“And, as Koç University, what are we going to do? How are we going to sustain our success in the coming years? This is a difficult question, because we are living in a period in which it is impossible to accurately predict things in the five year scale, let alone twenty. Which professions will be in demand? Which fields of research will shine out? Nobody knows. On such slippery ground, how are we to direct our students, and our research?
The answer is that we will not direct them, but pave the way for them. We will broaden the frontiers. We will work towards removing all bureaucratic obstacles standing in the way of curiosity and enthusiasm. We will keep our structure dynamic and permeable. We will ensure that interdisciplinary communication and dialogue between generations is open in all directions. We will bring world renowned faculty together with the most enthusiastic students, and get out of their way.”
The book A Tribute to Science: Random Cross-Sections of Life at University and Interdisciplinary Conversations, published on the occasion of Koç University's 20th anniversary of establishment celebrated in October 2013, opens with President Umran S. İnan's above statement. The visual content of the book tells the story of university life through the eyes of students in a quiet, restrained manner, while the editorial side presents samples of scientific and social developments in the 20 year period between 1999 and 2013, and includes scientific conversations attended by 36 of the university's faculty, in which topics such as Technology, Happiness, Nature and Justice, Machine and Body are discussed with an interdisciplinary approach.
Published in Turkish and English by Koç University Press, A Tribute to Science intends to arouse curiosity, rather than satisfy it. The book was produced under the coordination of Bek Tasarım, edited by Suna Altan, and designed by Bülent Erkmen.
