Home country: Adana, Turkey
Years in United States: 2

What does studying at New Paltz and in the United States mean to you?

When I presented [a research project at the 35th Annual National Association for Ethnic Studies Conference at New Paltz in 2006] I did not know it was a moment when my life was changing. After meeting Laurel Garrick Duhaney [dean of the Graduate School at New Paltz] and learning about New Paltz for the first time, I went back home and looked up the English department. Since the fall of 2007, I've been at SUNY New Paltz and have had numerous professional and extracurricular engagements on campus, including working with Garrick Duhaney as a graduate assistant in her office for a year.

New Paltz has been a very critical turning point in my life in many ways. It offers me the sources, resources, flexibility, ample options and, most importantly, a very high quality education. That is distinct about my college, SUNY New Paltz. At international student orientations, I tell all new students that the first step in adjusting to a new place is to genuinely love it and to be able to call it your own.