9 Nisan 2000, Turkish Daily News
 

Campus Scene Bilkent University

Kaynaşlı Education Center seeks volunteers
Bilkent has recently opened a social services and education center to serve the Kaynaşlı earthquake survivors. Services are being provided for the residents of a tent village there, both young children ages four to 14 as well as their parents. Courses on computers, music, drama, math, and English are being offered as well as folklore and sports activities.

A television and video room has also been established, and daycare is being provided for children ages four to six. The center has two dorms with showers to accommodate up to 20 volunteers who wish to stay overnight. The Executive Board of this project is comprised of Zeynep Köksal (dean of students), Dr. Rasim Özyürek (director of training programs) and Yener Ergüven (assistant chair in tourism and hotel management at Bilkent’s vocational school of tourism and hotel services)…

…Computer voice program developed for visuallly handicapped
The Bilkent University computer engineering department has announced the release of a new computer program called “OKU” (read) design expressly for the use of visually handicapped people who speak Turkish. The OKU program is expected to provide them with further opportunities to use computers for research and course work.

OKU is able to read aloud a given text in clear Turkish. Visually handicapped people can listen to all written documents- such as books, papers, journals- that are stored in the “txt” or “rtf” formats. OKU can also serve as a word processor; during the typing or editing of a document, OKU reads out each keystroke and each word just after it is typed. Its volume can be adjusted by means of the keyboard, so users have no need for a mouse or any other visually based tools.

The program is free to download and install from the Internet, via www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~guvenir/Oku. It has been developed by Associate Professor H. Altay Güvenir with the help of his students Bertan Arı and Ümit Çatalyürek. For more information call Altay Güvenir at (312) 266 44 95. Or e-mail guvenir@bilkent .edu.tr.

Nasuh Mahruki receives Bilkent Award Last week
Nasuh Mahruki, a 1992 graduate of Bilkent’s management department, received the Bilkent University Distinguished Service Award at a ceremony organized by Dost Kulübü and the “Bilkent’liyiz” alumni magazine. He was presented a gold medallion by Ali Doğramacı, Bilkent’s rector, for his contributions as a Bilkent graduate to search and rescue operations in Turkey and Abroad.

Nasuh, who is the founder of AKUT, Turkey’s Search and Rescue Team, and one of the publishers of Dost, Turkey’s first outdoor magazine, is also the first Turk to climb Mt. Everest. When he asked about his leadership skills, Nasuh responded that taking the initiative is a quality he learned in Bilkent University through his management studies and also through his involvement in Dost outdoor activities. He said that in order to succeed, one must first decide what one wants, then sets goals, and finally proceed to realize them systematically, taking reasonable risks in the process. Nasuh stated that he does things for the sake of having new experiences and learning. Nasuh is planning to climb K2, a 8,611-meter-high mountain in Asia, and the second tallest peak in the world. Only 164 people have succeeded in reaching its summit due to the perils of the climb…
 
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