From left, Stephen Dunnett, ITU Rector Muhammed Sahin, President John B. Simpson, Katherine Simpson and Defne Korur after the signing of the exchange renewal.

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• “As a cultural crossroads with an extremely rich and varied history, Turkey is a great destination for UB students and offers many excellent institutions of higher education.”

  Stephen Dunnett

  Vice Provost for International Education

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: October 14, 2009

President John B. Simpson recently traveled to Turkey to visit Bilkent University and Istanbul Technical University, two of UB’s institutional partners, during a trip that included meetings with university alumni in the country and the renewal of an exchange agreement with ITU.

Simpson was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Katherine, and Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education.

Turkey is an increasingly important country, not only for the United States but also for SUNY and UB, Dunnett notes. “It is one of our leading source countries for international students outside East and South Asia,” he says. Moreover, SUNY’s collaboration with Turkish higher education through dual-diploma programs “involves a unique and unprecedented level of institutional cooperation.“

“As a cultural crossroads with an extremely rich and varied history, Turkey is a great destination for UB students and offers many excellent institutions of higher education,” Dunnett added. “We are confident that in the years ahead we will be seeing more of our students seeking opportunities for study and research in Turkey.”

Since 2002, SUNY has had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Turkish Council of Higher Education that established a partnership between SUNY and a number of leading Turkish universities, including Istanbul Technical University (ITU) and Bilkent University, to create joint dual-diploma programs at SUNY institutions. Among the SUNY institutions that have established such programs are UB, Binghamton University, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Maritime College, Empire College and the colleges at New Paltz, Geneseo, Fredonia and Brockport

The UB trip began in Ankara, where the group visited Bilkent University, the first private, nonprofit university in Turkey. The Simpsons and Dunnett met with Abdullah Atalar, provost and vice president; Erol Arkun, vice rector for student affairs and international relations; and faculty members Tayfun Ozcelik, chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Ibrahim Korpeoglu, assistant professor of computer engineering.

They then toured the Institute of Material Science and Nanotechnology (UNAM), a national research facility and center of excellence in nanotechnology, meeting with institute director Salim Cirach, professor of physics, and assistant director Mehmet Bayindir, assistant professor of physics.

The next day, the group left for Istanbul and a visit to Istanbul Technical University, a state university founded in 1773 that specializes in architectural and engineering education.

The Simpsons and Dunnett met with Muhammed Sahin, rector of ITU, and Defne Korur, director of the university’s Office of International Relations, to sign a renewal of an exchange agreement that originally was signed by then-UB President William R. Greiner during a visit to ITU in 2002. They discussed the universities’ dual-diploma programs in civil and environmental engineering, which had been established as part of the exchange agreement and have brought approximately 35 engineering students in each major from ITU to UB each year since fall 2005. These students complete their first and third-year academic courses at ITU and their second- and fourth-year courses at UB.

Nine students in the first dual-diploma cohort in civil engineering graduated from UB in 2008; 18 received their B.S. degrees in civil engineering in May 2009. As of this fall, there are 109 students from ITU at UB—35 second-year and 31 fourth-year civil engineering students, and 25 second-year and 13 fourth-year environmental engineering students.

While at ITU, Simpson and Dunnett toured the Faculty of Civil Engineering, as well as other research centers at the university. Katherine Simpson visited ITU’s Faculty of Textile Technologies and Design at the Gumussuyu Campus, and met briefly with ITU students planning to study fashion design at FIT.

The trip also included opportunities for Simpson to update UB alumni in Istanbul about the progress of UB 2020, Dunnett noted. The 40-member Turkish alumni chapter in Istanbul hosted a reception for the Simpsons and Dunnett in the Turkish Cultural Center. The UB group also took a private yacht cruise on the Bosporus with UB alumni.