teach what we know, learn from our students and research the unknown’

To our staff, we 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 back to our wonderful campus…

Best wishes and regards to you all,

 

Zeynep Gürhan Canlı

Acting President
Vice President for Academic Affairs

Umran İnan

Advisor to the Board of Trustees