TCAdvance Scholar Hosts Hugh Pope at Cambridge
During his Spring semester at Cambridge University, TCAdvance Scholarship recipient and Secretary of the Cambridge University Turkish Society Ata Akıner organized an event featuring Hugh Pope on May 18, 2010. The event was cosponsored by the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS).
Hugh Pope is currently based in Istanbul as the Turkey/Cyprus Project Director of International Crisis Group. Previously, he was a Turkey and Middle East staff correspondent for several news agencies, including the Wall Street Journal, for nearly three decades. Pope is the author of Sons of the Conquerors, an analytical book on Turkish history, which was named one of The Economist's Best Books of 2005. Pope also co-authored Turkey Unveiled, an unrivalled history of modern Turkey and a New York Times Notable Book. Ata, who had interviewed Mr. Pope previously for his Master's thesis, invited him to Cambridge during one of his frequent trips to the UK. The event was attended by Cambridge undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty from the POLIS and Near Eastern Studies Departments.
Pope's lecture focused on Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East and drew upon his latest book, Dining with Al-Qaeda to offer insight into Turkey's geopolitical position with respect to its neighbors. "If anyone is interested in learning more about Turkey, Mr. Hugh Pope is one of the first names to be consulted," Ata remarked. The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session moderated by Dr. Geoffrey Edwards, renowned EU expert and Cambridge professor. Ata was responsible for coordinating the lecture as well as a formal dinner hosted at the Pembroke College. To learn more about the event from Mr. Pope's perspective, please see his blog entry here.
TCAdvance Scholar Brings Russian Ambassador to Boston University
Over four months of hard work culminated in a successful event when Can Gokcen – a Boston University (BU) junior and successive recipient of the TCAdvance Scholarship – organized a March 17th lecture featuring the Russian Ambassador, H.E. Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak at BU.
As President of the International Student Consortium (ISC), Can was responsible for coordinating the lecture, as well as a dinner hosted by the BU President Dr. Robert Brown honoring the Ambassador. An engaged audience of 250 students and professors came to learn about Russia from the highest ranking Russian diplomat in the United States.
The International Student Consortium is an organization that encourages harmony and progressive interaction between different groups at BU. “When determining what type of events the Consortium should do for the 2009-10 academic year, we had to look at the current global situation. One of the main continuous developments we noticed was the constant fluctuation of the US-Russian Relationship,” Can remarked.
Each year, the TCAdvance Scholarship is awarded competitively to young Americans of Turkish and Turkic heritage with the objective to recognize the academic achievements, community service and leadership role of young Turkish Americans and to cultivate a new generation of leaders in our community. For more information, please click here.
Turkish American Scholar Continues to Thrive as Science Journalist
TCA scholar Gizem Orbey added yet another high profile interview to her already impressive resume as a science journalist with an interview featuring Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie. Columbia University Professor Chalfie shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two other chemists for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein. Gizem’s interview with Dr. Chalfie is available here.
Gizem, who first received a TCA scholarship in 2007 is an associate editor for the Columbia Daily Spectator. Her previous interview with Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University is also available here.
Each year, the TCAdvance Scholarship is awarded competitively to young Americans of Turkish and Turkic heritage with the objective to recognize the academic achievements, community service and leadership role of young Turkish Americans and to cultivate a new generation of leaders in our community. For more information, please click here.
