#FacultyFriday: Hasan Aydin

ABOUT ME

My name is Hasan Aydin. I was born in Dogubeyazit on the Eastern side of Turkey. This region is predominantly occupied by Kurdish people to which I belong. During the early days of my life, Kurdish people were not allowed to receive education in their mother tongue. There were no schools in my region. I, therefore, had to move to the Turkish-dominated Erzurum city located about 300 miles from my birthplace. Leaving my family was difficult but, looking back, I had this insatiable desire to acquire education at any cost.

AS A STUDENT

I started schooling in Erzulum when I was about seven years old. Despite the challenges created by the new environment and the fear of being discovered that I was not of Turkish identity, I worked hard in class and was a top student from elementary to high school. I completed the equivalent of K – 12 education in Erzulum and later moved to pursue my degree in Mongolia in 2000, where I graduated with a teaching degree.

PREVIOUS TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Seventeen years ago, I began my journey into the teaching profession as a fresh college graduate with degrees in Mongolian, English, and Russian languages and received my BA in English. The following decade offered challenging and uplifting professional experiences at diverse geographical locations, including Turkey, Mongolia, the Philippines, Romania, Nigeria, and the United States. During this time, I was fortunate to interact with culturally, linguistically, and religiously diverse students from ethnically diverse backgrounds. A significant proportion of these students were English Language Learners (ELL).

To expand my horizon in languages, I sought and earned a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in 2007. The culmination of these experiences was invaluable in shaping my practical understanding of today’s multicultural classrooms. This prompted me to pursue my doctorate in multicultural education at the University of Nevada, which I earned in 2011.

I have frequently found myself reflecting on what my role should be in the classroom. The answer has often boiled down to the need to create a collaborative, engaging learning environment where I facilitate students in active inquiry and discovery that promotes opportunities for authentic learning. During my years of research and teaching, I developed a synergy of knowledge, skills, and dispositions in multicultural education and global education to provide quality and equitable education for diverse student populations and their future teachers. I joined the College of Education at Florida Gulf Coast University in 2017, where I work as a multicultural education professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Culture. Besides teaching and instruction, I also enjoy my work. I am a human rights defender and champion the cause for oppressed people of the world.

INTERACTION WITH STUDENTS

In my teaching, my philosophy has always been to help students combine the knowledge gained in the classroom with applicable skills and dispositions that will allow them to make a difference in their working community. I deliberately integrate the concept of “embracing diversity” into both undergraduate and graduate courses. All my courses are framed on the knowledge/research base that consists of five distinctive strategies aligned to my teaching: cooperative learning, inquiry-based instruction, differentiation, timely feedback, and technology integration.

 I am committed to preparing candidates for culturally diverse educational settings (PreK-12 and higher education) and our rapidly changing global landscape. My commitment to supporting students’ development into becoming informed and engaged citizens are reflected in my work as a teacher-scholar and an educational leader.  In communicating with my students, I have adopted an open-door policy in which my students can approach me whenever they want to reach me. I always strive to be available to them. I have discovered that by sharing my passion for teaching and learning and demonstrating my enthusiasm and empathy to my students, I can connect to them both as a teacher and as someone who is engaged with them to find pertinent answers to complex and perplexing questions.

I am proud to state that I have demonstrated success in fostering the scholarly development of my students by mentoring (and accompanying) both undergraduate and graduate student-presenters to national and international conferences across the United States and abroad since 2017. I have created a research team to develop various campus enrichment opportunities, including a scholarly writing circle, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, and multi-faceted diversity and equity initiatives. As a teacher-educator, I see my role as a mentor for students who want to extend their research beyond the classroom. During the past few years, several students in my courses improved their class research projects and presented them at local and international forums. All these endeavors have made students understand that their future teaching practices must be research-based, and their educational decisions must be data-driven.

Besides my teaching, I have also established myself as an internationally recognized researcher. I have been referenced and been given awards by other scholars in the field of multicultural education in both a national and international scope. My scholarship focuses on multicultural education, bilingual education, promotion of the Kurdish language, and cultural rights, human rights, social justice, diversity and equity in education, educating refugee students, citizenship education in a global context, and international education. My research spans across local, national, and international contexts, having conducted research with and prepared educators in Germany, Turkey, Romania, Mongolia, Nigeria, and the United States.

I am the author of several books, and published numerous articles, have had many conference presentations. My most recent book (co-edited with Winston Langley) was Human Rights in Turkey: Assaults on Human Dignity, which Springer Press published. Because of this, my scholarship has been recognized by several institutions. For example, in 2018 and 2019, I was awarded the “best publication article” in the College of Education at FGCU. I also received the Human Rights Educator Award from the United Nations Human Rights Florida in 2019. Also, based on my accomplishment, I was awarded an outstanding biographical publication record by Marquis Who's Who in America in 2019.

ASSOCIATIONS WITH COMMUNITY

The extent and diversity of my involvement in these professional and community organizations and committees exemplify the breadth and depth of my service. I take pride in my leadership skills, the leadership role that I have demonstrated in various positions, and ultimately, by which I have contributed to education. I am also a founding editor and editor-in-chief for the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies and the American Journal of Qualitative Research, and an associate editor for Intercultural Education. 

I serve as a director of Education and Youth Empowerment for African Network of South-West Florida. I served as a program chair for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2020/SIG Multicultural/Multiethnic Education: Theory, Research, and Practice.

I am a member of several professional organizations, including the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), the Korean Association for Multicultural Education (KAME), the International Association for Intercultural Research (IAIE), and the Pi Beta Delta: International Honor Society for International Education.

I wish to spend my remaining career helping others succeed as we produce, both individually and collaboratively, works that impact our field and the students affected by it.