Karpat Graduate Student Society (K-GRADS Society)

Established in February, 2024

With its growing significance in the United States, Turkish Studies has the potential to flourish in interaction with a diverse array of scholarly fields within the social, and economic sciences, the humanities, and regional studies. The Kemal H. Karpat Graduate Student Society aims to enhance graduate education in Turkish studies using scholarly exchanges between social, and economic sciences, humanities, and regional studies, among other academic fields. Through this initiative of the Center, students will have access to a flexible platform to present their research, receive constructive feedback, and connect with other academics and peer groups.

Thus, by encouraging lively discussion among undergraduates, graduates, and faculty members from various departments on campus, the establishment of this Graduate Student Society will play a crucial role in promoting the academic advancement of students while contributing to the center’s overall growth and visibility.

Our Mission: The Kemal H. Karpat Graduate Student Society’s mission is to cultivate graduate education in Turkish studies by creating a lively intellectual community, encouraging teamwork across fields, and facilitating academic interaction among graduate students. We intend to be a place where students can voice their topics of interest and where academic discussion about Turkish history, language, and culture can grow.

K-GRADS Society Board Members and Contact Information

K-GRADS Society Board Members shall consist of among the current and continuing graduate students in the Department of History. We always welcome you to join K-GRADS Society and share your graduate experience.

If you have any questions or wish to contact us, do not hesitate to drop an email to karpatgradsociety@gmail.com or any of our current Board Members. We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Board Members

If you are interested in joining our K-GRADS Society, please fill out our sign-up form.

Join us in building bridges between disciplines, expanding the boundaries of knowledge, and sharing academic experience.

What We Are Doing

We intend to organize K-GRADS Society academic discussions and/or research seminars. To provide graduate students with an opportunity to present their research and receive constructive comments from their peers and possibly from faculty members through workshops and meetings.

We hope to serve as a collective voice for graduate students at the Kemal H. Karpat Center, advocating for their academic and professional objectives while also providing a friendly and inclusive academic environment.

Through these events, we aim to share research experiences, foster cultural understanding, and contribute to the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies’ academic excellence.

Ottoman Turkish Reading Group

The primary objective of the Ottoman Turkish Reading Group is to create a scholarly and friendly environment for students interested in Ottoman/Turkish Studies and to allow them to improve their skills in reading Ottoman Turkish. Our weekly meetings will take place on Fridays between 2 and 4 where we will engage with texts from different genres and periods over the semester. We believe this initiative will make a distinctive contribution to the scholarly landscape at UW-Madison, being the sole Ottoman Turkish-Related Academic Activity on campus.

In the Fall and Spring of 2024, we will read excerpts from Neşri’s Cihannümâ, a 17th-century history/geography book; Mizancı Murad’s Tarih-i Umumi, an early 20th-century world history book; followed by select texts from the late Ottoman Journals.

A classroom in the History Department has been reserved for the reading group. If you would like to join us to read together or just want to say hi, you are welcome to reach us at karpatgradsociety@gmail.com