Advisory Board of Department
We value different perspectives to contribute to our student’s academic and social development while preparing them for life and the future.
We want to thank our advisory board members for agreeing to be part of this process.
Filiz Eczacıbaşı Sarper
About
Filiz Eczacıbaşı Sarper, who is the President of the Board of Directors of the İzmir Foundation for Culture, Arts, and Education (İKSEV), which holds an essential place in the cultural and artistic life of İzmir, was born in İzmir. Sarper, who graduated from the London College of Choreology, was among the founders of the İzmir Foundation for Culture, Arts and Education, established in 1985. Following the death of Nejat F. Eczacıbaşı in 1993, she was elected as the President of the Board of Directors of the İzmir Foundation for Culture, Arts and Education. Sarper was appointed as the National Advisor by the Presidency during İzmir’s candidacy for Expo 2015. During the Expo 2020 process, she served as the Euro-Asia Delegate Leader. She has been awarded many times for her contributions to the cultural and artistic life of İzmir. On May 26, 2009, she was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity for her continuous contributions to the cultures and arts of both countries by President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy. In 2021, she received the Italian Star of Merit at the rank of Officer, the next higher rank of the Knight of the Star of Italian Solidarity, by President Sergio Mattarella of Italy.
In 2014, Sarper was awarded the Medal of Merit of the Republic of Poland for her contributions to Turkish-Polish cultural and scientific cooperation. Filiz Eczacıbaşı Sarper was elected to the board of directors of the European Festivals Association (EFA) on February 28, 2014, becoming the first Turkish member to be part of the management of the 60-year-old organization. At the general assembly of EFA held in Galway, Ireland, on November 24, 2021, Sarper was unanimously elected as the first female vice-president in the 70-year history of the association. At the EFA summit held in Usedom, Germany, in 2024, Sarper’s term as vice president ended, and she was unanimously elected as EFA’s first female honorary member by the general assembly.
Murat Akser, Prof. Dr.
About
After studying at Boğaziçi University, Murat Akser received a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature and a master’s degree in History. He received his formal training in film production from famous directors at the Turkish Directors Association. Akser completed his MFA in Film at York University. Since 1999, he has taught film production and media studies at York University, Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, and Kadir Has University. He has directed music videos and short films for Ronin Media and Entertainment Inc. Akser has worked as a programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival and a coordinator at the Canadian Film Centre. He has also worked as a cameraman on major Hollywood productions and is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE) and the Canadian Academy of Film and Television. Akser holds a PhD in Communication and Culture from York University. He currently teaches film production at Ulster University. Akser has conducted extensive studies on film genre narratives, independent cinema, and film parody and has recently published comprehensive books on cinema and media, including ‘New Cinema, New Media: Rediscovering Turkish Cinema’ and ‘Alternative Media in Contemporary Turkey.’
Akser, also an active filmmaker, has experience in cinematography, editing, screenwriting, and directing in the film industries of Toronto and Northern Ireland. His feature-length screenplay ‘Rise and Fall’ was accepted into the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in 2014, and his most recent film, ‘The Gift (Armağan),’ won the Best International Short Film award at the Dublin Silk Road International Film Festival. Dr. Akser is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild and the Canadian Academy of Film and Television. Additionally, he served on the board of directors of the European Communication Research and Education Association from 2016 to 2021.
M.Salim Kadıbeşegil
About
Salim Kadibesegil, with his academic background and high referrals to strategic communication and reputation management, leads corporate reputation management to generate awareness and have a place in Turkey. Between 1999 and 2004, Salim represented Turkey as a Board member of the International Communication Consultancy Association, ICCO, based in London. He was also a consultant for one of Turkey’s top management magazines’, Capital, “Most Admired Companies” and “Corporate Social Responsibility” research projects. Salim represented Turkey in “The Reputation Institute”, headquartered in New York. He was an active chair of the Turkish Corporate Governance Association and Bugday Ecological Transformation Association. His company, Orsa Strategic Communication Consultancy, was also the first member of the Global Reporting Initiative in Turkey. He has been a faculty member at the School of Communications, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul/Turkey, since 2008. Kadıbesegil regularly writes articles for monthly Brandmap and quarterly IN magazine of the Turkish Ethics and Reputation Society.
Salim Kadıbeşegil was awarded a Hall of Fame by the ICCO (International Consultancies Organisation) Turkish Chapter İDA in March 2017 for his contribution to the profession. Kadıbeşegil is also an Advisory Board member of INBREC (International Brand and Reputation Community)
Salim is also a founder and advisory board member of the RepMan Reputation Research Center, a not-for-profit platform that aims to increase awareness of reputation management.
With 42 years of experience, Salim Kadibesegil has ten books widely accepted as source books in business and academics.
- “The Principles of Public Relations 1986”
- “Prescriptions for PR, 1992”
- “Where to Start in PR, 1997”
- “Here Comes Crises, 2002”
- “Reputation Management, 2006”
- “It is time for Strategic Communications, 2009”
- “The Game is Over, 2012″
- ” What If Birds Crash in on the Wind Mills, 2015″ e-book
- “Reputation Management,” textbook for the Anatolian University, 2016″
- “Corporate Lessons for Bosses, CEO’s and C-Suite Executives”, 2019
- “You either leave a mark or smudge, 2024”
Vasıf Şahoğlu, Prof. Dr.
About
In 2002, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hayat Erkanal at Ankara University Social Sciences Institute, he completed his doctoral thesis titled ‘The Place and Importance of Early Bronze Age Ceramics of Liman Tepe in Aegean Archaeology.’ He is a professor in the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Protohistory and Near Asian Archaeology at Ankara University. Since 2008, he has been the Director of the Mustafa V. Koç Maritime Archaeology Research Center (ANKÜSAM) at Ankara University.
Since 1992, he has been involved in excavations at Liman Tepe, Bakla Tepe, and Çeşme–Bağlararası as part of the İzmir Region Excavation and Research Project (IRERP). From 2009 to 2019, he chaired the Çeşme–Bağlararası excavations. Since 2020, he has been the head of both land and underwater excavations at Urla, Liman Tepe.
He conducts scientific research on Anatolia and the Aegean cultures before the Classical Age, especially on interregional relations and trade, burial customs, maritime archaeology, harbor studies, natural disasters affecting human life in the past, and ceramics.