New president of Sabancı University takes office

ISTANBUL

The newly-appointed president of Sabancı University, Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, took over the post from Prof. Zehra Sayers in a ceremony held at the university’s Performing Arts Center in Istanbul’s Tuzla district on Nov. 5.

“We have entered a new period in which we will show ourselves and everyone what can be achieved through Turkey’s youth potential and motivation, and we will reach the level of success that suits our university and country,” said Leblebici, who was a chair professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and director of the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory since 2002.

“We also aspire to pioneer other institutions with our research, graduates, contribution to the society and the positive influence we create,” he added.

Leblebici had served as the microelectronics program coordinator at Sabancı University from 1999 to 2002.

His predecessor, Sayers, was among the founding members of Sabancı University as a member of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences for 20 years, and was the Foundations Development Program director before being appointed as president. She will remain a member of faculty at Sabancı University and she will continue her research studies on molecular biology at the EMBL Laboratory in Hamburg, Germany.

“It is our honor that, as a professor who made great contributions to the unique and pioneering system of education at Sabancı University during its foundation, Yusuf Leblebici returns to our university after his outstanding achievements and experience in Switzerland,” said Sabancı University Founding Chair of the Board of Trustees Güler Sabancı, speaking on behalf of the board.

Sabancı University has been ranked in the range of 351-400 globally in the 2019 Times Higher Education world university rankings list.