Guests
Our Guests
Alvaro Rodriguez
Alvaro Rodriguez first started his United Nations career in 1991 at the one of the United Nations organ United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kenya. Afterwards, he worked in China and Thailand offices. Mr. Rodriguez has spent his educational life in Chile, Canada, India and Australia. He has a master’s degree in International Affairs and Political Science from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) and The University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). He has a PhD from the Australian National University. Mr. Rodriguez has a career of more than 30 years under the umbrella of the UN. He has worked as an administrator in UNDP New York, Afghanistan, Somalia (he was UNDP Country Director in Somalia) and Pakistan offices. From 2014 to 2019, he was the Coordinator General of the UN Office for Tanzania. September December 1, 2019; he became the interim General Coordinator of the UN Office in Turkey and on December 10, 2021; he officially took up his post. Mr. Rodriguez is the active UN Coordinator for Turkey. The office that Mr. Rodriguez heads has five main working areas. These are strategic planning, economics, partnership and development finance, data and results management and reporting, communication and advocacy.
Prof. Dr. Esra Gencturk
Prof. Dr. Esra Gencturk graduated from Robert College in 1977. After graduating from the University of Southern California in 1981, she she completed her MBA in 1983 and her PhD in Marketing from the University of Minnesota in 1990. Between the years of 1989-1996, she worked as a Marketing and International Business lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin. Furthermore Dr. Gençtürk worked as a full-time faculty member at Koc University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences between 1996-2009. In 2009, she started her position at Ozyegin University as the Academic Director of the Sectoral Solutions Program, Prof. Dr. Esra Gencturk became the Vice Rector of Ozyegin University in 2011 and the Rectorate as of February 2014. Having been awarded the “Robert Lieberman Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence” from the University of Minnesota, Prof. Dr. Gencturk was nominated for seven different teaching excellence awards, both within the faculty and across the university. Prof. Dr. Gencturk’s research is focused on strategic marketing and competitive strategies, distribution channel management, foreign market entry and expansion strategies, research design and measurement evaluations.
Prof. Dr. Deniz Senol Sert
Prof. Dr. Deniz Senol Sert, graduated from Uskudar American High School in 1996. In 2000 she, received her bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Koc University and her master’s degree in European Union Studies from the London School of Economics in 2001, she received her doctorate degree in Political Science from City University of New York in 2008. After her doctorate, she worked in different research projects on international migration issues at Koc University Migration Research Application and Research Center, MIREKOC, and gave various lectures on international relations at Bogazici, Okan and Koc Universities. She is one of the founding academicians of the Department of International Relations at Ozyegin University. She was the head of the department from 2014 to 2016. She is also a consultant professor of the OZUMUN Club. Prof. Dr. Sert is a Jean Monnet Chair (CHARM) in Migration and Mobility in Europe. Prof. Dr. Sert’s research is focused on compulsory, international, irregular and transnational migration, conflict, border management and civil society issues; she has multiple academic publications on these topics.