Which course(s) do you teach, Professor?  Do you stick to one course only or do you teach more than one?

I'm just finishing my second quarter at DePaul. So far I taught MGT 502 Operations Management.  I may be asked to teach other courses such as Strategic Supply Chain Management (MGT 501) or Managing Service Operations (MGT 545). Also, in the near future I'd like to offer a special topic elective, possibly on Humanitarian Supply Chains. Additionally, I'd like to take some students abroad to Turkey with a Driehaus International Business Seminar.

Can you tell me a little bit about your background?  For example, are you from the Midwest area?  Did you grow up here, or did you move from another area?  How is it that you find yourself here now?  Are there any interesting stories associated with your being here now?

No, I'm not from the Midwest. I am from the Mideast; the Middle East that is. I was born and raised in Turkey (born on the Aegean coast and raised in Istanbul). I left home in 1993 for Edinburg, TX to get an MBA degree. I could not find Edinburg on the map when I was leaving home so it was a rather nervous trip. From the get-go I was planning to finish my MBA as soon as possible and go back home to find a good job.  I even promised my mother that I will be back in two years. But just when I was finishing my degree my then girlfriend (now wife) announced that she is coming to Texas A&M to pursue a PhD; so I changed gears and moved to College Station, TX to get myself a PhD degree, too.  The new post-PhD plan was to return to Turkey to teach but when I heard about academic salaries back home I moved to Richmond, VA. After nine years of teaching at the University of Richmond when it was time to move on, the new plan was to stay below the Mason-Dixon Line because I don't really like cold weather. But I found myself in Chicago!  I guess life is what happens to you when you are busy making plans (was it John Lennon who said that?).

Where did you earn your undergraduate degree?  And your graduate degree?

I received my B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. I have an MBA from the University of Texas-Pan American, and a PhD in Operations Management from Texas A&M University.

What has been your work experience, Professor?  Have you any regrets?  Any unfinished symphonies, so to speak?  What about accomplishments- what are your greatest?  What have you yet to achieve?  Do you have any particularly funny or poignant stories you would like to share?

I went from school to school to school.  As far as work experience outside academia is concerned, I worked as a Consultant at the Small Business Development Center of the University of Texas-Pan American during my MBA. I wrote the business plans and help start numerous businesses ranging from corn-stands for a thousand dollars, to frozen food companies for four million.  However, when people ask your work experience they usually refer to the corporate world or as students put it "the real world". Professors routinely are asked to provide "real world examples" to explain concepts in class. What they don't realize is that academia is a huge industry in the US.  We design, market and deliver products and services like any other "real" business.  We compete with other institutions for tuition dollars and government funds. We even export education. For example, DePaul gives degrees to graduate students in Bahrain, Taiwan, and Greece. Universities provide as complex of a business environment as a for-profit corporation, if not better, but we still ignore them as legitimate business examples.

Any unfinished symphonies you ask? I do have an entrepreneurial side that I take from my dad. When I was 7-8 years old I was organizing lotteries for neighborhood kids, and I converted my grandfather's unused chicken shack to a shadow theater.  I was the writer, director, producer, and puppeteer of each show. While in college I had a tutoring business, a used-textbook business, and I was trading stocks in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (on the floor until they closed it to the public). Even today, I keep coming up with bunch of ideas for start-ups.  Maybe one day I'll actually try one of them.

Regrets, accomplishments? I have no regrets. I had a great time studying and learning stuff and am now doing what I love; teach. I don't think I have accomplished anything big yet. If after my passing I am remembered as a good father, husband, friend, and teacher, I'd consider that an accomplishment.

What is the best part, in your opinion, about teaching at DePaul University?  What do you wish more students knew?  What do you wish you knew before you started teaching at DePaul?

There are several things I enjoy. First, I find DePaul to have an entrepreneurial culture in the sense that there is openness to new ideas and willingness to try them. That wasn't at all the case in my previous institution. Second, the Vincentian mission is very appealing to me. There are a lot of good, smart, hard-working people in this world.  All they need is an opportunity to excel.  DePaul provides that opportunity.  Some of my students will be the first to graduate from college in their families. To be part of that is a great thing.

What I wish my students knew is that these days do not come back.  We cannot inventory time and refer back to our stocks when we need more time. You are not going to get the same degree again so make the most out of it.

What do I wish I knew before I started teaching at DePaul? I wish I realized that a quarter is a lot shorter than a semester. I mean, I knew that, but I really didn't realize it until my first quarter here.

Can you tell us something about you that most people would never know if it wasn't for my prying?  Any special talents, favorite foods, hobbies, et. al.?

I love tattoos, choppers, and heavy metal music. Seriously!

I love cooking. I am no top-chef but am considering going after a culinary degree just for the fun of it.

I love scuba diving. I don't need to see anything; just being under water, weightless, in a three-dimensional environment is an amazing feeling. I feel like an astronaut. Of course, while you are 115 feet under water, being able to touch a WWII U-boot or a sand tiger shark is also nice.

Please respond to the following (as briefly or as detailed as you wish):

Favorite Artist (free to interpret): Metallica

Favorite Movie and/or TV Show: Mediterraneo (movie)

Favorite Book: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (by Jules Verne)

Favorite Restaurant/Dish: Maria's Place (in Istanbul) / Grilled Octopus

Favorite Holiday: Any day off work is a holiday and would be most welcomed J

Favorite Word: not a word but I love the sound of "are you kiddin me?"

Favorite City: Prague

Who is your role model? I can't say I have one.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being lazy on a Mediterranean beach on a hot sunny day while listening to the cicadas and breathing in the potpourri of rosemary, pine and the sea.

What is your greatest fear? Being trapped.

What is your greatest extravagance? Spoiling my wife.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Harley Davidson in the movie "Harley-Davidson and Marlboro man".

What is your motto? WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get).

Published on March 2010