I had my first PhD student graduate last week…

Last week we had many thesis defenses in our PhD program in Communication Sciences and MA program in Media and Communication Systems. Some of my students whom I was the adviser, successfully defended their theses. Sedef Erdoğan Giovanelli is special for me because she was my very first PhD student and she successfully defended her thesis last week. Her dissertation title: “Culinary Heritage in Turkey Cultural Policy, Official Practice and Online Representation of Food Culture”

Moreover, Salma Abdel Halım (on my right), an MA student in Media and Communication Systems, defended her thesis on social media usage changes before and after the Arab Spring in Egypt.

Cenk Çakar, an MA student in Cultural Studies, successfully defended his thesis on public service ads.

Gülşah Görücü (on my right), another MA student in Cultural Studies, successfully defended her thesis on digital impact on independent music production in Turkey.

Yet another MA student in Media Studies, Cihat Ağırman, defended his thesis on TRT’s Arabic Channel as a propaganda medium. We were all tired to take a selfie!