Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005

Yesterday I gave my speech at the university. It was quite a surprise; I thought I was addressing a few people at the technical school but actually gave the presentation at Mustafa Kemal University, to the entire business faculty, the vice president and a few others.

It all started when the vice rector gave me an invitation to speak about my background. He thought I had studied Management Information Systems and was interested in hearing about, as he used to teach those classes. I explained that my degree is actually in Business Information Systems and was very differently oriented than MIS, but it was hard to get the idea across. After much talking with the rector, the director here at the technical school, etc., I figured that I had finally gotten the point across. But, of course, when I gave the speech they introduced me as speaking on the topic of MIS! I think they had trouble grasping the difference, as there’s really nothing like my program here in Turkey. But now they know!

My topic was my education at Goshen College. The first part focused on the school in general, the second contained what I actually studied, and the third highlighted my semester abroad in Cuba. It went over really well; everyone was incredibly interested and many questions were asked. I a number of professors then came to me and shared about their educational experiences in the US, and talked about how they appreciated my perspective. The MIS department also decided that they were really interested the structure of my program, and would seriously consider including some of my coursework in the MIS program! How flattering… at least for Goshen College anyway.

The director of the technical school, Selçuk, was incredibly pleased and took me out for a nice pide meal afterwards in the restraint area of the campus. He paraded me around, introducing me to various professors and administrators. So, it seems like I did well enough!