GEDC: How would you describe some of the challenges that you face as a leader of an engineering school in Eskisehir Turkey, what are some of the strategic ideas you have for the engineering education profession in Eurasia and globally?
Tuncay Dogeroglu: There are a number of challenges that we as engineering education leaders face in Turkey and in the region: The immediate global engineering challenges are in relation to the food and clean water supplies, affordable healthcare, national security, renewable energy, a clean environment, shifting demographics, improvement of the quality of life, climate change and sustainable international development.
A systematic, integrated, measurable, commonly applicable approach will ensure a sustainable process on the improvement of engineering education system. Some of the strategic ideas that I would like to share with engineering education professionals locally and globally are:
The management of institutions culture; Establishment of an integrated and simplified performance management system under the supervision of a competent expert for sustainable engineering education.
One of our concerns is to focus on how we can sustain our network of engineering deans and leverage the collective strengths of the regional councils for the advancement of engineering education.  I am confident that GEDC and Turkish Engineering Deans Council (TEDC) can be more effective to deal with these matters.

GEDC: What is the single most complex challenge that you are dealing with in your role as dean and also as a woman leader?
TG: In fact there are many challenges! For instance, one of the issues is to change perception of faculty members towards accreditation studies.  There is a global trend of accreditation of engineering programs and I am sure it is not just a local issue.  In relation to students, their issues are much more complicated.  In spite of increasing communication through social media, students are not willing to work in a team environment.  We are trying to encourage our students to become more involved in team projects and interdisciplinary studies in the engineering curriculum.
Secondly, knowledge in math in first year students is very weak.  It is not easy to find the solution to this issue because this problem is related with the previous education experience of every student which may differ depending on their high school education.  I think these are common issues of engineering professors and staff and not only for engineering deans. Currently we are addressing there challenges with the task force group in our faculty.

GEDC: What are the main Global Challenges of being a woman in the Engineering Education Field?
TG: In Turkey, female and male faculty members are nearly equally distributed in the engineering schools and even in some departments the number of female faculty members is higher.  I know that faculties are more likely to have male members in other countries of the world.  I should say that being a woman in the engineering education has some implications which are similar to other disciplines.  There are some global challenges encountered in the engineering education field but I don't think that they are related with the fact of being a woman.

GEDC: How is the reality of Engineering Education in Turkey within the context of being one of two most dynamic economies in the region?
TG: There is still an increasing interest in engineering education and this trend continues to grow with students placing enphasis to the study of engineering not only the basic engineering but also hybrid fields of engineering disciplines such as bioengineering and mechatronics.
In relation to the engineering education I would mention: the lack of communications between university and industry leaders, despite an increasing need for cooperation.  This team work will support and enhance the ability to identify, formulate, and solve real engineering problems.

GEDC: What are some of the areas where your research is focused?
TG: My graduate degrees are in chemical engineering. My reserach are is focused on inorganic and organic air pollutants, air quality monitoring, air quality management, indoor air quality, exposure assessment and health effects.

GEDC: How receptive of MOOCs is the engineering education community in Turkey? What are some of the challenges and advantages of promoting MOOCs in Turkey and in neighboring countries?
TG: The use of MOOCs in Engineering Education Community in Turkey is not very common. Anadolu is unlike any other National University (189HEI) in Turkey because of its unique position in open education, distance education and entrepreneurship.  Anadolu is just a 55 years old institution and has 1.5 million students.  It is the 2nd largest distance learning school in the world. The university emphasizes the pursuit of life-long learning. Anadolu University has a 30 year long experience in teaching social sciences through online courses; we like to use this medium in other projects and push harder on establishing online courses in engineering education and other engineering related fields.  Engineering faculty has many open online courses on the ANAPOD project, this is quite new and covers limited numbers of courses. Currently there are a number of academic staff members involved in doing web pages and maintaining software and servers for this program.
Currently we are aiming to implement distance education courses in Industrial engineering, Computer Engineering, and Environmental Management Systems and to expect developing online engineering programs in the future.

Short biography:
Dr. Tuncay Dogeroglu is Professor and Dean in the Faculty of Engineering at Anadolu University, Turkey.  Under Dr. Dogeroglu's leadership, there have been established seven departments  - Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Industrial Engineering Material Science Engineering. She has laid the ground work in order to secure the accreditation by the Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Engineering Programs (MUDEK) for all undergraduate programs at Anadolu University.
Dogeroglu's areas of professional expertise are: air pollution, and she has co-authored over a hundred publications on air quality and environment pollution topics.  She was an ICTP Scholar at CNR Air Pollution Institute in Rome during 2000-2001.  She is an associate member of International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP).  Dogeroglu is the current member of the Executive Committee of the Turkish Engineering Deans Council. She is also a member of the executive board of Turkish Society for Quality Eskisehir Branch, since 2007, is an elected officer of the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC).