Daughters of Ataturk Women of Distinction Award for 2001
Reyan Akbay Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award Mrs. Akbay was born in Mudanya/Bursa, Turkey.  She has a degree in education from Manisa Teachers’ College (Manisa Ogretmen Okulu).  She is married to Oktay Akbay also an educator.  The Akbays are employed by Moore County Schools. Mrs. Akbay has raised her two daughters, Ozlem and Cigdem bicultural and bilingual.  Mrs. Akbay has been able to maintain her Turkish heritage, beliefs and customs and is very proud of being Turkish American.  She constantly encourages people to travel to her beautiful homeland Turkey. She always promotes Turkey with honor.  She entertains Turkish officers who come to Hunstsville for military training, with home cooked Turkish meals, she wants her guests to feel welcome just as it is done in Turkey.  She is a truly hospitable Turk. Mrs. Akbay has been very active in the Turkish community and always continues to promote Turkish culture within the United States.  She is constantly involved with the activities of her homeland and has always kept up-to-date with upcoming Turkish events.  She is involved in many activies and is an active TACA (Turkish American Cultural Association of Alabama) member.	No Picture
Roz Kohen Drohobyczer Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award I was born in Istanbul in 1949. I spent my childhood in the Jewish neighborhoods of Istanbul: Sishane, Kuledibi.  I am the product of both my ethnic background (Sephardic Jew) and and my homeland Turkey. I graduated from  American College for Girls in Istanbul 1969 and later spent 6 years in Israel, partly going to the Art academy in in Jerusalem. On my return to Istanbul after 1975 I worked at various technical drafting jobs and immigrated to the United States in 1981. Since then I have lived in New Mexico, Ohio, Tennessee and Missouri. Currently I work as a Reference Assistant at the Washington University in St. Louis and I am in the  process of completing a graduate degree in Library Science.  My hobbies are painting, Turkish Cooking, helping the Turkish student community organize activities, and recently writing short stories  In Judeo-Spanish about my childhood memories.
Demetra George Mustafoglu Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award A former Miss Oklahoma, and a classically trained singer with a Broadway background, Demetra won auditions through San Francisco Opera and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC and a scholarship through Miss America.  She has two CDs that were nominated for Grammy Awards. Ms. George has sung leading roles and guested with major US and international symphonies.  She has also appeared on stage with such notables as Thomas Hampson, Doninic Cossa, Chris Merritt and Turkish  Soprano Inci Basar.   Her forte roles in opera include Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Violetta in La Traviata, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and Hannah in the Mary Widow.  Her musical theater performances include Maria in West Side Story and Sound of Music, Tuptim in the King and I, Eliza in My Fair Lady, Kate in Kiss Me Kate, Laurie in Oklahoma and Marsinah in Kismet.	No Picture
Ferhan Gomulu Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award Ferhan Gomulu was born in Istanbul. She received her bachelor's degree in Public Administration and Political Science from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. She worked as Career Officer in Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later she joined IBM Turkey; worked as Business Practices Representative, responsible for IBM agreements, special offers, and legal issues, and as Special Bids Representative, responsible for government customers and other special bids. She received her master's degree in Economics from Northeastern University in Boston. Currently she works on her Ph.D. dissertation on Internet Law and Policies at Northeastern University and resides in Boston. Ferhan has been actively involved with Turkish-American organizations in the U.S., including The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), The Turkish American Cultural Society of New England (TACS), and The Turkish-American Business Forum.  She has been involved in organizing many programs and events for the promotion of Turkish culture, as well as working for issues related to the Turkish-American community. She has served in the Executive Board of TACS-New England for 4 years; last three years as the Secretary of the organization. She is also the editor of TACS Bulletin, official publication of TACS-New England.	No Picture
