The Board of Trustees represents the University’s legal entity. It consists of no fewer than 7 and no more than 32 members who meet the requirements and qualifications stipulated by laws and regulations, and who are elected by the General Assembly of the Founding Foundations. Each member of the Board of Trustees serves a term of four years.
President of the Board of Trustees: Gülsev Kale
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Deputy Presidents of the Board of Trustees: Ergül Tunçbilek, Sübidey Togan
Board Members:
Ayhan Atlıman, Ümit V. Çatalyürek, N. Mefharet Kocatepe, M. Tezer Kutluk, Yahya Laleli, Akın Metli, Ahmet Nalbur, Şencan Özme, Z. Meral Özsoyoğlu, Muhsin Saraçlar, Öncü Serter
Kürşat Aydoğan (Rector)
Vice Presidents: Abdullah Atalar, Fatma Taşkın
Gülsev Kale – President
Professor
Medical Doctor, Faculty Member (retired)
Kale completed her residency at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Diseases in 1973, became Associate Professor in 1980, and Professor in 1988. She has served as Head of the Department of Child Health and Diseases, Head of the Pediatric Pathology Unit, Director of the Institute of Child Health, and Director of the Child Health and Diseases Research and Application Center at Hacettepe University. She currently works independently as a specialist in child health and diseases.
Ergül Tunçbilek – Vice President
Professor
Medical Doctor, Faculty Member (retired)
Tunçbilek completed her residency at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Diseases in 1967, became Associate Professor in 1972, and Professor in 1977. She has served as Head of the Genetics Subdivision, Head of the Department of Child Health and Diseases, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Director of the Institute of Population Studies at Hacettepe University.
Sübidey Togan – Vice President, Chair of the General Assembly of the Founding Foundations – Ex Officio Member
Professor
Economics, Faculty Member (retired)
Togan has held teaching and research positions at various universities in the field of economics. He received his Ph.D. in 1972 from Johns Hopkins University, became Associate Professor in 1978, and Professor in 1986. He has served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Middle East Technical University and as Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences at Bilkent University.
Ayhan Atlıman – Member
Attorney (retired)
Graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law, she has served as Legal Counsel of the Inter-University Council, Chief Legal Counsel of the Council of Higher Education, and Secretary General and Legal Counsel of Bilkent University.
Ümit Veysel Çatalyürek – Member
Professor
Computer Engineering, Faculty Member
Çatalyürek received his Ph.D. in 2000 from Bilkent University in parallel computing, combinatorial scientific computing, and biomedical informatics. He became Associate Professor in 2007 and Professor in 2012. After serving as Vice Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Ohio State University, he is currently Vice Chair of the School of Computational Science and Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.
N. Mefharet Kocatepe – Member
Professor
Mathematics, Faculty Member (retired)
Kocatepe has served as a faculty member and carried out research in the field of mathematics at several universities, and earned her Ph.D. in mathematics in 1978 from the University of Michigan, became Associate Professor in 1985, and Professor in 1992. She served as Dean of the Faculty of Education at Bilkent University.
M. Tezer Kutluk – Member
Professor
Medical Doctor, Faculty Member (retired)
Kutluk completed his residency at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Diseases in 1985, became Associate Professor in 1988, and Professor in 1995. He has served as Director of the Gülveren Education and Research Center, as General Director of Hacettepe Hospitals (2008–2011) and as Head of Pediatric Oncology Subdivision of the Department of Child Health and Diseases at Hacettepe University (2020-2024). He currently works as Chairman of the Scientific Committee of Medicana Health Group.
Yahya R. Laleli – Member
Professor
Medical Doctor, Faculty Member (retired)
Laleli specialized in biochemistry and nuclear medicine at Hacettepe University in 1967 and 1974. He became Associate Professor in 1972 and Professor in 1979. He taught biochemistry and nuclear medicine at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine. He is the founding Director of Düzen Laboratory Group and Tayıeli Olive and Olive Oil Enterprises.
Akın Metli – Member
PhD
English Language and Literature
Metli, a graduate of Bilkent University Department of English Language and Literature, received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Bilkent University in 2018. He previously served as Principal of İhsan Doğramacı Foundation Bilkent Erzurum Laboratory High School and is currently Principal of SEV American College, as well as a School Evaluator for the Council of International Schools and the International Baccalaureate.
Ahmet Nalbur – Member
Business Executive
A graduate of Bilkent University Faculty of Business Administration, Nalbur works in domestic–foreign trade and mining. He is currently General Manager of Mirakim İç ve Dış Ticaret Ltd. Şti., and Chair of the Board of Directors at Ankara Dökümcüler İhtisas OSB and Polimine Madencilik A.Ş.
Şencan Özme – Member
Professor
Medical Doctor, Faculty Member (retired)
Özme completed her residency in 1964 at Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences, became Associate Professor in 1972 and Professor in 1978 at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine. She has served as Head of the Pediatric Cardiology Subdivision at Hacettepe University.
Z. Meral Özsoyoğlu – Member
Professor
Computer and Data Sciences, Faculty Member
Özsoyoğlu received her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1980 from the University of Alberta, became Associate Professor in 1986 and Professor in 1992. She served as Chair of the Department of Electrical, Computer and System Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where she continues to teach.
Muhsin Saraçlar – Member
Professor
Medical Doctor, Faculty Member (retired)
Saraçlar completed his residency at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Diseases in 1964, became Associate Professor in 1969, and Professor in 1975. He has served as Vice Rector of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Head of the Pediatric Cardiology Subdivision and Director of the Graduate School of Health Sciences at Hacettepe University.
Öncü Serter – Member
Attorney
Graduated from Bilkent University Faculty of Law, Serter completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford. He has worked as a senior and managing attorney in various local and international law firms and is currently the founding partner of Serter Law Firm.
Rector
Kürşat Aydoğan – Rector – Ex Officio Member
Professor
Business Administration, Faculty Member
After graduating from TED Ankara College High School, Aydoğan earned his B.S. in management in 1979 and his M.B.A. in 1980 from Middle East Technical University. He received his Ph.D. in finance at Syracuse University in 1986. Before joining Bilkent University, he taught at Ball State University and Middle East Technical University. He has served as the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration (1991–2004) and as the Vice Rector in charge of Administrative and Financial Affairs (2004–2022).
His research interests include financial management, investments, and capital markets. He has also worked as a consultant at the Research Department of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye. He taught at Michigan State and Ball State universities as faculty member. He is currently serving as the Rector of Bilkent University.
Vice Presidents of the Board of Trustees
Abdullah Atalar – Vice President
Professor
Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty Member
Atalar earned his Ph.D. in 1978 from Stanford University. He has conducted research in advanced technology companies in Germany and Japan, and has worked extensively on microwave electronics and MEMS-based sensors and transducers. Known for his scientific research on microsensors and integrated circuit simulation, Atalar was awarded the title of IEEE Fellow for his contributions to acoustic and atomic force microscopy technologies. A recipient of the TUBITAK Science Award and member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences, he served as Rector of Bilkent University (2010–2022). He currently teaches in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bilkent University and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bilkent Holding.
Fatma Taşkın – Vice President
Associate Professor
Economics, Faculty Member
Taşkın received her Ph.D. in 1988 from Boston College and became Associate Professor in 2000. Her research focuses on productivity measurement, the impact of trade policies on productivity, environmental efficiency measurements, external debt, development economics, and trade policies. She has served as the Chair of Department of Economics at Bilkent University. She previously taught at Bates College and is currently a faculty member at Bilkent University.