About Me

I graduated from Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey, with two BA degrees in European Studies and Public Relations. Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, I found my passion for meme studies and critical advertising. After I graduated, I moved to the US to earn my M.A. in Media Studies at UW-Milwaukee. and Ph.D. in Mass Communication at Penn State. 

Throughout my graduate school journey, I worked in various teaching and research position: teaching assistant for the "Introduction to Advertising and PR" and "Mass Media and Society," managing editor of the Journal of Information Policy, instructor of record for the "International Mass Communications," research assistant for an ongoing research project on school trauma PR and crisis communications, and digital media director and course syllabus update position for the News Literacy Initiative at Penn State.

As of Fall 2024, I have been working as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication at Marist University. I am teaching the following courses: Introduction to Communication, Communication Research Methods, and Communication Theory.

My research interests include critical advertising, the political economy of media, meme studies, and popular culture. More specifically, I am interested in exploring and critiquing the ways that memes are appropriated for advertising to serve capitalist interests. I presented my work at conferences of ICA, NCA, UDC, AEJMC, AoIR, AFS (American Folklore Society), and TPRC.

I love collaborating with my professors and colleagues and am always open to new collaboration ideas. 

I successfully defended my dissertation titled, "Commercializing the Memesque: A Critical Look at the Commodification of Memes, Labor, and the Circulation of Convergent Media Culture," in August 2024 and became a Dr.! It explored 3 case studies involving commercial appropriation of memes (or what I coined as the "memesque"). 

I am very thankful for all the support and wisdom my advisor Dr. Matthew McAllister, and my committee Dr. Matthew Jordan, Dr. Stephanie Madden, and Dr. Russell Frank shared with me along the way.