Consul General Ugur Kenan Ipek says that the goals of the United States and the goals of Turkey are aligned and shar­ing the cul­ture of the two coun­tries is imper­a­tive in a glob­al­ized world.

“Both of our coun­tries are look­ing for peace and sta­bil­ity,” said Ipek.

As Consul General, Ipek serves as a diplo­mat of Turkey to the U.S. and is based in Chicago, Ill. Ipek cov­ers 12 states in the Midwest.

Director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Todd Stanislav and Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Piram Prakasam spear­headed the visit as part of the Globalization Initiative and the office of Diversity and Inclusion’s effort to bring notable out­siders to Ferris’ campus.

Ahmet Demir, a polit­i­cal sci­ence major and Turkish cit­i­zen, was excited about the oppor­tu­ni­ties that con­nec­tions between his home coun­try and Ferris brought.

“It feels like I did some­thing for my coun­try,” said Demir, who is also the num­ber one sin­gle on Ferris’ ten­nis team. “It’s a ben­e­fit to stu­dents to cre­ate a relationship.”

Prakasam started think­ing about this type of occa­sion two years ago while trav­el­ing in his home coun­try of India and it strength­ened fur­ther upon attend­ing a conference.

“As a chemist, I was con­cerned about the out­sourc­ing of chemistry-based jobs,” said Prakasam. “What do I tell my students?”

Prakasam believes that knowl­edge of dif­fer­ent cul­tures can bet­ter pre­pare stu­dents for dif­fer­ent opportunities.

“Opportunities like this are part of prepar­ing stu­dents to be lead­ers in a global soci­ety,” said Stanislav.

Consul General Ipek spoke dur­ing a pre­sen­ta­tion high­light­ing the Republic of Turkey and its con­nec­tion with the U.S. titled “Turkish Foreign Policy: Opportunities and Challenges” on Feb. 9.

The Globalization Initiative will also host a dis­cus­sion fea­tur­ing Naomi Tutu, daugh­ter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who grew up dur­ing apartheid in South Africa. Tutu will be com­ing to Ferris March 2.