Our board members volunteer their time and bring their own experience and skills to the society.
A native of Istanbul, Pelin Kadercan (Livia or Dr K as students know her) is a professor of history and government. She studied Modern Europe with an interest in the histories of the relations between Jews, Christians, and Muslims in a global context. Her research and teaching interests lie in the broad fields of displacement, war, human/women’s rights, education and film.
Alev Elçi is a retired Associate Professor and the president of the Higher Education Professional Development Network (YÖMEGA) Association. She holds a BSc in Mathematics, an MSc in Computer Engineering, and a PhD in Educational Sciences. Her main research areas include faculty development, digital teaching and learning, technology-enhanced learning, social networks, learning communities, animation and game-based learning, internationalization, and narrative approaches.
Merve Bektaş was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1990 and graduated from Yeditepe University Law School in Istanbul. She has extensive knowledge of Labor, Tenancy, and Criminal Law. Merve has been working as a lawyer at the Istanbul Bar Association since 2015. In 2019, she relocated to the United States. She is married and a mother of one. Her hobbies include traveling, reading, writing about her experiences and memories, and cooking.
Şerife Uludokumaci-Hathaway is the founder and first president of the Turkish American Cultural Society, which was founded on October 29, 2001.
Melih Bektaş was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He graduated from Yildiz Technical University, majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and received his MBA from Johnson & Wales in 2007.
