Prof. Nevzat Tarhan spoke at the Academic Year Opening: “What makes us happy is not pleasure, but meaningful living.”

Üsküdar University, which has pioneered many studies in various fields, especially Behavioral Sciences and Health had its 2019-2020 Academic Year opening. Üsküdar University Founding President Nevzat Tarhan delivered the first lecture. Prof. Nevzat Tarhan pointed out the importance of the period between 0-3 years. He continued as; “It's everyone's job to make children happy, not just parents. Therefore, national policy is needed in this regard.” Prof. Tarhan, who advised young people, emphasized that what makes human happy is not pleasure but a meaningful living. An honorary doctorate was presented to Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton, Perinatal Psychiatrist Dr. Alain Gregoire for his global activities and scientific studies for mother and infant mental health. 
 
Academics and students attended the 2019-2020 Academic Year ceremony held at Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall of Üsküdar University Main Campus.



Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “Policies regarding 0-3 years of age are inadequate in Turkey”
 
Üsküdar University Founding President, Psychiatrist Prof. Nevzat Tarhan delivered the first lecture of the academic year. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the period between 0-3 years is important for the development of the child and he said, “Policies related to the period between 0-3 ages are inadequate in Turkey and we don’t have a national policy. The period in which 50% of the nerve cells of the human brain develop is at the age of 0-3 years. The rest develops after 3 years old. In this period, basic personality and character are formed. In this period, motherhood and fatherhood are very important. There is no training on this. It is everyone’s job, not just parents, to make children happy, and therefore a national policy is needed. Children are trained in random, traditional ways. Yet the era has changed. The practice of parenting has changed and we are not aware of it. This should have changed systematically. While investigating what can be done in this field, we have seen that Dr. Alain Gregoire has done valuable work. He is a serious leader in this field, not only in the UK, but also in the world. This was very valuable to us in terms of our goals and vision. Therefore we invited him to our academic year opening.”

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “We reached another goal with the Faculty of Medicine”

Prof. Tarhan stated that they had the excitement of starting the new academic year. He said that Üsküdar University, which was established in 2011, has grown rapidly and confidently since their first day and that, they have reached one of their goals by opening the Faculty of Medicine this year. Prof. Tarhan remarked that they have 5 faculties, vocational school of health services and 5 institutes with 21 thousand 400 students and more than 500 academic staff in the field of behavioral sciences and health as a thematic university.

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “We consider it our duty to raise good people.”

Prof. Tarhan said, “The task of the universities is to produce solutions in the fields needed by the society as well as to produce science, to provide information and to educate the young generations who will have a voice in the future of our country. Our university does not aim to train only good physicians, good engineers, good psychologists, good forensic scientists and good journalists. We also considers it our duty to raise good people who will do their job best in all these professional fields. In this context, we teach the science of happiness to our students in the positive psychology and communication skills course that we put in 2013 as a compulsory course. We try to give them the necessary skills of the 21st century. We tell our students the importance of empathy, innovation, entrepreneurship, change, cooperation, and teamwork as well as relationship management.”



Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “We give importance to quality”

Prof. Tarhan stated that they give importance to quality as a university. He continued as, “Quality is actually perceived as cost. Quality does not increase cost, it reduces it. Recurrence of the disease is prevented when you do quality work and provide quality health care. The disease is cured faster. The patient's cost decreases. Quality bring in medium and long term. Therefore, as a university, we care about quality.”

Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: “What makes one happy is not pleasure, but meaningful living.” 
 
Prof. Tarhan stated that they aim to create positive environment for the students and to establish positive relationships, as they want to give positive meaning to their lives. He said; “We want to put positive actions in front of our students that what makes one happy is not pleasure, but what makes one happy is meaningful living. We are trying to explain to our youth that happiness will be achieved not by pursuit of pleasure but by pursuit of meaning. For this reason, as university, we have identified such a strategy in the search for meaning.”



Academic promotion ceremony was held

faculty members, associate professors and professors who received academic promotion, wore their new robes during gowning ceremony. Üsküdar University Psychiatry Mother and Infant Mental Health Application and Research Center Director Prof. Nazan Aydın also gave an informative presentation.



Honorary Doctorate Degree was presented

Within the scope of the ceremony, Perinatal Psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Southampton Dr. Alain Gregoire received the Honorary Doctorate Degree due to conducting important global activities in the field of maternal and infant mental health.
Honorary Doctorate justification letter was read by Üsküdar University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Mental Health and Diseases, Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Director of SOBE Assoc. Prof. Gökben Hızlı Sayar.  
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan presented Dr. Alain Gregoire his Honorary Doctorate diploma and his robe.



Dr. Alain Gregoire:” There's a very impressive community here”

Dr. Alain Gregoire expressed his satisfaction with the ceremony and the attention he received. He also thanked Üsküdar University and the Founding President Prof. Nevzat Tarhan. He said, “There is a very impressive community here. The individuals who want to work together and improve their understanding of learning. You want to do this not only for yourselves, but also in an obvious way to the Turkish community and to the global community. You are aiming for international development. I am very honored and impressed. It makes me feel part of this wonderful community.”



Dr. Alain Gregoire: “This University is great”

Dr. Alain Gregoire touched upon the difficulties of working in the field of psychiatry. He mentioned, “People don't understand the risk factors. They cannot distinguish them, even if they understand the situation. They do not do anything or try to do anything. If you want to achieve great success in medicine or life, you cannot do it alone. You have to do it with a team or other people. If you want to do this on your own then this is not a passionate enough goal. Therefore, this university is a great place. Because you are doing it as a team. In addition, even the great rector could not do it alone. He needs you all, and you need him. The same is applicable for clinical care. Work together and communicate with each other. All of you aim to help the patients and therefore help the whole community.”

Dr. Alain Gregoire: “’Depression’ should be considered in the perinatal period.”

Dr. Alain Gregoire delivered a conference on “Mother Infant Mental Health and New Approaches”. He drew attention to the perinatal period, which refers to the period of fetus life from the twentieth week of pregnancy to birth. He emphasized that the mental health of the mother as well as the physical health of this period should be taken into consideration, and that measures should be taken regarding the mental health problems that will arise in this period. Dr. Gregoire said that there are things that health professionals should do all over the world. He reminded that it is important to follow up depression and bipolar disorder in this period. Dr. Alain Gregoire added that psychiatric disorders in the mother are likely to occur in her child in the future.



Mini competition with Kahoot app

The conference ended with a mini-application of the Kahoot system that was used by academics and students of Üsküdar University.
Participants answered the questions in regards to Prof. Nevzat Tarhan’s and Dr. Alain Gregoire’s lectures. The fastest participants that delivered all the questions correct received a book set of Prof. Nevzat Tarhan as a gift.



The ceremony, broadcasted live by Üsküdar University (ÜÜ) TV, ended with a souvenir photo shoot.





Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)