Mirat D. Gurol Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award Mirat D. Gurol is currently the Blasker Chair Professor of Environmental Engineering in San Diego State University (SDSU). She assumed this position in September 1997 after serving at Drexel University in Philadelphia for seventeen years as a faculty member in the Departments of Civil and Chemical Engineering, and the School of Environmental Science, Engineering and Policy. Dr. Gurol has received her degrees in Environmental Engineering and Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  (Ph.D, 1980; M.S., 1977), and in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, (B.S., 1973; M.S. 1975). Dr. Gurol has served as the Director at SDSU’s Environmental Engineering Program; established the bachelors, masters and doctoral programs, developed four research laboratories, and recruited new faculty members and research associates to the program since she joined SDSU.  Dr. Gurol's  academic interest is focused on treatment technologies of contaminated water, air and soil and of hazardous wastes. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Environmental Engineering in water, wastewater and hazardous waste treatment and remediation. Her research efforts are concentrated on ozonation, photochemical and catalytic oxidation processes for removal of environmental pollutants from contaminated water, air and soil.  Dr. Gurol’s research has been funded by the Federal Government, the State of Pennsylvania and California, Research Foundations, and private industry. She has published over 60 scientific articles, and supervised over 30 doctoral and masters’ students on their research projects as their principal advisor. She is the recipient of the  "Best Ph.D Dissertation Award" of the Association of Environmental Engineering Professors, the "Research Scholar Award"  of Drexel University, the  "Best Research Paper Award"  for a paper published in the Journal  of the American Water Works Association, and Tokten and Fulbright fellowships.  Her students received numerous awards, including "First Place, Academic Achievement Award for a Ph.D Dissertation" presented by the American Water Works Association, twice,  the  “Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award” co-sponsored by the Association of Environmental Engineering Professors and Engineering Science, "Prix Hallopeau Award" presented by  International Ozone Association and the  "Best  Research Paper Award" presented by  the American Chemical Society. She and her students are owners of two patents on a chemical oxidation and reduction processes. Dr. Gurol is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Ozone Science & Technology, and the Journal of Advanced Oxidation Processes,  a member of the Blasker Award Committee, a consultant to the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Institute, the Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration in Turkey, City of San Diego, and several engineering and chemical companies. She has also served as a consultant for the National Academy of Sciences on health effects of disinfectants. She has full-time consulting experience acquired during her employment at Roy. F. Weston, Inc,  and continues to serve as a consultant to  several industrial and consulting firms on physical and chemical treatment technologies. She is on the review panels of several funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency.  She is a member of the Association of Environmental Engineering Professors, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Chemical Society, International Ozone Association, International Association on Water Quality, American Water Works Association, Water Environment Federation, and Sigma Xi. She has been an active member of the Turkish American Community for several years. She has served as the Regional Vice President of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (North Eastern), and the Turkish American Friendship Society of the US (TAFSUS) in Pennsylvania for more than fifteen years in every position, including the President. She was the faculty advisor of Drexel Association of Turkish American Students for many years. She has also spearheaded the formation of a new Chapter of TAA-SC (Turkish American Association of Southern California) in San Diego, and a new student association at SDSU.	No Picture
Ruya Taner Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award Ruya Taner, a Turkish Cypriot born in Germany in 1971, began her musical training at an early age under the guidance of her father.  In a short time, Ruya was giving concerts and appearing regularly on television in her home country of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC).  In 1983, after a year at Ankara State Conservatory of Music, Ruya won a state scholarship from the TRNC to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London.  She was tutored through the Junior and Senior Departments by Joan Havill, and graduated in 1992 with a Distinction.  She continued her post-graduate studies at the Guildhall, winning the rarely awarded “Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix)” in July 1994. Throughout her studies, Ruya has won many prizes in national competitions including the “Mozart Memorial National Competition”, the “Surrey Young Pianist of the Year Competition” and the Professional Recital Prizes at the Oxford and Hatfield Music Festivals. Ruya Taner has participated in the master classes of Pascal Roge (Nice) and Pascal Deveyon (London). She has performed extensively in Britain, Europe and Asia, and has contributed regularly to the musical life of North Cyprus.  Her performance of the Rachmaninoff 2nd Suite for Two Pianos with Pascal Rouge, and her concerto performances with the leading orchestras in Turkey have received much acclaim from the international press. Her recent Concerto performance in Brussels was recorded live and has since been released on CD.	No Picture
Shirin Devrim Trainer Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award Shirin Devrim was born in Istanbul, Turkey and was educated in Berlin, Baghdad, Istanbul and New York.  She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Her first professional appearance was in 1950 at the Court Theatre in Wisconsin as Bella Manningham in Gas Light.  In 1953, she made her off Broadway debut as Rosa Gonzales in Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke.  In the mid 1950’s she returned to her native land and overnight became one of the leading actresses and directors of the Turkish theatre.  Among the many parts she played are Mrs. Harrington in Peter Schaeffers’ Five Finger Exercise, Mrs. Levy in The Matchmaker, Mrs. Rosepettle in Oh Dad, Poor Dad…, Mrs. Gant in Look Homeward Angel and Mary in The Women, and Serafina in the The Rose Tattoo, as well as Katherina in Taming of the Shrew, Lady Macbeth, and Queen Gertrude in two different productions of Hamlet. During this period, she was awarded a four month Rockefeller grant which enabled her to observe theater in ten different countries, and in 1964 she was invited by the Greek government to attend the Epidaurus and Athens festivals. In 1967-68 Ms. Devrim was visiting actress and director at the Stanford Repertory Theatre, where she directed a highly acclaimed production of Jean Anouil’s The Cavern, and performed Anna Andreyevna in The Inspector General.  While she was professor of drama at Carnegie-Mellon she played Brecht’s Mother Courage at the University’s theatre.  At the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Ms. Devrim portrayed Euripides’s Medea, and Lady Politic in Volpone.  Other U.S. roles include: Illona in The Play’s the Thing at the Cincinnati Playhouse. Grand Duchess Olga in You can’t take with you at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Madame Soupeau in Brecht’s Visions of Simone Machard, and Madame Pernelle in Tartuffe at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton.  Of her performance of Lidya Vasileyevna in Old World at Syracuse Stage, the Syracuse Herald said, “Much of the charm emanates from Shirin Devrim, an actress of extraordinary gifts.”  When she played Mrs. Rosengarten in Hans Sahl’s House Music at the American Jewish Theater in New York, Richard Shepard of the New York Times wrote, “Shirin Devrim is marvelously bubbly as the strong minded, culturally oriented mother.” In 1989, after an absence of twenty years, Ms. Devrim returned to the Turkish state to portray Sarah Bernhardt in Memoir.  “The warm electricity Shirin Devrim exudes immediately envelopes the audience.  The persona she creates as Sarah Bernhardt is fascinating, for the actress has an interesting and uniquely personal style of acting that we have not encountered before,” wrote the leading Istanbul paper. She has lectured on Turkey and the Turkish theatre, as well as the Middle Eastern situation, across the United States in colleges, universities and private clubs and also at the Woodrow Wilson School in Princeton, New Jersey.  She was Vice President of the Milwaukee Ballet and a Trustee of the Chelsea Theater in New York City. She is a Regent of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and a member of the Cosmopolitan Club Ms. Devrim has recently completed a book about her family called Turkish Tapestry, which was published by Quartet books in London.  Shirin Devrim lives in Princeton and Manhattan with her husband, Robert Trainer.	No Picture
Aysegul Ciftci Underhill Winner of the 2001 Women of Distinction Award Soprano, Pianist, Goodwill Ambassador of Harmony for Turkish and other peoples of the World Her motto: One World One People Aysegul Ciftci Underhill was born in Ankara, Turkey.  She showed interest in music and unquestionable talent at a very early age.  She studied piano with Fenman and Statzer and graduated with a Fine Arts degree from Robert College in Istanbul.  Ms. Underhill has had an outstanding career as a concert pianist, having given numerous concerts throughout the United States and abroad.  After an arm injury, Ms. Underhill pursued her childhood dream and became a professional concert singer.  Today, she specializes in songs and arias in original languages, including Polish, Turkish, Hungarian, Czech, Spanish, French, Russian and English.  Ms. Underhill is currently giving concerts for local and international audiences.  Her energized performances as always generate enthusiastic public reception. In addition to her successful performing career, Ms. Underhill is an accomplished educator.  She is one of the top piano teachers in San Diego, guiding many talented, prize-winning students.  Building on her personal experience, she also teaches students with disabilities how to enjoy playing the piano and performing at the concert level despite their injuries.  Her lectures and slide presentations for young people about the history of music and the arts are also very popular.